29 - [AUTOMOBILE - SPORTS]. Les Sports modernes. 1906 and 1907.

[AUTOMOBILE - SPORTS]. Les Sports modernes. 1906 and 1907. A major collector’s item from this luxury magazine, serving as a key visual record of the early days of sports and the automobile during the Belle Époque. Paris, Manzi, Joyant & Cie, January 1906 to December 1907. 24 issues in 2 folio volumes (345 x 265 mm), each bound in the publisher’s green-brown percaline Bradel binding, with a smooth spine adorned with blind-stamped fillets, gilt fleurons, and a gilt title, covers adorned with double gilt borders along the margins and at the corners, with the title and year repeated on the front cover; gilt head; original color-illustrated front covers preserved (with the exception of May and November 1906). Normal wear and scuffing on the bindings, particularly on the 1907 volume (small tear on the spine); cap bands slightly indented. A rare first issue of this luxurious publication, an iconographic masterpiece dedicated to the rise of motor sports, athletics, and high society during the Belle Époque. Printed on coated paper, it offers a captivating overview of the aristocratic disciplines then undergoing profound change under the influence of modernity. The illustrations feature the work of the period’s finest artists: Cecil Aldin, Job, Albert Sébille, Baron (known as “Us”), and his famous composition for the Salon de l’Auto (Christmas 1906). Through magnificent Art Nouveau-style covers and photographic reports in heliogravure, this luxurious, large-format publication on coated paper traces the rise of modern sports and the nascent automobile era: canoe races in Monaco, Auto Shows, the early days of tennis, fencing, dog shows, and hunting scenes. A refined collection with beautifully vibrant colors.