669 - MONTHERLANT, Henry de Port-Royal. Lithographs by René Aubert. Paris: Henri Lefebvre (printed by D. Viglino, 1954). Large 4° (a few minor imperfections in the lithographs). Vermilion morocco bound, signed P.L. Martin, 1954, covers and spine smooth, geometrically embossed with cold-stamped fillets and inlaid with garnet-colored box leather diamonds forming a cruciform pattern that gradually tapers toward the center of the covers; inner covers and endpapers lined edge-to-edge with pinkish-ivory box leather; gilt edges with witness marks; cover and spine reinforced. Presented in a half-vermilion morocco slipcase with bands, gold-embossed paper covers, fine brown leather lining, and a matching edged slipcase. First edition of this play, first performed at the Comédie-Française in late 1954. Illustrated with a frontispiece and 11 black lithographs as inserts included in the pagination. A single print run of 250 numbered copies plus a few non-commercial copies, on large Arches vellum. One of the 30 head copies (No. 4) containing an original signed black-pencil drawing (the head of Christ on the cross, a preparatory sketch for the insert on p. 23) and two sets of lithographs on China paper and Arches vellum. The copy also contains the publication prospectus illustrated with three lithographs, the subscription form, and a four-page presentation brochure featuring a text by Montherlant and a text by the publisher stating that “the poignant and pitiful face of the Crucified One” (our illustration) is inspired by a Christ figure adorning the sacristy of the Brioude Hospital, which originated from a former leper colony. This copy is enhanced by an unsigned autograph dedication by Montherlant to the Belgian bibliophile of Hungarian origin Richard Török, dated June 16, 1954; an unsigned autograph letter from Marcel Jouhandeau to the same recipient; Paris, October 24, 1954, 2 pp. on 1 double folio in-12, envelope preserved. He spent the night reading Montherlant’s work, the galley proofs of which he had received, and found it “admirable, of inhuman austerity.” Furthermore, he mentions a manuscript he intends to send him soon and concludes with “I think of Maggy and you often.” Jouhandeau was very close to Török and his wife Maggy, as evidenced by the foreword he wrote for the catalog of the sale of his library in 1964. This copy also contains three unsigned autograph letters from the French bookbinder Pierre-Lucien Martin to Török, dated Paris, December 28, 1954, January 7, and February 14, 1955. He received two copies of the book (one for Török and one for his friend Robert Moureau, another great Belgian bibliophile) and planned to create both bindings in the same style. He presented several options, advising against, for example, a silk endpaper (“‘it’s outdated’”) in favor of natural calfskin or ivory-glazed calfskin, and sent him the mock-ups, including a “pattern of fillets contained within a design forming a cross centered on the optical center of the cover” (our binding) or a “pattern of cold-stamped crosses radiating from a central cross” (that of Robert Moureau; see Bibliothèque littéraire Robert Moureau & Micheline de Bellefroid. Part Two. Paris, Bergé, Dec. 9–10, 2004, lot 530). Finally, given the additional work and materials required for the slipcase, he asked her for an extra 5,000 francs and concluded, “The effect will be very rich while remaining true to the spirit of the book.” It should be noted that Robert Moureau’s copy, bound identically to ours, bears a dedication by Montherlant dated the same day and was bound the same year. A magnificent binding whose asymmetrical design already foreshadows Op Art. Formerly in the collection of Richard Török, a Belgian bibliophile (dedication; see Bibliothèque Török, public auction. Brussels, Van der Perre, November 7, 1964, lot 493). - Louis de Sadeleer (1913–1996), a prominent Belgian bibliophile and president of the Royal Society of Bibliophiles and Iconophiles of Belgium from 1983 to 1996 (bookplate).