63 - DENIS (Maurice) - THOMPSON (Francis).

DENIS (Maurice) - THOMPSON (Francis). Poems translated by Élisabeth M. Denis-Graterolle. Paris: Ambroise Vollard, 1936 [1942]. — Folio, 385 x 280: (2 blank folios), 129 pp., (9 folios, the last 2 blank), 13 plates, illustrated cover. Unbound, with a pasted-in cover. A superb edition printed in a run of 260 copies, illustrated with 69 original lithographs by Maurice Denis (1870–1943), including one on the title page in blue, 55 in the headers or footers, and 13 full-color plates. This is Maurice Denis’s last major illustrated book. Ambroise Vollard—who had previously published his *Imitation of Christ* (1903) and *The Wisdom of Verlaine* (1911)—commissioned him to illustrate the poems of the English mystic Francis Thompson, in the translation being prepared by the painter’s second wife, Elisabeth Denis-Graterolle. Drawing directly onto the stone himself, the artist incorporated about one-third of his engraved work into this single book. Vollard died in 1939, and the war halted publication; it was ultimately Lucien Vollard, his brother and heir, with the assistance of Martin Fabiani and the printer André Clot, who brought the project to completion in 1942. This eventful history is reflected in the book’s three dates: the title page is dated 1936, the cover 1939, and the “printed” date February 1942. Limited edition of 260 copies; this is one of the 205 printed on Holland paper (no. 128). Very well-preserved copy, despite a few browned pages.