121 - PENROSE (Valentine).

PENROSE (Valentine). Dons des féminines. n.p.: Les Pas perdus, [1951]. — Folio, 334 x 255: (36 leaves; the first two and last two are blank), printed cover. Paperback, padded cover. Cramer, no. 61. First edition. “Dons des féminines is a series of 26 full-page collages (reminiscent of those by Max Ernst in *La Femme aux 100 têtes*, 1929), accompanied by “automatic” texts in French and English, intended to tell the story of Maria Elona y Rubia” (Cramer). Limited edition of 400 copies plus a few non-commercial copies. This copy is one of the 350 numbered from 51 to 400 (No. 166), complete with Pablo Picasso’s etching as a crossed-out proof on Arches vellum paper, unsigned. “The book features a preface by Paul Éluard expressing his admiration for Valentine Penrose’s phantasmagorical depictions of women, and it may have been through the poet that Pablo Picasso created the etching for the book. It depicts two women entwined on a bed. Dated November 27, 1951, it is the only engraving from that year, with the exception of those for *La Maigre*” (ibid.). Very well-preserved copy.