260 - RAIS, Alain. Fists and Trees.

RAIS, Alain. Fists and Trees. Paris, Chambelland, 1973. In-8, paperback, white cover with flaps printed in black. 70 pages, one engraving by Jacques Clerc and one aquatint by Yves Piergiovanni on heavy paper, both loose-leaf. Slight crease on the spine, slight browning on the cover. First edition illustrated with a relief engraving by Jacques Clerc (no. 35/50) and a two-color aquatint by Yves Piergiovanni (no. 24/50). One of 49 copies on vellum (no. 27). Triple autograph dedication signed by the author and the two illustrators to the writer Mathieu Bénézet and his wife Olga, in pencil on the half-title page. Alain Rais: “With you, Olga, Mathieu, yes, dreaming of dawn. This love. Joy, pain. I don’t know anymore. Alain” Yves Piergiovanni: “Yes indeed, for Mathieu and Olga / Yves” Jacques Clerc: “For Olga and Mathieu, with affection. So that he may remember this thing among all things...” Enclosures: - A signed autograph letter from Alain Rais and “François” (1 handwritten page, in-4 format, in red pen on yellow paper, dated Valence, March 20, 1986) addressed to Mathieu and Olga Bénézet. Alain Rais congratulates Mathieu on “the good news” he shared with him and wishes him “a happy new year [...] on this day of such a sad Chirac-era spring.” François suggests they meet as soon as he goes to Lyon so they can spend “a happy Easter together.” - Autographed postcard signed by Alain Rais & Yves Piergiovanni (15 x 10 cm), dated Tuesday, July 30, 1985, sent from Lège-Cap-Ferret to Mathieu Bénézet and Olga at Grégoire’s home in Châteauneuf-d’Isère, with a stamped envelope. It features an aerial view of Cap-Ferret. A poetic message set against the backdrop of the ocean coastline (“Cold, choppy, capricious—the old ocean refuses to play along with us. All that remains is this forest of childhood in the rain. We think of you, happy there, where we will soon be reunited with you [...] From the bottom of our hearts, a tender tribute to the two of you [...] Le Ferret is this invisible life on this long forested headland between the raging ocean and the melancholic bay.” - Facsimile of a signed, handwritten letter from Alain Rais to Mathieu and Olga Bénézet (1 sheet, in-4 format, on the letterhead of the theater company Les 3 Croix in Crest (Drôme), dated Monday, September 9, 1985). He mentions his phone conversation with the poet André Frénaud (“he’s depressed and can no longer write everything he’d like to…”), his readings of Thomas Bernhard, Louis Calaferte (*La Contrebasse*), his hesitation over the title of his collection *"Doux écrou"* and the submission of its manuscript, the renovation of the *Les 3 Croix* theater, and the preparation of stage sets with Yves Piergiovanni. A beautiful volume illustrating the friendly and artistic bond between Alain Rais and the poet Mathieu Bénézet.