111 - [LITERATURE] - VILLON, François

[LITERATURE] - VILLON, François Works by François Villon. *Les Lais*, *Le Testament*, and *Poésies diverses* Paris, Léon Pichon, 1922 2 volumes, in-4°, in loose sheets, uncut, in original padded covers, with cardboard sleeves . A truly luxurious edition of this masterful and historic publication of Villon’s texts, unanimously hailed by bibliographers as one of the finest achievements in typographic art of the early 20th century. The printer Léon Pichon set the entire work in the famous “gothic bâtarde” typeface, cast from matrices originally engraved in 1489 by Jean du Pré for his famous *Heures à l’usage de Rome*. The text, brilliantly printed in black and red, is set within wide, dense woodcut borders. The illustrations, with their striking expressionist power, comprise 101 original woodcuts by Hermann Paul (1864–1940), a major painter and engraver who brings medieval Paris to life with raw intensity and modernity, the taverns of Coquillards, and the melancholy of Villon’s ballads Printed in an edition of 967 copies, with 1/120 of the top copies numbered on Arches vats-made paper (No. 97), following only 12 copies on Grand Vélin and 25 on Japon paper. Our copy is enhanced by its second volume, containing a complete set of the 101 hors-texte proofs of the woodcuts printed on Chinese paper. References: Carteret, *Illustrés*, IV, p. 401 (“A masterful publication that deserves more attention”); Monod, II, 11278; Mahé, III, p. 682.