248 - DINET, Etienne. DEVIC, M. (trans.).

DINET, Etienne. DEVIC, M. (trans.). Antar. An Arabic Heroic Poem. Based on the translation by Marcel Devic. Paris, H. Piazza, 1898. Folio, 125 pp., partly in the original format, plates and illustrations, text framed, and a supplementary volume. Contemporary brick-red half-maroquin with corner pieces, ribbed spine highlighted with blind-stamped fillets featuring a gilt title and date, oriental mosaic decoration in green and red maroquin with gilt-outlined panels, gilded fillet on the covers, gilded head, cover and spine preserved, companion volume bound in brick-red half-maroquin with corners, the whole in a marbled slipcase with a brick-red maroquin bias band [Canape] (a few foxing spots in a row on the endpapers, a few discreet areas of discoloration on the text volume, and an equal number of very small foxing spots scattered throughout). Description: A splendid edition illustrated by the painter Etienne Dinet in a beautiful binding perfectly executed by Canape. Features 132 color illustrations, including 5 full-page illustrations, 114 within the text, 11 chapter headings, and 2 end-piece illustrations. Limited edition of 300 copies. This is copy no. 59, bearing the publishers’ certification stamp, one of 25 printed on large-format Arches Special watermarked paper featuring a black-and-white suite on China paper. The illustrations by Étienne Alphonse Dinet (1861–1929) bring to life the Arab legend of Antar, a Manichaean tale of the triumph of good over evil, inspired by the 6th-century pre-Islamic warrior-poet Antar Ibn Shaddad, or simply Antar. Dinet spent much of his life in Algeria; his Orientalist paintings were exhibited at the World’s Fair and at the Salon of the Society of French Orientalist Painters. This volume is the first in a series of publications of high artistic quality edited by Henri Piazza. Antar was mentioned by Lamartine in his *Voyage en Orient*. He was first translated from Arabic in 1894 by Marcel Devic, and his legendary life inspired the *Sirat’Antar* after the 10th century, considered a masterpiece of Arabic literature. The scenes illustrated by Dinet depict, in particular, life in the Algerian desert. In 1889, Dinet paid tribute to Antar through a large canvas titled *The Revenge of the Sons of Antar*.