319 - VOLTAIRE. MALASSIS, Edmond.

VOLTAIRE. MALASSIS, Edmond. Candide. Paris, L. Carteret, 1922. Large long quarto (28 x 21 cm), blank folios, (4)-143 pp., 2 blank folios, color illustrations. Contemporary red morocco, ribbed spine, author, title, and date in gold, gold borders and scrolls in the spandrels of the panels, large fillet motif, dotted lines, and scrolls in the spandrels on the covers; inside covers lined with pine-patterned morocco stamped with a large gilt plaque in the style of Duseuil, framed by gilt fillets and a gilt roulette; double gilt fillets at the edges; red silk endpapers, double handmade paper endpapers, guilloché headbands, gilt edges on endpapers, cover and spine preserved, housed in a half-leather slipcase with bands and flaps, the whole housed in a marbled slipcase with morocco trim [G. Mercier, successor to his father, 1928] (case slightly scuffed). Description: Illustrated edition of the famous philosophical tale. With 27 original color etchings by Edmond Malassis, enhanced with watercolor, including 9 full-page plates, headpieces, and vignettes. A very fine copy, perfectly bound by Mercier. Limited edition of 175 copies on thick Marais vellum, watermarked L(Léopold) Carteret; this is no. 17. “One of the artist’s finest illustrations” (Carteret).