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an open book with a picture of a bird and a picture of a bird on ita picture of a painting on the side of a buildinga painting on the wall of a room with a clock on itan image of a book with a bird on it ' s covera close up of a piece of paper with handwriting on itan old handwritten letter with a black ink writing on a piece of paperseveral drawings of animals and birds are on a piece of paperseveral sketches of a man in a black suit and a cowa drawing of a man with a walking stick and a drawing of a man with a walking stick and a drawing of a man with a walking sticka blue and silver book sitting on top of a white tablea silver book with a blue cover sitting on top of a white surfacea drawing of a man standing on a ladderpainting of a boy juggling with a bird and a birdcagea picture of a painting of a church on a hillpainting of a woman sitting on a chair with her hands on her hipsdrawing of a blue creature with long hair and claws on its backa picture of an open book with a picture of a blue bird on itan open book with a picture of a house and a catan open book with a drawing of a room with a clockan image of a drawing of a woman in a blue dressdrawing of a woman and a man sitting in a chair in the snowdrawing of a man with a scythe holding a lantern and a scythe in his handpainting of a woman in a long white dress holding a yellow and blue ribbondrawing of a woman in a striped dress with her hair in a ponytaildrawing of a man in a white suit and red hatseveral drawings of a man and a bull are on a piece of paperdrawing of a woman in a blue dress is shown in an open bookdrawing of a woman dressed in a purple dress with a veildrawing of a woman in a blue dress with a star on her head
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184 - LEPAPE (Georges). Set and costume designs for *The Blue Bird…
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Estimate €800 - €1,000
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Description
LEPAPE (Georges). Set and costume designs for *The Blue Bird* by Maurice Maeterlinck. With a foreword by Gérard d'Houville. A fine copy of this masterpiece of Art Deco fairy-tale art, enriched with original drawings and autograph sketches by Georges Lepape. Paris, Société d’Édition ‘Le Livre’, 1927. One volume in-8 (240 × 165 mm). Paperback, cloth-bound cover, publisher’s slipcase and dust jacket. 2 unnumbered pages, X pp., 2 unnumbered pages, 61 plates, illustrated cover. Single edition. Printed in a run of only 230 copies; this is one of the 200 on Arches vellum (no. 210). A superb illustrated album containing 61 plates, coloured using stencils and enhanced with gold and silver by J. Saudé. The first seven plates, depicting the various sets, are spread across double pages. This copy includes: - two original unsigned pencil studies by Georges Lepape, enhanced with gouache and watercolour, for the play’s first set; 
- two pages of sketches with a few handwritten notes by Georges Lepape, which are studies for characters in the play, including the wolf (plate 46) and the bull (plate 50). A fairy tale about the quest for a bird that holds the secret to happiness, The Blue Bird is a play by Maurice Maeterlinck (1862–1949), written in 1905 and first performed in 1908 at the Moscow Art Theatre. Georges Lepape designed the costumes and sets for a production at the Théâtre Mogador in 1923.
 Provenance: bookplate of Jacques Crépineau (1932–2017), director of the Théâtre de la Michodière, theatre historian, and renowned and highly regarded collector. Enclosed is an autographed card signed by the actor and director Pierre Dux (1908–1990), on the letterhead of the ‘Comédie-Française. Administrateur général’, addressed to Jacques Crépineau, undated (circa 1970), two pages in-18. Envelope included. Attached to this card are two reproductions of costumes from Rostand’s *Chantecler* from 1910. A splendid example of this theatrical gem by Lepape.
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About the sale Fine antique and collectible books, manuscripts and modern illustrated works
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Auction time 06/29/2026 at 2:00 PM
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