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a black book with gold stars on it sitting on a white surfacea black notebook with gold dots on itan open book with writing on it sitting on top of a tablean open book with a handwritten poem on it sitting on top of a tablean open book with a drawing of a man ' s face on it
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1 - Guillaume APOLLINAIRE. *Vitam Impendere Amori*.
See original version (French)

Estimate €1,200 - €1,500
Sale commission
Description
Guillaume APOLLINAIRE. *Vitam Impendere Amori*. Poems and drawings. Paris, Mercure de France, 1917. In-8 booklet, black morocco leather, plain spine, covers decorated with a constellation of gilt dots, pine-green suede endpapers edged with a strip of black and green morocco leather, gilt edges, original cover preserved, slipcase (R. Desmules). First edition: limited to 215 copies. Author’s copy on laid paper, unjustified, signed by the artist. A collection of six poems by Guillaume Apollinaire illustrated with eight black-and-white compositions by André Rouveyre. “These melancholic and tender quatrains, in which tragedy always seems on the verge of surfacing beneath the lightness of the images and the verse, are among the purest verses Apollinaire ever wrote” (Apollinaire, Œuvres poétiques, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, p. 1064). The poems and drawings are printed on the front of the leaves; the reverse sides are blank except for the last one, which bears the ‘printed’ mark. The surviving cover, made of marbled paper, bears the title printed on a label affixed to the centre of the upper front cover. Bound with, at the end: André ROUVEYRE. Vita Vixit. Poems and two original woodcuts. Sequel and conclusion to *Vitam impendere amori*, with Guillaume Apollinaire in 1917. Paris, 1960. An edition reproducing the unpublished manuscript in facsimile. Limited edition of 261 copies: one of the 25 intended for contributors (no. XII). A fine autograph dedication covering the half-title page: “To my Kostia Vlasto, joyfully rediscovered after half a century! [...] With fond memories of Barbizon, 4 April 1960.” Also included at the front is a signed autograph letter from the author to the same recipient, dated 12 April 1960. 2 pages, in-8. A prominent figure in Parisian high society, Kostia Vlasto (1883–1967) was a banker of Greek origin: the caricaturist Sem depicted him as a cockatoo with a human face.
See original version (French)
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About the sale Henri Michaux, the Sven Pitsey collection
Auction location
Auction time 10/29/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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