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a book with green lettering on it and a white backgroundan open book with a drawing of a person hanging from a polean open book with a drawing of a dog on it ' s back
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21 - [Marc CHAGALL]. The Seven Deadly Sins.
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Estimate €1,500 - €2,000
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Description
[Marc CHAGALL]. The Seven Deadly Sins. […] Etchings by Marc Chagall. Paris, Simon Kra, 1926. Quarto, paperback, cover printed in green and black with embossed lettering, grey paper slipcase. First edition of this collection of texts on the seven deadly sins. Jean Giraudoux wrote on Pride, Paul Morand on Greed, Pierre Mac Orlan on Lust, André Salmon on Envy, Max Jacob on Gluttony, Jacques de Lacretelle on Wrath and, finally, Joseph Kessel on Sloth. Limited edition of 300 copies: one of the 240 on vellum paper (no. 178). The illustrations comprise 15 original etchings by Marc Chagall, not included in the text. This is one of the first books illustrated by the Russian-born painter, whose earliest engravings had appeared in Berlin three years earlier, in 1923, in an album entitled *Mein Leben*. After his arrival in Paris, he then set to work on Gogol’s Dead Souls, commissioned by Ambroise Vollard. The print run was completed in 1927, but the book was not finally published until 1948! In the meantime, other books were published, notably *The Seven Deadly Sins*: “This book is not the first that Chagall illustrated – there were three in Russia before 1920, followed by *Rose des vents*, the first illustrated book published in France, by Sans Pareil – but all his books up to that point were illustrated with reproduced drawings. *The Seven Deadly Sins* is therefore indeed his first book illustrated with original engravings, preceding *Maternité*, a story by Marcel Arland illustrated with five engravings, by a few days or weeks” (Antoine Coron). (Coron, *From Goya to Max Ernst: Illustrated Books from the R.M. Library*, 2018, p. 214.- Rauch, *Les Peintres et le Livre*, no. 145. – Skira, *Anthology of Books Illustrated by Painters and Sculptors of the École de Paris*, no. 45.)
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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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