FR EN
an open book with a picture of a clock and a drawing on it
Premium Leducq Maison de Ventes aux enchères

29 - René CHAR. À la santé du serpent.
See original version (French)

Estimate €4,000 - €4,500
Sale commission
Description
René CHAR. À la santé du serpent. Illustrated by Joan Miró. Paris, G.L.M., 1954. Large 8vo, sewn, in the publisher’s grey cloth slipcase. First separate edition, illustrated with 26 drawings by Joan Miró “The hieroglyphs [by Joan Mir] that separate the twenty-seven aphorisms are, with one exception, the same as those scattered before and after the poem across mysterious pages of musical notation from which the painter would draw the chords for his accompaniment. It is worth noting the exemplary coherence of this relatively modest book, illustrated with line-art reproductions” (Antoine Coron, René Char, 2007, no. 288.) Limited edition of 604 copies: one of the 550 on vellum paper (no. 167). A copy belonging to Ciska Grillet, to which has been added the original colour lithograph signed by Joan Miret, normally included with the first 54 copies (artist’s proof 3/3). Autographed dedication on the half-title page: To Ciska, sorely missed, yet ever-present. Her ‘brother of the marshes’, R.C. Peintre, Ciska Grillet had joined the Resistance in the Ganagobie maquis. For a time, she hid René Char, becoming his confidante. She was also very close to Nicolas de Staël. In the preface to the catalogue for a Ciska Grillet exhibition in 1949, René Char confesses: “During the winter of 1943, a winter of nature as confidante and of the hunted man, in a remote cottage in the Alpes de Provence, a young woman who divided her time between the arduous task of aiding those evading conscription and a frail easel upon which she delighted in placing the canvases she painted with humour, meticulousness and patience.” Due to a printing error, the cover features the title twice on the front and back covers, upside down. It has been double-covered. (Coron, 50 illustrated books since 1947, 1988, no. 16: “Joan Mirillustra illustrated or contributed to the illustrations for some fifteen of René Char’s books. He is therefore, alongside Braque and Picasso, one of his three main ‘substantial allies’, to use the poet’s own phrase.”)
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
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
You may also like