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an open book with a picture of a man in a suit and tiean open book with writing on it sitting on top of a table
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121 - Henri MICHAUX. *Qui je fus*. With a woodcut portrait of the …
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Estimate €5,000 - €7,000
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Description
Henri MICHAUX. *Qui je fus*. With a woodcut portrait of the author by G. Aubert. Paris, Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue Française, 1927. In-12, paperback, preserved in an in-4 slipcase in half-maroquin with striped trim. First edition, printed in Dijon on the presses of Maurice Darantière. One of the 16 first-edition copies on old tinted Japanese paper, printed especially for Henri Michaux. These first-edition copies are accompanied by a full-margin proof, on tinted Japanese paper, of the author’s portrait signed by Georges Aubert – “the only realistic portrait ever reproduced in a book by Michaux, who opposed the very idea of a portrait for as long as he could, but in vain” (Henri Michaux Exhibition, BnF, no. 9). A precious copy belonging to his first great love, Gabrielle Friedrich, with a long autograph dedication on the half-title page: “I was moulding a little creature out of breadcrumbs, a sort of mouse. No sooner had I finished its third leg than it began to run It fled under cover of night” *Qui je fus* to my most precious Banjoby Henry The long quotation in inverted commas preceding the dedication itself is taken from the second chapter of the book (page 24). Jean-Pierre Martin, Henri Michaux’s biographer, when discussing the enigmatic figure of Banjoby—also known as Banjeby, Banjo or By—cites this copy of *Qui je fus* and its dedication, which attests to the existence of Banjo-Gabrielle. “Banjo, like Nadja, more so than Gala, is entirely poetic. Her body of rare words inspires dreams of love. Her body of rare words also inspires dreams of Michaux’s loving-beloved selves, half-hidden, revealed yet concealed, overshadowed by a thousand unloving-unloved selves” (Henri Michaux, p. 167). A perfect copy preserved in a half-maroquin box in in-4 format, allowing the full-bleed print of the author’s portrait by Georges Aubert—signed and authenticated—to be preserved; it is mounted beneath a Plexiglas window in the upper flap of the box. (Michaux, Œuvres complètes I, Pléiade, p. 1214: “Gabrielle Friedrich is said to be the very woman whom Michaux refers to in turn as Banjo, Banjeby and By, and to whom the copy of *Qui je fus*, specially printed for Michaux in 1927, was already dedicated.”)
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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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