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a blue book with writing on it next to a piece of papera handwritten letter written in black ink on a piece of papera piece of paper with handwriting on it sitting on a tablea blue book with gold trimming and a black coveran old book with a blue cover sitting on top of a white tabletwo blue books sitting on top of each other on a tablean open book with a drawing of a naked woman on itan old book with a drawing of a naked woman on itan open book with a picture of a man sitting on a horsean open book sitting on top of a white table next to a cup of coffeean open book with a black and white drawing of a woman in a dressan open book with a picture of a naked man laying on the groundan open book with a picture of a man and a woman on itan open book with a picture of a naked woman on ita drawing of a woman dancing in front of a group of womenan old book with a blue cover sitting on top of a white tablean old book sitting on top of a white table next to a white wall
KÂ- MONDO / KAPANDJI MORHANGE

235 - LOUYS, Pierre and COLLIN, Raphaël. *Les Chansons de Bilitis*…
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Estimate €150 - €200
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Description
LOUYS, Pierre and COLLIN, Raphaël. *Les Chansons de Bilitis*. Pierre Louÿs’s collection of ancient and erotic poems, delicately illustrated with thirty-three etchings after Raphaël Collin, bound by Louise Durand-Pinard. The volume is accompanied by a handwritten note from the artist discussing the paintings he planned to exhibit at the 1903 Salon. Paris, A. Ferroud – F. Ferroud, Successor, 1906. In-4, full Prussian blue morocco, ribbed spine highlighted with a gilt fillet, compartments decorated with gilt framing bands featuring interlaced palmettes, triple gilt band framing the covers, inner edge in the same morocco leather with a similar framing border featuring interlaced gilt palmettes, linings, endpapers and double endpapers of blue marbled paper, double gilt fillet at the edges, guilloché caps, gilt top edge, untrimmed, covers and spine preserved, in a slipcase. Binding signed ‘Durvand – Pinard rel.’. Vol. IX – 181 pp., 33 engravings, including 7 full-page plates. Front cover detached, spine joints slightly rubbed. A very fine edition of the famous literary hoax by Pierre Louÿs (1870–1925), illustrated with 33 original etchings in the ‘serpentes’ style after Raphaël Collin (1850–1916), including 7 full-page plates. Limited edition of 325 copies; this is one of the 206 numbered copies on Arches vellum paper (no. 246). Engraved by Charles Chessa and printed by Charles Wittmann, the Symbolist-inspired illustrations are remarkable for their finesse and delicacy, evoking a poetic eroticism devoid of any vulgarity – a trait unfortunately often found in other illustrated editions of Pierre Louÿs’s works. The author presents his text as a translation of Greek poems attributed to a fictional priestess from the 6th century BCE, going so far as to invent a fictitious biography in the introduction to his verses. Our copy is accompanied by an autograph letter signed by Raphaël Collin (one and a half pages, in-12, Paris, 15 April 1903) confirming two of his paintings exhibited at the 1903 Salon. “The more significant of the two, ‘Quiétude’, depicts a young, dark-haired woman in fairly vivid colours, seen from the front, her hair tied back in bands, naked to the waist and leaning against a tree in rather dark undergrowth. Her arms are raised behind her neck; a pale yellow flower is in her hair; her legs, cropped above the knees, are draped in a dark yellow fabric. The second painting, *Contemplation*, is a bust of a dark-haired woman with a swarthy complexion, seen in profile, her hands (thoughtful?), in a meditative pose; the drapery falling from her bare shoulders is primrose yellow, – with a landscape background as well”… The binding, slightly later in full blue embossed morocco, is signed by Louise Durvand-Pinard, daughter of the bookbinder Lucien Durvand. Having worked independently only from 1924 to 1934 – that is, from her father’s death until her own – her bookbindings are rare. A fine copy of this refined illustrated edition.
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About the sale Miscellaneous Books
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Auction time 07/06/2026 at 2:00 PM
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