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a painting of a man in a top hat standing in front of a crowd
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Estimate €1,200 - €1,600
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Description
Degas, Edgar Halévy, Ludovic La Famille Cardinal. Illustrated with a portrait of the author and thirty-three monotypes in black and colour by Edgar Degas. With 33 (including 6 coloured) original etchings by Maurice Potin based on the monotypes by Edgar Degas, executed using the soft-ground etching technique (eau-forte à la manière du soft-ground) on copper plates, which were transferred from Degas’s original monotypes. Paris, Blaizot & Fils, 1939. 2 leaves, 161 pp., 1 leaf in 4° format. Paperback with title label (slight crease mark on the lower edge of the spine). First edition. – Adhémar 71. – Monod 5797. – Skira 58. – Stern 25 – One of 325 (GA 350) numbered copies on Vélin de Rives. - With a foreword by Marcel Guérin. - The only book illustrated by Degas. - This work is regarded as the only book whose illustrations were entirely conceived and executed by Edgar Degas. Degas produced the underlying monotypes as early as 1880–1883, with the intention of illustrating a new edition of the stories by his close friend Ludovic Halévy, which depict the lives of the ‘ballet rats’ Pauline and Virginie Cardinal and their family behind the scenes at the Paris Opéra. Halévy wrote several short stories, which were published individually between 1870 and 1880 and in 1883 with illustrations by Massard under the title ‘La famille Cardinal’. A further edition, illustrated by Charles Léandre, appeared in 1893. Degas’s monotypes all relate to the first three of eight short stories, which had already been published by the end of 1875. It is reasonable to assume that a publication of the first three stories with illustrations by Degas was planned, but this never came to fruition. Halévy did not seem to have liked the pictures, perhaps because Degas had depicted the stories’ narrator in a manner resembling Halévy himself. (cf. Sutherland Boggs: Degas. New York, 1988. p. 280.) It was not until 1918, following the sale of works from Degas’s estate, that a collection comprising 35 monotypes, 30 second prints and eleven drawings reappeared as individual items, which was later acquired by Marcel Guérin, the publisher Auguste Blaizot and the collector David David-Weil. Guérin and Blaizot finally published 34 of the motifs in this limited edition in 1938/39: The original monotypes were transferred onto copper plates and engraved and printed by the peintre-graveur Maurice Potin using his own etching technique, partly in Potin’s workshop and partly by the master printer Raymond Haasen. As many of Degas’s original monotypes have been lost over time, these etchings represent the only surviving documentation of many of the motifs. The work has been thoroughly acclaimed and catalogued by leading Degas experts such as Jean Adhémar, Françoise Cachin, Eugenia Parry Janis and Jean Sutherland Boggs – a fine copy with wide margins and uncut edges. With 33 (6 of which are hand-coloured) original etchings by Maurice Potin after Edgar Degas’s monotypes, executed in soft-ground etching (eau-forte à la manière du soft-ground) on copper plates transferred from Degas’s original monotypes. – First edition. - One of 325 (total edition 350) numbered copies on Vélin de Rives. - With a preface by Marcel Guérin. - The only book illustrated by Degas. - This work is considered the only book whose illustrations were entirely conceived and executed by Edgar Degas. Degas produced the underlying monotypes as early as around 1880–1883, with the intention of illustrating a new edition of the stories by his close friend Ludovic Halévy, which depict the lives of the ballet girls Pauline and Virginie Cardinal and their family behind the scenes at the Paris Opéra. Halévy wrote several short stories, which were published individually between 1870 and 1880 and then collected in 1883, illustrated by Massard, under the title ‘La famille Cardinal’. A further edition, illustrated by Charles Léandre, appeared in 1893. All of Degas’s monotypes relate to the first three of the eight short stories, which had already been published by the end of 1875. It can be assumed that a publication of these first three stories, illustrated by Degas, was planned but never came to fruition. Halévy apparently did not like the images—perhaps because Degas had made the narrator of the stories resemble Halévy himself. (cf. Sutherland Boggs: Degas. New York, 1988, p. 280.) It was not until 1918, following the sale of works from Degas’s estate, that a group of 35 monotypes, 30 second impressions and eleven drawings resurfaced as a single lot; it was later acquired by Marcel Guérin, the publisher Auguste Blaizot and the collector David David-Weil. In 1938–39, Guérin and Blaizot finally published 34 of the motifs in this limited edition: the original monotypes were transferred onto copper plates and etched and printed by hand by the peintre-graveur Maurice Potin, partly in Potin’s own workshop and partly by the master printer Raymond Haasen. As numerous original monotypes by Degas have been lost over time, these etchings represent the only surviving record of many of the motifs. The work has been extensively studied and catalogued by leading Degas scholars such as Jean Adhémar, Françoise Cachin, Eugenia Parry Janis, and Jean Sutherland Boggs. – A fine copy with wide margins, unbound and untrimmed (uncut).
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About the sale Valuable books, prints, historical photographs
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Auction time 10/24/2026 at 10:00 AM
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