ERNST (Max).

Histoire naturelle. P., Jeanne Bucher, 1926, folio (50 x 32,5 cm), in sheets, blue half cloth publisher's laced cardboard folder, title label on upper cover (folder worn and stained with detached boards, slight light wetness on lower edge of some plates). Missing the title, the introduction by Arp, the table of plates and the justification (these leaves have been replaced by 5 typed pages on laid paper). Complete with the 34 plates in phototype after the original rubbings by Max Ernst. First edition printed at 306 copies. Max Ernst was inspired by an old wooden floor whose grain had been accentuated by many years of "rubbing". Beginning in 1925, he captured the images suggested by these patterns: on sheets of paper laid on the floor, rubbing with a lead pencil, he managed to restore the texture. These drawings suggest mysterious forests populated by creatures (Max Ernst, Illustrierte Bücher und druckgraphische Werke, 10; Spies/Metken, 790-823).