LABOUREUR / BOULLAIRE.- PROUST (Marcel). - Lot 140

Lot 140
Go to lot
Estimation :
200 - 300 EUR
LABOUREUR / BOULLAIRE.- PROUST (Marcel). - Lot 140
LABOUREUR / BOULLAIRE.- PROUST (Marcel). A l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs. Illustrations by Laboureur and Boullaire. P., Nouvelle Revue Française, 1948, 2 vols. petit 4°, 291, 271 p., 2 ff.n.ch., br., printed covers filled, in double folder and common slipcase (spines of folders browned). First illustrated edition, 475 copies, 1/440 Lana vellum. The covers and printer's proof are dated 1948, while the title pages and copyright are dated 1946, as always in this edition, which was specially printed on November 18, 1948, the 26th anniversary of Marcel Proust's death. The Auriol 11-point typeface, used for printing the text in two colors, was specially cast for this edition. The first volume is illustrated with a two-color frontispiece and 24 engravings in the text, with soft varnish in sanguine by Jean-Émile Laboureur. The second volume is illustrated with a two-color frontispiece and 24 engravings in the text, copperplates in sanguine by Jacques Boullaire. The story of this beautiful edition is a special one. As early as October 1918, as indicated by our letter found in the papers of J.-É. Laboureur, the artist was interested in Marcel Proust's text, of which only the first volume of "Du côté de chez Swann" had been published by Grasset in 1913; "À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs" was not due to be published by the N.R.F. until the end of November 1918. On April 10, 1929, Gaston Gallimard confirmed an illustration project to Laboureur: "Following Mr. André Malraux's visit, we confirm that we are asking you to undertake for us, at the end of 1929, the illustration of Marcel Proust's 'À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs'. This illustration will include around 30 etchings measuring 10 x 10 cm". Work began - with the collaboration of André Malraux - and resulted in an agreement signed on June 24, 1930. At the beginning of 1931, Laboureur had completed the copperplates for the first volume, but had difficulty in obtaining payment. In October 1931, Gallimard used the economic crisis as a pretext to announce the indefinite postponement of the second volume. The work was abandoned, apparently for good. But on September 18, 1942, eleven years later, Gallimard wrote to Laboureur asking him to resume and complete the illustration. Laboureur was seriously ill at the time, and died a few months later, in June 1943, without having been able to finish his work. Jacques Boullaire produced the illustrations for the second volume, which took almost five years to publish.
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue