[Rarebooks] fa: GEORGES ROUAULT: REINCARNATIONS DU PERE UBU - Folio/1 of 250 Copies - VOLLARD 1932

[ArCh]

Auction ending Sunday, March 19. Images and more details can be found at the URL below or by searching for the seller name arch_in_la. 

https://tinyurl.com/2n9v76rr

Thanks again,
Ardwight Chamberlain
Ann Arbor, MI, USA


Ambroise Vollard; Georges Rouault (illus.): Reincarnations du Pere Ubu. Eaux-fortes et dessins sur bois de Georges Rouault. Paris: Vollard, 1932. First edition thus. Tall folio (45x35 cm.; 18x14 in.), page-gatherings loose as issued in stiff illustrated wraps, original glassine jacket, green cloth-covered chemise and slipcase (measuring 47.5x37.5 cm.; 19x15 in.); [4], vii, [1], 211, [5] pp. Number 160 of 250 copies "sur papier à la marque de la Manufacture Royale de Vidalon" (of a total edition of 305).

Lacking the separate suite of etchings and aquatints, else complete with 104 original wood-engraved illustrations by Georges Rouault, 16 of which are full-page. A fine example, with just a light touch of foxing to the untrimmed edges of the text block, a few light creases to the corners, else exceptionally clean, fresh and bright in a slightly worn slipcase with some rubbing to the edges and spine.

The art dealer, publisher and soi-disant writer Ambroise Vollard commissioned Rouault to illustrate this collection of satires inspired by Alfred Jarry's great absurdist character, Père Ubu. Vollard had "discovered" Rouault in 1914 and for almost twenty-five years acted as his patron, though for Rouault this patronage might have seemed more like indentured servitude. For much of the time, he was kept a virtual prisoner in a studio in Vollard's palatial mansion and was constantly hounded by the dealer to produce more paintings and etchings. "Everyone was afraid of Vollard," Rouault said later. Regardless of the circumstances, the relationship produced some remarkable work, as evidenced by this arresting and uncommon book.