Facile. by MAN RAY; Eluard, Paul; MAN RAY - 1935

Paris, GLM, 1935.
1 vol. (185 x 240 mm) non paginé. Reliure à emboîtage avec plats à bandes de soie noir et de cuir argenté, titre gravé au laser sur le premier plat et gardes en papiers poncés (reliure signée de Tamara Lise).
First Edition.1/1200 copies printed on velin (n° 450).Inscribed: [in french]: "To Marcel Adéma, who has for poetry the respect due to the young and the old ones, Paul Eluard".
In 1935, Man Ray took a series of photographs of Nusch, Paul Éluard's second wife, whom he had met in 1929. It was on these images that the poet wrote the love poems for Facile, published in a masterly layout by the poet-typographer Guy Levis Mano. Man Ray followed very closely all the stages of the production of this refined book, one of the most beautiful surrealist books illustrated by photography.
Pierre-Marcel Adéma, Apollinaire's first true biographer, had built up an extensive library, obviously on his favourite author, but more generally on the French poetry of the first half of the… Read More

Paris: GLM, 1935 Quarto 24.5x18 cm., wrappers, 20(1)pp., loose as issued. No. 791 of 1000 copies on velin of 1220 overall. A very successful collaboration of poet and photographer, with extraordinary sensuous photos of Eluard’s wife Nusch coupled with page design incorporating the poetry cycle therein. It is rightly acclaimed as one of the greatest surrealist publications. This is a fine, crisp copy, in custom clambshell box bearing hand-tooled leather spine.

Paris: Editions G.L.M.,, 1935. This small photobook has come to be regarded as one of the iconic French photobooks of the 1930s First and limited edition, number 851 of 1,175 copies. One of the most important works in the photobook canon: "Although Man Ray participated in and produced hundreds of fruitful collaborative works in his life, Facile must be ranked among the most successful. The book combines Paul Éluard's love poems to his wife Nusch with Man Ray's photographs of her in an extremely elegant design, integrating Man Ray's solarized, superimposed, double-exposed and negative images into the page spreads in a way that makes image and text appear to intimately embrace. It is a fluent but not at all facile collaboration between the poet, the photographer, the model and muse, and the publisher Guy Lévis Mano. Nusch Éluard had become one of Man Ray's most important models... and was also one of Picasso's favourite models. She had just married Éluard the previous year. The Éluards remained in… Read More

Paris: Editions GLM, 1935. First edition. Unbound folded gatherings laid into publisher's photographically illustrated wrapper, as issued. Some creasing to the front cover at the spine, as often seen, slight rubbing to head and tail of spine. Interior clean and bright. Housed in a custom chemise and slipcase, with title printed on front cover of chemise and displayed through cut-outs on the slipcase. Binder's signature within the chemise, dated 1988.Of a total edition of 1225 copies, this is one of 200 roman-numeraled hors commerce copies. Signed on the half-title by both Eluard and Man Ray, and inscribed to Leon Pierre-Quint, the literary director and editor of the major surrealist publishing house Editions du Sagittaire, and friend and biographer to Proust and Gide. Although not an uncommon book, the hors commerce copies are less seen, and it is very rare to find it signed by both authors.Facile is one of the most beautiful and influential books of the twentieth century, the very definition of a… Read More

Paris: Editions G. L. M. 79 Avenue de Segur. Type printed by Les Presses des Editions G. L. M. [Guy Lévis Mano, typographer (1904-1980)]; heliogravures printed by Les Presses de Breger, 1935. 4to. (9 1/2 x 7 inches). pp. 52. Foliated in pencil 1-18 including 5 original photographs. Number 388 out of 1000 copies on papier velin from a total edition of 1,225 copies: 25 on Japan of which 5 were hors commerce, and 200 on papier velin hors commerce numbered VI to CCV. Original book is illustrated with twelve black and white heliogravure photographs, one of which is a double-page, with four poems. Extra-illustrated with 5 original Man Ray photographs, including one which is solarized, printed from original negatives between 1967 and 1970. Various image sizes: (7 1/2 x 6 inches to 9 x 7 inches). Bound by Henri Mercher (1912-1976) who worked with many prominent artists including Joan Miró and Jacques Villon (Gaston Duchamp). Lettered in gold on doublure [MERCHER]. Mercher patented a binding process using… Read More