Nous Deux.

London: The Erotic Print Society, 1998.. FIRST EDITION THUS, LIMITED EDITION (2,500). Folio (31 x 22.5 cm). One of 2,500 copies (this copy unnumbered). 16 monochrome lithographs along with a 112 page booklet housed in a grey labelled folder, as new in original publisher's slipcase. "This is to certify that this numbered set of sixteen lithographic prints, the De Luxe edition, is available only by subscription; it is printed on 300 gsm Canaletto paper measuring 297 x 219 mm and is accompanied by the first English translation of the original French text. This edition is limited to two thousand, five hundred copies...". When the two illustrated volumes of Nous deux, a fictional amorous correspondence between student Nelly and her teacher Jean, first appeared in 1929, they included no indication as to who had written it, who had illustrated it, and where and when it had been published. Though both author and illustrator were unmentioned, it quickly became clear among those in the know that the author was art critic and ceramics expert Marcel Valotaire, and the illustrator the talented young artist Jean Dulac. Written in the form of letters and diary entries, Nous deux follows the growing sexual attraction between young Nelly and her almost-as-equally-young Latin teacher Jean, and is written in a direct and entirely believable style which is in many ways just as approachable now as it was in 1920s Paris. No other edition of Nous deux appeared until this 1956 �ditions du Cyclamen publication, accompanied by sixteen delicate drypoints by Gaston de Sainte-Croix, beautifully printed by Georges Viglino. The prints show a side of Sainte-Croix's skills not seen anywhere other than here and in his illustrations produced a year later for Clayton's College. They bear a close relationship with Jean Dulac's later work, especially his Trente et quelques attitudes of 1952, so much so that Dulac's prints may well have been a direct inspiration. Dutel 2054; Pia Enfer, 983.