Villon (Oeuvres)

Paris: Gibert Jeune Librairie d'Amateurs, 1937. Limited Edition. Vellum. Fine. Dubout, [Albert]. No. 131 of 3000, twelvemo size, 173 pp., in French. Francois Villon (b. 1431, disappeared from view 1463), remains the best-known French poet of the late Middle Ages. Much of his life remains conjecture, but records show him involved in various forms of mayhem: murder, thievery, and other forms of criminal behavior. Many of the stories from these days have made their way into this poetry, which is sprinkled with mysteries and hidden jokes, "peppered with the slang of the time and the underworld subculture in which Villon moved" (n. b., from Wikipedia).

French cartoonist and illustrator Albert Dubout (1905-1976) has captured the spirit of Villon to perfection in the sixty illustrations for this edition of Villon's work; a lovely, custom-bound version of the works of Villon.

___DESCRIPTION: Full vellum with yapped edges, spine with hand-lettering and a small hand-painted vignette of a man's head which mirrors the spine on the original wrap, marbled endpapers, binder's signature on the verso of the front free endpaper "R. Gibert Luxe", wraps bound in (front wrap at the front, back and spine at the rear), limitation statement at the front, sixty-one illustrations (per the limitation statement) throughout the text, most in full colour; 12 mo size (8" by 5.25"), pagination: [i-xii] 1-153 [154-161], one of 3000 copies, this number 131. In a custom slipcase covered in marbled paper matching the book's endpapers.

___CONDITION: Volume is fine, with a strong, square text block, solid hinges, perfectly straight corners with no rubbing, the interior is clean and bright, and it is entirely free of prior owner markings; vellum is clean overall with some slight soiling, there is a single gutter crack between the flyleaf and the front wrap which was bound in, but the binding and both pages are firm; the crack is likely due to the manner in which the front wrap was sewn in. The slipcase is very good plus, strong and sturdy, clean, with minor overall wear and some cracks just beginning to show at the bottom of the spine.

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