Dégradé. Suivi de Théâtre des marionnettes, avec une composition de Jean Marembert

Paris: Éditions Réverberes, 1928. Octavo (21 ×13.5 cm). Original printed wrappers; unpaginated (33 pp.) including a frontispiece after a drawing by Jean Marembert. Overall very good condition. Limited edition of 300 copies. Rare volume of poems published by the neo-Dadaist group Les Réverbères, which was founded in December 1937 by Michel Tapié, Jean Marembert, Jacques Office, Pierre Minne, and Henri Bernard, and which promoted Dadaist exhibitions, jazz concerts, stage performances, and published literary works. Among the exhibitors were: Louis Cattiaux, Marembert, Pierre Minne, Tapié, as well as members of the "La Main à plume" surrealist group: Noël Arnaud, Marc Patin, Jean-François Chabrun, and others. Among other events, the group also organized "Tribute to Dada" soirées, which featured readings of texts by Tristan Tzara, Ribemont-Dessaignes, and others. In "Art of the Defeat: France 1940-1944," Laurence Bertrand Dorléac asserts that the group still met for several gatherings retaining the spirit of the 1930s even after the German occupation of France in June 1940.

The Neo-Dadaist activities around Michel Tapié have not been explored to any significant degree and are rarely mentioned in passing in the literature on Dada and Surrealism. One exception is Michel Fauré's book "Histoire du surréalisme sous l'Occupation", published in 1982. The reason for the sparse state of research is probably that the experimental, elaborate avant-garde prints, most of which were produced in very small editions, are hardly accessible due to their rarity.

Very scarce; as of December 2023, OCLC lists only 2 copies in North America.