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DANTE ALIGHIERI (LASZLO BARTA, ILLUSTRATOR) Inferno. Cinquante-cinq eaux-fortes de Barta
Paris: Editions de la Cigogne / Jacques Klein, 1938. AN OUTSTANDING, UNIQUE COPY of this beautiful edition of Dante's Inferno (Italian text). Illustrated with 55 extremely disturbing original etchings, almost all full-page and hors-texte, by Hungarian-Jewish artist Laszlo Barta. Edition limited to 275 numbered copies of which THIS IS ONE OF ONLY 18 COPIES PRINTED ON OLD JAPANESE PAPER. Complete with THREE ORIGINAL DRAWINGS, a second suite of the 55 etchings (printed in sepia), and a suite of the 20 rejected etchings. Jacques Klein (the publisher) collaborated with Barta on several books, and he usually issued a number of copies of each edition in full parchment bindings executed by Lavaux, with original paintings by Barta on the covers. For those copies of this edition of Dante, there would always be a scene from the Inferno (either a single shade or a group of shades) on the front cover, and a stern portrait of Dante on the back cover. Klein and/or Barta obviously felt those compositions to be the best and/or most representative of the images created by Barta. THIS IS COPY NUMBER I, PRINTED FOR KLEIN HIMSELF, and it includes the original drawings for all three of those paintings: the individual sinner, the group of sinners, and the portrait of Dante. Folio. Loose asissued in original wraps, with board chemise and slipcase. FINE AND BRIGHT, WITH NO DEFECTS. A rare and fascinating illustrated edition of the Inferno, likely made even rarer by the fact that both the illustrator and the publisher were Jewish, and it was issued in France on the eve of the Second World War.
Offered for US$ 4950.00 by: Cole & Contreras Books / Sylvan Cole Gallery - Book number: 3438
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