Author: Senghoe, Leopold Sedar / Hans Erni
Title: Terre Promise D'Afrique; Symphonie En Noir Et or Avec Dix-Sept Lithographies Originales de Hans Erni
Description: Lausanne, Switzerland, Andres et Pierre Gonin, 1966. 1st edition. Hardcover. pp. 143. Folio. The contents, although loose, are in excellent condition. One, or two, page edges are slightly 'thumbed' with just a touch of soiling. The parchment spine is partially detached from the front board, but this can be easily fixed. The slipcase shows minor wear and red library tape around the edges. An anthology of African poems by Leopold Sedar Senghor, the Senegalese poet and first President of Senegal. He was the first African to win the Gold Meal of the Academie Francaise; in a lavish presentation, produced as an unbound portfolio of pages (printed on Arches paper) and 17 original lithographs, encased in boards quarter-bound in parchment and all contained within a sturdy slipcase illustrated with a lithograph. Only 180 copies were produced, this being designated copy number 136. It is signed by both the artist and the editor. After these portfolios were produced the lithographic stones were sanded so no further copies could be made. The artist, Hans Erni (1909-2015), known as the 'Swiss Picasso', was the last of the well-known pre-war Modernists. He was a graphic designer, painter, illustrator, engraver, and sculptor. He is known for having illustrated postage stamps, his lithographs for the Swiss Red Cross, and for his massive murals. This magnificent publication arose as as a result of his stay in Dakar in the early 1960s. Ill.: Hans Erni.

Keywords: Lithographs; Africa; Hans Erni


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