Verve Volume One Numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 bound into one volume; An Artistic and Literary Quarterly

Large 4to, 13 3/4 x 10 1/4 inches (348 x 261 mm); the first four issues bound into one volume and with each front cover of the journal bound in. Bound at the bookshop Bindery, Chicago, Ill. in printed cloth resembling a quilt, fabric toned and showing some stains and wear at edges, but binding is tight and contents clean and unmarked. No. 1, December 1937: Cover specially designed by Henri Matisse; title page, 2-page index, 4 color lithographs by Léger, Miró, Rattner and Bores (the Four Elements); 112 pages with copious black & white and color illustrations and photographs, plus 4 large plates in color and gilt, full-size heliogravure reproductions of paintings from manuscripts in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. Texts in English. This first issue features artwork specially designed by Henri Matisse for the cover as well as a series of drawings and an essay by Matisse titled "Divagations," some early letters and sketches from Cézanne to Émile Zola, and the first photo of Picasso's Guernica by Dora Maar. Texts by Gide, Bataille, Caillois, Dos Passos, Malraux, Michaux, etc. reproductions of works by Picasso, Matisse, Derain, Bonnard, Maillol, etc. and of photographs by Man Ray, Brassaï, Blumenfeld, etc. No. 2:, Spring 1938: Cover specially designed by Georges Braque; title page, 2-page index, 128 pages; copious photographs, color images, color & gilt heliogravures; 8 + 4 full-page color lithographs, all with tissue guards; in English with Excerpts of French texts. The content features color lithographs by Wassily Kandinsky ("Stars" and "Comets") and André Masson ("The Sun" and "The Moon"). Color heliogravures and color process reproductions include paintings by Ingres, Uccello, Renoir, Braques, a 14th century Giotto painting with gilt, and many others. Photography includes works by Brassaï, Maywald, Blumenfeld, Maywald, Cartier, Brandt, and others. Text includes works by Valery, Reverdy, Sartre, and others. No. 3, October - December 1938: Cover specially designed by Pierre Bonnard; title page, 2-page index, 132 pages; copious photographs, color images, color & gilt heliogravures; 12 full-page color lithographs of the Indian Pantheon, and the seasons by Chagall, Miro, Rattner and Klee; in English with a reproduction of a manuscript written by Paul Claudel (translation provided at the end of the journal), texts by Tagore, Reverdy, Maldaux, Claudel, and others. No. 4, January - March 1939: Cover specially designed by Rouault; title page, 2-page index, 140 pages with copious black & white and color illustrations and photographs, color & gold heliogravures; double-page color lithograph "La Danse by Henri MATISSE as well as two linocuts "Patineurs", four lithographs titled "Au Jardin D'Allah" by André DERAIN, all printed by Mourlot. Heliogravures include reproductions of works by Miro, Masson, Rouault, Lautrec, Rembrandt, and others, as well as works from the 15th and 16th centuries with gold ink detailing. Photography includes works by Brassaï, Barna, Maywald, Devaux-Bretienbach, and others. Text includes works by Valéry, Reverdy, Sartre, and others. The inaugural year of the magazine VERVE, published by Teriade (Stratis Eleftheriades) between 1937 and 1960 for a total of 38 issues. Each issue was published at the same time in French and ENGLISH, and each issue included lithographs by the most prominent artists of the Parisian art scene of the first half of the 20th century and texts by influential writers including Gide, Malraux, Dos Passos, Joyce, Hemingway. VERVE was "the magazine to look for" . "noble format, luxurious presentation. flair for the grand gesture" (John Russell, "Flair for the Grand Gesture: Celebrating a Magazine." The New York Times, 10/9/1988, page H35). "When it comes to quality in the magazine process, possibly no other magazine can match the work of publisher Efstratios Teriade (born in Greece as Efstratios Eleftheriades) and his seminal publication, 'VERVE' -- once called 'the most beautiful magazine in the.…