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A Spectacular Copy in a Stunning Binding Signed by the Author with an ALs by the Artist [DUHAYON, Henri, binder]. [BOFA, Gus, illustrator]. ROMAINS, Jules. Les Coupains. Avec douze aquarelles par Gus Bofa. N.p. [Paris]: Le Rayon d'Or, (1952). First edition illustrated by Bofa, limited to 3500 numbered copies sur vélin blanc des Papeteries de Lana, this being copy 3152. Octavo (8 1/4 x 6 1/8 in; 208 x 153 mm). 200, [1], [1, blank], [3, table], [1, blank], [1, colophon], [1, blank] pp. Twelve aquarelle plates, one of which has been inscribed by the artist to the owner. In a stunning contemporary binding by Henri Duhayon of Nice (stamp signed in gilt to inside front turn in) in full crushed cordovan morocco with large hand painted panel to upper and lower sides. Gilt lettered spine. Top edge gilt. Custom endpapers. A flawless copy in binder's leather edged slipcase. Signed and dated Nov. 1958 by the author, with a tipped in ALs by the artist, an inscription by French novelist and playwright Georges Duhamel dated Septembre 1958, and a TLs by the owner, Jean Francesche (with his blindstamped signed ex libris on inside front cover turn in). The eighth volume in Librairie Galimard's illustrated collection, Le Rayon d'or, a reissue of Romain's celebrated novel of 1913. Renowned artist Gus Bofa (b. Gustave Blanchot 1883-1968) was an illustrator for Rire and Sourire, a costume and set designer, a celebrated poster artist, and illustrator for the literary journal, Crapouillot. He soon became one of the most in demand illustrators of editions of Swift, La Fontaine, Cervantes, etc., ultimately with one hundred and seventeen volumes to his credit. French novelist, poet, dramatist, and essayist Jules Romains (pseud. of Louis Farigoule 1885-1972) was, "early in his career…associated with a short-lived artistic community, the Groupe de 'Abbaye, which published his poems, La Vie unanime, in 1908. These poems wnad much of his later verse and prose, were influence by Unanimist theories of social groups and collective psychology. Before the war in 1914 he published more collections of poetry, a verse play…and two novels, Mort de quelqu'un (1911) and the farcial Les Copains [The Pals]" (New Oxford Companion to Literature in French, p. 707). Georges Duhamel's (1884 1966) experience as a surgeon during World War I produced Vie des martyrs (1917, tr. The New Book of Martyrs, 1918) and Civilisation (1918, tr. 1919). These collections of sketches are noted for their compassionate accounts of human suffering. He was successful as a dramatist; his Dans l'ombre des statues was performed in 1912 (tr. In the Shadow of Statues, 1914) and L'oeuvre des athlètes in 1920. His fiction includes two cycles of novels Cycle de Salavin (1920 32, tr. 1936), about a sensitive eccentric, and Chronique des Pasquiers (1933 45, tr. 1937 46), about a bourgeois Parisian family. Essays in Scènes de la vie future (1930, tr. America: the Menace, 1931) and other collections reflect Duhamel's aversion to overindustrialization" (Columbia Enclyclopedia). He wrote passionately against war and its atrocities , and against the rise of Naziism. He was elected to the Académie Français in 1935. Though now largely forgotten, he is perhaps best remembered for his timeless epigram: "It is always brave to say what everyone thinks" The TLs by owner Jean Francesche reads: "The owner of this copy had read a book by Jules Romains, edited in 1958 by the Fayard Publishing House. It was the fourth book from the collection 'The Forty: MEMORIES AND SECRETS OF A WRITER.' "Page 128: 'In THE PALS, what part of the book is autobiographical and contains actual events?' "Page 129: 'It is not impossible to find a resemblance between the cheeks and glasses of Huchon with those of Duhamel, just as it is not impossible to find a certain pretentiousness in the future author of DESERT OF BIEVRES when Huchon prepares the veal stew as no one else can (to be more precise it was more like something between a stew and.
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