Don Quichotte (Don Quixote)
Paris: Editions du Rameau d'Or, [1945].
First thus. Four volumes. Number 296 of 900 copies on Hermine paper from a total edition of 1,000 copies. [iv], 228; [iv], 217; [iv], 249; [iv], 253, [2] pp., text in French. Profusely illustrated by Jacques Touchet with black and white tail-pieces and capitals and color pochoir head-pieces. Bound in marbled paper-covered boards over three-quarter polished calf stamped in gilt with red and green onlay to spine, top edge gilt, marbled endpapers, original wrappers bound in. Near Fine with light rubbing to covers and occasional reading smudges. Penciled bookseller inscription to Volume 1 fly-leaf. From the library of collector Ken Rapoport, his bookplate to Volume 1 front pastedown.
A beautiful edition of the Renaissance classic, published in Paris at the end of the Second World War. Pochoir was a labor-intensive process in which a colorist used stencils to layer watercolor by hand over black keyline drawings, producing jewel tones and textures that conventional printing methods couldn't match. The colorist for this edition was Maurice Beaufume. The illustrator, Jacques Touchet, was known for his erotic scenes from literature.
Price: $1,500