Le cantique des cantiques (the Song of Songs, illustrated by Edy Legrand)

ONE OF THE RAREST AND MOST BEAUTIFUL ILLUSTRATED BOOKS OF THE 20TH CENTURY. Illustrated with 35 original etchings (with aquatint and drypoint) by Edy Legrand. In these prints the artist conjures the exotism, dreaminess, and voluptuousness of the Song of Songs, one of the great love poems in world literature. Edition limited to 110 copies beautifully printed in two colors on fine Montval wove paper, all of which have four suites of the etchings (140 etchings in all): the first state without text, the second state without text, the final state without text, and the final state with text. It is extremely unusual that the entire edition of a modern illustrated book would include the illustrations in multiple states, but it is easy to see why the publisher adopted that policy in this instance: we can perceive what an incredibly talented and painstaking artist Legrand was, as he worked each plate from the original sketch to the finished design. Folio. Loose as issued in original wraps. Housed in a custom-made cloth folding case, with extra cloth folders for each of the extra suites. FINE AND BRIGHT, with no defects. This book was included in the groundbreaking exhibition of livres d'artiste held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1936, and is illustrated in Monroe Wheeler's catalogue ("Modern Painters and Sculptors as Illustrators"). VERY RARE.