Gauguin, Paul, [and Charles Morice]

Noa Noa.  Voyage de Tahiti.  Faksimile des vollständigen Manuskriptes nebst allen darin enhalten Zeichnungen Gauguins.  [Munich: R. Piper, 1926]



4to (12  1/4  x 9  3/8  in.; 311 x 238 mm).  Facsimile of Gauguin's autograph manuscript with collotype reproductions of the artist's watercolors, pen-and-ink drawings, woodcuts, and photographs; occasional minor offsetting or soiling.  Publisher's raffia binding.  Original dust jacket with woodcut by Daniel de Monfreid after a Gauguin design; some wear and soiling, head of spine and upper edge of front cover chipped.

Artist and the Book 115; Castleman, Century pp. 22–4, 82–3

4to (12 1/4 x 9 3/8 in.; 311 x 238 mm). Facsimile of Gauguin's autograph manuscript with collotype reproductions of the artist's watercolors, pen-and-ink drawings, woodcuts, and photographs; occasional minor offsetting or soiling. Publisher's raffia binding. Original dust jacket with woodcut by Daniel de Monfreid after a Gauguin design; some wear and soiling, head of spine and upper edge of front cover chipped.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The sumptuous facsimile of Gauguin's Tahitian journal, "a remarkable event in book publishing" (Castleman).  One of 320 copies in the raffia binding (of a whole edition of 400). 

Gauguin's highly influential Noa Noa (a Tahitian word meaning "fragrance") was begun in France after the artist returned in 1893 from his first stay in Tahiti.  An already edited manuscript, augumented by the collaborating author Charles Morice, was taken by Gauguin with him on his second trip to Tahiti in 1895.  There, he pasted prints into the manuscript and drew ink and watercolor drawings over the text.  The text is based on an earlier Gauguin manuscript, L'ancien culte mahori.  It is the illustrations, however, which make the book memorable.  "To whatever extent Gauguin is indebted for his literary inspiration, his visual interpretation of this primitive culture in powerful rhythmic and totemic designs is distinctly his own.  Although finally published as a facsimile, Noa Noa   represents an important project in book-making by this major artist" (Artist and the Book).  "Noa Noa was never published as Gauguin had conceived it, but its elements influenced subsequent art and artists' books for many years" (Castleman).