Villon, Jacques, illus.

Paul Valéry.  Les Bucoliques de Virgile.  Paris: Scripta & Picta, 1953



Folio (15 x 11 in.; 381 x 279 mm).  27 colored lithographs by Jacques Villon, printed by Mourlot, text printed in red and black by Frazier-Soye, publisher's gilt-embossed blue papers wrappers bound in.  Red morocco by Cretté, spine gilt-lettered, covers with gilt geometric pattern of chevrons and lozenges with green, purple and lavender morocco onlays, lilac suede liners, edges gilt.  Morocco-edged chemise and slipcase; minimal wear.

Copy 77 of 249 on Arches (from a whole edition of 269), in a very fine binding by Georges Cretté.

"I love color.  'Colors' are my meat and drink," Villon wrote, "yet it was not to color that I devoted my first years ... but to engraving, to lithography—in short, to prints—then drawing."  For Les Bucoliques, Villon drew the illustrations directly on the stone, one for each color, using 320 stones in all.  This work, therefore, brings his great skills as a colorist and a printmaker together with impressive results.

Paul Valéry composed this version of Les Bucoliques for Scripta et Picta in 1942–44, and the present volume is the first edition of the translation.