Hugnet, Georges; and Marcel Duchamp

La Septième face du dé.  Paris: Jeanne Bucher, (1936)



4to (11 1/2 x 8 1/4 in.; 292 x 210 mm).  Text and text vignettes printed in green by Grou-Radenez, 20 fine reproductions of photo-collages ("poëmes-découpages") by Hugnet printed by Duval and with some hand-coloring; minimal wear and soiling.  Original stiff green wrappers designed by Marcel Duchamp, sewn in Japanese fashion, front cover with title in lithographed display capitals, headed by a carefully silhouetted and mounted photograph by Duchamp of his "Why not sneeze Rrose Sélavy?"; minimal wear, lower cover browned.  Wrappers encased in special additional wrappers comprising stiff card with 4 handcolored tipped-in photographs ("Couvertures-cigarettes"), two on each cover, quarter brown morocco étui-chemise; some wear at edges and corners, some wear to morocco chemise, small chip in lower margin of one upper photographic panel expertly repaired, 5 in. tear in one lower photographic panel repaired with cellotape.

Ades 12.152; Andel 154; Schwarz, The Complete Works of Marcel Duchamp 144

As described in catalogue description
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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.

Copy 10 of twenty numbered copies on japon blanc, signed by Hugnet and Duchamp on a strip of salmon-colored paper affixed to the colophon, and with a superb original collage frontispiece by Hugnet, inscribed and signed "Mai 1936 – G. H."   The whole edition comprises 294 copies (20 numbered copies on japon blanc, 24 lettered hors commerce copies, and 250 regular copies.  According to Arturo Schwarz, the original collage in each of the 20 japon blanc copies should correspond to one of the reproductions in the printed book.  The original collage in the present copy, however, does not correspond to any of the illustrations in the book.  Collages were also included in an unknown number of the 24 hors commerce copies.

Unique to the first 20 copies are the additional covers by Marcel Duchamp.  According to Schwarz, "For the Couvertures cigarettes front and back covers of the deluxe edition ... , he began with an oversize, hand-colored photograph of three cigarettes 'stripped bare' of their wrappers.  He created the front cover by cutting down the images, slicing off one lone cigarette and overlapping it with the other two so that only two cigarettes are immediately visible.  Then he repeated the process for the back cover.  The photographs are glued on the inner side only, and the outer side remains free."   The covers may be read as Duchamp's backward glance at his masterpiece of the previous decade, The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even.

The printer completed the book on 25 May 1936.  Duchamp, however, had embarked for New York on 20 May; therefore, he and Hugnet signed fragments of various colored papers before his departure.  These were affixerd to the colophon pages of all copies.

One of the finest of all surrealist publications, the present copy with a presumably unpublished collage by Georges Hugnet.