Henri Cartier-Bresson, Arthur Rimbaud

Signed limited-edition copy of Rimbaud's Vowels with prints by Cartier-Bresson.

• Arthur Rimbaud (French).
• Henri Cartier-Bresson (French).
• Translated by Wallace Fowlie (American).
• [New York]: The Limited Editions Club, 1996.
• Oblong quarto.
• Illustrated with three watercolor woodblock prints by Henri Cartier‑Bresson.
• Edition limited to 300 numbered copies signed by Cartier-Bresson. 
• Bound in original linen with a linen clamshell box.

"A forerunner of the surrealists, Arthur Rimbaud wrote every one of his extant poems before he was twenty years old, including the 'Sonnet des voyelles ('Vowels'), here presented in French and with the English translation by Wallace Fowlie on alternating lines. The poet has assigned colors to the vowels — A black, E white, I red, O blue, U green. 'I flattered myself that I was inventing a poetic language available ... to all the senses,' wrote Rimbaud. 'The Star Wept' — a quatrain which further explores color symbolism — is appended to 'Vowels' to complete this edition. Henri Cartier‑Bresson, who is as famous for his paintings as for his photographs, has created three swirling watercolors which further explore the evocative power of colors" (Publisher).

Cartier‑Bresson’s three watercolors have been translated into multicolor wood blocks by Keiji Shinohara. Each required the cutting of twenty‑three to thirty separate blocks, one for each color.