Picasso, Pablo - Honoré de Balzac

Folio (12 3/4 x 9 3/4 in.; 324 x 246 mm). 13 etchings and 63 woodcuts after drawings by Picasso, including vignettes to covers and title, extra suite of 12 etchings on Rives, illustrated covers bound in. Edition limited to 340 copies, this being copy 1 of  65 deluxe copies on Japan paper, n° 31, signed by Picasso and Vollard and with extra suite. Pristine copy, Picasso signature slightly faded. Black morocco with multicolored inlaid design, spine lettered, doublures gilt with black and white fillets, all edges gilt; chemise and slipcase. Signed Paul Bonet and dated 1955.  A pristine copy.

Cramer, 20; Chapon, 281; Artist & the Book 225; Bonet Carnets 1099; Garvey Arts 18; Manet to Hockney 92.

A deluxe copy of Picasso's illustrated masterpiece, in a superb Bonet binding echoing Picasso's depiction of the painter's unintelligible canvas in the Balzac story.

Vollard had suggested to Picasso in 1926 that he might illustrate Balzac's Chef d'oeuvre inconnu, the final version of which was published in 1837. The themes of the novel (the question of genius, the impossibility of creating a perfect masterpiece, the relationship between the artist and his models) were familiar to Picasso, who at the time was living in the very house in the rue des Grands Augustins where Balzac's novel was set.