[BINDING -- CRETTÉ]. DUFY, Raoul (1877-1953), illustrator. -- MONTFORT, Eugène (1877-1936). La Belle-Enfant ou l'Amour a Quarante Ans. Paris: Ambroise Vollard, 1930.

Folio. 94 etchings by Raoul Dufy (light marginal smudges from printing process). IN A BINDING BY GEORGES CRETTÉ, dark blue crushed morocco stamped in gilt and blind with designs based on Dufy's illustrations, navy blue watered silk doublures and endpapers, all edges gilt, original paper wrapper designed by Dufy bound in; original quarter morocco chemise and morocco-lipped slipcase (rubbing, minor losses at edges).

LIMITED EDITION, number 22 of 30 copies on Japanese vellum and with an extra suite of plates on Montval paper, from a total edition of 340. La Belle-Enfant ou l'Amour a Quarante Ans marks one of Dufy's most formidable forays into book illustration. Of the etchings Strachan writes, "[these etchings] have an exquisite sketchy quality...informed by a characteristic wit and detachment." Binder Georges Cretté began his career as the foremost gilder for Marius-Michel before taking over the workshop altogether in 1925. Within five years he was highly regarded as a binder with modern sensibilities rooted in classical technique. The binding presented her recreates the sailboats and waves from opening illustration from chapter 15. Hogben & Watson, From Manet to Hockney, 85; Jentsch 22; Johnson 185; Strachan, The Artist and the Book in France, pp. 59, 331.

[BINDING -- CRETTÉ]. DUFY, Raoul (1877-1953), illustrator. -- MONTFORT, Eugène (1877-1936). La Belle-Enfant ou l'Amour a Quarante Ans. Paris: Ambroise Vollard, 1930.