LEGRAND. [RODRIGUES-HENRIQUES (Eugène)]. Cours de danse fin - Lot 616

LEGRAND. [RODRIGUES-HENRIQUES (Eugène)]. Cours de danse fin de siècle. Paris, Dentu, 1892. Large in-8, [2] f.,59 p., [2] f. red morocco, spine with 5 ornate nerves, gilt title, bindings and boards edged with double gilt fillet, gilt fillet on edges, interior lace, gilt head, untrimmed, ill. cover and spine preserved [Duval] (jaws cracked, one restored; 2 plates inverted). First edition of 11 original etchings in black by Louis Legrand (1863-1951), including a frontispiece, all protected by captioned serpents. The frontispiece is repeated on the cover, printed in blue. The illustration is complemented by 23 in-text color vignettes, some repeated, headbands, lettering and endpapers. Limited edition of 350 copies, one on vellum. Louis Legrand was a pupil of Félicien Rops. "In 1891, he contributed a series of color illustrations to Gil Blas illustré, devoted to a report on the cancan and its principal performers, written by Érastène Ramiro and describing the severe training to which the dancers submit. Selling a huge number of copies, the magazine made Legrand known throughout France. On the strength of this success, the publisher Dentu persuaded Louis Legrand to produce etchings of the same watercolors, to be published the following year with Ramiro's revised text". (Louis Legrand. Cat. expo. Musée Félicien Rops, 2006). Autograph letter signed by the artist, barely legible. (Vicaire II, 1053).