[CIRQUE]. HERVIEU (Louise). The Soul of the Circus. A moral - Lot 21

[CIRQUE]. HERVIEU (Louise). The Soul of the Circus. A moral awarded by the Académie Française. "Très intéressante publication cotée sur le cirque" (Carteret, IV, 202). Adorned with splendid color plates by Raoul Dufy, André Lhote, Maurice Denis, Georges Rouault, etc., as well as in- and out-of-text drawings by Pierre Bonnard, Jean Cocteau, Félix Vallotton, Pablo Picasso and others. Paris, Librairie de France, F. Sant' Andrea and L. Marcerou, 1924. Volume in-4 (354 × 280 mm). Purplish half-maroquin with corners, ornate ribbed spine, gilt head. Covers and spine preserved. Binding signed L. Bernard. 4 ff. 40 pp. 5 ff. 14 plates. Slight wear to binding. First edition. Edition of 403 numbered copies, initialed by the publisher. One of 25 on vergé de Rives, second paper after 12 on Japon (n°34). The edition is richly illustrated, with a beautiful cover by Mariano Andreu, 29 compositions in the text and 14 plates, reproduced in black and in color by Daniel Jacomet, after the greatest artists of the period, such as Jacques-Émile Blanche, Jean-Gabriel Daragnès, Maurice Denis, André Favory, Raoul Dufy, Hermann Paul, Pierre Laprade, Luc-Albert Moreau, Georges Rouault, André Dunoyer de Segonzac, Antoine Bourdelle, Pierre Bonnard, André Rouveyre, Jean Cocteau, Félix Vallotton, Pablo Picasso, André Lhote and others. In this magnificent publication, Louise Hervieu (1878-1954), illustrator and writer, celebrates the circus and all its sides (children in the circus, fairground circuses, the clowns' dressing room, the juggler, etc.), incorporating the drama Le Tireur à la bougie, performed and composed by the Fratellinis. Two handwritten texts on the circus are enclosed, the first two pages in-4, signed George Delamare (1953), the second three pages, signed José Noguero (undated). Provenance: Ex-libris of Jacques Crépineau (1932-2017), director of the Théâtre de la Michodière, theater historian and renowned collector. A fine copy of the first edition.