Accordez-Moi une Audience et Je Vous Réciterai les Vers d'un Poète Inconnu avec Une Telle Eloquence que Vous me Voudrez de Suite Roi mais Je le Refuserai
Survage, Léopold. Pieux, Léonard (Pseud. of Hélène d'Oettingen)
Paris. SIC (Sons, Idées, Couleurs, Formes). 1919 1920
Sold
One of the rarest and most unusual illustrated books, printed entirely in colour woodcut on Chine, the beautiful collaboration between Léopold Survage and Hélène d'Oettingen, 'Accordez-Moi une Audience ... ' .
From the edition announced as 112 copies on Chine (including 10 lettered copies and 2 for the Bibliothèque Nationale de France), however only 28 copies, all printed by Survage by hand, were issued.
One of the scarcest and most beautiful of the illustrated books of the twentieth century, 'Accordez-Moi une Audience' was refused as a project by every printer who was approached and the resulting work was printed by Survage himself using a 'presse à pied' for which he laid the sheets of Chine on the ground and placed the woodblocks upon them. Given the difficulty with which Survage was faced in his task, the remarkable result is an enormous achievement and it is no surprise that Survage limited the edition to only 28 copies - this number is known from the justifications of certain copies that he annotated by hand - all printed by him on Chine.
Léonard Pieux, was one of the several pseudonyms of Hélène Miontchinska, Baronne d'Oettingen (1878 - 1950), known also as Roch Grey or Jean Cérusse (as a writer) or Edouard Angiboult (as a painter). Hélène d'Oettingen was the close friend and lover of Léopold Survage (1879 - 1968) and the woodblocks were cut in memory of a trip the two had taken to La Baule in Brittany. Survage, born Léopold Sturzvage, was given his Francophone name by Guillaume Apollinaire in a similar manner to Apollinaire's alteration of his own name (he was born Wilhelm Albert Wlodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki). Although the collaboration between the poet and artist does not feature in the majority of the standard bibliographies of illustrated books, it can be regarded not only as an innovative precursor but as one of the major works, alongside 'La Prose du Transsibérien' or 'Jazz', produced in Paris in the first half of the twentieth century.
'Méconnu initialement, 'Accordez-Moi une Audience ... ' est l'un des plus beaux livres du XXe siècle. La composition des lettres du texte en banderole dans le décor des gravures sur bois a fait qualifier ce livre d'ouvrage 'simultané', par analogie avec 'La Prose du Transsibérien'.' (de Parallèlement à Chanson Complète').
Of considerable rarity, 'Accordez-Moi une Audience ... ' is uncommon on the market and in institutions: we can locate copies at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the New York Public Library and Harvard only.
Marcel Békus (1888 - 1939) was a Warsaw-born anarchist, anti-Fascist and intellectual who moved in avant garde circles. A noted bibliophile, Békus' library, featuring many notable rarities and presentation copies from his friends, colleagues and camarades, was dispersed in 1985 by his grandson. A participant in the 1905 Russian revolution, Békus was the author of studies and appraisals of revolution in general and Socialism in particular.
[see 'de Parallèlement à Chanson Complète', pp. 117 - 120].
From the edition announced as 112 copies on Chine (including 10 lettered copies and 2 for the Bibliothèque Nationale de France), however only 28 copies, all printed by Survage by hand, were issued.
One of the scarcest and most beautiful of the illustrated books of the twentieth century, 'Accordez-Moi une Audience' was refused as a project by every printer who was approached and the resulting work was printed by Survage himself using a 'presse à pied' for which he laid the sheets of Chine on the ground and placed the woodblocks upon them. Given the difficulty with which Survage was faced in his task, the remarkable result is an enormous achievement and it is no surprise that Survage limited the edition to only 28 copies - this number is known from the justifications of certain copies that he annotated by hand - all printed by him on Chine.
Léonard Pieux, was one of the several pseudonyms of Hélène Miontchinska, Baronne d'Oettingen (1878 - 1950), known also as Roch Grey or Jean Cérusse (as a writer) or Edouard Angiboult (as a painter). Hélène d'Oettingen was the close friend and lover of Léopold Survage (1879 - 1968) and the woodblocks were cut in memory of a trip the two had taken to La Baule in Brittany. Survage, born Léopold Sturzvage, was given his Francophone name by Guillaume Apollinaire in a similar manner to Apollinaire's alteration of his own name (he was born Wilhelm Albert Wlodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki). Although the collaboration between the poet and artist does not feature in the majority of the standard bibliographies of illustrated books, it can be regarded not only as an innovative precursor but as one of the major works, alongside 'La Prose du Transsibérien' or 'Jazz', produced in Paris in the first half of the twentieth century.
'Méconnu initialement, 'Accordez-Moi une Audience ... ' est l'un des plus beaux livres du XXe siècle. La composition des lettres du texte en banderole dans le décor des gravures sur bois a fait qualifier ce livre d'ouvrage 'simultané', par analogie avec 'La Prose du Transsibérien'.' (de Parallèlement à Chanson Complète').
Of considerable rarity, 'Accordez-Moi une Audience ... ' is uncommon on the market and in institutions: we can locate copies at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the New York Public Library and Harvard only.
Marcel Békus (1888 - 1939) was a Warsaw-born anarchist, anti-Fascist and intellectual who moved in avant garde circles. A noted bibliophile, Békus' library, featuring many notable rarities and presentation copies from his friends, colleagues and camarades, was dispersed in 1985 by his grandson. A participant in the 1905 Russian revolution, Békus was the author of studies and appraisals of revolution in general and Socialism in particular.
[see 'de Parallèlement à Chanson Complète', pp. 117 - 120].
[8 bifolia + trifolia]. Square folio. (380 x 358 mm). Leaf with pictorial woodcut title, blank leaf, leaf with justification, 12 leaves with text and illustration including large folding sheet with double-page text, leaf with achevé d'imprimer recto, blank leaf and final leaf with publisher's imprint verso; text and illustration executed by Léopold Survage in colour woodcut on Chine, each plate bears his monogram, throughout, the sheets retaining deckle edges. Sheet size: c.360 x 330 mm. Loose as issued in original publisher's wrappers with colour woodcut illustration / title to cover and woodcut imprint to rear cover and portfolio with flap and woodcut illustration / title to front cover and woodcut imprint to rear cover in green (as for the wrappers but printed in monochrome only), later stiff blue card portfolio with label to front cover with title in black.
#46394
