AMANTE DES FONTAINES. By Paul Leclère

Paris: [Chez l'auteur], 1954. Small octavo. Loose signatures laid into pictorial wrappers. Fine, in lightly worn birch paper board and cloth chemise and slipcase. First edition. Illustrated with nine original engravings by Jacques Houplain. From a total edition of 101 copies (including ten copies hors commerce), this is one of only twelve deluxe copies printed on Japon Nacre, with an additional suite of the engravings on China paper (before letters, and including an additional three planches refusées), and a second suite of the engravings in their final state printed on Japon ancien, one of the original copperplates, one of the original drawings preliminary to the same etching as the copperplate, and a manuscript poem by the author. Houplain is best known for his masterful illustrations for Lautréamont's MALDOROR (1947), but his delightfully sensual engravings in this work result in a polished gem of an entirely different nature, particularly in this enhanced deluxe issue. Houplain's work as illustrator comes in for frequent praise by Strachan. MONOD 6997. (Inventory #: WRCLIT57604)