Dessins et Peintures d'Asie. Exécutés au cours de l'Expedition Citroën Centre-Asie. Troisième mission, G.-M. Haardt [et] L. Audouin-Dubreuil

Paris: Édité sous la direction de Lucien Vogel chez Jules Meynial, 1934. First Edition. Paperback. Paris, Édité sous la direction de Lucien Vogel chez Jules Meynial, 1934. A printed box-form thick card portfolio with ribbon ties (external dimensions 392 × 290 mm), containing a thin volume of text ('Croquis de Route et Notes de Voyage', [36] pages in stab-sewn printed wrappers, extensively illustrated) and a suite of 50 loose colour plates, each printed on a numbered and captioned bifolium. Portfolio tanned, bowed and slightly marked, with a short split to the foot of the upper joint; ribbon ties frayed; wrappers of the text volume a little creased; plates are generally a little offset onto the conjugate leaf, and about a quarter of them have a very short split at the foot of the fold; the first plate is discoloured from contact with the binding of the text volume; these are relatively trifling blemishes that do not detract from what essentially an excellent example of a beautiful publication. Number 117 of 500 copies of the trade edition (a further 200 'hors-de-commerce' copies were also printed, as well as a deluxe edition of 20 copies). This suite of plates is the lavish pictorial record by the official artist of the Expedition Citroën Centre-Asie, colloquially known as the Croisière jaune (the Yellow Cruise). Financed by André Citroën, and using all-terrain tracked (caterpillar-tread) vehicles from his factories, this trans-Asian motorised expedition covered vast distances in 1931 and 1932. The plates, from Iacovleff's striking pastels and watercolours, encompass portraits and scenes from Kurdistan to Tonkin, by way of Persia, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Mongolia and western China.

Provenance: Mary Isobel Barr Smith, with a contemporary gift inscription in ink to her 'from Mary Isobel Legoe, Christmas 1937'. Mary Isobel (Molly) Barr Smith (1863-1941) was the wife of Tom Elder Barr Smith (1863-1941), pastoralist and financier; he was the eldest son of Robert Barr Smith (1824-1915). Both were great philanthropists; the library at the University of Adelaide is named the Barr Smith Library in their honour. Molly Legoe was a grand-daughter of Robert Barr Smith; accordingly, this portfolio was a Christmas present to her aunt.