La Petite Ville by Dyl Yan-Bernard - 1926

Offering: A rare, enriched, presentation example. The wrappers, preserved in pristine condition, are bound into an exceptional fore-edge vellum binding decorated with two watercolor paintings finely executed directly on the vellum, one on each side. The richness and luminosity of the painted surfaces is arresting; "No paper can … lend such translucency and richness to watercolor." [John McEwan] The paintings on vellum were done by the Vicomte Max de Beauregard in the year the book was issued, as documented by his signature with date on the rear of the painting on the upper side. The presentation by Yan Dyl is made with a brush on the flyleaf and establishes he was a guest of Max de Beauregard. The example is also signed by the prominent art dealer, collector, and publisher, Daniel Kahnweiler, in his guise as Simon Kra, on the illustrated colophon. Book Illustrations: "La Petite Ville" is a remarkable and distinctive work of illustration from the 1920s when there was a great creative outpouring of the book arts in France, under the influence of what has come to be called Art Deco (applied modernism). The illustrations incorporate elements of cubism and are characterized by cut-off composition frames and distorted perspectives, sustaining Yan Dyl's theme of the past manifesting in the present, as repression and furtive theater. Twenty illustrations are pochoir plates without text and follow the 20 descriptive legends on interleaves. Two pochoirs with letters precede the body of the work and introduce its themes. One decorates the upper side of the wrappers: another decorates the half-title leaf and is beautifully lettered with the sub-title, "Avenir Ennui" (Future Trouble). A final illustration, a b/w vignette, decorates the colophon leaf. The Paintings: in black, rose, charcoal and gray were done with watercolor paints applied directly to the vellum, their application requiring dry brush technique because of calfskin's lack of absorbency. The larger painting on the upper side shows a view of old Foix, (the castle on its heights dates to the 10th century), with stone walls, battlements, and tall narrow houses with sharply sloped red roofs with overhanging eaves. In the foothills of the French Pyrénées, Foix is at the crossroads of ancient pilgrimage routes, to Santiago de Compostela in Spain and Jerusalem and the Holy Land. Houses and town square are laid out below the distinctive medieval castle and crossing tower, set off by black and rose crossing bands that symbolize the town was a halt for pilgrims. There is a powerful sense of history and enclosed space and the castle and town buildings press on two elderly people seen in conversation in the town square and two barely glimpsed figures in second story windows. The oval vignette painted on the lower side employs Yan Dyl's visual syntax and its composition with tower and black lunettes explicitly summons and plays off the Yan Dyl composition on the upper wrapper with its sense of distorted time and space. Publishing Note: The pochoirs, after watercolors are done on one side of the leaves by Les Ateliers Jacomet, this example noted as h.c. (hors commerce, not for sale and reserved for collaborators and presentation). Condition: Pochoirs: Very Fine / Legend Interleaves: Very Fine / Extremities: Fine, customary offset to flyleaf from the upper wrapper pochoir. / Wrappers: Very Fine / Vellum Covers: Good, some soiling and toning; Upper Side with surface wear near edges, chiefly at the top outer corner; Lower Side with some spots, none in the painting. / Binding: Fine. Pagination: Complete; 44 unnumbered leaves with 22 pochoirs (hand painted stencil prints) and 20 descriptive legends, each on their own leaf. Format: Publisher's blue and green flock paper wrappers, the upper side decorated with a striking pochoir with applied gold leaf, the wrappers bound into a pictorial vellum binding with the top edge rolled in gold leaf, quarto sewn with a beige and brown striped headband, brown silk book ribbon sewn in, additional blank leaves inserted. Size: 291 x 185 mm (11.46 x 7.28 inches). Yan Dyl [1887-1944]: illustrated five books between 1926 and 1928 and was a friend of the artist, Robert Delaunay. Serving in the French Resistance, he was captured by the Gestapo and died in Buchenwald. Reference: Monod 4156. Princeton University, Charles Rahn Fry Pochoir Collection. Additional Images: by request.