PICASSO: HISTOIRE NATURELLE DE BUFFON. 31 Cancelled Original Copper Plates. by Picasso, Pablo - 1971.

New York: Weintraub Gallery, 1971., 1971.. Very good. - Small quarto [9-3/8 inches square], softcover bound in pictorial black wrappers with an illustration in gilt & black on the front wrap, in the original glassine. The binding is very lightly rubbed with a small, light crease near the front edge of the front wrap. The glassine is rubbed. [vi] pages & 31 full-page reproductions of the copper plates in black & gray. The covers are slightly warped. Very good. <p>The art dealer and publisher Ambrose Vollard asked Picasso to make illustrations for the texts of Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon. Picasso began the etchings in 1936. After the printing of the book, which was published after Vollard's death, the copper plates were canceled. The 31 canceled plates were exhibited at the Weintraub Gallery in New York City in November 1971 and are reproduced in this sale catalog.<p>"The Artist and the Book" [1961] describes the Buffon as "one of the greatest Bestiaries of the twentieth century."