CLAUDEL (Paul). - Lot 96

CLAUDEL (Paul). Connaissance de l'Est. Péking : pour Georges Crès et Cie, 1914. - 2 volumes, elongated in-8, 288 x 178, sewn Chinese style, in double-flap cardboard wallet (known as "t'ao") covered with antique Chinese brocaded silk, lined with Korean silk (sewing and publishing wallet). Third edition. It was published by Victor Segalen in the "Collection Coréenne", which he edited in Peking on behalf of Editions Crès. About this edition, Benoist-Méchin and Blaizot report in their bibliography of Paul Claudel's works, page 38, that the author declared in a conversation that: "Although not the original edition, I consider the magnificent Korean edition of 'Connaissance de l'Est' to be the true canonical edition of this work. The ornamentation of this work owes much of its charm and authenticity to Victor Segalen's close relations. The Chinese calligraphy of the title, finely woodcut and embossed in black, dialogues with a hand-applied cinnabar seal - the emblematic mark of publisher Georges Crès. The sixty-one wood-engraved lettrines that punctuate the text, based on drawings by Auguste Gilbert de Voisins, are enhanced by red ink seals chosen by Jean Lartigue and hand-stamped, some repeating themselves with calculated harmony. Limited edition of 630 copies, this one a top 30 numbered on Tribut de Corée paper (no. 27). This copy was exhibited in the Victor Segalen exhibition at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris, October-December 1999), where it appeared under no. 101 with reproduction. Skin of the portfolio a little rubbed with missing jaws and corners, bone and silk clasps missing, second volume with crease and seam threads not missing on the covers at the edge of the headpieces. Enclosed: - ANOTHER EXEMPLAIRE OF THE SAME WORK. 2 elongated in-8 volumes, 288 x 178, folded and sewn Chinese style, in blue silk-covered double-flap cardboard portfolio (known as "t'ao"), lined with Korean laid paper (sewing and publishing portfolio). One of 30 copies on Korean pearlescent laid paper (no. 36), the second paper after the 30 on Tribut paper. Skin of the portfolio a little rubbed with slightly sunned spines, second volume with crease and cut sewing threads without lack on the covers at the edge of the lower headpieces. - MARDRUS (Jean Charles). Des Contes des mille nuits et une nuits. Histoire d'Aladdin et de la lampe magique. Peking: for Georges Crès & Cie, 1914. - 2 elongated in-8 volumes, 288 x 178, printed, folded and sewn in the Chinese style, in green silk-covered double-flap cardboard wallet (known as "t'ao") lined with vergé pelure, with two bone and silk clasps (publishing wallet). Second edition of Jean-Charles Mardrus's translation of the tale of Aladdin, printed in the Chinese tradition on the Pei-t'ang presses. It includes 2 hand-applied cinnabar seals, the speaking mark of publisher Georges Crès and a seal in Arabic characters. This work is the third and final volume of the "Collection coréenne" edited by Victor Segalen, following Stèles and Connaissance de l'Est. Limited edition of 630 copies. One of 30 copies on vergé nacré de Corée (no. 45), the second paper after the 30 on Tribut paper. Pocket spine faded and silk a little rubbed.