Armand Rassenfosse, 30 colour plates for Les Fleurs du Mal

1930, limited edition, Trente Compositions aux Crayons de Couleur de Rassenfosse pour Les Fleurs du Mal de Charles Baudelaire

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Publisher

Printing Details

Limited edition, one of 320 copies (this being No 202). Slipcase, with folder and thirty loose colour plates, plus title and index. Slipcase measures 29.5 × 21cm, each plate is 27 × 20cm.

Armand Rassenfosse's illustrations for Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mal were first published in a small limited edition in 1899. This 1930 edition of thirty selected plates was designed to bring the illustrations to a wider audience. Printed on high quality velin paper, they display Rassenfosse's Symbolist vision, the sensuality of Baudelaire's women, and the haunting presence of Death. The first plate is Rassenfosse's Portrait imaginaire de Charles Baudelaire. The plates are a marriage of collotype and pochoir, the latter giving a rich, distinctive, and slightly muted fin-de-siècle colour palette.

The plates are: 1. Portrait imaginaire de Charles Baudelaire, 2. Correspondances, 3. La Beauté, 4. L'Idéal, 5. Les Bijoux, 6. Tu mettrais l'Univers Entier… 7. Sed non satiate, 8. De profundis clamavi, 9. Le Vampire, 10. Que diras-to ce soir, 11. Le Flambeau vivant, 12. Le Flacon, 13. Le Beau Navire, 14. L'Irréparable, 15. Chanson d'apres-midi, 16. Sisina, 17. A une dame créole, 18. Le Gout do néant, 19. Madrigal triste, 20. A une Malabaraise, 21. Les Yeux de Berthe, 22. Recueillement, 23. La Servante au grande Coeur, 24. Lesbos, 25. Delphine & Hippolyte, 26. Les deux bonnes soeurs, 27. Allégorie, 28. L'Amour et le crane, 29. Les Litanies de Satan, 30. La Mort des Artistes.

The good number of the plates are erotic in nature.

Condition

The plates: all plates are present and in very good condition. They have a little wrinkling when held at an angle and some slight tanning. The loose title and index have some tanning marks to the left hand side but are otherwise clean. The folder and slipcase are both well-worn and have extensive tape repairs but they have done a good job in protecting the plates. Overall, a good set of plates in a heavily worn slipcase and folder.

A previous owner has also left an order form for the edition of Les Fleurs du Mal of 1964, illustrated by Leonor Fini loosely in the folder.

Further images available on request.

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