"Les Dimanches de la Comtesse de Narbonne " 1935 FELLOWES, Daisy [DELUXE, ASSOCIATION COPY]

FELLOWES, Daisy

[195] pp.

Éditions De France

1935

Exemplaire No 15

Illustrations de Vertès

Bound by Riviere & Sons London

10 1/2" x 8 1/2" x 1 7/8"D

VG

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A deluxe copy of Daisy Fellowes’ twentieth-century fairy tale, with two original drawings by Vertès. This copy owned by Diana and Duff Cooper, with their Rex Whistler bookplate pasted in. Fellowes and Vertès devised the idea for the book whilst taking the waters at the spa town of Dax in the Basque country. The fellow guests and townspeople inspired the characters that populate the bumpy tale of rags-to-riches. Fellowes’ text is accompanied by numerous charming line illustrations by Vertès. This deluxe edition is signed by the author and artist, and includes two additional suites of the illustrations and two original drawings for the book. The first drawing depicts a waiter outside a French café and the second shows a man lying on a bed and a young woman kneeling by him. Both drawings are executed in black ink, with some additions in white. The wrappers are striking in “Shocking Pink”, the trademark colour of Fellowes’ favourite couturier Elsa Schiaparelli. Daisy Fellowes was a socialite and heiress to the Singer sewing machine fortune. The association of this copy with the Coopers is fascinating. Daisy and Duff carried on a long on-off affair, which at times Duff’s wife Diana was remarkably tolerant of. The two women epitomised the modern phrase of “frenemies”.

Description:

Daisy Fellowes. Illustrations by Marcel Vertès. Éditions de France. Paris. 1935. First edition. Deluxe edition; from a total edition of 1,000, this being no. 15 of 20 examples printed on Japon Blanc Super-Nacré, signed by the author and artist, numbered, and containing two original drawings by Vertès and two additional suites of the illustrations in sanguine and green. Signed by Daisy Fellowes and Marcel Vertès in ink to half-title. From the library of Diana and Duff Cooper with their ex libris bookplate (designed by Rex Whistler) pasted to front pastedown. Hardback, large octavo; bound in full pink morocco with gilt linear decoration to boards, gilt column design to spine with title, gilt inner dentelles, top edge gilt; originals shocking pink wrappers bound in at rear. 195 pages. Illustrated throughout by Marcel Vertès with 75 illustrations within the text, including 3 double-page illustrations and 10 full-page illustrations. All of the illustrations are duplicated in two suites on different papers without the text – sanguine (red) and vert (green). Also present are two of Vertès’ original ink drawings for the book’s illustrations. Vertès also designed the illustrated wrappers. French. 265 x 205mm. 1.9kg.

Condition:

Very good; some light rubbing along spine and forecorners of boards, slight fading to spine; light spotting to page edges, occasional slight spotting to pages; faint vertical crease to bound-in wrapper, paper professionally repaired at the corner of one drawing, not affecting the original image