RENEFER, illustrator. VIOUX, Marcelle. ~ Les Amants tourmentés. Paris: Fayard, Le Livre de Demain, [1925].
4to (230 × 175 mm), pp. 125, [3]. 29 illustrations, plus a suite of the 29 original numbered wood engravings on chine, all signed by the artist. Some foxing to extreme margins in text. Original yellow decorative wrappers and wrappers to the suite preserved, in contemporary marbled boards with orange morocco geometric onlays (minor wear).
First edition with Renefer’s illustrations of an evocative Montparnasse-set novel first published in 1923. Number 2 of 15 copies with the suite of all 29 wood engravings on chine, all signed by the artist. Fayard’s Livres de demain brought examples of the current revival in woodcut and wood engraving to a wide audience at a reasonable price. Accordingly, the illustrations of the regular volumes were printed in large numbers from phototype metal blocks made from the prints, with just 15 copies of each (as here) presented with an additional suite of the original woodcuts specially printed on fine paper.