LYDIS, Mariette, illustrator. ~ Le Livre de Marco Polo gentilhomme venitien 1271-1295. [Paris: Taneur and Darantière for] Les Cent Une, 1932.
Large 4to (300 × 230 mm), pp. [10], 200, [8], 9 etched plates by Lydis (including frontispiece included in pagination and 8 folding plates) all coloured by hand or pochoir, some signed in pencil, 3 coloured initials. Plus and extra suite of 17 proofs, signed by Mariette Lydis (with her initials and some with additional notes) and 2 original pencil drawings signed by the artist (one coloured). Contemporary or early crushed green morocco, spine in compartments, gilt lettered, marbled endpapers. Original wrappers preserved. Slipcase (one joint splitting at head). A superb copy.
Copy number 5 of 111 copies only printed for Les Cent Une, Société de femmes bibliophiles, with two original pencil drawings and a suite of proof plates. All copies were printed on paper watermarked ‘Les Cent Une’ and this is a tirage de tête copy printed for member, Celeste Pigasse. The text is after the 1556 French edition by André Jaulme (complete with authentic contractions) while the superb visual interpretations by Mariette Lydis include two of her characteristic decorated maps (both are signed). This is one of the early publications for the women’s book collecting club founded in Paris by the Princesse Schakhowskoy in 1926 as a direct riposte to ‘Les Cent’ — a bibliophile circle which then included no women among its members. Les Cent Une issued editions limited to the 101 members only and a handful of collaborators, usually no more than once a year, and the club is still in existence. Celeste Pigasse (née Crouzat) was a founder member and served as the club’s general secretary in its formative years (her husband founded the publishing house Librairie des Champs-Élysées ‘LCE’ whose Le Masque imprint published popular crime and detective fiction, including the French editions of Agatha Christie). Carteret IV, 322.