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 2 original pencil drawings signed/initialled by the artist (one coloured). Recent designer binding signed ‘Richard 1996’. Original wrappers preserved. Slipcase (one joint splitting at head). A superb copy.
Copy number VII of 100 copies (total edition 111 copies only) printed for Les Cent Une, Société de femmes bibliophiles. All were printed on paper watermarked ‘Les Cent Une’ and this is copy number 5 of the 10 tirage de tete copies, and printed for member Madame Jacques Gompel. 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 is still in existence. Carteret IV, 322.