LYDIS, Mariette, illustrator. ADÈS, Abert and Albert JOSIPOVICI. � ~ Le Livre de Goha le simple. Paris: La Connaissance, 1926.
2 vols, 8vo (187 × 120 mm), pp. vi, 402, [2], plus 26 heliogravure plates, tinted by hand. Original coloured wrappers, preserved in contemporary red half calf, wood veneer boards, by Creuzevault. Slightly rubbed and faded. A very good copy.
First edition with illustrations by Mariette Lydis. Le Livre de Goha le simple, by two Egyptian Jewish authors, first appeared in 1919 (Calmann-Lévy) but this 1926 deluxe illustrated edition formed part of the Collection de chefs-d’oeuvre series. It was an important commission for Lydis. Goha the Fool was immensely popular, having narrowly missed the 1919 Goncourt prize (which went to Proust that year). ‘It is possible to see the beginning of Levantine literature ― rooted in the realities of the Middle East and influenced by European culture ― in Goha le Simple … This sad and cynical love story, which employs the prototype of Goha, the hero of many Middle Eastern tales describes the lives of the common folk of Cairo before the spread of Western cultural influence’ (Mongrels or Marvels: the Levantine Writings of Jacqueline Shohet Kahanoff, ed. Starr & Somekh, 2011). Lydis’s illustrations, evidently reduced from larger drawings are striking ― mostly depicting women of all ages and classes. This is one of 1000 copies on Rives (after 100 on Hollande and 100 on Annam).