IMPORTANT: 
PLEASE READ THE TITLE AND DESCRIPTION CAREFULLY, CHECK EACH PHOTOGRAPH, AND ASK BEFORE BUYING IF YOU HAVE ANY DOUBTS OR QUESTIONS. IF AN ITEM HAS BEEN ACCURATELY DESCRIBED IN THE TITLE AND LISTING WE WILL NO LONGER ACCEPT RETURNS BECAUSE A BUYER HAS FAILED TO NOTICE OR HAS MADE ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT THE SIZE, TYPE, CONDITION OR NUMBER OF ITEMS INCLUDED IN THE SALE. 

This is a beautiful and rare volume which is a work of art in its own right. It was one of the first projects undertaken by Regis Gibert in the 1930s when he decided to expand the bookselling business Gibert Jeune, established by his father in 1886, into publishing. He commissioned a set of 16 colour illustrations (and additional black and white motifs) for an edition of Voltaire's satire Candide from the artist, illustrator and set designer Umberto Brunelleschi. The first print runs, of 3000 and 2500 copies, were made in 1933. This edition is an early reprint from 1937 (the last reprint was made in 1952).


Umberto Brunelleschi (1879-1949) moved to Paris from his native Italy in 1900. He quickly established a reputation for his journal illustrations and fashion plates and his work was in great demand, as both an illustrator and a caricaturist. His work featured in all the great fashion magazines of his day such as the Gazette du Bon Ton, Journal des Dames et des Modes, Vanity Fair, Harper's Bazaar, and Vogue, as well as in Tattler, Le Monde Illustre and La Caricature. He founded and directed the journal La Guirlande d'Art et de la Litterature and is considered one of the finest book illustrators of the Art Deco period, with his gouache originals for such illustrations exhibited in the Salons in Paris and the Venice Biennale. His illustrations (particularly for children's books) were often under the name Harun Al-Rashid and (like those of Erte and Leon Bakst) were often influenced by Oriental design. Between the wars he worked mainly in set and costume design, designing costumes for Josephine Baker and the Folies Bergere, and stage sets designs for (inter alia) La Scala, the Theatre du Chatelet and the Roxy Theatre in New York. Towards the end of his life he focused mainly on book illustration, including (as in this case) on erotic subjects. 


The endnote states that the book was printed on vellum produced in Navarre with 16 colour inserts and 23 monochrome drawings by Brunelleschi. It was prepared for printing by Louis Malexis and printed on 20 August 1937 on the press of Jean Dumoulin in Paris, with the engravings entrusted to A. Dantin. The colours were applied by E. Charpentier under the direction of Brunelleschi himself. It is unusual to see this amount of detail about the people and firms involved in the publication of a book, and this emphasises the pride Gibert and his team of professionals took in the work, and their belief that they were contributing to the creation of a work of art, not simply another edition of an already famous book. Even when it was first produced it was a collector's item, and almost a hundred years later - thanks partly to the soft vellum on which it was printed - it is becoming increasingly rare and valuable.


This volume is in good condition for its age, with very minor foxing here and there and a slight tear on the spine. All the illustration plates are present and the delicate colouring remains clear and vivid.