Meidosems
One of the first 20 copies (after [2] on China paper) on Arches paper, signed by the author and the publisher René Bertelé, this copy no. XV.
Signed presentation inscription: “à Monsieur Robert Moureau, en hommage, Henri Michaux.”
Michaux's first and largest illustrated book: 12 lithographs by the author, plus the cover.
A precious deluxe copy, with a suite with large margins in three states — sanguine, green and saffron — that is, 36 plates, all on vélin d'Arches.
The poet’s first painter’s book: “Meidosems holds a place of capital importance in Michaux’s work through the osmosis established between text and lithographs, in a face-to-face encounter in which the integrity of both forms of expression is nonetheless preserved” (Marie-Françoise Quignard). The book was written at a tragic moment in Michaux’s life, following the accidental death of his wife. Out of this ordeal he created the Meidosems, beings he described as uncertain: “One has only ever caught glimpses of them. […] It is with all its stitching that it unstitches, that it restitches, with its lack that it possesses, that it takes. […] More arms than the octopus, seamed all over with legs and hands right up to the neck, the Meidosem. […] Meidosem, its head inhabited by branching forms, eyes gouged out, looking not through the gouged-out eyes, but through the grief of their loss and through shadowy suffering…”.
A magnificent deluxe copy including, bound separately in matching binding, the triple suite, augmented with two original lithographs, one of them on a double page, numbered and signed in pencil by Henri Michaux. These additional lithographs, known as “refused” plates, were included in a portion of the deluxe copies and announced in the subscription bulletin. They are printed on vélin Johannot, with large margins, identical to the suites. Our copy contains two of the three refused plates, for a total of 51 original lithographs. In the colophon, the publisher stresses that “to illustrate [the work] Henri Michaux executed, for the first time, twelve lithographs directly on the stone.” These were the only lithographs ever executed by Michaux himself. The tissue guards have been entirely preserved and bound into the volume, and are themselves gilt-edged. A work of remarkable refinement!
Also included is the original tracing of the design by Micheline de Bellefroid, in pencil and ink (1 leaf, 180 x 245 mm). This binding was exhibited at the artist’s first retrospective in Belgium (Brussels, Galerie Vendôme, 16–28 March 1963), reproduced in color on the exhibition poster and in the journal Chronique graphique (30 March 1963, no. 169), then lent on numerous occasions to all the major exhibitions devoted to the artist’s work: the Grolier Club, New York (May 1967), Galleria del Bel Libro, Ascona (21 June–23 July 1968), and Librairie Blaizot, Paris (18–29 October 1972, no. 17).
From the library of Robert Moureau & Micheline de Bellefroid (sale II, Paris, 2004, Pascal de Sadeleer, expert, no. 460); Les Argonautes (catalogue 2010, Paris, no. 395).
Trésors de la Bibliothèque nationale de France, 2000, no. 92, entry by M.-F. Quignard; Coron, 50 livres illustrés depuis 1947, no. 5; Mason-Cherix, Henri Michaux. Les estampes, 1948–1984: nos. 1–13 and 14–16; Jean Toulet, Georges Leroux | Daniel Filipacchi, Bibliothèque Nationale, 1990; Grisay, 89; M. Imbert, Les Livres illustrés, 1993, no. 13; M. Imbert, Biblio, 1994, no. 33; Talvart & Place, XV, 16.