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The Song of Bilitis by Pierre Louÿs, Willy Pogany Illustrator

About the Item

SIGNED New York: Privately Printed by Macy-Masius, 1926 4to, 10 x 7 inches (250 x 178 mm); pp. 180, xii; illustrations by Willy Pogany on most pages. Black cloth boards with light purple title box on front cover, black lettering; purple title on spine; illustrated purple & black endpapers; top edge stained purple, rest uncut; illustrated paper slipcase a little rubbed at edges; binding tight and interiors mostly clean, with some very light scattered foxing at some pages. Copy no. 1574 of 2000, SIGNED in ink by the illustrator on the limitation page. The Songs of Bilitis (French: Les Chansons de Bilitis) is a collection of erotic, essentially lesbian, poetry by Pierre Louÿs (1870 – 1925) published in Paris in 1894. Since Louÿs claimed that he had translated the original poetry from Ancient Greek, but were actually clever fabulations, authored by Louÿs himself. This English edition translated by Alvah C. Bessie. The prolific Hungarian artist Willy Pogany (1882 – 1955) was best known as an illustrator of children's and other books, mostly in the Art Nouveau style. He lived in London for 10 years and them emigrated to the US, where he became increasingly involved in stage design. He eventually moved to Hollywood to serve as art director for several film studios in the 1930s and 1940s. Pogany's artistic style is heavily fairy-tale orientated and often feature motifs of mythical animals such as nymphs and pixies. To accompany this collection of erotic poetry he created large and small images with classical references. Condition: Near fine.
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 10 in (25.4 cm)Width: 7 in (17.78 cm)Depth: 1 in (2.54 cm)
  • Materials and Techniques:
  • Place of Origin:
  • Period:
  • Date of Manufacture:
    1926
  • Condition:
    Wear consistent with age and use.
  • Seller Location:
    Middletown, NY
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: BH8521stDibs: LU8340237943292
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