ROBERT DESNOS (1900-1945) JOAN MIRÓ (1893-1983) LES PÉNALITÉS DE L’ENFER OU LES NOUVELLES HÉBRIDES. FIRST EDITION.

Paris, Fecquet & Baudier, Mourlot for Maeght, 1974. Limited edition of 220 copies, all printed on Vélin d’Arches paper and signed by Miró in the colophon. This is one of 20 copies not for sale, no. XII, signed in red pencil. Typography by Michel Otthoffer, 25 original lithographs by Joan Miró, including the one on the cover. With a folder containing 5 reproductions of drawings executed in 1929. In-4 oblong (27.1x37.3cm). Loose-leaf, original illustrated cover, publisher’s salmon-coloured canvas slipcase with title on the spine (29.7x40x6.8cm). Small repairs to two 1 cm tears on the cover hinge. Case worn at the hinge inside, no serious damage. By 1925, the year he met Desnos, Miró had already produced several illustrations for this text. However, the crisis of 1929, the Spanish Civil War and then the Second World War prevented the painter from completing this project. ‘Thirty years later, Miró undertook to illustrate an unpublished manuscript, ‘Les Pénalités de l’enfer’ (The Penalties of Hell), which was entrusted to him by Youki Desnos (Robert Desnos’ widow)’ (introduction). Bibliography: Patrick Cramer, Catalogue raisonné des livres illustrés par Joan Miró, preface by Rosa Maria Malet, no.188