Alice in Wonderland.

Paris: The Black Sun Press,, 1930. Stunningly illustrated and preserved First Black Sun Press edition, an extranumerary copy of the deluxe European issue, lettered "F", signed by the artist on the colophon, and with a supplementary suite of the illustrations in sanguine, of which five are signed by Laurencin in purple pencil, as issued. The colophon, which states that 20 numbered copies of this deluxe issue were released in Europe, does not mention lettered copies. This was the first illustrated book of the foremost French artist Marie Laurencin (1883-1956), whose celebrated queer illustrations are "characterized by a palette of pastel colours and feminine subject matter" (Summers, p. 208). Producing Alice in this aesthetic caused "a considerable shock to those brought up on Tenniel" (Tebbel, p. 625). Laurencin hosted other famous artists at her home in Auteuil, where she "reigned like a queen, with her cat, whom she said was the model for all her female faces. As she became popular, her influence was felt in the world of fashion and interior design" (Fine, p. 173). Of the edition, 420 copies were designated for the US and 371 for Europe. The issues comprised 650 copies on Rives paper, 100 on Japanese vellum, 40 signed copies on Hollande Van Gelder with the sanguine suite (as here), and a single copy on Vieux Japon with the extra suite alongside the original lithographs. This copy retains its original jacket, chemise, and slipcase in superb condition. Oblong quarto. Original cream wrappers, spine and front cover lettered in red and black, publisher's black-and-red device on rear cover, fore and bottom edges untrimmed. With the original glassine jacket. Housed in the publisher's silver paper and card chemise and slipcase. Frontispiece and 5 plates in colour lithography, this issue also with a duplicate suite of the 6 illustrations printed in sanguine and bound at the end, all with tissue guards and by Marie Laurencin. Text printed in red and black. Faint spotting to fresh wrappers; glassine jacket with a couple of chips and tears but very well-preserved; chemise and slipcase slightly toned and handled: a near-fine copy in like jacket. Minkoff A39 (misprinted as A34). Elsa Honig Fine, Women & Art, 1981; Claude J. Summers, ed., The Queer Encyclopedia of the Visual Arts, 2004.