L' Apres-Midi d'un Faune: Eclogue de Mallarmé, Stéphane - 1956

The Hague: J.B.W. Editions, 1956. Buckland Wright, John. Small quarto. (14)pp. Although the colophon indicates a limitation of 50 copies, only 25 were actually bound and issued. This is the French version of the poem, printed for the artist in Holland before the war. Copies were available from Golden Cockerel Press at the same time that they issued an English translation of the poem by Aldous Huxley. Illustrated with four full-page wash drawings of an insatiable faun and a sensuous nymph in collotype reproduction. Buckland Wright originally intended to illustrate this volume with copper engravings. As the engravings were never made, this posthumous edition is accompanied by an extra suite of five experimental engravings in different styles. The suite is accompanied by a printed note by Mary Buckland Wright. The arrangement of the illustrations differs from the later Golden Cockerel edition, and the text is printed in Bodoni: in the note accompanying the extra engravings, Mary writes that her husband specifically chose the typeface because "it was essential for the eye to pass easily and without shock from Roman to italic-most typefaces fall down in that respect." Bound in full white gilt-stamped sheepskin, the extra suite housed in a buckram folder. Slightest darkening to spine, and there is a crack starting to the front hinge two pages in. Still, a fine copy. The book and suite are housed in a buckram slipcase. (Reid A73a).