IDBURY PRINTS

The Minx. Original etching/aquatint from the album Nus, published by Éditions du Tertre around 1945. Signed with the initial T in the plate. There are a couple of almost invisible fox marks in the margins, and the bottom edge has a curved indentation 20mm long and 5mm high where the paper has torn unevenly; it looks as if this happened in the printing, and it doesn't really affect the print as the top of the indentation is 65mm from the bottoom of the plate mark. The publishers do not give a date of publication, or credit the printer; they describe the prints simply as "vingt cuivres gravés par Touchagues", but they are clearly etchings with aquatint rather than engravings. There were a total of 160 copies, all on pure rag Lana; this is from copy 14. Each of the etchings comes attached to a sheet with the title and a four-line poem by Alexandre Arnoux (1884-1973); i.e. as a folded four-page unit, with the poem on page 1, the etching on page 3, and pages 2 and 4 blank; the plates have been protected with tissue guards. Sold with a copy of the justification page, and a copy of the blank front page with an ink drawing by Touchagues (a comic self-portrait), signed and dedicated to a Madame Quentin, and two pencil drawings (a female leg and lips). The original receipt for this album shows that it cost 10,000 francs. Ref: Monod 503. Condition: Excellent, see description.