On Wednesday, a rare book collection that would leave any modern art enthusiast drooling is set to be auctioned in Paris.  The collection comes from a French couple identified only by their initials, R. & B.L., and is comprised of various works by countless modern masters-  Picasso, Matisse, Miró, Braque, Chagall, and Toulouse-Lautrec, to name a few. "This collection, in which Picasso plays a key position, unites poetry, literature, painting and beautiful bindings," says Anne Heilbronn, the head of the book and manuscript department at Sotheby's Paris. A handful of the items that will be offered tomorrow: * Matisse sketchbook from 1930 * Matisse's exquisite 1947 artist book, Jazz * 32 books with illustrations by Picasso, dating from 1905-1960, and including a very rare copy of André Salmon's Poèmes, which contains an etching of two acrobats (only 10 copies of this print are known to have survived) * Blaise Cendrars's La Prose du Transsibérien et de la petite Jehanne de France (Prose of the Trans-Siberian and of the little Jeanne of France), illustrated by Sonia Delaunay.  The book folds out like an accordion and is considered to be a major milestone in artists's books. (Check out photos at the link below.) * Paul Verlaine's Parallèlement  with a mother of pearl binding by Eugène-Alain Séguy *Rose Adler's abstract, mosaic binding for Ovid's Metamorphoses, which contains 30 etchings by Picasso Did I mention that my birthday is this week?

Please click here to view all the entire catalogue online.  

Artistically Illustrated Tomes

Livres Illustrés Modernes de la Bibliothèque R. & B.L.