Candide, All for the Best

Haarlem / New York: J. Enschedé en Zonen for the Bennett Libraries Inc, 1927. Limited Edition. Near fine. Clara Tice (1888 - 1973). 8vo, 9 x 5 3/4 inches (228 x 147 mm). 2 parts in 1 volume with continuous pagination: [10], 182 pp., (7) index, [10]; 10 etched plates by CLARA TICE, including hand-colored frontispiece, each with tissue guard with legends printed in red. Copy 541 of the limited edition of 1000 copies, set by hand in Didot type and printed on 'papier à la cuve', t.e.g., one page unopened. Etching at p.54 with loss in the lower corner, not affecting the image, paper somewhat toned at edges and occasional small tears to some sheets, but copy is in near fine condition, paper supple. Half cloth binding with marbled boards; gilt title on spine, slightly rubbed, some bumping and wear at corners and edges, 2-inch crack to top of front hinge, but binding tight and square.
All for the Best. This edition, enriched by Clara Tice's racy and whimsical illustrations, is an "Exact reprint of the earliest English text" and was printed in Holland by the Johann Enschedé en Zonen of Haarlem, founded in 1703. The verso of the title page states it was "set entirely by hand from type cast by Joh. Enschedé en Zonen from original Didot matrices." It bears amusing legends on the tissue guards, printed in red: "Their hands strayed"; "Cut off only one of the buttocks"; "Their veils dropt".

Clara Tice (1888 - 1973) drew racy illustrations at a time when ladies did not engage in such things, and when Anthony Comstock's Society for the Suppression of Vice was very active. Tice attracted their unwanted attention for one of her early exhibitions at Polly's Restaurant in Greenwich Village in 1915, and it helped to jump-start her career. Vanity Fair dubbed Tice the "QUEEN OF GREENWICH VILLAGE". According to The New York Times (27 June 1920) she was the first woman in Greenwich village to bob her hair. Tice also created a cartoon strip and posters, and she is included in the New York Dada Movement.