Les Pastorales; Traduites intégralement par Gabriel Soulages. Bois originaux de J.- B. Vettiner

Paris: René Kieffer, 1923. Limited Edition. Near fine. Jean-Baptiste Vettiner (1871-1935). 4to, 10 1/4 x 7 3/4 inches (260 x 194 mm); pp. iv + 156. This is copy no. 7 of the DELUXE EDITION of 50 printed on vélin teinté with the ADDITIONAL SET OF 41 WOODCUTS PRINTED ON JAPON PELURE and mounted at the rear of the book. 32 woodcuts by Jean-Baptiste Vettiner, plus the original front paper wrapper bound in at the front of the book, and the original paper back strip tipped in at the rear of the book. Dark green embossed morocco by René Kieffer - binder's ticket mounted to front free endpaper - black tooled with a central medallion bearing a classical Grecian crouching female nude, surrounded by vines and grapes and with additional decorative motifs that run across the boards and spine; spine sunned and front hinge starting, edges rubbed in places, marbled endpapers, title in gilt, t.e.g., rest uncut. Occasional foxing and staining in the margins around the mounted woodcuts, not affecting images. A beautiful copy of the DELUXE EDITION of a classic collection of pastoral poems and elegies by the Sicilian poet Theocritus (c. 300 B.C. - c. 260 B.C.), known for his epic and pastoral works in Greek. The energetic woodcuts that illustrate each of the stories are the work of Jean-Baptiste Vettiner (1871-1935), a French artist and engraver who studied at the École des beaux-arts de Bordeaux, moved to Paris and became active in the early 1920s in the Société de la gravure sur bois originale (Authentic Woodblock Engraving Society). His work on the Pastorales is considered one of his masterpieces, the ADDITIONAL SET OF 41 WOODCUTS PRINTED ON JAPON mounted at the rear.