LE LOBE DES MONSTERS. 1944. ONE OF 230 COPIES.

Lyon: L’Arbalete, 1944

11.5 x 15m, unpaginated (56pp). Original wrappers. First edition of the proto-surrealist’s collection of poems written under occupation and printed at the end of the war. The repeated hints of threat and the dreams of monsters hints at a deep hatred of Nazism.

One of 230 numbered copies on fil Lana from a total edition of only 235. One hors-texte illustration by Michaux which borrows some techniques from Ernst (Michaux felt that the automatist aspects of surrealism were the more honest rather than the slightly cliched  – even by the 40s – dream juxtapositions more typically found in Dali and Magritte. Very good with only minor flaws. Very scarce.