LAURENCIN, Marie (illus.); CARROLL, Lewis.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Alice in Wonderland. First Black Sun Press edition, number 185 of 420 copies of the American issue, of which this is one of 350 copies on Rives paper. There were also 50 copies on Japanese Vellum, and 20 copies on Hollande van Gelder paper. The American and European issues totalled 790 copies.The Black Sun Press edition of Alice in Wonderland was published in the year following co-founder Harry Crosby's notorious suicide. "Literature's most scandalous couple" (Lyle), Caresse and Harry Crosby, founded the press in the early part of 1924. It closed with Caresse's death in 1970.This was the first illustrated book of the French artist Marie Laurencin (1883-1956), whose celebrated queer illustrations are "characterized by a palette of pastel colours and feminine subject matter" (Summers, p. 208). Laurencin hosted other famous artists at her home in Auteuil, where she "reigned like a queen, with her cat, whom she said was the model for all her female faces. As she became popular, her influence was felt in the world of fashion and interior design" (Fine, p. 173).

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