With 8 original erotic drawings by Georges Villa
ANACREON. [VILLA, Georges, artist]. Les Odes d'Anacreon, Teien. Traduites de Grec en Francais par Remy Belleau. Ensembles quelques petites Hymnes de son invention. Paris: La Reconnaissance, 1928.
8vo., in contemporary half gilt ruled brown morocco over marbled paper boards signed Yseux SR of Thierry Simier, original wrappers bound in, spine lettered in gilt with floral pattern blocked in black, marbled endpapers; initials printed in blue, woodcut frontispiece by Pierre Gandon; upper edge gilt, else uncut; pp. [xiv], viii, [ii], 171, xi; a little sunning to spine and some lower pages slightly nicked, otherwise a fine copy.
Limited edition of 305 copies. This copy extra-illustrated with 8 original drawings in pencil, pen, ink and pastel - 4 full page and 4 vignettes - by Georges Villa. The sensuous drawings are all signed (and some captioned) in pencil. With a note in Villa's hand on title page and a secondary tipped in.
A collection of verses by the great Greek lyric poet, who lived in the 6th century. Anacreon wrote all of his poetry in the ancient Ionic dialect and, like all early lyric poetry, it was composed to be sung or recited to the accompaniment of music, usually the lyre. Anacreon's poetry touched on universal themes of love, infatuation, revelry, and the observations of everyday people and life.
Georges Villa studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français. He is known for his caricatures and portraits as well as his erotic drawings using charcoal and pastel. Many of Villa’s illustrations can be found in limited edition collectors’ books such as these, including 12 erotic lithographs to accompany the poetry of Edmond Haraucourt, and Poemes hysteriques, an eroticised parody of the poems of Victor Hugo.
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