Surrealism in Wartime Paris

Semis sur le ciel [Seedlings in the sky].

Arnaud, Noel (e.g. Raymond Valentin Muller).

Paris: Les Editions des Reverberes, 1940. Octavo (20 × 14.4 cm). Original printed wrappers on thick bluish wove paper; 62, [1] pp. Very good.

Rare volume of poems published by the neo-Dadist group Les Réverbères, which was founded in December 1937 by Michel Tapié, Jean Marembert, Jacques Office, Pierre Mine, and Henri Bernard, and which promoted Dadaist exhibitions, jazz concerts, stage performances, and published literary works. Among other events, the group also organized "Tribute to Dada" soirées, which featured readings of texts by Tristan Tzara, Ribemont-Dessaignes, and others.

In "Art of the Defeat: France 1940–1944," Laurence Bertrand Dorléac asserts that the group still met for several gatherings retaining the spirit of the 1930s even after the German occupation of France in June 1940, and even published a series of color plate books, though we have been unable to trace them. The present volume was published after Paris had entered preparations for the war and food was being rationed.

One of 300 copies printed, of which fifty were on "vélin pur chiffon du Marais," this copy being unnumbered. In the original light blue wove paper wrappers, created specifically for this edition.

As of July 2022, KVK, OCLC show only one copy in North America.

Book ID: 52189

Price: $450.00