Chagall Marc

1957 · réf. 53749 — New York: Harry N. Abrams 1957. First edition. Hardcover. vg to near fine. Quarto. xxxviii 151pp. 1. Illustrated purple and red dust jacket. Beige cloth boards with illustration in black on the front cover black lettering on the spine. Illustrated endpapers. Original torn publisher's belly band laid in at the interior front cover. This unique copy contains two inscriptions to former president of Israel Zalman Shazar 1889-1974 in pen on the title page. One at the top is a 75th birthday gift inscription in Hebrew from a unidentified friend of Shazar and below it is another warm inscription from artist Marc Chagall in Yiddish dated 1964. Chagall writes: "In honor of the president and my good friend Z. Shazar with love Marc Chagall Jerusalem 1964". It can be assumed that Shazar's friend gave him the book as a gift and Marc Chagall who was present at the time also inscribed it to him. This monograph showcases Marc Chagall's graphic work from the years 1922-1957 and includes a total of 148 images reproducing the artist's work. Most images are in b/w with six in color and can be divided roughly into five major stages of Chagall's career: etchings for his autobiography - illustrations for Gogol's "Dead Souls" 1923-27 - etchings for La Fontaine's "Fables" 1927-30 - illustrations for the Bible - his post-war lithographs. All images are finely printed mostly in high quality offset with a few b/w images being lithographic. Dust jacket with some minor to light rubbing and creasing to extremities. Binding with very minor age toning along the bottom edge of the front cover. A few light stains to the top edge of the book block. Interior clean throughout with book block tight overall. Dj in very good binding and interior in very good to near fine condition overall. Harry N. Abrams hardcover