The Graveyard by the Sea.
Philadelphia: The Centaur Press [printed by the Gollifox Press], 1932. Quarto. Bound in original navy buckram, with printed paper label to the spine and upper cover. Lacking dusk jacket. Unpaginated [52pp.] Slight wear to the head and tail of the spine, and along the extremities; minor chipping to both labels, but without compromising the lettering. Overall a Very Good copy. One of 300 copies, this being number 22. Valéry’s original text is presented above the English translation on the recto of each spread, with photo-reproductions of drawings illustrating the text on each verso. Both the translation and the illustrations are by Emlen Pope Etting (1905-1993), an artist and avant-garde filmmaker who worked in Philadelphia for most of his life. Etting studied French at Harvard, and later painting under André Lhote and at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris. Etting's use of line and geometric figures bears some resemblance to Lhote’s Cubist style, but especially in his illustrations, with their simplicity of line and sparse monochromatic execution, Etting produces a repose and hovering fixity which distances him from Lhote’s more dynamic approach. In addition to private commissions and his own personal projects, Etting illustrated two books for New Directions, Koheleth: The Book of Ecclesiastes (1940) and Kafka’s Amerika (1946). Item #85
Price: $175.00