NONESUCH EDITION OF LES DIEUX ONT SOIF, BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED

FRANCE, Anatole. Les Dieux ont Soif [The Gods are A-Thirst]. London: The Nonesuch Press, 1942. Tall octavo, original half brown cloth, original slipcase. $225.

Fine Nonesuch Press edition, with 16 hand-colored plates by Jean Oberlé.

Nobel Prize-winner Anatole France is particularly known for “his graceful erudition, his love of beauty… his subtle, biting irony… his clarity of thought, and his elegant, melodious style” (Reid, 242).The illustrations for this fine Nonesuch edition of Les Dieux ont Soif are by Jean Oberlé, with an introduction by André Maurois. The Nonesuch Press was founded in 1923 by Francis Meynell, David Garnett and Vera Mendel in the basement premises under the Birrell & Garnett bookshop in London, with the intent to make books “for those among collectors who also use books for reading.” Small auction sticker affixed to slipcase.

Illustrations beautiful and vivid. A fine copy in a worn slipcase.