VOLUME TWO, DOUBLE NUMBER FIVE-SIX OF VERVE, 1939, THE AMERICAN EDITION, WITH ORIGINAL WRAPPERS BY MAILLOL AND FULL-PAGE COLOR LITHOGRAPHS BY BRAQUE, ROUAULT, DERAIN, LÉGER, BONNARD, MATISSE AND KLEE

TÉRIADE, Efstratios (ELEFTHERIADES, Efstratios). Verve. Volume 2, Number 5-6 (July-October 1939). Special Double Number. Paris: (Imprimerie des Beaux-Arts), 1939. Slim folio, original illustrated wrappers by Maillol. $1200.

First American edition of this exceptional issue of Verve, with cover art by Aristide Maillol, 13 original lithographs (including Braque, Rouault, Derain, Léger, Bonnard, Matisse and Klee), and articles by Valéry, Gide and Sartre.

"Fifty years ago in Paris, the magazine to look for was Verve, which first came out in December 1937 and kept going in one form or another till 1960. That first cover (by Henri Matisse) sang out from the other side of the street in a way that made us run across the road to look at it more closely. And when we turned its pages, Verve had a bosomy, full-fleshed, slightly slithery quality that this former subscriber would know in his sleep" (John Russell). Art critic Efstratios Eleftheriades, under the nom de plume "Tériade," founded Verve, with the financial assistance of David Smart, publisher of Esquire and Apparel Arts. "The magazine, a quarterly review of arts and letters, was lavish in design and challenging in content. Teriade's view of the world of art and literature was personal, bold and compelling" (Rick Gagliano). Once called "the most beautiful magazine in the world," Verve contained original lithographs by the most famous artists of the day— Matisse, Picasso, Braque, Léger, Miró, Chagall— with numerous lithographs appearing for the first time. This issue contains, apart from Aristide Maillol's cover, 13 original lithographs, including those of Braque, Rouault, Derain, Léger, Bonnard, Matisse and Klee. First American edition, published the same year as the French, with English text translated by Robert Sage.

Plates and text fine, expert repairs to original wrappers. An attractive copy.