Tristan TZARA. De nos oiseaux. Paris, Kra, July 15, 1923. In - Lot 97

Tristan TZARA. De nos oiseaux. Paris, Kra, July 15, 1923. In-8 (14 x 20,1), paperback. 114-(3f.). Extremely rare and precious first edition illustrated with 10 full-page compositions (woodcuts?) by Hans Arp. As mentioned in the "achevé d'imprimer" under the justification, the work was completed on July 15, 1923 by Dietsch and Brueckner in Weimar for Les feuilles libres, 81, Avenue Victor Hugo, Paris. This edition was almost immediately destroyed following a quarrel between Tzara and his publishers, and it wasn't until a second edition, an undated edition that bibliographers estimate to date from 1929, that this collection saw the light of day. Thanks to the kindness of one of our colleagues, we were able to compare our copy with a copy of the 1929 edition, which is usually considered the original: - the format of the 1923 edition is larger than that of the 1929 edition, by about a centimeter in height and width. - the cover is similar, with the same imposition, but the second plate of the 1929 edition bears the price 10 Frs. - the collations are almost identical: 1923: 2f. (blanks), 1f. (title), 1f. (illustration), 7 to 114, 1f. (engraving), 1f. (illustration), 1f. (with From the same author on front and justification on back). 1929: 1f. (blank), 1f. (title), 1f. (illustration), 7 to 114, 1f. (engraving), 1f. (illustration), 1f. (with From the same author on front and justification on back). - the last leaf is different on the front and back. On examination, the imposition of the text is rigorously identical in both editions, the spacing, bolding, italics and other typographical coquetries are the same, but the printing of the 1923 edition is sharper, the blacks are denser and the illustrations stand out better, whereas in the 1929 edition the typography is a little paler and the illustrations are of a less frank black. In our opinion, the 1929 edition is a cliché reproduction of the 1923 edition, with only the last leaf altered. The copy we present is therefore one of the very few to have escaped destruction, probably because it is a large paper. One of the 10 first copies on Japon (no. 9), this one signed by Tristan Tzara. Copy in perfect condition, with the exception of the unevenly browned cover.