Marcel BROODTHAERS. The Black Beast. Engravings... Lot 14

Marcel BROODTHAERS. The Black Beast. Engravings by Jan Sanders. [Brussels], René de Keersmaeker printing house, 1961. In-16 [13,9 × 27,2 cm] of (8) ff. stapled, red paper cover illustrated with a vignette. First edition: dedicated to Maria Gilissen, future wife of the artist, it is illustrated with four vignettes by Jan Sanders. Edition at 720 copies at the author's account. One of the 20 copies of the first edition on Arches (n° XI), hand-printed and of a slightly larger format. A bestiary of the Zodiac and of some familiar animals, Marcel Broodthaers' third collection of poetry offers a cryptic, highly abbreviated version of La Fontaine's Fables. The collection is "indispensable to an understanding of the spirit and of many of the works produced by the artist after 1964" (JEU DE PAUME, p. 43). Precious autograph signed shipment to Constantin Brodzki. The mailing frames, on the first sheet, the printed title: To TINO La Bête noire MARCEL May 1, 61. Close friend and neighbor of Marcel Broodthaers, Constantin Brodzki (1924-2021) was an important modernist architect to whom we owe in particular the pavilion of the flora and fauna of the Belgian Congo at the 1958 World's Fair (see lot 8). A largely unclipped copy, with a split in the spine; traces of folding in the margin of the cover. (JAMAR, 28.- FLAMMARION, pp. 9, with reproduction, and 306.- Moeglin-Delcroix, Esthétique du livre d'artiste, 1997, p. 19, with reproduction)