LOUŸS (Pierre). Les Chansons de Bilitis. Illustrated by Paul-Émile Bécat.
Paris: Piazza, 1943.

8vo (204 × 148 mm). 206 pp., (3) ff. Half raspberry morocco with corners, raised bands, gilt lettering, top edge gilt, patterned endpapers; original wrappers and spine preserved. Binding by Kauffmann-Horclois.

Illustrated edition, enriched with two superb autograph letters signed by Pierre Louÿs.
The first is a one-page correction (“à la lettre 2203, du 31 juillet”). The second, a charming three-page letter entitled “Vendredi”, offers a delightful glimpse into Louÿs’s wit: a humorous parody of divine communication — “Il n’accorde la communication qu’aux abonnés [...] (Voix célestes : Zzzz ! Krrrr ! Allô ! Pas libre !)” — followed by an irreverent request for “une petite ordure… dont j’aurais besoin pour caler ma baignoire”, identified as Fac. Par. de Brusc… Rouen, Thomas Maillard, 1615.

One of 3000 copies on vélin des papeteries Boucher, this being no. 2768. The charming illustrations by Bécat — sensual, fluid, and quintessentially 1940s — suit Louÿs’s celebrated pastiche of ancient erotic poetry perfectly.

A very attractive copy, the spine just lightly sunned.