= One of 60 copies printed on vergé de Hollande with an EXTRA SUITE of the 5 etchings by Marc Chagall (after 20 copies on vergé de cuve printed on name and 35 on Japanese with a double suite of the plates).
Frontispiece loose, else a very fine copy.

Innovative short story by Marcel Arland - it resembles a film shot in reverse, beginning with the death of the illegitimate child, then with the legal proceedings against the mother who is subjected to public scorn, continuing with the birth of the child among the chickens and crates of vegetables. Then comes "the brawl," "the couple in bed," and "the lover's visit through the window"-the very beginning of the story, which is thus "rewound." Chagall's five etchings have been the subject of numerous analyses in all the monographs devoted to this artist, the most famous to have worked in France in the 20th century after Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. The etchings are notable for their particularly "Chagallian" character, a blend of Jewish tradition, Russian folklore, and Chagall's characteristic whimsy (the lovers' bed seems to float in the room; the lover takes care to remove his clogs before climbing the ladder, etc.). This is, in a way, an "incunable" within the Master's considerable and multifaceted oeuvre.