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Un Chapeau de Paille d’Italie
Paris: Éditions du Bélier, 1943. Item #06477
A pleasing union of classic French theatrical wit and mid-century illustration
LABICHE, Eugene. MICHEL, Marc. Un Chapeau de Paille d’Italie. Illustrations de R. Peynet. Paris: Éditions du Bélier, 1943.
Limited to 4500 copies of which this is no. 1,770.
Octavo ( 9 1/2 x 6 1/8 inches; 241 x 155 mm.). [1-4, blank], [5-12], 13-145, [1, blank], 1, limitation], 5, blank] pp. Five full-page color plates and numerous colored headpieces. Color pictorial front wrapper bound in.
This is Labiche's great classic, a boulevard comedy accumulating more rocambolic and burlesque adventures than the others, on the occasion of the frantic search for a straw hat on a wedding day...
Bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe ca. 1960 in three-quarter red morocco over marbled boards ruled in blind, spine with five raised bands lettered in gilt in compartments, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Spine slightly faded, still a fine copy.
A celebrated example of 19th-century French comic theatre, Un Chapeau de Paille d’Italie (1851), written by Eugène Labiche in collaboration with Marc-Michel, remains one of the great farces of the French stage - an intricately constructed comedy of errors propelled by escalating absurdity and impeccable timing. Its enduring popularity has led to countless revivals and adaptations, including the well-known film by René Clair.
The present edition, issued in wartime Paris, is illustrated by Raymond Peynet, whose delicate, whimsical style - later celebrated in his iconic “amoureux”—brings a lightness and lyric charm to Labiche’s rapid-fire comedy. Despite the constraints of publication during the Occupation, Éditions du Bélier produced a visually appealing and carefully designed volume, notable for its fresh color palette and decorative program.
A pleasing union of classic French theatrical wit and mid-century illustration, further enhanced by a refined later binding from one of London’s most respected ateliers.
Price: $350.00