HUARD, Charles (1874-1965); THEURIET, André (1833-1907) – 67 original drawings for André Theuriet’s roman „La maison des deux Barbeaux. Le sang de Finoel“. Paris, Fayard, 1900. Size of leaves: mostly circa 32 x 24 cm.

The collections includes 63 original drawings (out of a total of 80) and 4 further drawings that most likely ended up not being published. The handwritten page numbers correspond to the first edition, which had been published in 1879, without illustrations. The novel has also been turned into a movie, shot in Brioude in 1927 under the name „La maison sans amour“, directed by Emilien Champetier (featured actors such as Henri Baudin, Jean Coquelin, Clara Darcey-Roche, etc).

Charles Huard (1874-1965) was a French painter and illustrator, best known for doing the illustrations for the complete works of Honoré de Balzac, published in 1912-1940. He began his career by doing illustrations for French newspapers such as “La Libre Parole Illustrée” and “L’Assiette aueurre” and quickly gained a reputation in the publishing world. He has illustrated many works of fiction, particularly Anglo-Saxon literature. During WWI, he was employed by the French government to illustrate war scenes. Andre Theuriet (1833-1907) was a 19th century French writer. His interest in literature came early – while studying at the Gilles de Trèves school, he was writing poems during his classes and got caught by his teacher who mocked his writing. He went on to study Law and took part in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.

He made his debut with a poetry book in 1867 and later published numerous novels, many dealing with French provicial life. „La Maison des deux Barbeaux : Le sang des Finoël“, published in 1879, was named one of the most charming of his novels. It has been translated into German by Arthur Roehl (published by Hillger in Berlin, Leipzig and Eisenach in c. 1903).

The present drawings were made for the 1900 Fayard edition of Theuriet’s novel, which was published as part of the series entitled „Modern-Bibliotheque“.

For the following illustrations the drawings are present: Frontispiece, pages 7; 10; 11; 13; 15; 17; 20; 21; 23; 24; 25; 28; 29; 31; 32; 33; 35; 38; 39; 44; 45; 48; 49; 51; 57; 62; 64; 65; 67; 68; 71; 72; 73; 76; 77; 79; 80; 81; 82; 84; 85; 86; 88; 89; 91; 93; 95; 98; 99; 102; 105; 107; 110; 111; 113; 115; 116; 117; 121; 124; 125; 126 (upper). With some marginal tears,  some of the drawings slightly stained – all in all in very good condition.

A very rare opportunity to acquire an almost complete set of drawings by Charles Huard.

2.900,- EUR