26. ÉTIENNE DINET (1861 - 1929) & SLIMAN BEN IBRAHIM... Lot 26

26. ÉTIENNE DINET (1861 - 1929) & SLIMAN BEN IBRAHIM BAMER - THE DESERT Original in-4 paperback manuscript (30 cm x 19.5 cm) 138 pages and 7 in-8 free pages. Pencil, ink, red mineral pencil, erasures. Presented in a Sienna morocco shirt, with traditional Algerian cold-pressed decoration, contemporary of the manuscript. Dated Bousada, the twelfth day of the month of Radjeb in the year 1326 after the Hegira, corresponding to 9 August 1908. (The book will be published in 1911 by Piazza). Text in French by Etienne Dinet after the Arabic text by Sliman Ben Ibrahim Bâmer. Manuscript introduction in Arabic by Sliman Ben Ibrahim Bâmer. Facing the text, Etienne Dinet painted 72 very beautiful full-page watercolours for the illustration of the book. The painter gives many technical indications concerning the colours, the places when he is inspired by a monument, a landscape or an architecture, as well as details of the layout. Signed, dated and located by the artist and author page 128. Each drawing is captioned including : "The approaches to the Sahara. Cedars. Mountains. Highlands. "Snake charmer, viper in hand and on his head." "Off-text: Child and the fennec from the painting, pasted on grey paper with ornamentation." "The entrance to the desert" "The Dunes. Double page off-text " "The attack of the Tuaregs. On their meharas are in the yellow dust. Fight with their spears. » "The fire. Flight of men and camels. Very black smoke in the sun. " "Camels at the Wells" "Nomad from the south. Holding his rifle across his shoulders. "The Bou Saada Wadi and the Washers" "Girl's bathroom" "Fight between the dancers, at night. In the street, lit by the door of a cafe. » "Market seen from a terrace." "Witchcraft, moon and clouds. » "Pink Desert of Guerrara. » Boussada " City of Happiness or Gateway to the Desert " "The Sahara is empty, but rich in the purity of its air. The Arab is poor by himself - but rich by his love for the soul of his desert - and he remembers with tenderness the bitter tyranny of his country; he cannot part with it "hunger in his stomach! Rather than averting his eyes, "Like the fish in the sea; if he separates himself from it, he dies at once. And we who compose this book agree with his words. Bedouin life! In it lies the most complete and obvious poetic bewitchment. Those who lead it have a charming companion in the fantasy of their imagination, and with the sparks of their thoughts, the worshippers of Allah have been enlightened. It is that their gaze extends to the most beautiful treasures in the midst of which the eyes can frolic. Contemplate their land, naked as a naked teenager without veils; the dawn pierces between the stars of her breasts, and the sun is projected from it, all red with the passionate embrace of the hands of the night. He spreads his robe over the palms of the oasis, renowned for its beauty, like an emerald ring on the finger of the river. (…) These shows exalt the Bedouin in their pursuit, but neither hands nor feet can reach them." Exceptional manuscript, illustrated by one of the greatest and most recognized orientalist artists.