CHAT NOIR - SALIS (Rodolphe). Tales of the Black... Lot 306

[CHAT NOIR] - SALIS (Rodolphe). Tales of the Black Cat. The Winter *. Preface by Philippe Gille. Prologue by A. Willette. Paris : à la librairie illustrée, [1888]. Contes du Chat Noir. Le Printemps **. Preface by Francisque Sarcey. Paris : E. Dentu, 1891. - 2 volumes in-8, 228 x 143 : (2 ff.), VI, 304 pp. illustrated cover ; XI, 328 pp. illustrated cover. Bradel half tan cloth with corners, smooth spine decorated with a gilt fleuron, untrimmed, cover and spine preserved (E. Carayon). First edition of the only two volumes published out of the 4 planned. It is the collection in volumes of the tales that Rodolphe Salis (1851-1897), famous cabaret owner, creator in 1885 of the no less famous cabaret Le Chat noir, had published every Sunday from 1882 in his newspaper Le Chat noir. These two volumes contain a total of 34 tales written in "old language", in the Rabelaisian spelling, in the manner of Balzac's Contes drôlatiques. Each volume is illustrated with a beautiful colour cover by George Auriol, as well as numerous compositions in the text and on the full page by Adolphe Willette, Loÿs, Henri Rivière, Henri Pille, Henry Somm, Albert Robida, Fernand Fau, Steinlen, Sabattier, St-Maurice, George Auriol, Rœdel, Vincent, Uzès and Heidbrinck. Copy enriched with a beautiful L.A.S. from Rodolphe Salis, mounted at the head of the first volume, dated January 24, 1897 and of 2 pages in-8. It is addressed to "Our dear uncle" and deals with the Black Cat: "Not a word of tenderness - not a word of regret about the disappearance of this black cat on rue Massé that you seemed to love - why, oh uncle, this cruel reserve. I need you to announce to the world that listens to you, to Provence, which we travel through and which blindly believes in you - that we are interesting people, that our pumps and our works are the last cry of joy and gaiety - that only among the young we do not build, in Mr. Ubec's chapel, with Lugné-Poe's sandstones borrowed from Ibsen or Maeterlinck, altars for the snobbish God. Slight soiling to the bindings. The covers are preserved in one piece. Attached : - DONNAY (Maurice). Around the Black Cat. Paris : Bernard Grasset, 1926. - In-8, 217 x 167 : 192 pp, (2 ff.), illustrated cover. Dark blue half-maroquin with corners, light green morocco listels, smooth spine decorated, gilt head, cover and spine preserved (period binding). First edition. One of 110 copies on vellum pur fil. Spine faded, some minor wear and tear.