Mais n'te promène donc pas toute nue ! ["Don't Run Around in the Nude"]

Paris: Librairie Théatrale, Artistique & Littéraire, 1914. Limited Edition, First Edition. Full Marbled Calf. Near Fine. The author's copy -- so states a penciled note, and while we haven't, and might well not be able to corroborate this, we are of the mind that this is true, especially since it is No. 2 of a limitation totaling 36 copies, and one of 13 copies (No. 2 to 14) in the second of three tranches, this tranche being on Japon. The first tranche is one on chine and printed on a single side. It seems to us quite plausible that Feydeau was given both copies, or perhaps the No. 1 was given to a producer and actor in the play. Regardless of the initial ownership of ours, but reinforcing our belief that it was probably Feydeau's copy, is the binding, which is quite special and a type seldom encountered. Credited in a small handwritten inscription on the verso of the FEP, by M. Drel. Maurice Drel was a towering figure in the world of French art bookbindings, known for his painted work on leather. (He seems to have most often collaborated with the elite of French bookbinders, doing the fine painted effects for them.) The work receiving this extraordinary binding is a one act comedy from the master of the "Boulevard Comedy", a type of theatre often dismissed as light insignificant fluff but one of the most challenging to pull off, 8vo. 20 by 16 cm. 78 pp. (Not counting the blanks, whether within or without the original wraps which were bound in.) Diagram in front of set -- this is a farce, after all, with doors having an active part in the action. The play was first performed in 1911. This, though, was the first time it was published. Light rubbing of calf by spine gutter and spine extremities and book edges. (The marbling actually softens the visual impact of the issue.) Some fading of gilt lettering and numbers on spine. Very occasional light spots in text, and inevitable age toning, heavier, as also to be expected, on the few leaves, including the wraps, that aren't Japon. Some Japon leaves have never been cut.