La femme 100 têtes.

surrealist work beautifully bound

La femme 100 têtes was the first of three collage-novels by Max Ernst. The artist forges a universe of mystery, full of all the possibilities of the surreal, by culling the bourgeois interiors that pepper XIX century engravings and instead assembling images from several different illustrated works. This is a seminal and quintessential XX-century work of art.

The book was originally sold unbound, and this particular copy has been bound by the talented Daniel Henri Mercher, whose father Henri (1912-76) was also an innovative and creative binder. Henri invented a method of mounting covers that allowed him to use any type of material that could be sanded, carved or polished. His particular favourite was plexiglass, as seen in this superb example.

Limited edition, number 371 of 900 copies; 4to (25 x 20 cm); title, limitation, [4]pp. introduction by André Bréton, 147 plates after Max Ernst; original green wrappers, cream wove endpapers, green morocco by D. H. Mercher dated 1991 (binder's mark) with collage playing card design inlaid on covers in plexiglass, matching green morocco chemise with woven paper covers, spine gilt lettered, housed in cream coloured slipcase.

Dictionary of French bookbinders.