L'Ymagier

First edition, one of 515 copies.

The set of 8 issues is housed under two half-oasis black folders, smooth spines, gilt dates at foot, decorative paper boards, lined in green paper, set signed by Atelier Laurenchet.
Minor lacks of paper and tears to some spines and boards, some spines with slight restorations. The eighth issue has marginally soiled boards and a detached engraving, occasional foxing mainly affecting the sixth issue, part of the first issue being almost detached, some rare lacks of paper in the margins due to its innate fragility.

Texts in first edition by Alfred Jarry and Remy de Gourmont.  Illustrated with approximately 300 engravings, reproductions of ancient woodcuts from the 15th and 16th centuries, large coloured images, pages from early printed books, miniatures, lithographs, woodcuts, original drawings and prints by Remy de Gourmont, Alfred Jarry (under the pseudonym Alain Jans), Henri Le Douanier Rousseau, James Whistler, Paul Gauguin, Eric Forbes-Robertson, Louis Roy, Henri Gustave Jossot, Armand Seguin, Roderic O'Conor, Charles Filiger, Georges d'Espagnat, Emile Bernard...

- No. 1: 68 numbered pages including a title leaf and a miniature by Charles Filiger printed in mauve, 'Tête de Martyr' by R.G. (Remy de Gourmont), a drawing by Émile Bernard printed in blue, forty images and vignettes, two folding plates coloured Epinal images (613 x 380 mm and 615 x 395 mm) one of which has a tear without lack of paper.

- No. 2: 71 numbered pages, from 69 to 140, including a red woodcut by Armand Seguin, an original print by Eric Forbes-Robertson (Adam and Eve), numerous woodcuts including 2 Indochinese artworks printed on two folding leaves of papier Chine, an original pen lithograph by Le Douanier Rousseau (The War) printed in black on orange paper (260 x 420 mm), an original lithograph signed R.G. (Remy de Gourmont) in black, an original lithograph by Alfred Jarry (signed César-Antéchrist), an unpublished drawing by Emile Bernard "Bédouine" and two folding coloured Epinal images: La Bataille des Pyramides (400 x 580 mm); Bonne Bière de Mars (420 x 509 mm).

- No. 3: 66 numbered pages, from 141 to 206. Numerous in-text and full-page illustrations including a plate titled "La Madeleine", by Armand Seguin and reserved for subscribers, after a woodcut printed in sanguine by Paul Gauguin, an original dark green woodcut "L'évêque" by Georges d'Espagnat, an original black woodcut by Alice Feurgard, an original drawing printed in blue by Emile Bernard, an original drawing printed in dark green by Henri Gustave Jossot, an original bistre woodcut by Maurice Delcourt, two folding coloured Epinal images (621 x 350 mm and 640 x 370 mm).

- No. 4: 72 numbered pages, from 207 to 278. Numerous in-text and full-page illustrations including an original black lithograph by Louis Roy (À l'église) and reserved for subscribers, an original woodcut sketch by Alain Jans (Alfred Jarry), a black woodcut by Georges d'Espagnat, an original drawing in black by Roderic O'Conor, an original drawing by Émile Bernard printed in blue, a very pale folding woodcut plate (455 x 198 mm), two folding coloured Epinal images (350 x 305 mm and 370 x 295 mm).

- No. 5: 68 numbered pages, from 1 to 68. Numerous in-text and full-page illustrations including the frontispiece of the second volume by Alfred Jarry and printed in brown, an unpublished and folding original plate by Auguste Clésinger printed in black (281 x 430 mm), an unpublished original lithograph by James M. N. Whistler on papier Chine between two tissue guards, the first with printed caption, a folding plate featuring a facsimile of a coloured popular image entitled: Le Vrai Portrait du Juif-Errant… (485 x 304 mm), a folding plate featuring a fragment of a large-format composite woodcut  (368 x 305 mm).

- No. 6: 60 numbered pages, from 69 to 128. Numerous in-text and full-page illustrations including two folding coloured Epinal images (633 x 380 mm and 416 x 608 mm).

- No. 7: 60 numbered pages, from 129 to 188. Numerous in-text and full-page illustrations including an original woodcut by Émile Bernard printed in red on thick gray-tinted paper, two folding colored Epinal images representing Saint Peter and Saint Paul and Napoleon on horseback (613 x 390 mm and 625 x 390 mm).

- No. 8: 54 numbered pages, from 189 to 242. Numerous in-text and full-page illustrations including a coloured popular image of a procession in the form of a folding banner (280 x 492 mm), an original woodcut printed in dark green on papier japon by Georges d'Espagnat (full page and included in the pagination).

Very rare and pleasant complete set in eight volumes so curiously illustrated.