Luc Lafnet - Euryale et Lucrèce - 1931

Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini / Luc Lafnet - Euryale and Lucrezia, story of two lovers - Paris, at the expense of the Society Les Bibliophiles du Papier - 1931.

This is an original edition of this French translation, numbered on vellum in the form of Lana’s papermills, copy number 60 specially printed for Mr. Lafuma, a great bibliophile. The print run of this volume is limited to only 110 copies.

The work contains thirteen fine etchings outside the text.

Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, later Pope Pius II, was a scholar, humanist, and Italian statesman (1405-1964). Before attaining high ecclesiastical office, he led a worldly life and had a brilliant literary career at the imperial court. He wrote this popular sentimental novel in Latin in 1444, inspired by anecdotes from the court of Vienna and the humanist atmosphere of his time.

Luc Lafnet is a Belgian painter, illustrator, and comic book artist (1899-1939). Trained at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Liège, he settled in Paris in the early 1920s where he moved among the artistic milieu and produced numerous refined illustrations. His graphic style is characterized by an elegant and expressive line, particularly suited to literary and erotic Renaissance texts.

This book tells the tragic, adulterous passion between Euryale, chamberlain to Emperor Sigismund, and Lucrezia, a noble married woman from Siena.

Paperback with a dust jacket, a cardboard sleeve, and the publisher’s original case damaged.