Pepe Illo; Pablo Picasso - El Carnet de “La Tauromaquia” de Pepe Illo - 1963

Pablo Picasso – El Carnet de “La Tauromaquia” de Pepe Illo

Gustavo Gili, S.A., Barcelona, 1963
Text by Bernhard Geiser and Gustavo Gili
Typography and binding: S.A.D.A.G., Barcelona

Small 12mo volume (9.9 × 7.4 cm), red cloth with gilt title on the cover.
Printed on laid paper. Text only (no illustration in this copy).
Whil this notebook was issued in a pretty large number (850) and the moment of this post i could not locate another copy for sale on the market! Also this is a unique censorship volume

This miniature facsimile was conceived by Pablo Picasso in 1963 as a playful homage to the 18th-century bullfighting treatise by Pepe Illo (La Tauromaquia). Picasso created a tiny notebook filled with humorous notes and drawings, which he later offered to his friend and publ7isher Gustavo Gili. Amused by the gesture, Gili decided to reproduce the carnet in a limited edition of 850 copies, followed by 10 collaborators’ copies (I–X).

The first 20 copies contained a drypoint on Japon Ancien, hand-signed by Picasso in pencil; copies 21–840 were issued without the print.

This particular copy bears the internal designation “Ejemplar N.º Censura” instead of a number — a rare pre-publication or censorship control copy used by the publisher’s editorial department before commercial release. Such examples were never sold or distributed publicly, making them among the scarcest surviving variants of the edition.

The text includes references to the Tauromaquia theme and the long friendship between Picasso and Gili, as well as historical notes by Bernhard Geiser.

Condition: Near fine, fresh interior, firm binding.
References: Cramer 121; Bloch 1109.