Georges Braun / ‎Voltaire - Le Taureau blanc [ ex. sur vélin] - 1926

Luxurious publication established by René Kieffer. Sought-after edition for the superb original 'Art déco' cover by George Braun, lithographed in color on the front and back, depicting a white bull, the title of the work.

It also contains 41 illustrations by the artist, meticulously hand-colored using stencils and brushes, including the two title and justification vignettes.

Limited edition of 550 numbered copies, this one being number 290 on white vellum.

Paperback, with illustrated covers. In very good condition. Clean covers. Slightly creased spine. Fresh and clean interior, free of foxing. Partially uncut. Beautiful copy.

A philosophical story by Voltaire with an oriental touch, supposedly translated from Syriac and inspired by One Thousand and One Nights, recounting the adventures of an Egyptian princess, Amaside, in ancient times.

Her advisor, the wise Mambrès, is about thirteen hundred years old. She has been separated from her lover, Nabuchodonosor, for seven years; her father forbids her to speak his name, under penalty of having her head cut off. She meets a white bull by the Nile, which shows its love for the princess, who is pleased. She realizes that he is none other than her transformed lover.

The story was completed in the spring of 1773. The text was published in three installments of Grimm's Literary Correspondence from November 1773 to January 1774. Another version was published by the Geneva publisher Cramer in 1774. A third version appeared in March 1774, supposedly published in London.

Georges Braun / Voltaire
The white bull
Paris, René Kieffer, 1926
in-4, 24 x 19 cm; 98 pages. 3ff.