My Mother, Grau Sala, Written on Water No. 3/20 Original Drawing Rejected Plate

  

Francis de Miomandre, Written on Water, with etchings in watercolor by Grau Sala, Paris, Émile-Paul Frères, 1947, 266 pages. Loose sheets with illustrated cover, case and publisher's box. Cover, color frontispiece, 30 blue illustrations in the text: 15 full-page copper engravings + 15 headers. All the copper engravings, in relation to the title of the work, are printed in shades of blue: midnight blue, electric blue, ultramarine, indigo, navy, sapphire. Limited edition of 400 numbered copies: 50 on vellum paper from Arches from 1 to 50 and 350 on vellum paper from Lana from 51 to 400.

The first 20 copies included an original drawing, a first state suite, and a suite of the final state, while the next 30 copies included a suite. Our copy is number 3 of the special edition.

It contains as announced in the colophon: 1 original ink drawing. Signed in red, by hand, by Grau Sala. This is the original drawing for the 4th plate, p. 1, a first state suite of the 31 engravings, and a suite of the final state of the 31 engravings. It is also enriched with a rejected plate with the mention "rejected plate" and Grau Sala's signature in pencil, not indicated in the colophon.

Written on Water was published in 1908, by a self-publisher, in five hundred copies by a Marseille house: Le Feu, directed by Émile Sicard. The novel was awarded the Goncourt Prize the same year, beating Henri Barbusse, Amédée Rouquès, and Jean Violis. When the verdict, signed by the hand of Léon Hennique, president of the academy, was announced, only a dozen copies of the five hundred remained and were sold within an hour. Sicard and his printer rushed to Paris, determined to flood the booksellers with the new edition of this unexpected Goncourt.

But ill-equipped and so happy to discover the charms and pleasures of the capital, towards which they rushed, they did not find time for this reprint. When the volumes finally came out of the press, it was too late. Miomandre admits, without any regret or resentment, that it took him over seven years to sell the three thousand copies he had planned for his glory.

The novel invites us to follow the sentimental apprenticeship of young Jacques de Meillan (alter ego of Francis de Miomandre), in the Marseille of the early dawn of the 20th century. The theme is playful and the writing, light and without any stylistic inflation, exudes a quaint and ethereal charm when read. A kind of small eulogy to youth and love of a very young man whose sap runs through his body and mind with boiling desires. In the preface, Miomandre warns his readers of the time: "It requires no effort to be read. Whether you open it in the middle, it will be as intelligible to you as if you approach it from the first chapter.

Like eternity, it has no beginning or end, but it is not as long". Perplexed, André Gide notes in the Nouvelle Revue Française about Written on Water: "In what tone should one speak of this light book?

Light as a bubble, insubstantial, bizarre, it eludes criticism and seems constantly in formation. It could be unbearable; it is charming." Exceptional set in excellent condition.

Deluxe edition with additional illustrations. Careful shipping, with tracking and insurance, worldwide. The illustrative photos in the listing show the 3 states of a selection of plates and the 4 states for the one with the original ink drawing. Additional photos available upon request.