BILLY ANDRE [Ploughman] - Lot 159

BILLY ANDRE [Ploughman] La Malabée Paris, 1917, Société littéraire de France, small in-8 full green chagrin with fawn and blue calf stripe on first cover. Front cover and spine preserved. Bound by Christiane Pesqué. 107pp. One of 1000 copies on laid paper. First edition of the text illustrated with 5 full-page line drawings by Jean-Émile Laboureur. In a letter dated September 12, 1917, Apollinaire wrote to Laboureur: "I congratulate you on the lovely drawings with which you have adorned Billy's book, with which I have had the pleasure of putting you in touch. For his part, Billy was very pleased with the artist's drawings: "Your delightful drawings," he wrote to him, "are extremely pleasing to me. Laboureur T.II N°810 p 555.