Description
RARE COMPLETE SET OF 13 PUBLICATIONS by Ferdinand Alquié published by Chantiers (1933-1937), which served as the basis for his Philosophy lessons (1939).
EXCEPTIONAL EXAMPLES FROM SURREALIST PROVENANCES: the first 11 bear a AUTOGRAPH SIGNED LETTER TO YVES TANGUY, the last 2 TO ANDRÉ BRETON.
1. The moral problem. 1933. 32 pp, [2] ff. autograph signed letter to Yves Tanguy: "To Yves Tanguy / His friend / Alquié"
2. Movements and Acts. 1933. 37 pp. and [1] f. Autograph signed letter to Yves Tanguy: 'A Yves Tanguy / Très affectueusement / Alquié'.
3. Notes on the first part of Descarte's Principles of Philosophys. 1933. 55 pp. - [1] f. Edges of covers yellowed. Autograph signed letter to Yves Tanguy: "To Yves Tanguy / sincerely / Alquié"
4. General moral concepts. 1933. 64 pp. and [1] f. Tear on spine. Autograph signed letter to Yves Tanguy: "To Yves Tanguy / His friend / Alquié"
5. Science. 1934. 59 pp. and [1] f. Edges of covers yellowed. Autograph signed letter to Yves Tanguy: "To Yves Tanguy / affectionately / Alquié"
6. Representative states. 1934. 46 pp. and [1] f. Autograph signed letter to Yves Tanguy: "To Yves Tanguy / with all my affection / Alquié".
7. General Philosophy plans. 1934. 74 pp. and [1] f. Margins of covers soiled. Autograph signed letter to Yves Tanguy: "To Yves Tanguy / his friend / Alquié"
8. Notions of General Psychology. 1935. 83 pp. and [1] f. Tears on spineSigned autograph letter to Yves Tanguy: "To Yves Tanguy / with all my affection / Alquié"
9. Trends and Reason. 1935. 59 pp. and [1] f. Autograph signed letter to Yves Tanguy: "To Yves Tanguy / his friend / Alquié"
10. Mathematical Sciences Life and Matter Sciences. 1936. Spine and edges of boards sunned. 76 pp. and [1] f., complete with erratum. Autograph signed letter to Yves Tanguy: "To Yves Tanguy / his friend / Alquié"
11. Representative summaries. 1936. 89 pp. and [1] f. Small hole in spine near staples. Autograph signed letter to Yves Tanguy: "To Yves Tanguy / his friend / Alquié"
12. Affective states. 1937. 36 pp. and [1] f. Paper missing from a corner on the lower cover, tears and small tears on the spine. Autograph signed letter to André Breton: "To André Breton / very affectionately / Alquié"
13. Intellectual Operations. 1937. 50 pp. and [1] f. Autograph signed letter to André Breton: "To André Breton / very affectionately / Alquié"
Co-founder of the magazine Building sites Alongside Joë Bousquet, Claude-Louis Estève, François-Paul Alibert and René Nelli, Ferdinand Alquié contributed several articles to the 9 issues published between 1928 and 1930. The magazine also welcomed contributions from Surrealist writers such as Aragon, Breton, Eluard and Dali, before being "sucked in" by other publications (notably the Cahiers du sud to which Alquié contributed). Joë Bousquet kept the name for his publishing house, and published several collections of poems as well as these 13 essays which, reworked and expanded, were to serve as the basis for the Philosophy lessons published in 1939.
Although he never declared himself a Surrealist, Ferdinand Alquié remained close to the movement and its protagonists throughout his life. Surrealism in the service of revolution a critical article in thewind of cretinisation blowing from the USSR"He had Éluard and Breton expelled from the Communist Party. He kept up a close correspondence with Breton which, while he was composing the essays that would form the basis of his Philosophy lessonsThis was the basis of his thinking. In his Philosophy of Surrealismpublished in 1955: "it seemed to me that Breton's thought could be considered the essence and norm of surrealist philosophy without doing anyone any harm". In 1966, he directed the Cerisy symposium on the history of Surrealism and two years later published a series of books entitledTalks on surrealism.
Ferdinand Alquié owned a canvas by Yves Tanguy painted in 1937 and according to Philippe Sers :
"[he] respected the image as an ineffable mystery. His affection for the surreal landscapes of Yves Tanguy, whose work on his walls seemed to echo the rows of rare books in his library, was a testament to this. He himself described his passion for "old books and modern paintings", as if, for him, without formulating it, the image took over from what was said. All his affectionate analysis of André Breton's thought points to the limits of discourse in the face of the deployment of signs."
