Description

FIRST EDITION illustrated with three drawings by the author.
ONE OF THE 315 NUMBERED EXAMPLES ON HEART-DRAWN VELIN, after 25 ex. on pure thread vellum, only numbered prints.

ORIGINAL DRAWING SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR AND SIGNED AUTOGRAPH SENT:

"For François Mitterand [sic] affection and gratitude Marcel Béalu"

Has been kept in the copy the autograph note of François Mitterrand, mentioning the date and place of purchase:
"Marcel Béalu, l'Araigné d'eau" 1500, Le Pont Traversé, May 1991"
Located rue de Beaune, the bookshop The Bridge Crossed was founded in 1949 by Marcel Béalu who borrowed the name of a story published in 1921 from Jean Paulhan.

This short fantasy story has been reissued several times, notably in the magazines Fictions and French Gothicas well as in volume with a preface by André Pieyre de Mandiargues :
"I don't know of many stories that have such a murky and suggestive charm as... the Water Spider.  Although the limits of decency are always respected there, this little work is one of the most immoral I know; which is not, one suspects, to detract from my admiration ... "