Description
FIRST EDITION.
ONE OF 480 NUMBERED EXAMPLES on vellum paper
(after 10 copies on Imperial Japan and 10 copies on China).
A literary trick masterfully orchestrated by Pierre Louys, who invented Bilitis, Sappho's rival on the island of Lesbos, and translated his sapphic pieces that he allegedly discovered on the walls of an underground tomb where Mnasidika's lover was resting!
The secret only lasted a few weeks "A simple title of subtle convention for those who know that Bilitis never existed..."(Camille Mauclaire, Mercure de FranceApril 1895).
The success was equal to the scandal, the work became the bedside book of Nathalie Barney, Renée Vivien and Claude Debussy made, in 1897, a musical adaptation of three Songs from Bilitis.
Superb copy perfectly established by Canape in a fine mosaic binding evoking Ancient Greece..
Binding signed Canape R. D., full blue morocco in the Bradel style, smooth spine, mosaics of different shades of brown morocco with an amphora on the first cover, meander-shaped framing of the covers, fine ornamental mosaic on the spine, preserved cover.