L'Escarmouche. Journal Illustré Hebdomadaire. Première Année No. 1. (12 Novembre 1893). - Deuxième Année. No. 3.(16 Mars 1894).

Paris., 1893 – 1894.. Later burgundy cloth-backed marbled paper boards, original publisher's printed illustrated wrappers preserved.. 11 issues. Folio. (396 x 294 mm).. Each issue with title and cover illustration, printed text in French throughout and advertisements to rear cover and with 33 illustrations by Toulouse-Lautrec, Bonnard, Ibels, Willette, Vallotton, Hermann-Paul and others. An excellent, complete set of the very scarce fin-de-siècle illustrated revue 'L'Escarmouche' with additional important ephemera and original material.Directed by Georges Darien, the writer, satirist and artist, the anarchist 'L'Escarmouche' was short-lived even by the standards of the day, appearing weekly for only three short months from November 1893 to January 1894 (a very rare final number, included here, was issued as an afterthought and without illustration apart from the cover by Ibels, in March 1894). Noted rather more for its illustration than any literary merit, 'LEscarmouche' featured covers by Henri-Gabriel Ibels (4), René Georges Hermann-Paul (5) and Félix Vallotton (1).The illustration, fine and typical examples from the French fin-de-siècle, features 12 lithographs by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Artistic contributors to the revue also included Louis Anquetin, Pierre Bonnard, Henri-Gabriel Ibels, René Georges Hermann-Paul, Félix Vallotton, and Adolphe Willette.Also included, inserted loose, is the following additional material:- the original 'affiche' for 'L'Escarmouche' by Ibels (650 x 485 mm), a large colour lithograph showing the interior of a bar with the patrons turned to watch soldiers marching past outside (the image was reduced and printed in black for the cover of issue no. 1); - the reproduction of the same from 'Les Maîtres de l'Affiche'; - the catalogue for Ibels' first exhibition in 1894 which includes many of the drawings that appeared in 'L'Escarmouche'; - Ibels' carte de visite with some lines in manuscript; - Ibels' letter dated Janvier 1906 to Achille Astre (Gustave Geffroy's secretary); - the manuscript for Arsène Alexandre's article on Toulouse-Lautrec published in PAN in October 1893; - the original prospectus for the exhibition of lithographs by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec at the Musée de Luxembourg (Décembre 1904 - Janvier 1905) in many of the artist's lithographs from 'L'Escarmouche' were published.- Also included is a letter from Ibels dated 21 Fevrier 1906, Manuscript receipt from Hermann Paul, Visiting card of Ibels, Catalogue of an exhibition of Hermann Paul's drawings and printsat Bernheim Jeune c. 1905.'L'Escarmouche' is one of the scarcest of the periodicals from the French fin-de-siècle and this exceptional set includes the final number - almost always missing from sets - issued two months after the penultimate number. OCLC reports a single complete set, that at the Bibliothèque Nationale in France; sets without the final number are also scarce and we can only trace those at the Swiss Bibliothèque d'Art et d'Archéologie, the National Library of Canada, the National Gallery of Australia and Iowa only.[not in Ray].