L'Invention Collective. No. 1 (February 1940) Through No. 2 (April 1940) (all Published) -

Brussels: 1940. 23 x 17 cm. Original paper wrappers, housed in a black and white patterned boards portfolio, title to spine, with matching slipcase; unpaginated [16, 22 pp.]. Illustrated. Very good condition. A complete collection in two fascicules of the short-lived Belgian Surrealist publication founded and published by Raoul Ubac and René Magritte. Ubac was a Belgian artist living in Paris in the 1930s, and on his return to Belgium wanted to united the Surrealists from Brussels with the Surrealists from the Hainaut province, to form a united collective. Prior to this, the Flemish and Walloon groups were often divided. The result of his efforts was L'Invention Collective. The invasion of Belgium by the German army on May 10, 1940, put an end to publication, and the planned third issue for June 1940 was never published. Soon after Ubac and Magritte left Brussels for Carcassonne.

Leading up to the publication, a letter was signed and circulated by Magritte, Marcel Mariën, Achille Chavée, and Louis Scutenaire, which stated, "On the dark threshold of 1940, although the walls everywhere are cracking and collapsing on every side, it is important for us to keep intact the state of mind that Surrealism will have created in the form of a poetic precipitate [...] By publishing this review, we think of breaking the silence to which the war forces our English and French friends. In Belgium, we still have a few chances to make ourselves heard."

The journal is comprised of prose, poetry, and illustrations, with contributions from Pierre Mabille, André Breton, Irène Hamoir, Paul Magritte, Marcel Mariën, René Magritte, Jean (Louis) Scutenaire, Achille Chavée, Raoul Ubac, Marcel Lecomte, Fernand Dumont, Pol Bury, Paul Delvaux, Marcel-G. Lefrancq, Armand Simon, Louis Van de Spiegele, and Georges Marien.