Mr. Knife, Miss Fork.

Paris.: The Black Sun Press., 1931.. Original blind and gilt-stamped cloth with hand-colouring after a design by Ernst, knife and fork design on spine, black endpapers, t.e.g., black calf-backed felt-lined moiré cloth board chemise with gilt titles to spine and matching slipcase.. 8vo. (184 x 126 mm).. Leaf with monochrome photogram frontispiece signed in black ink by Max Ernst, half-title with Crevel's signature in blue ink, printed title in red and black with knife and fork vignette and Kay Boyle's English trasnlation of Crevel's French text illustrated with 18 hors texte original monochrome full-page photograms by Max Ernst (in collaboration with Man Ray), each with tissue guard-leaf with printed title in red, leaf with justification, blank leaf and final leaf with list of Black Sun publications; printed text in English with pagination, photogram titles and initials in red throughout. An excellent copy of the édition de tête of Mr. Knife, Miss Fork with Max Ernst's frottage photograms.From the edition limited to 255 stamp-numbered copies, with this one of 50 large paper édition de tête copies on Hollande signed by Crevel on the half-title in blue ink and by Ernst on the frontispiece photogram in black and with the binding hand coloured by Ernst.The English translation of of the first chapter of René Crevel's 'Babylone', 'Monsieur Couteau, Mademoiselle Fourchette', first published by Editions Simon Kra in 1927.'Although it is usually said that Ernst collaborated with Man Ray to make 'photograms' of his frottages, it is more accurate to call them 'cliché-verres' ... Ernst's rubbings (from the embossed patterns on greetings cards, postcards, bookcovers, etc.) were done on very thin, translucent pieces of paper, which were then used as photographic negatives to make the prints. The white-on-black images do a fine job of representing the dark visions of death and desire that come to the girl in Crevel's story ... '. (The Book of 101 Books).'Buch mit 19 eingehefteten Photogrammen von Frottagen, in Zusammenarbeit mit Man Ray ... Die Photogrammen sind Negativkopien von Frottagen ... '. (Spies).[Spies 13, I - XIX; Roth, 'The Book of 101 Books' pp. 66 - 67].