Mr. Knife Miss Fork

Paris: The Black Sun Press, 1931. First edition. Translated by Kay Boyle. [8], 38, [8] pp. Publisher's black cloth boards, decorated in elaborate gilt and blind, designed by Ernst in collaboration with A.J. Gonon. Nineteen photograms with tissue guards, with text printed in red. One of 200 copies on "finest bristol paper," of a total edition of 255 copies. Some minor wear to head and tail of spine, faint old tidemark to lower corner of leaves, near fine. Housed in a custom modern slipcase.

A major surrealist collaboration. Crevel's text was the first chapter of his novel Babylone, translated by Kay Boyle at the request of Black Sun publisher Caresse Crosby. The nineteen photograms (or cliché-verres) illustrating the book were produced using a similar process to Man Ray's rayographs. Ernst's images were made by combining textural rubbings and line drawings on sheets of thin translucent paper, and then using those sheets as negatives to create a reverse image on photosensitive paper. These were then reproduced in the form of negative photograms, with the assistance of Man Ray.

Rainwater, Max Ernst: Beyond Surrealism 30. Roth, The Book of 101 Books, 66-67. Spies & Leppien, Max Ernst: Das graphische Werk 13A. Hugues & Poupard, Max Ernst: Ecrits et Oeuvre Grave 10. Max Ernst: Estampes et livres illustrés, 29. Spies & Rewald, Max Ernst: A Retrospective, 170. Minkoff, Black Sun Press, A-41.