La Vie Parisienne - Samedi 1er Septembre 1917. Art Deco/Nouveau. Illustrations by Rene Vincent; Henry Gerbault; Georges Barbier; Georges Leonnec; others uncredited

Paris: La Vie Parisienne, 1917. First Edition . Illustrated Wraps. Very Good. 13.75" x 10.5. Rene Vincent; Henry Gerbault; Georges Barbier; Georges Leonnec; others uncredited. Paris: La Vie Parisienne, 1917. The September 1, 1917 Issue (55e annee, No 35). Illustrations by Rene Vincent; Henry Gerbault; Georges Barbier; Georges Leonnec; others uncredited. Text in French. Illustrated wraps, folio (13.75" x 10.5"), 19 pp. (770 through 789 for the volume), plus covers. Slender, but large: folio size. See scans. Some cover soiling, wrinkling, wear and very small scale chips; contents sharp, bright, about Very Good overall; nice condition for this thin-but-large, fragile weekly. This particular issue also has a chip in the middle of the front cover (see scan). Glossy covers; first and last few internal pages are on newsprint, else all glossy. Rather spectacular full-page color illustrations (in every issue, in fact) by the coterie of guys who knew how to do what you see here. In the case of this issue, Rene Vincent; Henry Gerbault; Georges Barbier and Georges Leonnec are credited for the big stuff, but some of the other very credit-worthy art is uncredited. See scans. Cute humor, from the same mood as mutoscope cards, or perhaps a bit (only a bit) more refined, yields the cover art caption: "Sur Le Front De Mer / Son Mari est surement reparti...elle se baigne en maillot" (approximately, two women remarking that the risque-for-that-era bathiing suit of another young lady indicates her husband must be out of town); rear cover caption is World War I humor that escapes me, but the image does not (which see). Gentle titillation. Even the occasional partial nudity is rather tasteful and soft, though humorously flirtatious. All of the full page efforts are eminently frame-able, and at this time of a sensibility midway-evolved between nouveau and deco, as is much of the uncredited b&w illustration. An original - and of course first and only edition - of the 9/1/1917 issue of this memorable and long-lived French weekly offering of very soft, very artful light erotica. The captioned illustrations by the eminent "dessins" luminaries named above, and others in their clan, are what really "make" this issue (as was generally the case through the era), but cartoons, serial fiction and around-town pieces nicely compliment those. Gorgeous, oversized large color illustrations are what you collect these for. l-LNG1