Trois nobles bêtes

As an expert on Africa, the almost entirely unknown novelist André Demaison collaborated on the 'Guide officiel' for the Exposition coloniale of 1931. Louis Koopman owned the Agena PLM, which was devoted to this exhibition. The obituary of this writer for Le Figaro of 21 September 1956 mentions that he lived the life of an African pioneer in Senegal. Upon the encouragement of the writing brothers Jean and Jérôme Tharaud, Demaison wrote down tales of African life and the animal world.

Odette Denis

Hardly anything is known about illustrator Odette Denis; not even her year of birth or of her death. We do know that besides Trois nobles bêtes she also illustrated the Poèmes barbares (1948) by Lecomte de Lisle and Le livre de la jungle by Rudyard Kipling with lively engravings. The titles she illustrated suggest that she had a predilection for the wild and the exotic. The full-page engravings illustrate stories about Sola the panther, Napo the eagle, and Hanta the elephant.

Letters

Besides ten books, the Koopman Collection also has a number of letters from Demaison to Koopman, written from Paris, Bellevue and Abidjan (Ivory Coast) in the period 1936-1956. Anny Antoine and Louis Koopman had befriended the author. She read his works during her convalescence in Erps (Belgium).

Bibliographical description

Description:

Trois nobles bêtes / par André Demaison ; 20 eaux-fortes orig. d'Odette Denis. - Paris, Vialetay, 1951. - 180 p. : ill. ; 35 cm

Printer:

Pierre Gaudin (text); Manuel Robbe (copper engravings); Gaston Bauche (suites)

Edition:

257 copies

This copy:

This is one of 35 copies reserved for collaborators and one of the copies on Rives reserved for the artist.

Typeface:

Plantin

Note:

Signed by the author and the artist. With a prospectus and a specimen. With handwritten dedication by the author.

Bibliography:

Dugnat et Sanchez II-721 ; Monod 3600

Shelfmark:

Koopm A 174

References

• Jacques Demougin (Ed.), Dictionnaire de la littérature française et francophone. Tome I, Paris, Larousse, 1987
• Louis Koopman, Anny Antoine: Sa vie, nos conversations littéraires. [S.l. : s.n.] (Haarlem, Henkes-Holland), 1968