A Lost Gospel of Gay Literature

Before Wilde, before Genet, before Ginsberg — there was Rimbaud.

Une Saison en Enfer (A Season in Hell) is not only one of the great masterpieces of modern literature; it is also one of the foundational texts of queer self-revelation. Written in a fever-dream of heartbreak and exile after the collapse of his explosive love affair with Paul Verlaine, Rimbaud’s work tears the veil from the tortured ecstasies and taboos of gay desire in 19th-century Europe.

This is not veiled allegory or coded confession — it is the raw howl of a young man cast out for loving another man, and a milestone in the literature of sexual defiance. It predates the public language of gay identity but pulses with the very essence of it: the fury, the beauty, the alienation, and the unapologetic clarity of one who knows.

André Masson’s surrealist illustrations, made decades later in 1961, carry that fever forward into color and flesh, merging text and image in one of the most significant artistic pairings in gay publishing history.

Saison en Enfer by Andre Masson

Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891) — Une Saison en Enfer, Illustrated by Andre Masson.

Societe de femmes bibliophiles / Paris / 1961 / Atelier Crommelynck produced what is probably the best-known and most reprinted works in the realm of gay prose & poetry.

FOLIO (390mm x 290mm). Loose-bound in an Auvergne Richard-de-Bas wrapper printed in black on the front. Protective boards covered with claret paper, printed in white on the spine. Cardboard slipcase covered with claret Japanese paper bois.

Written in 1872 and 1873, this hallucinogenic exposition describes a life-journey in hell. Rimbaud’s relationship with the famous French poet Verlaine finally exploded in public, and Verlaine fired three pistol-shots at Rimbaud, wounding him.

Verlaine was sentenced to two years in prison for the assault, and Rimbaud was shunned by Parisienne society. He burned his remaining manuscripts and left for the South Seas, where he died of cancer at the age of 37.

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9 Etchings with aquatint (340mm x 250mm / 13 3/8″ x 9 3/16″) each one printed in a different color at the beginning of each of the 9 chapters, typically unsigned.

9 Etchings with Aquatint Printed in Colors (382mm x 570mm / (15 1/16″ x 22 7/16″) UNSIGNED.

An additional 47 suites of the nine etchings were produced on Rives Wove with no fold (382mm x 570mm / 15 1/16″ x 22 7/16″ signed in pencil and numbered from 1/47 to 47/47.

Edition 140 copies reserved for the members of the book club, numbered from I CI; 39 collaborators’ copies, numbered from 1 to 39. All the copies are signed in blue ink by the president and vice-president of the book club and in red pencil by the artist.

Each aquatint plate is larger than the actual double-page format, so no plate-mark shows. The border around each illustration insured that no unforeseen problems caused loss of image, a method also used for Les Hain-Teny no. 36.The signed suites are the same format as the book, no margins, numbered and signed within the color borders.

While the suites for Les Hain-Teny were initialed in gouache within the plate; the pencil signatures here in this production do not contrast strongly with the colors and are in a few cases hard to perceive.

Artist’s Proof:

A special set of proofs of the illustrations was pulled for Masson with platemarks and margins, which he signed. There are a few other proofs as well.

THIS IS THE ARTIST’S PROOF COPY! It does not lack the book — it existed apart from the book as issued thus.

A unique offering in the field of rare antiquarian books and in the field of fine art. No other copy of the proof is on the market at this time, and no other copies outside institutional holdings are known.

Masson is one of the heroes of the Surrealist Movement, and this example is one of the rarest ever seen on the Andre Masson art market. You will never see another one like it in your lifetime. It is truly unique.

In the original slipcover casing, loosebound, signed by the artist, RARE ++++; as-issued thus, without book.

PRICE ON REQUEST.