Christian Zervos | Pablo Picasso, Œuvres, 1949-1986, 34 volumes, the monumental catalogue raisonné

Christian Zervos.

Pablo Picasso. Œuvres de 1895 à [1972]. Paris: Éditions Cahiers d'Art, 1949-1986.

33 volumes in 34 (volume 2 in two parts), small folio (325 x 252 mm.), numerous plates, blue cloth with original wrappers bound in

A FINE SET OF THE PICASSO CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ. Zervos first met Picasso in Paris. In 1926 Zervos founded the publishing house Cahiers d'Art and 16 years later Picasso approved his wish to create as close to an exhaustive catalogue raisonne of the artist's paintings and drawings as possible. Picasso was an enormously prolific creator—when he died there were more than 45,000 unsold works in his estate. Published between 1942 and 1978, extending to thirty-four volumes, Zervos's work reproduces over 16,000 works and covers Picasso's lifetime. 

As often, this is a mixed set: the majority of the volumes are first editions but volumes 2, 4, and 6-15 are from the 1980s reprint.