René Magritte

Paul Colinet, Belgium

Paul Éluard, Paris (acquired as a gift from the above on 20 December 1936)

(probably) Acquired by 1989 by the present owner

The original drawing by Magritte is the frontispiece in an autograph manuscript of Paul Colinet’s poetry, titled Ancre pique et soleil, a presentation copy gifted to Paul Eluard. [Brussels]: Editions de l’Oubli, 1936.

Notebook (168 x 105 mm) containing the drawing, a presentation inscription, and autograph manuscript collection of poetry; Original drawing in ink and wash as frontispiece, a portrait of Paul Colinet, signed by Magritte and dated 1936 in the lower right; Presentation inscription in green ink on verso of the title page reading:

“Au cher Paul Eluard

Au poète très aimé

De tout cœur

Paul Colinet

20 décembre 1936";

The autograph manuscript, a fair copy likely in Colinet’s hand, comprises 50 leaves of ruled paper written rectos only in black, red, and green ink, and contains 26 poems, 2 original ink drawings, 2 hand-drawn figures by Colinet in the text (in addition to the Magritte drawing), and 5 cuttings of 18th or 19th century hand-colored woodcuts, four of which are after playing cards (queens in all four suites), pasted to the front cover, back cover, and on 3 pages inside the notebook; the contents are pristine, with a small bookseller’s annotation in pencil in the corner of the final leaf. A contemporary store-bought school notebook of cloth-backed patterned paper boards, with a woodcut cutting and a manuscript title in red ink to the front cover; Very minor toning and wear around the board edges.