[WW1; ARTIST’S BOOK] Commentaires et visions de l’humanité [à la] Marne

Paris : M. Pozzi, 1917. The first of 12 examples made by the artist; as far as we can ascertain, the only one extant. Folio (380 x 285 mm), artist’s original binding of full vellum, the upper board with artist’s manuscript calligraphic title, along with his monogram, name ‘M. Pozzi’ and ‘Paris 1917’ in red ink, and with a patriotic gouache decoration at centre (moderate staining to both boards); front pastedown with artist’s declaration in manuscript ‘TEXTE, COMPOSITIONS ET ENLUMINURES PAR Michel Pozzi [his signature] / TOUTS DROITS RÉSERVÉS’, and with his presentation inscription ‘A Monsieur John Mitzakis, je dédie mon premier exemplaire des “Commentaries et visions de l’humanité a la Marne”. Paris, 19 Novembre 1917’; dedication leaf with ‘POUR L’HUMANITÉ’ in calligraphic lettering in red ink; followed by [7] leaves, the rectos each with a mounted original gouache and ink illustration (135 x 230 mm) signed ‘M. Pozzi’, with accompanying text in calligraphic manuscript beneath; each leaf has the artist’s sheepskin index tab at fore-edge lettered in manuscript in red ink with a single-word title: ‘Civilisation’, ‘Conciliation’, ‘Mobilisation’, ‘Fermeté’, ‘Alliance’, ‘Victoire’, ‘Bravoure’; together, the gouaches comprise a sequence of allegorical depictions of events in the early phase of the war culminating in the First Battle of the Marne (September 1914), here construed as a strategic victory for the French in that its outcome prevented the fall of Paris to the Germans; incorporated into each gouache is a different quote from La Marseillaise; the original tissue guards are still in place, and the contents – including all of the gouaches and their accompanying manuscript texts – are clean and bright throughout; loosely inserted is a signed handwritten note by the artist on his own letterhead (‘Michel Pozzi, Artiste-Peintre. Ses Gouaches Héraldiques et Historiques de la Guerre … Première Médaille, Exp. Varallo 1905 … 97, rue de Courcelles, Levallois-Perret), dated 22 August 1919, authenticating the present example as the first (and another example as the fifth) of twelve examples he made of this book, and confirming that they are the property of the current owner: ‘Je déclare que les deux exemplaires de mon livre … intitulé “Commentaires et visions de l’humanité” sont un le premier et l’autre le cinquième sur douze qui sont paru en ce moment … Je confirme que ce[s] deux exemplaires sont de votre absolue proprieté excepté le droit de réproduction’; at bottom left is a blind stamp of the artist’s monogram incorporating the word ‘deposé’, which the artist has annotated ‘Marque de garantie déposé’; accompanied by the original marbled card slipcase (somewhat crushed and battered) with the artist’s calligraphic manuscript title label ‘Gouaches originales peintés par Michel Pozzi [his signature], Artiste-Peintre, 1ère Medaille a l’Exposition du 1905 a Varallo. Touts droits de réproductions réservés.’