Saturday, February 6, 2010

Les Chansons de Bilitis — 3

I have some real confusion as to why this is signed 'Larry'. This drawing is, as you can see, from 1910—the earliest time Barbier was commissioned to illustrate Billitis. BUT, from what I can tell, it was a private collector who commissioned these drawings, to inSERT them into an 1898 edition, along with some letters from the author and illustrator. The author, Pierre Louÿs, was also called M. Larry, and from what I can figure, the collector wanted Barbier to sign the drawings with that name.

Did I get that all wrong? Have I confused it, or was it already befuddled?

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