Marc Chagall / Paul Eluard Le Dur Désir de Durer London The Trianon Press 1950

[Marc Chagall] Paul Eluard. Le Dur Désir de Durer. London: The Trianon Press, 1950.
First edition of the complete text in French and English, one of 1500 copies. Paul Eluard's surrealist poetry is presented in the original French with English translation by Stephen Spender and Frances Cornford. Illustrated by Marc Chagall with beautiful hand-colored frontispiece executed under Chagall's supervision in the workshop of Daniel Jacomet in Paris, and numerous black-and-white illustrations in the text. Quarto. 93 pages. Hand-colored lithograhic frontispiece.

White paper wrappers with black print and illustration on front cover. Minor wear to cover edges and covers; small portion of spine tail is damaged. Glassine paper dust cover is creased and torn along lower edges. Textblock is fine. Lengthy poem The Blue Hour penned in French on front free endpaper in an unknown hand. Rare and desirable.