Paul Éluard & Yves Tanguy, illus. La Vie Immédiate, Inscribed to a Central Dadaist & Surrealist Figure. Paris: Éditions des Cahiers Libres, 1932.

Paul Éluard (1895-1952) & Yves Tanguy (1900-1955), illus.


La Vie Immédiate, Inscribed to a Central Dadaist & Surrealist Figure.

Paris: Éditions des Cahiers Libres, 1932.

First edition, limited issue, octavo; number III of twelve hand-numbered roman numeral copies not mentioned on the limitation page, printed on mauve paper, with an additional etching of Tanguy's frontispiece illustration mounted on Japon nacre and laid in; inscribed by Éluard to his friend and fellow artist Theodore Fraenkel (1896-1964), "très affecteusement," in black ink on the half-title; illustrated with a frontispiece by Tanguy; bound in gilt-lettered polished lilac calf by Desmules, with a large rectangular panel of black calf on each board, ruled in gilt and pink in imitation of the original printed wrappers which are bound in at the front and rear, black suede flyleaves, all edges gilt; housed in a custom black calf-backed, felt-lined chemise and slipcase; (occasional minor thumbing, one or two tiny stains, slight fading to mauve paper mostly at upper margin, minor open tear to upper margin of p. 127; joints a touch rubbed; minor wear to slipcase); 7 ½ x 5 3/8 in.



Artist and doctor Theodore Fraenkel was a longtime member of the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. He met poet André Breton while in high school, attended medical school with him, and was present when Breton befriended the convalescing soldier Jacques Vaché (later a key source of inspiration for the Surrealists). In 1918, Breton introduced Fraenkel to Louis Aragon, another Dadaist and a founding member of Surrealism. Fraenkel and Aragon collaborated on artistic projects alongside Paul Éluard, Tristan Tzara, and others. Fraenkel also helped Éluard with his magazine,
Proverbe, and participated in the infamous mock trial of Maurice Barrès. 



Tensions that arose between Aragon, Breton, and Éluard during the 1923 Dadaist/Surrealist split caused Fraenkel to distance himself from his longtime friends and collaborators. He returned to medicine but continued to live in Éluard's former apartment with roommates Antonin Artaud and Robert Desnos. He remained generally interested in the Surrealist school, supporting their manifesto and contributing to Breton's
La Révolution surréaliste. Fraenkel's final break from the movement came in 1932, the same year this book was inscribed to him, when Breton demanded that he sign the
paillasse tract denouncing Louis Aragon. Fraenkel refused and proceeded to cut all ties with Breton.