First edition thus, presentation copy to Betty Parsons, limited edition of 610 copies (of which one of 110 copies were specially bound and signed by Ernst). This copy of the unsigned edition, which survives in the very scarce and fragile dust jacket, is rendered superior by being inscribed on the title page by Max Ernst to the prominent New York artist and gallerist Betty Parsons (1900-1982). From 1940 Parsons managed a contemporary art gallery in the Wakefield Bookshop,k 64 East 55th Street, using her full curatorial control to exhibit the likes of Joseph Cornell. From 1944, she moved to managed the contemporary art division of Mortimer Brandt's gallery. Then in 1946 she opened her own eponymous gallery 15 East 57th Street, Manhattan, exhibiting twelve shows a season. After Peggy Guggenheim had closed her gallery and returned to Europe in 1947, Parsons was then the only dealer willing to represent avant-garde American artists, showing the work of Abstract Expressionists such as Mark Rothko. This first English edition of Ernest & Eluard's Les malheurs des immortels (Paris 19222) was printed by the Black Sun Press and designed by Caresse Crosby, with the English translation set above the original French in the letterpress. It is one of the key works of surrealism, and the association connecting the production to New York's leading Abstract Expressionist gallerist is compelling.
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