Large 4to.  With original Renoir etching "Baigneuse assise" (Delteil 11, in the book called "Femme nue") frontispiece, signed with the estate signature stamp, with a profusion of text illustrations and over 50 plates, including one color lithograph by Auguste Clot after Renoir. LIMITED EDITION, number 808 of 525 copies (476 to 1000) on "beau papier teinte" from an edition of 1,000. Full orange modern cloth, a little rubbed and faded, original wrappers' spine bound in, in very fine condition throughout. Provenance: from the library of the important Marlborough Gallery, with two discrete stamps. Monod 9641; Mahé III 697. Johnson 153.

SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY VOLLARD to the limitation page, "À mes amis Marius-Ary Leblond," cousins and close friends of the Vollard family who were later key to organizing the donation of a significant art collection from Vollard's estate to the Musée Léon Dierx in Saint-Denis de La Reunion. An important association copy.

Rare. We have traced only a handful of signed copies of this important monograph having appeared on the market in over 50 years of records. 

Born in Saint-Denis in Reunion, Ambroise Vollard was a towering figure and the best-known art dealer in Paris from the late 1890s until his death in 1939. Cezanne, Picasso, Gauguin and Van Gogh: the representatives of the artistic avant-garde that determined the direction of 20th century pictorial art were all exhibited by him. A close friend to Pierre-Auguste Renoir, handling much of the artist's work after 1900. Their relationship bridged business and friendship, with Renoir painting several portraits of Vollard, notably in 1899 and 1908. This is an important inscribed copy of his major monograph on Renoir's life and work. 

Marius-Ary Leblond was the pen name of the two historians, writers, art critics and journalists, George Athénas (1877 – 1953) and Aimé Merlo (1880 - 1958), cousins, from Réunion, France. Their work was rewarded by the Prix Goncourt in 1909 for the novel En France, which narrates the journey of two young Creoles, who came to study at the Sorbonne. They occupied public positions, (George) as secretary to Joseph Gallieni from 1914 to 1916, and (Aimé) as conservator of France overseas museums.