Librarian
Introduction
The Booth Family Center for Special Collections has several examples of illustrated collections of French poetry spanning decades, genres, and even continents. Volumes of illustrated poetry vary in how many illustrations are included and how they are integrated with the text; Raymond Queneau’s innovative book even involves individual strips of paper that create new poems in movement. But no matter their particular style or structure, all of these books aim to enhance the written word through the use of visual techniques.
Books at Booth
- Poems from France
This bilingual anthology of French poetry from the fifteenth to twentieth century contains several black and white line drawings by children's illustrator Roger Duvoisin which, like the poems, are lighthearted and often playful or romantic. The collection was created for a popular audience and each element contributes to an easy and relaxed reading experience. - Poèmes
Jean Wahl’s collection of poems, written between 1938 and 1945, are accompanied by seven abstract line drawings by André Masson. Wahl’s short poems speak to a wide range of human experiences and philosophical beliefs, including his time as a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp, and the illustrations hone in on the peaceful, dream-like aspects of his work. Georgetown's Art Collection owns three prints by Masson, which you can view online here. - Oeuvres libres: Amies, Femmes, Hombres
This collection of Paul Verlaine’s poetry brings together three of his previous works into one small volume of erotic poetry, accompanied by several small, uncredited woodcuts in the same vein. Verlaine’s work explores themes of homosexuality and homoeroticism, prostitution, and other topics often thought of as taboo. This edition was printed privately and never circulated in the public market. - Retour Amont
This limited-edition printing of Rene Char’s poetry straddles the line between illustrated book and artists' book; the fine quality of the paper and of Alberto Giacometti’s four etchings elevate the volume beyond a typical trade publication. The prints have a somber tone and sketch-like quality that mirror the raw beauty of the poet’s language. - Cent mille milliards de poèmes
Raymond Queneau’s famous mathematical poetic exercise consists of ten sonnets with each line printed on a separate strip, so that the reader can change each line individually, resulting in "one hundred thousand billion" possible combinations. Queneau was a founder of the OuLiPo movement, or the Ouvroir de Littérature Potentielle, which used extreme patterns and constraints to generate text.
