La Vie Parisienne - Samedi 10 Mars 1917. Art Deco/Nouveau. Illustrations by Cheri Herouard; Armand Vallee; Fabien Fabiano; George Barbier; Georges Leonnec; others uncredited

Paris: La Vie Parisienne, 1917. First Edition . Illustrated Wraps. Very Good. 13.75" x 10.5. Cheri Herouard; Armand Vallee; Fabien Fabiano; George Barbier; Georges Leonnec; other uncredited. Paris: La Vie Parisienne, 1917. The March 10, 1917 Issue (55e annee, No 10). Illustrations by Cheri Herouard; Armand Vallee; Fabien Fabiano; Georges Barbier; Georges Leonnec; others uncredited. Text in French. Illustrated wraps, folio (13.75" x 10.5"), 19 pp. (215 through 233 for the volume), plus covers. Slender, but large: folio size. See scans. Some cover soiling, wrinkling, wear and very small scale chips; contents sharp, bright, about Very Good overall; nice condition for this thin-but-large, fragile weekly. Glossy covers; first and last few internal pages are on newsprint, else all glossy. Rather spectacular full-page color illustrations (in every issue, in fact) by the coterie of guys who knew how to do what you see here. In the case of this issue, Cheri Herouard; Armand Vallee; Fabien Fabiano; George Barbier and Georges Leonnec are credited for the big stuff, but some of the other very credit-worthy art is uncredited. See scans. Cute humor, from the same mood as mutoscope cards, or perhaps a bit (only a bit) more refined, yields the cover art caption: "Le Casque d'Un Poilu de 1417" (the helmet of a soldier of 1417?) for an artful depiction of a medieval young Lady who has conquered with her wiles; rear cover caption is "Mars venteux et Avril pluvieux Font le May gay et gracieux" below a brave young lass whose skirts are being elevated a bit out in foul weather - always a favorite. Gentle titillation. Even the occasional partial nudity is rather tasteful and soft, though humorously flirtatious. All of the full page efforts are eminently frame-able, and at this time of a sensibility midway-evolved between nouveau and deco, as is much of the uncredited b&w illustration. An original - and of course first and only edition - of the 3/10/1917 issue of this memorable and long-lived French weekly offering of very soft, very artful light erotica. The captioned illustrations by the eminent "dessins" luminaries named above, and others in their clan, are what really "make" this issue (as was generally the case through the era), but cartoons, serial fiction and around-town pieces nicely compliment those. Gorgeous, oversized large color illustrations are what you collect these for. l-LNG1