Le bestiaire, ou cortège d’Orphée, supplement: Les deux poèmes refusés (No. 4)
Artist: Raoul Dufy (French, 1877-1953)
Publisher: "Aux dépens d’un amateur", Paris, 1931
Printer: l’Imprimerie Gauthier-Villars, Paris (M. Froment, pressman)
Author: Guillaume Apollinaire (French, 1880-1918)
Date: 1931
Dimensions:
Portfolio: H: 13 7/16 in. (341 mm); W: 10 13/16 in. (275 mm); Depth: 3/8 in. (10 mm).
Cover: H: 12 15/16 in. (328 mm); W: 10 3/16 in. (258 mm).
Book (untrimmed): H: 13 1/4 in. (337 mm); W: 10 3/4 in. (273 mm).
Page (untrimmed): H: 13 1/8 in. (334 mm); W: 10 1/2 in. (267 mm).
Medium: Original prints: 2 woodcuts.
Text: letterpress in black with red.
Paper: ivory japan.
Classification: Books
Credit Line: Gift of Molly and Walter Bareiss
Object number: 1984.440
Label Text:“The Condor (Le condor),” in The Bestiary, or Procession of Orpheus, supplement: Two Rejected Poems, No. 4 (Le bestiaire, ou cortège d’Orphée, supplement: Les deux poèmes refusés )
Woodcut, published 1931
Text by Guillaume Apollinaire, French, 1880–1918
Gift of Molly and Walter Bareiss, 1984.440
Four poems from The Bestiary, or Procession of Orpheus were deemed a little too risqué to be included in the original publication in 1911, but were issued 20 years later, unbound, in two sets with Raoul Dufy’s original woodcut illustrations. “Le condor” involves an off-color pun on the bird’s name (con d’or) in reference to a bawdy French tale about an old man who marries a beautiful young woman and dreams the devil gives him a special ring to restore his virility:
The Condor
This bird is called the condor.
May girls all have such a thing!
Don’t you know why? There is no gold
In Hans Carvel’s marvelous ring.
The two species of condors—Andean and California—are native to South America and North America respectively. Vultures with wingspans as large as 9 ½ to10 feet, they are the largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere. Due to habitat loss, pollution, and poaching, the California Condor was down to a mere 22 wild birds in the 1980s. An unprecedented breeding program has increased their numbers, but they are still critically endangered with only about 200 birds in the wild.
Woodcut, published 1931
Text by Guillaume Apollinaire, French, 1880–1918
Gift of Molly and Walter Bareiss, 1984.440
Four poems from The Bestiary, or Procession of Orpheus were deemed a little too risqué to be included in the original publication in 1911, but were issued 20 years later, unbound, in two sets with Raoul Dufy’s original woodcut illustrations. “Le condor” involves an off-color pun on the bird’s name (con d’or) in reference to a bawdy French tale about an old man who marries a beautiful young woman and dreams the devil gives him a special ring to restore his virility:
The Condor
This bird is called the condor.
May girls all have such a thing!
Don’t you know why? There is no gold
In Hans Carvel’s marvelous ring.
The two species of condors—Andean and California—are native to South America and North America respectively. Vultures with wingspans as large as 9 ½ to10 feet, they are the largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere. Due to habitat loss, pollution, and poaching, the California Condor was down to a mere 22 wild birds in the 1980s. An unprecedented breeding program has increased their numbers, but they are still critically endangered with only about 200 birds in the wild.
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In Collection(s)