(Père Castor) [Perrault, Charles; et al.] Album Fée [Fairy Album] (Albums du Père Castor); images de Hélène Guertik; textes de Rose Celli et Marguerite Reynier. Paris: Flammarion, Éditeur, (1933). FIRST EDITION.
4to - 10-15/16" x 9-11/16". 23 pp. Illustrated throughout with two-color anaglyphic style drawings in red and blue by Hélène Guertik. Publisher's original staple-bound pictorial stiff paper wrappers. Complete with the original ephemeral insert: a set of two-color "magic glasses" (lunettes magiques) featuring one red and one blue cellophane lens, housed within the original publisher's cellophane envelope affixed to the interior of the lower wrapper.
The physical condition of the volume is VERY GOOD +. The pictorial wrappers remain bright and structurally secure, with minor surface rubbing along the spine fold, minimal wear at the spine tail, and a small 1/4" x 1/4" crease at the lower fore-edge corner of the upper wrapper. The original iron staples exhibit oxidation (rust), resulting in minor tearing and tenderness around the binding edge, though the text block remains gathered. Internally, the pages are clean except for a minor, localized stain on the title page and minor atmospheric offsetting on the final text page from historical contact with the rear pocket enclosure. The original cellophane envelope and functional viewing glasses remain fully intact and sound.
Avant-Garde Russian Émigré Design and Chromatic Interactivity
This publication represents a sophisticated synthesis of mid-war avant-garde design and interactive book engineering within Paul Faucher’s landmark Albums du Père Castor series. Retold by Rose Celli and Marguerite Reynier, the volume compiles twelve classical fairy tales from Charles Perrault, Hans Christian Andersen, and the Brothers Grimm, including Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, and The Sorcerer's Apprentice. The visual narrative was designed by the Russian émigré artist Hélène Guertik, whose geometric, angular layouts reflect the profound influence of Constructivism and contemporary Art Deco print graphics on European children's literature.
The technical execution relies on the mechanical isolation of color. Guertik executed her illustrations using overlapping, counter-registered patterns of red and blue inks. When viewed through the corresponding colored lenses of the included "magic glasses," the filters isolate or obscure specific lines of the composition. This optical filtering shifts the image dynamically, allowing each plate to function as two distinct, narrative illustrations depending on which lens the viewer utilizes.
Ephemeral Survival and Series Scarcity
The interactive nature of the Père Castor novelty albums subjected them to an exceptionally high mortality rate among juvenile readers. The loose cellophane viewing spectacles were designed as fragile, detachable inserts; consequently, the vast majority were lost, torn, or discarded shortly after acquisition. While individual copies of the book occasionally surface in the trade, specimens retaining both the functional glasses and their original mounting envelope are uncommonly preserved.
Within the context of early twentieth-century French children's literature, this 1933 printing stands as one of the most elusive and bibliographically demanding titles in the entire Père Castor canon.
THIS IS A HIGHLY PRESERVED, BIBLIOGRAPHICALLY COMPLETE EXEMPLAR OF THE SCARCE 1933 NOVELTY IMPRINT, RETAINING THE CHRONICALLY ABSENT ORIGINAL CELLOPHANE ENVELOPE AND MAGIC GLASSES, CONSTITUTING A PRIZED REQUISITION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH COLLECTIONS SPECIALIZING IN INTERACTIVE TOY BOOKS, AVANT-GARDE JUVENILIA, AND THE GRAPHIC HISTORY OF RUSSIAN ÉMIGRÉ ARTISTS.
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