Apollinaire in Disguise

MONTFORT, Eugène. Apollinaire in Disguise. Paris: Pierre Seghers, [1948]. 16mo, original publisher's wrappers with characteristic red labels of the Poésie 48 series on kraft cover. First edition of this fascinating essay dedicated to the celebrated literary mystification orchestrated by Guillaume Apollinaire in 1909, when the poet created the feminine pseudonym Louise Lalanne to publish verses and articles in periodicals of the time, deceiving the entire Parisian literary milieu. The volume includes the reproduction of an autograph letter signed Louise Lalanne dated January 16, 1909, a capital document for the history of this avant-garde hoax. Photographic portrait of Apollinaire at the time of the mystification. Copy from the regular edition (luxury edition limited to 100 numbered copies on Alfa-Navare paper). Foxing on cover, interior well preserved. Essential document for Apollinaire studies and for the history of French avant-gardes.