Marcelle Methlin's Copy of Hommage à Toulouse-Lautrec by Ronald Searle

Ronald Searle published Hommage à Toulouse-Lautrec in 1969. The book reproduces a fanciful series of drawings and lithographs which depict the diminutive artist and his scantily-clad models in the brothels of Paris. It's safe to say this cartoon book is unlike anything else Searle created. It's unlike anything else, period.

Marcelle Methlin of the Restaurant des Beaux-Arts in Paris provided Searle with fine food and drink, and Searle in turn provided him, presumably the Marcelle in the dedication below, with outstanding personalized copies of his books. They're on a first-name basis, of course. It is Christmas of 1969. Searle adds a full length ink drawing of his Toulouse. The dedication "Pour Marcelle with love" neatly covers two languages.

Four smaller lithographs of Toulouse-Lautrec in portrait orientation were included with a limited edition of the book and are not too difficult to find today, coming from an edition size of 200. The larger suite of lithographs, those in landscape orientation like the book's cover, suffered a different fate. Most of the portfolio edition of 70 seems to have disappeared, as told to me by Searle's agent John Locke. At any rate, Searle was unable to determine what became of them. He had only a small number of the artist's proofs remaining in his possession, full suites of which he put on the market for $10,000.

Ronald Searle
eBay listing ended September 24, 2023

https://www.ebay.com/itm/124015197989?hash=item1cdfe1bf25:g:M5MAAOSwMLtd3mf8&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA0P3%2BpCrzAg1QEUIx8ZEAiziSgGGK57qF%2FkJ0iGzxEBVGGzOdnxJkNZTrxW5zdb9h%2BmPjPOTwIbN5Ndftg%2F7xM5dcCWLot633TPfLR7UV3ISKe90syX75xHTxk

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Sold for a best offer of 1,500 Euros

I asked the eBay seller for any additional information he might have about these three extraordinary books from the library of Marcelle. The seller knew nothing of Marcelle. He reported that the books turned up at a flea market in Paris five years ago. Sic transit gloria mundi.

Note:  I might as well add this to my virtual collection of "best copies." If you know of a contender, by all means send me some images. This blog, rumor has it, is always eager to show outstanding work by Ronald Searle, including personalized copies of his books.

"Bohème," you will recall, is Matt Jones's 2014 post for Perpetua, a.k.a. the Ronald Searle Tribute blog, complete with photographs of the Restaurant des Beaux-Arts, now defunct. According to Matt, Marcelle Methlin hosted many cartoonists and satirists. I would like to hear from anyone with personal recollections or other books from his library.

As long as I brought it up, anyone knowing the whereabouts of the "lost" edition of Searle's Hommage à Toulouse-Lautrec portfolio of six lithographs should get in touch. As mentioned above, the suite of lithographs was published in horizontal orientation in an edition of 70. Those few individual prints that I do see online seem to have been distributed by the Ferdinand Roten Galleries of Baltimore. I do like looking for needles in haystacks. By the way, Matt Jones writes of "Toulouse Lautrec & the Whores of Hamburg" here.

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Marcelle Methlin's Copy of Médisances by Ronald Searle

Médisances is Ronald Searle's 1953 cartoon collection published for the French market. It is marketed as "Humour anglais" and presents Searle's postwar British black comedy with French captions. There is a generous helping of St. Trinian's cartoons depicting Searle's murderously wicked schoolgirls who proved so wildly popular in England.

For Valentine's Day of 1962, Searle embellished a copy of the book with a full-page ink and wash drawing of a St. Trinian's girl holding a shedding floral bouquet and a wine bottle. It is inscribed to Marcelle, whom I take to be Marcelle Methlin, the proprietor of the Restaurant des Beaux-Arts on the Left Bank of the Seine. Searle and his girlfriend Monica Koenig, later his second wife, found an artistic and culinary home in Methlin's establishment. Searle was poor in cash but rich in gratitude this February, when he also gave Methlin a personalized copy of his new English-language book Which Way Did He Go? seen in yesterday's post.

Médisances translates as backbiting, gossiping, or mudslinging.

Ronald Searle
eBay listing ended September 24, 2023

https://www.ebay.com/itm/124015197978?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20200818143230%26meid%3Dce4bccc444ee47ae92ec1b8790a37a64%26pid%3D101

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Ronald Searle
eBay item description

Offer of 1,610 Euros accepted

Note:  I've never seen this book before; it scarcely crosses the English Channel, let alone the Atlantic. Regardless, this copy easily qualifies as a "best copy" in that it has one of the most elaborate original St. Trinian's drawings in any Searle book I've come across. I don't know whether I've mentioned it before, but Attempted Bloggery is always eager to show outstanding copies of books by Ronald Searle, including those difficult to define but easy to recognize "best copies." Your submissions are encouraged.

"Bohème," as I mentioned yesterday, is Matt Jones's 2014 post on the Ronald Searle Tribute blog concerning the in-crowd at the Restaurant des Beaux-Arts. Check out Searle's menu design for the place.

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Marcelle Methlin's Copy of Which Way Did He Go? by Ronald Searle

In 1961 cartoonist Ronald Searle left his English wife Kaye Webb for Monica Koenig and moved to Paris. Short on cash, he was eager to barter his artwork for rent, food, and wine. His social center became the Restaurant des Beaux-Arts on the Left Bank, owned by Marcelle Methlin. In February of 1962, Searle presented one Marcelle with a personalized and hand-illustrated copy of his 1961 collection Which Way Did He Go? It has a watercolor of a bearded artist who looks very much like Searle creating a drip painting of the dedication "Pour Marcelle." It is my conjecture that this Marcelle and the friendly restaurateur are one and the same.

Back cover with a detail of Broadway, NY

Ronald Searle
eBay listing ended September 24, 2023

https://www.ebay.com/itm/392594507350?hash=item5b6874c656:g:jysAAOSwt8Jd3mbS&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA8Ci2umlvShRdOb40xRE0UVQ%2Btp8usr4H6IrO54WpkcNcs2BAPggHtekHnKdEhSPcOmdkWwHcKcUx%2BMDYbR8Wi2rWWlmVsnHhtmnRERr4gfOhW10v%2B6opIDUEe4lhgRI8Oa9

sc7h6iY8y9Z36OFlrIBmJWUZEn1XoMGMiluOkL6GECc6PMfHq%2FnMha4%2BRrWBDafbxw9KvsRBGg1eELKl0sfVd74JN1SeX0gFAMANqxGXTk%2FDZz5mkrWuXAe8jqWVplgICro5x7HcJW8yj0OzYJ0YeBMiZoUG8IrwPUoJ3RoeGU%2FEOe%2FKDe0jzpHXaIckPzA%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR57sn8XYYg

Sold for best offer of 1,960 Euros

Note:  This is far and away the best copy of Which Way Did He Go? that I've posted; actually it's the only copy on the blog. Readers with a cartoon book that's also a candidate for best copy, whether by Ronald Searle or otherwise, are encouraged to submit it to the blog.

For further reading on Searle, Marcelle Methlin, and the Restaurant des Beaux-Arts, see Perpetua, the Ronald Searle Tribute blog's 2014 post "Bohème."

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