"The Romance of Tristan & Iseult" As Retold by Joseph Bedier, Translated by Hilaire Belloc and Paul Rosenfield, Introduced by Padaric Colum, illustrated by Serge Ivanoff, published by Heritage Press, New York, 1960.

Original slipcase, hard boards, quartered cloth with black and gold stamping on spine; decorated paper covered boards original cloth spine and decorated boards, 8" x 10.1/2"; xvi + 173 pages + 12 full-page, full color plates including frontispiece [all plates are present], one page has a small spot, very good/ fine condition.

"Tristan and Iseult" alternatively known as Tristan and Isolde, is a chivalric romance retold in numerous variations since the 12th century. The tale of Tristan and Isolde became a popular Arthurian tale during the 12th century, though it is believed to go back much further, having connections to Celtic legends. The narrative predates and most likely influenced the Arthurian romance of Lancelot and Guinevere, and has had a substantial impact on Western art and literature. The story is a tragedy about the adulterous love between the knight Tristan (Tristram, etc.) and the princess Iseult (Isolde, Yseult, etc.); while the details differ from one author to another, the overall plot structure remains much the same. The French medieval legend, told through poetry that has been passed down through many centuries, was rendered and interpreted in French prose by Joseph Bedier.

Joseph Bedier (1864-1938) was a French writer and scholar and historian of medieval France. Bedier revived interest in several important old French texts, including Le roman de "Tristan et Iseut" (1900), "La chanson de Roland" (1921), and "Les fabliaux" (1893). He was a member of the Academie francaise from 1920 until his death. His "Tristan et Iseut" was translated into Cornish by A.S.D. Smith, into English by Hilaire Belloc and Paul Rosenfeld, and into German by Rudolf G. Binding. Bedier was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1929.

Serge Petrovitch Ivanoff (1893, Moscow - 1983, Paris) was a Russian painter. The son of a family of Moscovite merchants, Serge Ivanoff was artistic from a young age. In 1917, while the Russian Revolution raged, he entered what was then the Higher Arts College of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture at the Imperial Academy of Arts. In 1920, his wife with their two children, fled the Bolsheviks to Paris. Two years later, having finished his studies and forever marked by the horrors of the revolution, Serge joined them in Paris.

A talented portraitist, he executed the portraits of many personalities, among which were the Pope Pius XI, Serge Lifar, Yvette Chauvire, Arthur Honegger, Edwige Feuillere, Vladimir Kirillovich Grand Duke of Russia, Aleksandr Benois, Zinaida Serebriakova, Vyacheslav Ivanov, Alexandre Barbera-Ivanoff, Paul Valery, Jacques Fath, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jefferson Caffery, and several others.

In 1950, Ivanoff moved to the United States. For over a decade he traveled across the American continent, executing many portraits. At the end of the 1960s, he returned to France. He was a member of the Salon des Independants. In 1966, French Minister of Cultural Affairs, Andre Malraux, awarded him a gold medal.

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