GARÇON, Maurice. Le Douanier Rousseau, accusé naïf. Paris: Quatre Chemins - Éditard, 1953. In-4 (260 x 190 mm). Paperback, printed cover. FIRST EDITION. One of 50 copies hors commerce on vellum, annotated "H.C.". Limited edition of nine hundred and fifty copies of this precious study by Maurice Garçon on Henri Rousseau, known as "le Douanier", a major figure in naive art. Published to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the painter's death, Maurice Garçon recounts with finesse and a touch of irony the life and work of the naive painter and the key events in his life, in particular the swindle in which the Douanier Rousseau was involved. Rousseau appeared in court in a case of forgery orchestrated by an accountant friend. The trial revealed him to be a "naïve defendant": his lawyer invoked his artistic candour, going so far as to present a painting of monkeys to demonstrate his unsuitability for any fraudulent manoeuvre. In the end, Rousseau was given a two-year suspended prison sentence.