VERLAINE (Paul). Wisdom. Paris, Ambroise Vollard, 1911. In-4, leaves, untrimmed, printed cover, publisher's folder with flaps. Beautiful and rare edition illustrated with 72 compositions by Maurice Denis, in black and in colour, wood-engraved by Jacques Beltrand. Limited edition of 250 numbered copies, this one of 210 on Van Gelder hollande made especially for the book. These poems, composed by Verlaine at the dawn of his conversion, immediately appealed to the painter Nabi, who began his first drawings for Sagesse in November 1889; four of them were exhibited in 1891 at the Salon des Indépendants, and although Verlaine admired the first ones, he was unable to appreciate the later ones. Temporarily shelved, the project was not resumed until 1910, when Jacques Beltrand was entrusted with the illustration, woodcutting and colouring of all Maurice Denis's drawings. A well-preserved copy in its original condition. Cover cracked. Carteret, Illustrés, IV, 395 - Van Bever & Monda, 23 - Galantaris, n°51 - The Artists and the Book, n°77.