Portfolio of Illustrations By Bezalel Schatz

Written By: Henry Miller

This Portfolio comprises twelve line drawings, of which one is a portrait of the author. They were made expressly to illustrate the Hebrew edition of Half Past Midnight which has just been published by the Zohar Press in Tel Aviv. They were executed during the troublesome period which brought the name Sinai home once again to readers of the Bible. The subject matter of these illustrations is familiar to all readers of Henry Miller's books. The texts selected for the Hebrew edition, for each of which there is an illustration, include such well-known recits as "Mademoi־ Claude," "Reunion in Brooklyn," "Via Dieppe-Newhaven." One of the most touching illustrations is that of the Street of Early Sorrows, wherein the renegade author, while strolling by the old manse, doffs his battered slouch hat — and passes on to posterity. In the one called "The Tailor Shop" we see the syphilitic Count What's-his-name surrounded by his unmentionable paraphernalia. Very tender, very wistful. A sort of Spring Song a la Baudelaire. Even the bidet where Mademoiselle Claude is shown performing her delicate ablutions is redeemed by the charming wall-paper design imprinted on the walls of the shabby hotel room — "a room with a view." The illustrations are all pen and ink, some pale colored washes for background. They are loose laid and suitable for framing or presentations as gifts.