(15 1/4 " x 11 1/4") 12 illustrations (12 hors text.)
General condition: Fine. Exterior: Fine. Interior: Fine.
Plates loose as issued contained in original decorated portfolio with cover illustration and title information printed in black and gold; black silk ties intact.
Contained in Folio.

Following the trend among leading Parisian couture houses who had been producing elaborately designed luxury catalogs since Paul Poiret's 1908 collaboration with Paul Iribe, La Maison Fourrures Max commissioned the well-known artist Edouard Benito to illustrate La Dernière Lettre Persane in 1920. Benito was a Spanish born artist who worked in Paris as an illustrator for Le Goût du Jour and the Gazette du Bon Ton, among others. The portfolio features twelve wood-block prints lavishly enhanced with pochoir coloring and gold leaf detail, each plate showcasing an elegant, fur-clad figure rendered with Benito's signature spare contour line and strikingly bold use of color and form. Persian and Asian influences are made evident both stylistically and in the names given to each fur, which include "Geisha," "Scheherazade" and "Boabdil."

The theme of the catalogue and Benito's compositions were supposedly inspired by an illustrated edition of Montesquieu's literary masterpiece, Les Lettres Persanes of 1721. An introductory text summarizing Montesquieu's story of brothers Usbek and Rica by M. Zamacois is accompanied by black and gold illustrations in the margins.