Gerda Wegener met Greek-born Jewish writer Éric Allatini in Paris during the First World War where they worked together on French patriotic publications. She liked his radical retellings of traditional fairy tales and his offbeat historical romances, and illustrated his two most important works, Contes de mon père Le Jars in 1919 and Sur talons rouge in 1929.

Gerda’s detailed style was ideally suited to Éric Allatini’s texts, and the twelve colourful illustrations, set in delicate printed frames, show her at the height of her skills.

This illustrated version of Allatini’s tales was published by L’Édition Française Illustrée in a limited numbered edition of 650 copies.