Chéri, first published in 1920, is a semi-autobiographical work by the author who was always known as Colette, though her full name was Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette. Colette was also a mime, actress, and journalist, and is best remembered for her 1944 novella Gigi.

A year or so after this book was published, Colette, then in her late forties, started an affair with her much younger stepson, Bertrand, and in many ways the novel uncannily predicts the author’s own experiences. In Chéri, Léa de Lonval, who is forty-nine and a former courtesan, is living with Chéri, whose real name is Fred Peloux. Chéri is a spoiled and lazy twenty-five year old and the son of Charlotte, an old friend of Léa and also a former courtesan. Léa has been with Chéri for six years; she realises that this might be her last affair, and has tried to make a man of him, both physically and mentally. However, Chéri is about to marry Edmée in an arranged marriage. Léa accepts this, but is unsure of what it will mean to her. However, Edmée is only eighteen, and Chéri finds her too young for him. The marriage does not work out well, and, eventually Chéri returns to Léa, though as she sadly finds out not for good and with little improvement.

This illustrated edition of Chéri was the third, following those by Alméry Lobel-Riche in 1925, which you can see here, and Marcel Vertès in 1929 which is here. Compared with these, the Courbouleix illustrations are rather safe and coy, but still convey the sense of abandon which is a key theme of Colette’s novel. It was also the one of the artist’s last book commissions.

The Courbouleix-illustrated Chéri was published by À L’Emblème du Secrétaire, in a limited numbered edition of 1,200 copies.