BANS (Georges). Georges Bans Almanac. Paris: Bibliothèque d'Art de La Critique, 1896–1898. — 3 years in one in-8 volume, 253 x 164: 23 pp., (2 ff., last page blank), 5 plates, illustrated cover; 27 pp., 7 plates, illustrated cover; 30 pp., (1 f.), 6 plates, illustrated cover. Bradel half-cloth in violet with corners, smooth spine adorned with a gilt fleur-de-lis, untrimmed, covers and spine preserved (contemporary binding). A compilation of the first three of the four years of this humorous and artistic almanac, edited by Georges Bans (1870–1913) and written by the writer, essayist, art critic, and journalist Émile Straus (1865–1939) under the pseudonyms Papyrus and Martine. Each volume opens with a cover illustrated with an original lithograph: by Marc Mouclier (1896), Henri-Gustave Jossot (1897), and Misti (1898). The almanac includes a four-page calendar insert illustrated by various artists (Georges d’Espagnat, Jossot, Désiré Fortoul, Édouard Couturier, Marc Mouclier, Pal, Eugène Delâtre, Misti, and Pierre-Eugène Vibert), as well as one or more inserts: by Édouard Couturier for 1896; by Léon Lebègue, Jossot (original lithograph), and Jean de Caldain (original lithograph), plus a phototype of a study by Raymond Guimerteau, for 1897; and by Hans Christiansen and Jossot for 1898. The texts are in turn illustrated with works by, in addition to the artists previously mentioned, Chéret, Cazals, Detouche, the Gachons, Guillemot, Osbert, Valtat, Willette, Gatget, La Jeunesse, Rhead, Bradley, Paraf-Javal, Laforgue, etc. Most of these illustrations are taken from the periodical *La Critique*, founded by Émile Straus. Rare first-edition copies on Japanese paper, with a stated print run of 5 copies for 1896 and 10 for the following two years. These are Émile Straus’s personal copies, numbered “1 ter,” “A,” and “B,” respectively, and include plates by Jean de Caldain and Jossot in two states. Some soiling on the binding; otherwise, the copy is very well preserved. The covers have been preserved as a single unit. Provenance: Émile Straus.