First edition with numerous illustrations.
Publisher's beige canvas binding with its dust jacket - slightly rubbed around the edges with some very small loss of paper.
Association copy signed and inscribed by Le Corbusier to his literary agent: “For Hélène Strassova, guardian of the lamps. The lamps being these books full of gibberish that she has miraculously spread among the people... yellow, red, white and black. In the tower of Babel... With my thanks and friendship. Le Corbusier Nov. 14, 1959.” With an autograph thank you note signed by Jean Petit.
“Helena Strassova mostly represented German authors in France, and French authors abroad. Born in Prague in 1900, a German native speaker, she had been an opera singer in Berlin before fleeing Nazi Germany. Strassova considered Le Corbusier to be the most prestigious of the authors she represented, who included Konrad Lorenz, Marcel Pagnol, and René Char. For his part, the architect was sincerely friendly towards his agent, as can be seen from the dedication he wrote to her on a photographic portrait of him, taken in Chandigarh” (Catherine de Smet, Le Corbusier: un architecte et ses livres).