Lot 1137: BLAINE, MAHLON. 1894-c.1970.- "Ex-Libris Mahlon Blaine," pen and ink drawing on paper, 430 x 265 mm (sight),

"Ex-Libris Mahlon Blaine," pen and ink drawing on paper, 430 x 265 mm (sight), with pencil beneath, faint creasing, slightly toned. Matted and framed (unexamined out of frame). A demonic and erotic bookplate design by shadowy illustrator Mahlon Blaine. Little is known biographically about the artist: born at the turn of the century in Oregon, he emerged as an illustrator in the 1920s and 30s, providing bawdy, fantastical, and macabre illustrations for editions of Vathek (John Day, 1928), Candide (Concord, 1930), Justine (Concord, 1931), Limehouse Nights (1926) and numerous other decadent classics.