Signed book: Ceramiques de Picasso. Paris: Albert Skira, 1948. Stiff cardstock wrappers, 11 x 15.25, 19 pages plus 18 colorful plates. Impressively signed and inscribed on the title page in colorful pastel to choreographer Serge Lifar, "pour mon cher Sergei…Picasso," and dated at Cannes, September 5, 1958. Picasso has sketched several dots and embellishments, as well as a face above the recipient's name; the upper portion of the page (which evidently had a sketch of a sun, based on offsetting to a tissue guard laid inside the front cover), had been removed, possibly for framing by Lifar. In fine condition, with the top half of the signed page trimmed off; all pages and plates (except for the signed title page) are loose as published. Serge Lifar (1905–1986) was a noted French ballet dancer and choreographer, and a friend of Picasso; after the death of Diaghilev, Lifar took over the directorship of the Paris Opera Ballet. Picasso later became one of Lifar's collaborators, doing the theatre designs for Lifar's Icare in 1962.Format: Book