Paul Verlaine’s notorious Oeuvres libres consists of three collections of poems – Les amies (1867), sonnets in praise of lesbian love; Femmes (1890), a homage to Verlaine’s women friends and lovers; and Hommes (1890), inspired by his homosexual experiences. Officially banned by the French government until 1949, they circulated widely underground, and it was almost the duty of any erotic illustrator to provide a graphic accompaniment to Verlaine’s verses.

In 1921 Farge was commissioned by Paris publisher Albert Messein to produce illustrations for the six poems in Les amies – ‘Sur le balcon’, ‘Pensionnaires’, ‘Per amica silentia’, ‘Printemps’, ‘Été’, and ‘Sappho’, plus a frontispiece. Apart from a few illustrations for an edition of Verlaine published by Devambez which included the work of several illustrators, this is the only erotic portfolio that Henri Farge produced, which seems a pity when his style seems so well suited to the subject.

The Farge-illustrated Les amies was published by Édirions Albert Messein in a limited numbered edition of 250 copies.