Justin Croft Antiquarian Books

Fine and Rare Antiquarian Books

7, West Street, Faversham, Kent, ME13 7JE, England
T:+44(0)1795 591111

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Artists Books

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BOURNAZEL, Diane de. ~ Point du jour. Marliac (Corrèze, Limousin), 2018.

A unique book, entirely hand-illuminated by the artist.  more...

Point du jour (Daybreak) sees the artist in a playful and enigmatic mood. An arborial couple are charmed by a naked flute player, while a comical pop-up bird sways between them. Figures are hurled by the elements across the skies, where planets seem to be in constant astrological motion. Deeply forested borders hide people and creatures.

The colophon reads: ‘Ce livre est unique. Je l’ai imaginé et fabriqué à Marliac durant l’hiver de l’année 2018. Armelle Guégant l’a relié avec soin’..  see full details

£6500

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BOURNAZEL, Diane de. ~ [7 monotypes]. L’Amante érectile. Marliac (Corrèze, Limousin), 2017.

Seven monotypes, for a collaboration with the French poet Anne-Marie Beeckman, L’amante érectile (Pierre Mainard, 2017).  more...

The monotypes have been reproduced in L’amante érectile (Pierre Mainard, 2017). ‘Sous la peau de l’homme plusieurs bêtes ont ombre’..  see full details

£3900

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BOURNAZEL, Diane de. ~ Un Songe en Hiver. Marliac (Corrèze, Limousin), 2018.

A unique book, entirely hand-illuminated by the artist.  more...

‘A Dream in Winter’ is an enigmatic meditation on the theme of hibernation and dreaming, in which the artist places her human and animal figures in a winter land- and skyscape, with fallen leaves, bare branches, starlit skies and snowfall. Here, there is sleep, dreaming and sadness, tempered with a mood of love, longing and expectation. The successive pages invite us to read them as a narrative, but, as always with De Bournazel, the narrative is not linear or straightforward, with windows cut out and opening onto other pages, sometimes letting us see right through the book, linking the beginning to the end and inviting us to look always backwards, forwards and, most importantly, beneath the surface.

The colophon reads: ‘Ce livre est unique. Je l’ai fait à Marliac au début de l’année 2018. Armelle Guégant l’a relié avec delicatesse’..  see full details

£6000

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BOURNAZEL, Diane de. ~ Appel d’air. Marliac (Corrèze, Limousin), 2018.

A unique book, entirely hand-illuminated by the artist, one her largest recent projects.  more...

Appel d’air unites humankind with the animal and plant kingdom in a celebration of creation and the forces of life. Figures crowd the pages – some linked together in maze-like compartments, others escaping into the margins, often dancing, animated by a powerful all-encompassing spirit. Many of the figures (human, animal or hybrid) embrace each other (for love? for comfort?) though others seem engaged in some eternal chase across the many dimensions of the book. As in many of De Bournazel’s books the margins are painstakingly cut to open windows between the leaves of the book, and here produce intricate interlaced patterns when placed one against another, with figures and faces half seen in the forest of details.

The colophon reads: ‘Ce livre est unique. Je l’ai fait pendant l’été et l’automne 2018 à Marliac, Paris et a Bonrepos. Armelle Guégant l’a relié avec bonheur. Diane de Bournazel’..  see full details

£7000

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BOURNAZEL, Diane de. ~ Saturnales. Marliac, 2015.

A celebration of the Feast of Fools, in a series of panels inhabited by De Bournazel’s mythological figures engaged in a series of mysterious rites.  more...

In keeping with the traditions of this midwinter festival souls are freed, offerings are made, the world is turned upside down, all under the watchful eye of the Lord of Misrule. In De Bournazel’s world, as expressed in her unique artist’s books, the mysteries of human life are considered with a combination of serious meditation and joyous play..  see full details

£4000

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BOURNAZEL, Diane de. ~ Le Chant des possibles. Marliac, 2018.

A unique artist’s book.  more...

Diane de Bournazel (b. 1956) creates books as ‘poems without words’ in her unique pen, ink and gouache style, filling each page with mazes of vegetation, mysterious borders, structures and figures, opening windows within pages allowing us to see behind and beyond them, suggesting a series of alternative worlds and narratives. Drawing on the universals of the cosmos, the natural world, of childhood and human relationships each of her books invite careful ‘reading’ and multiple interpretations. Collectors have found the books to speak for themselves, and the artist writes of her work simply as:

‘Poésie sans paroles.
Il s’agit bien de ça.
Mettre en images le monde et l’arrière monde,
Comme un poète mais sans mot dire’.

The colophon reads: ‘Ce livre est unique. Je l’ai imaginéé et réalisé durant l’été 2018, à Marliac, où, les nuits, nous contemplons les étoiles. Armelle Guégant ;’a relié, en douceur. Diane de Bournazel’.

Her work is represented in private and public collections in France (including the Bibliothèque nationale) and in the United States (Boston Athenaeum)..  see full details

£8000

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CHÉNIER, André Marie. ~ La jeune Tarentine. [France, March 1919].

A beguiling anonymous illustrated manuscript with painted miniatures on vellum.  more...

The text is a poem by French poet of Greek and Franco-Levantine origin, Chénier (1762-94) who perished under the guillotine during the Terror. Praised as a precursor of the Romantics, his work was rediscovered and published during the nineteeth century. His exotic subjects, coupled with his tragic end made him a favourite among devotees of the decadent..  see full details

£1200

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Justin Croft Antiquarian Books Ltd
7, West Street,
Faversham,
Kent, ME13 7JE,
England
T:+44(0)1795 591111
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