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Number 150 of 150 copies, signed by the publisher (there were also 20 additional publisher’s copies). Joseph Charles Mardrus was best known as a translator into French of the Arabian Nights. He was born in Cairo of Armenian parents and studied in Lebanon before settling in Paris. As a doctor for the French government, he worked throughout Morocco and the Far East. Carteret IV, 263.

One of 125 copies (this an unnumbered hors série copy) of a superb illustrated book with colour wood engravings designed by art deco master François-Louis Schmied and engraved by his son Théo, each printed successively from multiple blocks.
Author Lucien Désiré Prosper Graux known as Lucien Graux (1878-1944) was a French doctor, entrepreneur, art collector, bibliophile, writer, publisher and member of the French Resistance in his final years (he was arrested and murdered at Dachau in 194). He had amassed one of the finest French book collections of his era and operated a small publishing house, the ‘Amis du Docteur Lucien-Graux’. This orientalist fanstasy Le Tapis de Prières was the house’s 24th production, the first in quarto. Carteret, Illustrés IV, p. 255, ‘édition originale et premier tirage recherché et coté’; Ritchie, François-Louis Schmied, p. 41.

First edition. Blondel (1705-1774) was among the most influential French architects of his day and De la Distribution des Maisons de Plaisance provides one of the most extensive and best-illustrated accounts of early Enlightenment taste in houses and gardens of both town and country with its many plates, elevations and plans. This copy is of the second issue, giving ‘rue Dauphine’ as the printer’s address, issued without half-titles or errata, but otherwise identical to the first issue of the same year.

‘As a teacher, first in his own school (1743–54) and later at the Académie Royale d’Architecture, Blondel influenced such students as the Scottish architect William (later Sir William) Chambers, best known for his Somerset House for the Royal Academy of Arts in London (1776; later replaced); the French architect Richard Mique, who did much work for Marie-Antoinette at Versailles’ (Ency. Brit.).
Fowler 49.

First edition of this superbly illustrated account of Girardin’s garden at Ermenonville, which was inspired both by the philosophy of Rousseau and the English landscape gardens of the eighteenth century. It was to become Rousseau’s resting place, within an elaborate tomb on an island in the Lac de peupliers. The delightful aquatint plates here depict the philosophical temple, picturesque grottoes and torrents. It was reprinted in 1811. Much of what Girardin created was destroyed in the Revolutionary era. Cohen-De Ricci 439; Hunt 695.

A separately issued suite, presumably produced for sale in America, of Von Bayros’extraordinary illustrations (reproduced from watercolours) for the elaborate edition of Dante issued by Amalthea in Vienna in 1921.

One of 237 copies (number 211, one of 185 on Vélin de Montval). Sylvain Sauvage ws the pseudonym of the artist Félix Roy (1888-1948). He later illustrated the Nonesuch edition of Candide. Worldcat lists no copies outside continental Europe.

Number 40 of 110 copies printed for the Société des Amis des Livres, this one for Baron Roger Portalis (a founder member of this bibliophilic circle, and an eminent historian of engraving) This is an especially elegant belle-époqe edition of the Parnassian poet Leconte de Lisle’s first collection (first published in 1852) with a sequence of highly-refined illustrations by Maurice Ray. The binding is by Georges Huser (1879-1961), who had worked for binders David, Noulhac and Lemardeley before establishing himself independently as the latter’s successor in 1903.

Number 47 of 95 copies on Hollande (after three on Vieux Japon and seven on Japon impérial) with superb illustrations by the Russian-born Montparnasse artist Alexeieff, who was later better known for pioneering pinscreen animation. The bold typography is accompanied by large red initials, specially cut and cast for this edition after designs by R. Van Kleen, while the striking lithographs were printed by Duchâtel and coloured at the ateliers d’Art Nervet. Giraudoux’s novel was first published in 1922 and tells the story of the French soldier who forged an unlikely career as a German lawyer following total amnesia brought on by an injury sustained fighting in the Great War. It was published in more than one illustrated edition of the 1920s, but Alexeieff’s strange, teasing and often ambiguous images are especially well suited to the text. Rare: Worldcat cites the Northwestern University copy as the only US institutional holding. No UK copies in LibraryHub.

First edition with the extraordinary decadent illustrations by ‘Alastair’ (pseudonym of German-born artist Hand Venning Voight). It is one of the most attractive books of the Black Sun Press, founded and operated in Paris by the American expatriates Harry and Caresse Crosby. The translation from the French is Ernest Dowson’s (which had first appeared in 1898, commissioned by Leonard Smithers). This is one of 1000 copies on Moirans paper (after 15 Japon and 5 hors commerce copies). Minkoff A-31.

First edition of Boylesve’s modern-day fairytale, with Barbier’s illustrations (the story first appeared in 1920). One of 300 copies (this one on standard paper).

First edition with Barbier’s illustrations. One of 800 on Rives (of a total edition of 1200). The poems of Verlaine’s Fêtes galantes (first published in 1869) took inspiration from the pastorals of Watteau, as well as the sumptuous fantasies of Fragonard and Boucher, while drawing characters from the Italian traditions of the commedia dell’arte. Barbier’s sensibilities made him the perfect artist to reinterpret Verlaine for the 1920s.

First edition with Barbier’s illustrations. Number LX of 175 copies (on Japon) for America (the total edition was 1200 copies). The poems of Verlaine’s Fêtes galantes (first published in 1869) took inspiration from the pastorals of Watteau, as well as the sumptuous fantasies of Fragonard and Boucher, while drawing characters from the Italian traditions of the commedia dell’arte. Barbier’s sensibilities made him the perfect artist to reinterpret Verlaine for the 1920s.

Number 282 of 839 copies on Rives (of a total edition of 1000). La double Maîtresse (1900) was the symbolist poet’s first novel – a tale of a tyrannical mother, a troubled son, a provocative cousin and an unscrupulous courtesan. Barbier brings his own brand of wit and sensuality to bear upon in his extensive illustrative scheme which includes full-page illustrations, vignettes and humorous initials.

First edition of this appreciation of George Barbier, the tenth issue of the collection, Les Artistes du Livre. One of 700 copies (on papier vélin).

First edition. Barbier designed the sets and costumes for the Bouffes-Parisiens production of Maurice Rostand’s Casanova in February 1919. The 24 fine costume plates here are coloured by Jacomet et compagnie.
The commission for Casanova was an important moment in Barbier’s artistic career, leading to commissions with theatres, the Ballet Russes and the Folies Bergère. Other successes followed, and for a time he was the most sought-after costume designer in Paris, recognized as the theatrical artist ‘who better than any other had captured the mood of the age’ (Gordon Ray).

First edition, one of 1000 copies, complete with the additional lithograph (’Madina’) and etching (’Petite Tzigane à Epsom’). An appreciation of the work of the artist which includes a listing of her works in public collections and a valuable bibliography of her illustrated books. It is an important retrospective of Lydis’s European works before she left for England and ultimately Argentina.

First edition. A striking early Lydis production. Each plate is accompanied by an exotic love lyric by Schwabach (publisher, author and patron of Expressionism) ‘Die verliebten Billete des Prinzen Salamu’. The 18 plates reproduce Lydis’ orientalist miniatures in collotype and lithograph with gold and silver. The Müller firm had been established at Potsdam 1919 by Irmgard Kiepenheuer and Hans Müller. Kiepenhauer was an important figure in the artistic world of Weimar Berlin, hosting a cultural salon in Potsdam and being in personal contact with the most important contemporary artists — including many from the Bauhaus in Weimar. The firm issued several influential portfolios showcasing artists such as Max Beckmann, George Grosz, Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Oskar Kokoschka, Max Pechstein, Christian Rohlfs, and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. One of 1100 copies (of which 100 were signed).

First edition. A descriptive catalogue of the lifetime collection of James Dearden (1931-2021) devoted to John Ruskin. Containing a near-comprehensive set of all important early editions of Ruskin’s works, manuscripts, letters, photographs, ephemera, Ruskiniana and a reference collection (345 item). With introductory essays by Stuart Eagles (’Ruskin Today’) and Stephen Wildman (a biographical appreciation of James Dearden). Catalogue text by Justin Croft and Jonathan Stone.

Number 978 (on Rives) of a total edition of 1000 copies. La Pécheresse (’The Sinner’) was first published in 1912.

Conventional politics is rarely expressed in De Bournazel’s work, which tends to explore more universal experience. But occasionally it emerges, if only by allusion. Created in a particularly turbulent year in French culture and politics Assemblée générale bears a couple of teasing red and blue brush strokes on the cover label. Inside, however, the Assemblée générale envisaged by the artist feels like an interior politics rather than any played out in the machinery of the French state — densely populated, variegated and unsettling.