Browse Similar Items
HISTOIRE DE NAPOLÉON.
(Paris: [Imprimerie Panckoucke for] Bureau des Publications Illustrées, 1839). 248 x 156 mm. (9 3/4 x 6 1/4"). Two volumes. 11th Edition.
STRIKING LIGHT BROWN POLISHED CALF BY NOULHAC, COVER WITH INLAID ENAMELLED VELLUM PANELS BY JEANNE DINET-ROLLINCE (front turn-ins signed "J. Rollince, Del. 1919" and "Nouhlac, Rel. 1919"), panel on front cover depicting an eagle with thunderbolt arrows in its talons and an olive branch in its beak, on a shimmering ground in shades of gold, enclosed by a flowered frame with a crowned "N" within a laurel wreath at each corner, rear panel similar, with a cockaded hat above crossed swords and olive branches at center, raised bands, spine gilt in compartments featuring a bee centerpiece, gilt lettering, INLAID ENAMELLED VELLUM DOUBLURES signed by Rollince at foot, medallion centerpieces with four different scenes from Napoleon's career, surrounded by colorful ornaments in the Empire style, marbled flyleaves, all edges gilt. With 53 engravings, composed of 19 portraits (including the two frontispieces of Napoleon), 22 maps (six folding), and 12 scenes. Minor soiling to covers, volume II with enamel rubbed in a couple of spots, two very small chips to the leather framing the panels, intermittent minor foxing and offsetting, about a third of the plates a little browned, but a memorably bound set in pleasing condition, the contents without a fatal flaw, the colors on the covers bright, and the doublures virtually perfect.
The creation of a leading binder in collaboration with a talented Parisian artist (and socialite), this popular illustrated history of Napoléon comes in a spectacular "reliure parlante" ("speaking binding") which symbolizes the book's subject. Master binder Henri Noulhac (1866-1931) and Jeanne Dinet-Rollince (1865-1947), the sister and biographer of Orientalist artist Étienne Dinet, probably produced this binding either for a special client, such as Noulhac's patron, the great collector Henri Béraldi, or for an important exhibition, possibly the 1919 Salon de la Société des Artistes Français. Dinet-Rollince collaborated with top binders such as Gruel and Noulhac, a fact that speaks highly of her skill as an artist and designer. She is best known for having developed the "enamelled vellum" ("velin émaillée") technique used to such great effect here. In the "Women Bookbinders" chapter of his "La Reliure française de 1900 à 1925," Ernest de Crauzat praises her work: "Among these innovative women, it is appropriate to cite . . . Mrs. J. Rollince, pseudonym of a most charming society woman, who, even before pyrography and chiseled copper were fashionable, had the idea of enameling vellums. She succeeded and knew how--by a complicated alchemy, by the double effect of colors and metallic iridescence, by pen-retouching of prints and a grain worked with a burin, finally, by the supreme and random magic of fire--to obtain this brilliant, decorated, smooth, caressing surface, which envelops the book as if with a spread light." Duncan & De Bartha describe Noulhac as "a highly talented craftsman," but one who "had no ambition to make a name for himself specifically as a book binding designer"--in other words, the ideal partner for an artist of Dinet-Rollince's gifts. Examples of Dinet-Rollince's work are rare in the marketplace: we could trace just one other at auction, a single volume in a Gruel binding with enamelled vellum doublures. (ST19832)
Price: $6,500.00