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ALINE, REINE DE GOLCONDE.
(Paris: [Printed by Maison Quantin for] Société des Amis des Livres, 1887). 232 x 152 mm. (9 1/8 x 6"). 4 p.l., IV, 29, [3] pp. No. 11 OF 115 COPIES (this one for M. Germain Bapst, member of the Société des Amis des Livres).
LOVELY CARAMEL-COLORED CRUSHED MOROCCO BY PAGNANT (his invoice for the considerable sum of 550 FF tipped onto front flyleaf), THE BOARDS CUT OR "PIERCED" TO AN "ORIENTAL" DESIGN, covers with elaborate frame of pointillé tooling and decorative roll enclosing cut-outs revealing green satin swags and panels surrounded by floral gilt sprays, central panels with seven floral sprigs, their five petals cut out and backed with red satin, four red satin-backed dots at corners, smooth spine densely tooled in gilt, with five thin pierced windows backed with green satin, turn-ins with inlaid green morocco frame tooled with in gilt, red morocco squares at corners, pink and gold floral brocade silk pastedowns and endleaves, all edges gilt. Original blue paper wrappers bound in. Housed in the original fleece-lined brown morocco pull-off box (short split along one edge expertly repaired). ENGRAVED THROUGHOUT, the text in elegant italic script, four pages of text with engraved frames, with two engraved portraits of the author, both in two states (one before letters), and with 14 vignettes in the text, three of these hand-colored. WITH TWO ORIGINAL WATERCOLORS SIGNED BY ALBERT LYNCH, one on the verso of the front flyleaf, and one on the verso of the title page. SIGNED in the colophon by project participants Octave Uzanne, Albert Lynch, E. Gaujean, and A. Leclère, and by the director of the printer Maison Quantin, L. Henry May. Front flyleaf with morocco ex-libris of Francis Kettaneh and engraved bookplate of Samuel Putnam Avery; ALS from H. d'Orléans bound in following the members list. See: Silverman, "The New Bibliopolis: French Book Collectors and the Culture of Print 1880-1914" (2008), pp. 21-88. A SPARKLING COPY INSIDE AND OUT.
Epitomizing the type of strictly limited, magnificently produced books that became objects of desire during the Belle Epoque, this volume was created under the direction of collector and taste-maker Octave Uzanne. Fin-de-siècle Paris saw the emergence of a new type of book collector, as documented by Willa Silverman in "The New Bibliopolis." The scholarly bookworm who searched the stalls of the bouquinistes for 17th century volumes was replaced by the wealthy, educated man (and it was almost always a man) of refined taste, who disdained dull, calf-covered volumes in favor of new, exquisitely produced books. The leader of these new bibliophiles was Uzanne (1851-1931), whose "aesthetic manifesto" promised, in Silverman's words, to require "illustrations, typography, paper, and bindings such as had never been seen before, produced with the most modern techniques." Publishers and bibliographic societies vied to offer exclusive limited editions with such distinguishing characteristics. A founder of the Société des Amis des Livres, Uzanne was determined that the books issued under the Society's imprint meet his exacting standards, writing that he "intended to oversee the smallest details and to intervene hands-on as well in the drawings, etchings, vignettes, page layout, and the rest." The printer here, Maison Quantin, saw him as the firm's "inspirer and moral director." (Silverman, p. 30). Uzanne proudly signed the colophon here, as director of the project, along with the artist and the engravers. The beautiful engraved text, etchings, and watercolors invoke the 18th century in both style and subject matter. "Aline" is the story of a former shepherdess who becomes a queen in India, and who is reunited with a long-lost lover when he is appointed ambassador to her court. The setting may be India, but the illustrations depict costumes straight from the French court of Louis XVI. The binding here also takes the 18th century as inspiration, employing a piercing technique seen on the popular Almanacs of that period and revived in the late 19th century by French master Léon Gruel, who noted the challenges the method presented. The binder here, Edouard Pagnant (1852-1916), was up to the task. He had begun his apprenticeship at age 12, spending four years in the workshop of Camille Lavache before joining the firm of Chambolle-Duru for seven years. He then sought to acquire knowledge from other leading binders of the day, and spent brief stints in the ateliers of Lesort, Weber, and Marmin, before opening his own bindery in 1876. According to Flety, he quickly acquired a much-deserved reputation among collectors for the beauty and quality of his work, and he won a number of medals at international competitions. This book was printed for Société des Amis des Livres member Germain Bapst (1853-1921), a prominent jeweler and art collector, from whom it passed to American art dealer, bibliophile, and Grolier Club president Samuel Avery Putnam (1822-1904), who commissioned this binding, which was completed in 1889. The book was later owned by Lebanese-American engineer and businessman Francis A. Kettaneh, also a Grolier Club member. The final bibliophilic association is the autograph letter inserted here, dated 3 January 1861, that was written by Henri d'Orléans, Duke of Aumale (1822-97). He was a renowned bibliophile--he owned the famed Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry--who served as President Emeritus of the Société des Amis des Livres at the time this book was published. In the letter, the duke commends a friend for contributions he'd made to the "Revue des Deux Mondes," and expresses pleasure at receiving a copy of them. (ST20294)
Price: $17,500.00