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HISTOIRE DE LA REINE DU MATIN & DE SOLIMAN BEN DAOUD.
("The Brook," Hammersmith, London: Eragny Press, 1909). 224 x 140 mm. (8 3/4 x 5 1/2"). 159, [1] pp. No. 101 OF 130 COPIES printed on Arches paper for La Société des Cents Bibliophiles and not for sale, this copy for M. Charles Vuille.
Lovely original binding of gray-green flexible lambskin, covers executed to a design by Henri Marius Michel with repeating rows of a gilt Art Nouveau carnation, smooth spine with vertical gilt titling. BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED THROUGHOUT: title page with gold-leaf lettering and woodcut vignette in gray-blue, opening page of text with a full "window-paned" frame of climbing roses enclosing the text and a color miniature of women in the seraglio, 12 historiated initials in gold leaf and colors with original tissue guards, and 30 gray-blue line illustrations in the text, all designed by Lucien Pissarro and cut on wood by Esther and Lucien Pissarro. Front flyleaf with ink signature of T. Balston; book label of David and Hermione Chambers laid in at front flyleaf. Ray, "England" 267; Urbanelli, pp. 53-4, 123; Tomkinson, p. 66; Ransom, p. 263. Upper corners of the binding and corresponding top corners of the text a little bumped, first couple of flyleaves at front and back browned from contact with chemicals in the lambskin (as surely in other copies), otherwise extremely fine--the text clean, fresh, and bright, the gilt and colored decorative elements richly printed, and the fragile binding extremely well preserved and glittering with gold.
Funded by the French Society of 100 Bibliophiles, this is the rarest and most sought-after production of the Eragny Press, likely its most beautiful, and certainly its most opulent book. In his "Notes on the Eragny Press," co-founder of the press Lucien Pissarro (1863-1944) wrote, "For lack of capital, I was not able to print the books I wanted to produce until the French began, at last, to take an interest in the revival of printing. Mr Roger Marx, who knew of my efforts, introduced me to Mr Rodrigues, the President of the Society of the 'Cent Bibliophiles' in Paris. The latter asked me to produce a book for them, giving me carte blanche with regard to text, illustrations, size, paper, etc. This gave me the opportunity I wanted and with a quiet mind as to cost, I set to work on the production of the 'Historie de Soliman' . . . by Gerard de Nerval. For this book we used gold leaf in the printing of the initial letters. This gave us much trouble and we had to invent a technique to overcome the great difficulty of preventing the gold leaf from sticking to the wet hand-made paper, [but] after many attempts we were successful." The result is an enormously charming volume, combining French elegance with English craftsmanship. Ray says that, "Pissarro's decorations for this extract from Nerval's 'Voyage en orient' achieve a selective richness. The book opens with a burst of color and gold leaf, there are monochrome woodcuts dotting the text, and every chapter has a pictorial initial letter printed in color and gold. It is a pity that the book's extreme rarity . . . has prevented collectors from becoming acquainted with it." Our copy was originally designated for Swiss lawyer Charles Vuille (1856-1920). It was later in the collection of publisher Thomas Balston (1883-1967), a scholar of English book production and illustration. And finally it found a home in the distinguished library of bibliophile and private press connoisseur David Chambers (1930-2025). A book collector from age 9, Chambers assembled a diverse library, but in the introduction to the catalogue for the sale of his collection, his daughter Susan observed, "privately printed books, printed in private homes, became his main interest/obsession." He chaired the council of the Private Libraries Association and edited its journal for many years, as well as compiling an annual list of private press books for the organization. He also founded the Cuckoo Hill Press in the late 1950s; like the Pissarros of the Eragny Press, he specialized in producing books with woodcut illustrations. His well-reviewed "Early Private Presses 1730-1900" was published just before his death. (ST21218)
Price: $11,000.00