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Hardcover, 333 x 247 mm, black cloth with gilt facsimile to front board and gilt lettering to spine, aubergine dust jacket with white lettering and red facsimile over black panel to front and back, crimson endpapers, laid paper, unpaginated; pp.: [4] h.t./blank, t.p./imprint, [2] text by John Hollander, 61 leaves of plates; originally published in 1969 by Rhinoceros Press, New York, as a limited-edition portfolio with slipcase. Title-page: Fornicon | (in frame) BY TOMI UNGERER | GROVE PRESS NEW YORK || Jean-Thomas [Tomi] Ungerer (French,1931 – 2019) John Hollander (American, 1929 – 2013)
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Title: Emblemata | Florentii Schoon~ | hovii I. C. Goudani, | Partim moralia | partim etiam Civilia. | Cum latiori eorundem ejusdem | Auctoris interpretatione. | Accedunt et alia quædam | Poëmatia in alijs Poëma | tum suorum libris non | contenta. | Amstelodami. | Apud | Joannem Janßonium •1635• Size: 20 x15.5 cm, small 4to Edition: 3rd edition (the first two editions being by Burier, Gouda, 1618 and by Elzevir, Leiden, 1626. Collation: ¶/*6, A-Z4, Aa-Ff4, Gg2. Pagination: [2] - enrgaved t.p. / blank, [6] - dedication, [2] - lectori benevolo, [2] - in commend. / frontis. engraved portrait of Gerardus Traudenius – academic/intellectual; author/poet (Dutch, fl. 1615 – 1623), 1-235. Illustrated with engraved title, portrait of dedicatee, and 74 engraved emblems by Crispijn van de Passe the Younger (1594/5 – 1670). Binding: bound in full contemporary Dutch blind-stamped parchment over thin boards, laced case construction, inked title to spine, no flyleaves, signature washed from the title, the blank margin of title trimmed away at head, slight marginal water stain to the first signature, front bottom board corner bumped.
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Title page: CATALOGUE | DES | OUVRAGES, ÉCRITS | ET DESSINS | DE TOUTE NATURE | POURSUIVIS, SUPPRIMÉS OU CONDAMNÉS | DEPUIS LE 21 OCTOBRE 1814 JUSQU'AU 31 JUILLET 1877 | Edition entièrement nouvelle, considérablement augmentée | SUIVIE DE LA TABLE DES NOMS D’AUTEURS ET D’ÉDITEURS | ET ACCOMPAGNÉE DE NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHIQUES ET ANALYTIQUES | PAR | FERNAND DRUJON | {publisher’s device} | PARIS | LIBRAIRIE ANCIENNE ET MODERNE | ÉDOUARD ROUVEYRE | 1, RUE DES SAINTS-PÈRES, 1 | 1879 || Pagination: [2] [i-v] vi-xxxvii [xxxviii blank] [1] 2-430 [2] 1-16, total number of pages 2+38+430+2+16=488. Collation: 8vo; π4 i-ii8 1-258 26-294 ω8, total number of leaves 4+(2x8)+(25x8)+(4x4)+8=244; 2 binder’s blank leaves before the front wrapper, 2 blanks after the wrapper, blank / avis important, h.t. with gift inscription from publisher to Anger / limitation, t.p. / blank, [text], 17 leaves of advert., 2 blanks before back wrapper, 1 binder’s blank after. Binding: 28.3 x 19 cm, tree-quarter beige buckram over marbled boards, spine: brown leather label with gilt double fillet top and bottom, gilt lettering, stamped in gilt with a lily and a year of publishing, gilt double-fillet to tail; publisher’s wrappers bound in. Bookplate with motto “AGE DICANT” to front pastedown. Gift inscription: "À mon ami Anger | Hommage de me bien dévoué | Édouard Rouveyre". Possibly Pierre Anger (1854-19..).Edition: 1st edition, this copy is from an unnumbered print run. Despite the note "Edition entièrement nouvelle, considérablement augmentée" this is obviously the 1st edition.
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Title: FABLES | DE | M. DE FLORIAN , | de l’académie françoise, de celles de Madrid , | Florence, etc. | — | Je tâche d'y tourner le vice ridicule , | Ne pouvant l'attaquer avec des bras d'Hercule. | La Font. Fables , liv. V , I. — | [publisher's device ] | A PARIS, | DE L'IMPRIMERIE DE P. DIDOT L'AINÉ, | 1792. Pagination: ffl, [2 - h.t. / Imp.] [2 - blank / frontis.] [2 - tp. / blank] [5] 6-224 [2 - advert. / blank], bfl. Collation: numbered 1(5), 2-18(6), 19(3); engarved frontispiece portrait of Florian after François Hüet-Villiers, 5 engraved plates by Longueil, Delignon, and Gaucher after Flouest. Binding: Contemporary full mottled calf, all margins red, gilt floral ornaments to flat spine, red label with gilt lettering. Catalogue raisonné: Cohen, de Ricci 1912: p. 398-9.
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Fables de La Fontaine / édition illustrée par J. J. Grandville (in 2 volumes). – Paris: H. Fournier Ainé, Perronin, 1838. Imp. H. Fournier et Ce, 14 rue de Seine (Premier Tirage). Vol 1: [2 - ht, imprim.] [2 - blank with handwritten inscription, frontis.] [2 - t.p., blank], [ [i] ii-xxviii - épitre, préface, [2 - plate 'fables', [1] 2 - dedication, [3, 4 - pltate: livre 1, blank] [5, 6 - plate: blank, cigale] [7] 8 - fab.1 (the subsequent plates are not paginated) - 292. (245-246 - Avertissement), (247-248 - A mamdam de Montespan); Wood engravings: frontispiece + half-title Fables + 7 running half-titles Livres des Fables + 72 plates. Vol. 2: [2 - ht, imprim.] [2 - t.p., blank] [1, 2 - plate 'livre 8', blank] [3] 4-312 (191-192 épilogue), (195-196 Au duc de Bourgogne), (268 - fin des fables), (269-296 Philemon et Baucis | D. O. M. | La Martone Déphèse | Belphegor), (297 -308 notice), (309-312 table); Wood engravings: 5 running half-titles Livres des Fables + 1 half-title Philemon et Baucis + 48 plates. Size: 8vo, 23.2 x 15 cm. Binding: Full tree-calf, flat spine stamped with gilt, red and brown labels with gilt lettering, marbled endpapers. Handwritten nut ink inscription to blank recto of frontispiece: the history of Millet-Fontaine family (provenance?) There were two print-runs in the year 1838. According to Léopold Carteret (Le trésor du bibliophile. Epoque romantique. 1801-1875 / Livres illustrés du XIXe siècle. – Paris: L. Carteret; imprim. Lahure, 1927, pp. 357-9), the first run (Premier Tirage) published by H. Fournier and Perrotin, while the Second Tirage by H. Fournier Ainé. Though, the initial cap character "N" at p. xiii (vie d'Ésope) in this copy is formed by 'faite de lignes bouclées' as in the first print-run, rather than by 'petits carreaux noirs et blances' as in the second. We can conclude with confidence that this copy belongs to Premier Tirage. Wood engravings (135 plates, including frontispiece, and numerous headpieces and initial letters) were cut by the following artists (the first number is the number of the chapter ('livre'), the second – the number of the fable within the 'livre': Wood engravers: John Bastin, (British, fl. 1840 – 1850): 6-6, 7-13, and 8-9. Alexandre Belhatte (French, born in 1811): 3-11 and chapter title pages to 'livres' 6, 11, 12, headpices on p. 117 in vol. 2, and 'Philemon et Baucis' section title page. J. Constantine Beneworth (active France, 19th century): 1-6. Louis-Henri Brévière (French, 1797 – 1869): 1-10, 2-7, 6-10, 6-21, 7-4, 8-10, 8-27, 9-3, 10-4, 12-11, frontispice, together with François-Louis Français (French, 1814–1897), and 'Fin des fables' tailpiece. Brévière et Hébert: Louis-Henri Brévière (French, 1797 – 1869) and César-Auguste Hébert (French, active 19th century): 1-1, 1-2, 1-13, 1-18, 2-2, 2-11, 3-1, 3-3, 3-4, 3-18, 4-20, 4-21, 4-22, 5-5, 5-20, 6-2, 6-8, 7-3, 8-7, 8-12, 8-14, 8-17, 9-14, 10-6, 10-16, 11-6, 12-4, 12-25. Joseph-Hippolyte-Jules Caqué (French, 1814 – 1885): 7-11 and headpieces on p. 251 in vol. 1 and on p. 197 in vol. 2. Prosper-Adolphe-Léon Cherrier (French, born 1806): 8-6. Henry Isidore Chevauchet (French, fl. 1837 – 1850): 1-19, 2-4, and 4-5. Louis Dujardin (French, 1808 – 1859): 10-9. Pierre-François Godard (French, 1768 – 1838): 1-5, 1-16, 5-2, and 10-11. Charles David Laing (British, fl. 1836 – 1853): 7-9. Lacoste père et fils aîné et Auguste-Alexandre Guillaumot (French, 1815 – 1892): 1-4, 1-20, 9-17, and 11-5. Laisné (Alfred, Adèle, and Aglaé) (French, active 1835–1868): 5-8, 6-5, 6-17, 8-2, 8-15, 9-9, 9-10, 11-1, 11-8, 12-10. (Alfred, Adèle, and Aglaé) Laisné (French, active 1835–1868): 5-8, 6-5, 6-17, 8-2, 8-15, 9-9, 9-10, 11-1, 11-8, 12-10. Théodore Maurisset (French, fl. 1834 – 1859): 2-14 and 6-13. Antoine-Alphée Piaud (French, 1813 – 1867): 1-17, 2-9, 2-16, 4-1, 4-4, 5-15, 5-17, 5-18, 5-21, 8-22, 8-23, 8-25, 9-19, 10-13, 11-3, 11-9, 12-13, 12-15, 12-21, three 'livres': 3, 9, 10, and headpiece on p. 71 in vol. 2. Roux-Jourdain: Two 'livre' title pages, 1 and 2. John Orrin Smith (British, 1799 – 1843): 2-13, 2-18, 3-9, 3-14, 4-9, and 4-14.L. Chauchefoin (French): 2-3 and 5.13. Matthew Urlwin Sears (British, 1799 – 1870): 10-1 and 12-9. Monogram TM or MT (possibly for Théodore Maurisset): 6-16 and 10-3. Monogram GO–> (possibly for Godard) : 5-3, 7-1, and 9-5. Monogram B and BV: 4-11, 12-6, 'livre' 4, and headpieces on p. 1 in vol. 1 and on p. 167 in vol. 2. Unsigned or with an illegible signature: "fables' section title, 1-3, 1-9, 3-5, 3-8, 4-15, 4-18, 5-10, 7-7, 7-16, 9-2, 9-4, 12-2, 12-3, 12-17, and two 'livre' title pages, 5 and 8. Little is know about Matthew Urlwin Sears. He was a wood engraver of good reputation who is known to have worked in London in the early 1820s, Paris and Leipzig. Listed as "wood engraver" on records of the UK Printing Historical Society. Work The British Museum owns three of his earliest published works, engravings for Northcote's Fables (1828). He authored "Specimen of stereotype ornaments, 1825" which was reprinted as a facsimile in 1990 by the Printing Historical Society (London), with a foreword by James Mosley. He is mentioned by Pierre Gusman in "La Gravure sur Bois en France" (Paris, 1929). Laurent's Histoire de l'Empereur Napoleon, (1839) is one of many publications on which both Sears and his partner John Quartly worked, as well as numerous other engravers. His work appeared in "Aunt Effie's Rhymes" (1852) and "Uncle Tom's Cabin", by Harriet Beech Stowe (Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1853) [Claire-Juliette Beale, December 2009].
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FABLES | DE FLORIAN | ILLUSTRÉES | PAR J.-J. GRANDVILLE , | SUIVIES | DE TOBIE ET RUTH , | Poëmes tirés de l'Ecriture Sainte | ET | PRECEDEES D'UNE NOTICE SUR LA VIE ET LES OUVRAGES DE FLORIAN , | PAR P.-J. STAHL. | [Vignette] PARIS. | J.-J. DUBOCHET ET Cie , ÉDITEURS , | 1842. Pagination: ffl, [2 blanks] [i, ii - ht/imp.] [2 - blank/engr. t.p. by Grandville] [iii, iv - t.p./blank] [v] vi-xx; 2 sheets of plates, [3] 4-292, bfl; engraved t.p. + [79] leaves of plates + 5 faux t.p. (total 85 plates) Size: In-8vo, 23.8 x 15 cm. Binding: Orig. blind-stamped navy cloth with gilt Grandville characters to boards and spine. First edition, first printing. Reference: Léopold Carteret (Le trésor du bibliophile. Epoque romantique. 1801-1875 / Livres illustrés du XIXe siècle. – Paris: L. Carteret; imprim. Lahure, 1927). Wood engravers: Adolphe Best (French, 1808 – 1860): 22 plates Louis-Henri Brévière (French, 1797 – 1869): 3 plates Brugnot (French, active 19th century): 7 plates Prosper-Adolphe-Léon Cherrier (French, born 1806): 6 + Tobie et Ruth + vignettes Louis Dujardin (French, 1808 – 1859): 2 plates Monogram GO–> (possibly for Godard) : 1 plate Halley-Hiback (French, 19th century): 1 + vignette Henri-Désiré Porret (French, 1800–1867): 2 + vignette Lacoste père et fils aîné et Auguste-Alexandre Guillaumot (French, 1815 – 1892): 5 plates Quichon (French, 19th century): 10 plates + Tobie et Ruth François Rouget (Belgian, born bef., 1825): 19 + vignette Unsigned or with an illegible signature: 6 plates
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Hardcover volume, 24.5 x 17.5 cm, pictorial boards and endpapers, pp. [2] 3-167 [168]; 2 t.p., 129 pp. of plates, 33 pp. of text, 4 pp. of thumbnails, 1 colophon. Front cover (grey vignette, blue lettering): Das Leningrader Album | We are on | our way to school | singing songs | hip and cool | Вместе в школу | мы идём | песни модные | поём. | von | Evgenij | Kozlov | konkursbuch Verlag | Claudia Gehrke || ISBN: 3-88769-315-9. Evgenij Kozlov (Russian-German, b. 1955) – artist.
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Title page: PARIS | À TABLE | PAR | EUGÈNE BRIFFAULT. | Illustré par Bertall. | {vignette} | PARIS | PUBLIÉ PAR J. HETZEL, | RUE DE RICHELIEU, 76 — RUE DE MÉNARS, 10 | 1846 || Pagination : ffl, [2] – h.t. / imprim., [2] – wood-engraved pictorial t.p. bt Bertall, [2] – t.p. / blank, [i] ii-iv, 2] – f.t. / imprim., [1] 2-184, ffl; in-text woodcuts by Betrall. Collation: π6 1-462; size 8vo. Binding: brown quarter morocco over marbled boards, raised bands, gilt device in compartments and gilt lettering to spine. Matching marbled endpapers, previous owner’s bookplate to front pastedown. Bookplate: Motto: “LITTERÆ SCIENTIA & ARTES / AR (monogram), 7738 BELIURE TOFFIER – TOURS / L. D.” Contributors: Eugène Briffault (French, 1799 – 1854) – author of the text. Bertall [ Bertal; Charles Albert d'Arnoux (French, 1820 – 1882) – illustrator. Pierre-Jules Hetzel (French, 1814 – 1886) – publisher. Printer: Imprimerie Schneider et Langrand, rue d'Erfurth, 1 (Paris). Paper: La papeterie d’Essonne.
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NEWHardcover, 188 x 118 mm, brown half-morocco over burgundy faux-chagrin, spine with raised bands and burgundy label with gilt lettering, gilt fleurons in compartments, floral diaper endpapers, collated 8vo:ffl, π2 1-138, ffl, pp. [4] 1-207 [208], plus frontispiece portrait and 8 unnumbered leaves of plates, etchings, one of them hand-coloured; limitation to half-title verso: "Tirage a 300 exemplaires". The title page is loose. Each gathering has 4 'tall' pages (1, 2, 7, 8 - 181 mm) and 4 'short' (3, 4, 5, 6 - 165 mm). Two parts are in one vol., signed and paged continuously; the second part has its own half-title and title pages. "Fin de première partie" at p. 107 (76), part 2 h.t. at 77, part 2 t.p. similar to the main t.p. but in black only at 78. The portrait of Étienne de Jouy was possibly engraved by Charles Monselet (French, 1825 – 1888) after Julien-Léopold Boilly (French, 1796 – 1874). Title-page (red and black): LA GALERIE | DES | FEMMES | COLLECTION INCOMPLÈTE DE HUIT TABLEAUX | RECUEILLIS PAR UN AMATEUR | L'amour est le roman du cœur | Et le plaisir en est l'histoire. | BEAUMARCHAIS. Folle journ. | — | A HAMBOURG | – | 1799 Compare to Dutel: 8 plates instead of 9; no two-page text “Nous espérions joinder à ce livre une notice…” before Deux mots de préface, the word FIN on p. 207 instead of 203, no table of contents at the end; no imprint Bruxelles. — Imp. de J. H. Briard, rue des Minimes, 51, on the same page as Table, signed 15. Dutel: № A-456, p.148:
- In-8 (18,4 x 11) de (2 ff.), II, 203 pp., 1 ff. de table, couv. jaune imp. en rouge.
- Édition publiée à Bruxelles en 1869 par J.-P. Blanche. Elle est ornée de 9 gravures et d'un facsimilé de l'écriture de Monselet, qui n'est pour rien dans ce volume.
- Tirage : 300 exemplaires.
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Hardcover volume, 297 x 256 x 40 mm, glossy pictorial boards, pp. [1-8] 9-428 [4], profusely illustrated, text in French. F.I.N.A.L.E. stands for Foundation Internationale d’Arts et Litératures Érotiques (Foundation of Erotic Arts and Literatures, established on December 12, 1996 in Lausanne, Switzerland. Title-page: éros, | indéfiniment | Collections F.I.N.A.L.E. | { HumuS, publisher’s device} ||
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Hardcover volume, 290 x 225 mm, bound in scarlet velveteen with gilt lettering to front and spine, gilt vignette and lettering to back; pp.: [1-8] 9-204 [4], profusely illustrated; text in French and English. ISBN : 2-940127-37-9. Title-page (yellow on red paper): EROS SECRET | OBJETS EROTIQUES A TRANSFORMATION | EROTIC TRANSFORMATION OBJECTS | Photographies et chorégraphie : Véronique Willemin | Photographer and choreography || “The ensemble of 150 objects presented belongs to one single collector. The manner in which the author met him at the airport of Larnaca, then on a yacht in the Mediterranean sea, resembles more a novel by Gérard de Villiers than the preface of a curator but has its own touch of spice” [Art of the day Weekly].
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Description: One volume 32.5 x 25.5 cm, in crimson cloth, blind lettering to front cover and spine, pictorial DJ, lettered (similar to t.p.) in the back. Pagination: [2 blank] [1-9] 10-337 [338] [4] [4 notes], total 174 leaves, 137 entries. Title-page (in red and black): Eros invaincu | LA BIBLIOTHÉQUE GÉRARD NORDMANN | Florilège | établi sous la direction de Monique Nordmann | commente par Laurent Adert • Saba Bahar • Françoise Bléchet • Arto Clerc | (5 more lines of names) | & | édité par Rainer Michael Mason | FONDATION MARTIN BODMER | EDITIONS CERCLE D'ART | GENÈVE • MMIV • PARIS || Gérard Nordmann (Swiss, 1930 – 1992) Bibliothèque érotique: Gérard Nordmann; Livres, manuscrits, dessins, photographies du XVIe au XXe siècle / Catalogues de ventes (two parts) — Paris: Christie’s, 2006, see LIB-2828.2021 and [LIB-2810.2021].
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Title page: ACROSS THE RIVER | AND | INTO THE TREES | BY | ERNEST HEMINGWAY | CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS | NEW YORK | 1950 || Pagination: [12] 1-308; total 160 leaves. Binding: black cloth, gilt Hemingway's fac-simile to front board, lettering to spine, pictorial dust jacket designed by A. Ivancich; $3.00 price clipped from top of front flap. Bookplate of Feodor Rojankovsky to front pastedown. Size: 21.5 x 15 cm. Edition: 1st edition, 1st printing; DJ with yellow on spine (later copies have orange); letter “A” and the Scribner’s device to copyright page. Provenance: Rojankovsky, Feodor [Rojan; Рожанковский, Фёдор Степанович] (Russian-American, 1891 – 1970) Contributors: Ernest Hemingway (American, 1899 – 1961) – author. Adriana Ivancich (Italian, 1930 – 1983) – artist of the dust jacket (Ivancich inspired the figure of Renata in the novel). Charles Scribner's Sons – publisher.
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ERNEST HEMINGWAY | A Moveable Feast | {Citation} | CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, | New York || Pagination: [12] – incl: advert., h.t., t.p., colophon, contents, preface, and note, [1, 2] - f.t. / blank, 3-211 [212]. Publisher’s cloth-backed stamped boards, original dust jacket. Ref.: Hanneman A31a.
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Description: Hardcover volume bound in red cloth with black lettering to front cover and spine, in a red dustjacket with black lettered, bookplate to front pastedown “ from the library of | DAVID. D. LEVINE | Militaria” in triple fillet frame, bookseller’s label to front fep “CHAS. E. LAURIAT CO. | IMPORTERS & BOOKSELLERS | 385 Wash’n St. Boston”. Title-page in red and black: MY DAYS OF ADVENTURE | THE FALL OF FRANCE, 1870-71 | BY ERNEST ALFRED VIZETELLY | LE PETIT HOMME ROUGE | AUTHOR OF “THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 1852-70” ETC. | {publisher’s device} | WITH A FRONTISPIECE | LONDON | CHATTO & WINDUS | 1914 || Pagination: [2] advert., [i-vii] viii-xi [xii] [2] contents/blank, [1] 2-337 [338] [2], 340 pages total plus photo frontis. Collation: [A8] B-Y8 Z2, 170 leaves total plus one leaf of plates. Provenance: David D. Levine Contributors: Ernest Alfred Vizetelly (British, 1853 – 1922) – author. Charles E. Lauriat Company, Booksellers and Importers, Boston, Massachusetts. Charles Emelius Lauriat, Jr. (American, 1874 – 1937) – collector of rare books and prints Chatto & Windus (London) – publisher. David Daniel Levine (Australian, 1944 – 2020) – Australian judge and book collector
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Description: Oblong volume, 19.3 x 24.2 cm, hardcover in velvet with pasted image, in a pictorial slipcase; printed on glossy paper, unpaginated. Title-page (in frame): ERATO | GRAPHIKEN VON MIHÁLY ZICHY || Collation: (2) h.t., t.p., (30) leaves of plates (4) text by Éva Bros, bibliography, colophon; total 36 leaves. The plates are photomechanical offset copies made from the photogravures of 1911 Leipzig private press edition [SVE-0501.2021], which photogravures made from the original watercolours and crayon drawings produced by Zichy in 1874-1879; the original album of 51 compositions was sold at Christie’s sale of Gérard Nordmann collection on December 14-15, 2006 in Paris. See a copy of the Leipzig album № 285 in this collection [SVE-0501.2021].
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One volume in-4o, 26.5 x 21 x 4.4 cm, bound by Durvand (signed) in yellow ¾ morocco over marbled boards outlined in gilt, spine with raised bands, gilt lettering, vignettes after Félicien Rops in compartments, top margin gilt, marbled endpapers, publisher’s wrappers preserved; enriched with 57 original prints after Félicien Rops and an etched portrait of Félicien Rops by Robert Kastor. Collation: 3 blanks, π4 (orig. front wrapper ‘En souscription…./Etudes sur…’, La tentation…/Érastène Ramiro..., h.t./justification, t.p/blank), 1-274 (paginated 1-215 [216]) χ2 plus 58 leaves of bound-in original prints by various printers on different papers, some on India paper pasted on vergé, with tissue guards, and 1 leave of manuscript ‘Table de gravures dans le texte’; back wrapper with ‘Table des gravures ajoutées’ manuscript to recto, original spine, 2 blanks. Title-page (red and black): Études sur quelques Artistes originaux | — | FÉLICIEN ROPS | par | ÉRASTÈNE RAMIRO | {fleuron} | PARIS | (left): G. PELLET | 51, Rue Le Peletier, 51 | (right): H. FLOURY | 1, Boulevard des Capucines, 1 | 1905 || Limitation: 125 copies, of which 100 copies on Japon à la forme and 25 copies 0n papier de Chine. Photographs here represent the original prints only. Contributors: Eugène Rodrigues-Henriques [Eugène Rodrigues, Erastène Ramiro] (French, 1853 –1928) – author. Félicien Rops (Belgian, 1833 – 1898) – artist. Robert Kastor (French, 1872 – 1935) – artist. Imprimerie Charles Hérissey (Évreux) – printer Gustave Pellet (French, 1859 – 1919) – publisher. Henri Floury (French, 1862 –1961) – publisher. Lucien Durvand (French, 1852 – 1924) – bookbinder.
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Hardcover, 23.5 x 23.5 cm, publisher's navy cloth, gilt-stamped lettering to spine, pictorial DJ; pp.: [1-6] 7-143 [144 blank].
Japanese woodblock prints of the Edo period (1615-1868) were the products of a highly commercialised and competitive publishing industry. Their content was inspired by the vibrant popular culture that flourished in Edo (Tokyo). At any given time scores of publishers competed for the services of the leading artists of the day. Publishers and artists displayed tremendous ingenuity in finding ways to sustain demand for prints and to circumvent the restrictions placed on the industry through government censorship. Although Japanese prints have long been appreciated in the West for their graphic qualities, their content has not always been fully understood. This book draws on recent scholarship that makes possible a more subtle appreciation of the imagery encountered in the prints and how they would have been read when first made. Through stunning new photography of both well-known and rarely published works in the collection of the British Museum, including many recent acquisitions, the author explores how and why such prints were made, providing a fascinating introduction to a much-loved but little-understood art form.