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Histoire des Quatre Fils Aymon by GRASSET, Eugene
Price:
$2,000.00
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Paris: H. Launette, 1883. First Edition. Quarto. 214, [15], wrappers bound in rear. Very finely bound in three-quarter burgundy morocco over red marbled boards, five gilt-chained raised bands, spine compartments double ruled in gilt, each compartment containing the incremental sections of a sword in gilt, the handle being the bottom compartment. Light wear to corners else a fine beautiful copy. Housed in custom clamshell box. Eugene Grasset (1845-1917), the leading theorist and naturalist in France outside the Nancy School, was a versatile artist interested in flowers and an assiduous illustrator and writer, considered by many to be France's Walter Crane. "Histoire des Quatre Fils Aymon", based on the 12th century epic poem about the struggles between the four sons of duc d'Aymes and Charlemagne, broke new ground not only stylistically but also technically, as it marked the debut of four-colour printing in France. It "signalled a remarkable collaboration between an artist, the Swiss-born lithographer Eugene Grasset, and the champion of photo-mechanical printing techniques, Charles Gillot. Each page boasts boldly integrated images and text (featuring a typeface designed by Grasset) dramatic asymmetrical compositions, elaborate ornamentation, and the use of emblems typical of both Celtic art and japonisme. Executed by Gillot with fastidious care, four-colour printing was used here to translate Grasset's original watercolours. Uzanne considered it 'the most original in terms of decoration of a new style and chromotypographic perfection'" (Silverman)
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