[AVRIL, PAUL ]. Uzanne, Octave.

Le Miroir du Monde. Notes et Sensations de la Vie Pittoresque par Octave Uzanne.

Paris Maison Quantin 1888 Large octavo. iv, 164, (iv) pp. From a total edition of 2000 copies, thisis one 100 copies printed on Japon. Illustrated by Paul Avril with lavish deocrations in both color and in monochrome, with fanciful head- and tail-pieces, ornate borders, and many full-page illustrations, many of which are highlighted with gold. Further, this copy is in a full navy morocco binding by Petrus Ruban with a conservative design to offset the lively illustrations within. Deeply incised in gilt, the front cover features a memento mori of a large mirror reflecting the words "lux tua mors mea" (your light, my death), a rather dark conceit for the title. Wrapped in a garland of roses, a serpent slithers up the base of the mirror, an hour glass tips to its side, a scythe and a slightly grinning skull sit atop the design as beams of light (lux) thrust outward from the upper left corner. Triple-rule gilt borders to front and back covers. Spine in six compartments, lettered in gilt with sun-like objects thrusting gilt rays of light into the gilt fillets. Ruban's painstakingly executed dentelles feature a garland of roses on which he has afforded tiny thorns throughout the entire length. Petrus Ruban (1851-1929) was a French binder whose craftsmanship was described by contemporaries as "irreproachable." His earlier work vacillated between traditonalism and the fashionable pursuit of a new aesthetic, the latter of which featured mosaic-like covers with designs sprawling across the entire surface of the book. Although this book was printed in 1888, the binding design is more closely aligned with Ruban's post-1905 decision to stick to neoclassical ideals of beauty, a style he and his critics seemed to have been more at peace with. Original pictorial wrappers bound in. A.e.g. Bookplate of Stanley Marcus. (Art Nouveau and Art Deco Bookbinding, pp. 195-196).

• USD 2,000.00 > otras divisas
• nº de pedido: 20804

• librero: Bromer Booksellers Inc. (USA)