Le Creation
- Paris: F.K. Schmied, 1928
Paris: F.K. Schmied, 1928. Number 8 of 175 copies signed by the artist, from a total edition of 195. This unique copy with two original watercolor drawings and an original color wood-engraved pochoir variant of plate XI "Le Glaive Flamboyant" which was not used. Folio (13 3/8 x 9 5/8 inches; 340 x 245 mm.). Printed on Velor Paper. Twelve color-printed wood-engraved pochoir plates by Schmied, (numbers I -VIII & X signed by Schmied in pencil), twenty-eight color-printed text illustrations throughout, most plates and illustrations heightened in gold or silver, with a twenty-two leaf decomposition of plate VIII, and with an additional forty-two leaf suite of the wood-engravings printed in black.
All leaves mounted on stubs: Front wrapper, verso blank; [4, blank], [2, half-title, verso blank], [2, original signed full-page aquarelle (a larger version of the smaller 'text' illustration on page XXII, verso blank], [2, original signed aquarelle "Variante from l'Adam" ( a variation of plate 7 on page XXIX)], [2, Dedication from Mardrus to Schmied, [verso] limitation statement, [1-2, title-page, verso blank], 3-16, Preface, [I]-[LXXXIX, verso blank], [6, blank], [2, Suite des gravures en couleurs de l'examplaire, numbered and signed in pencil "8 15/xx F.L. Schmied", verso blank], [Duplicate suite of color illustrations 28 leaves printed on Chine, one signed in pencil by Schmied], [2, blank], [Rejected color plate "Planche dite = refusée / Cette composition a été remplacée par moi / dans l'ouvrage, par la Planche no. XI / F.L. Schmied"], [Decomposition of plate VIII "Frontispiece - L'Eden" (The Garden of Eden) 22 leaves], [2, blank], [Suite-témoin des gravures sur bois de l'examplaire numbered and signed in pencil "8 F.L. Schmied", verso blank], [42 leaves], [2, blank] pp. Occasional very minor offsetting from color plates to opposite text leaf.
Bound by Gonin ca. 1928, signed in gilt on front turn-in. The superb binding designed by Schmied for the publishers featuring an adaptation of the first plate "La Création". Maroon morocco over red morocco, front cover with large vertical inlaid mosaic panel of pink and two shades of brown Stingray Shagreen. At the top and bottom of this panel are two small and two large inlaid panels of dark brown and light brown morocco. The title "La Création" is inlaid in tan morocco and the foredge of the board is decoratively ruled in silver. Smooth spine lettered in gilt, lower cover with similar foredge of the board design - but in gilt. Gilt-ruled inside covers surrounding doublures of olive green calf with linear decorations in tan morocco and gold and silver fillets, red and gold cloth decorated endleaves, blue marbled endpapers, all edges uncut. Housed in a later suede-lined, red morocco edged slip case by Isabelle Devauchelle. Loosely inserted is slip with "2 aquarelles originales", the original typed catalog description of Parisian bookseller Pierre Chretien with his silver book ticket.
The spine and the lower corner of the rear cover had been the victim of smoke damage. The book was sent to Isabelle Devauchelle in Paris who renewed the spine to the exact color, texture and specification of the original and restored the lower corner of the rear cover. Apart from some very slight darkening of the top edge it is almost impossible to tell that anything has been done.
Raised by bibliophile parents, the brothers André and Philippe Gonin first opened their publishing house in 1920 and ran the shop in Paris until 1939, when they relocated to Lausanne. Driven to produce high quality illustrated classics for collectors, like Virgil’s Georgics with woodcuts by Maillol, their publications remain desirable. This book reproduces the first three chapters of Genesis, which spans the creation of the world to Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Here the material choice for the inlaid binding (stingray leather) speaks directly to the book’s major themes – namely the God’s benevolence and power. For some Christians, stingrays signify the power of faith. Descriptions of the creatures can be found in ancient texts as well as in medieval bestiaries.
Ritchie 27 (p. 33).
All leaves mounted on stubs: Front wrapper, verso blank; [4, blank], [2, half-title, verso blank], [2, original signed full-page aquarelle (a larger version of the smaller 'text' illustration on page XXII, verso blank], [2, original signed aquarelle "Variante from l'Adam" ( a variation of plate 7 on page XXIX)], [2, Dedication from Mardrus to Schmied, [verso] limitation statement, [1-2, title-page, verso blank], 3-16, Preface, [I]-[LXXXIX, verso blank], [6, blank], [2, Suite des gravures en couleurs de l'examplaire, numbered and signed in pencil "8 15/xx F.L. Schmied", verso blank], [Duplicate suite of color illustrations 28 leaves printed on Chine, one signed in pencil by Schmied], [2, blank], [Rejected color plate "Planche dite = refusée / Cette composition a été remplacée par moi / dans l'ouvrage, par la Planche no. XI / F.L. Schmied"], [Decomposition of plate VIII "Frontispiece - L'Eden" (The Garden of Eden) 22 leaves], [2, blank], [Suite-témoin des gravures sur bois de l'examplaire numbered and signed in pencil "8 F.L. Schmied", verso blank], [42 leaves], [2, blank] pp. Occasional very minor offsetting from color plates to opposite text leaf.
Bound by Gonin ca. 1928, signed in gilt on front turn-in. The superb binding designed by Schmied for the publishers featuring an adaptation of the first plate "La Création". Maroon morocco over red morocco, front cover with large vertical inlaid mosaic panel of pink and two shades of brown Stingray Shagreen. At the top and bottom of this panel are two small and two large inlaid panels of dark brown and light brown morocco. The title "La Création" is inlaid in tan morocco and the foredge of the board is decoratively ruled in silver. Smooth spine lettered in gilt, lower cover with similar foredge of the board design - but in gilt. Gilt-ruled inside covers surrounding doublures of olive green calf with linear decorations in tan morocco and gold and silver fillets, red and gold cloth decorated endleaves, blue marbled endpapers, all edges uncut. Housed in a later suede-lined, red morocco edged slip case by Isabelle Devauchelle. Loosely inserted is slip with "2 aquarelles originales", the original typed catalog description of Parisian bookseller Pierre Chretien with his silver book ticket.
The spine and the lower corner of the rear cover had been the victim of smoke damage. The book was sent to Isabelle Devauchelle in Paris who renewed the spine to the exact color, texture and specification of the original and restored the lower corner of the rear cover. Apart from some very slight darkening of the top edge it is almost impossible to tell that anything has been done.
Raised by bibliophile parents, the brothers André and Philippe Gonin first opened their publishing house in 1920 and ran the shop in Paris until 1939, when they relocated to Lausanne. Driven to produce high quality illustrated classics for collectors, like Virgil’s Georgics with woodcuts by Maillol, their publications remain desirable. This book reproduces the first three chapters of Genesis, which spans the creation of the world to Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Here the material choice for the inlaid binding (stingray leather) speaks directly to the book’s major themes – namely the God’s benevolence and power. For some Christians, stingrays signify the power of faith. Descriptions of the creatures can be found in ancient texts as well as in medieval bestiaries.
Ritchie 27 (p. 33).