LES TROPHÉES

Paris: Ad Poesis Gloriam [Carteret] for René Descamps-Scrive, 1907. No. 2 OF 150 COPIES with Arabic numbering (and 25 with Roman numerals). 330 x 240 mm. (13 x 9 1/2"). 4 p.l., 231, [3] pp.
SUPERB SAGE GREEN MOROCCO, INLAID AND GILT IN THE "FLORE ORNAMENTALE" STYLE BY HENRI MARIUS MICHEL (stamp-signed on front doublure), covers divided into six compartments (front) and five compartments (rear) by interlacing black morocco strapwork, these compartments filled with the branches of a plant growing from the foot of the cover and flowing continuously through the compartments, filling them with branches, shoots, leaves, and berries in four shades of brown, the leaves outlined and accented with gilt, one panel on front cover with gilt titling, raised bands, spine with three black morocco-framed compartments containing another inlaid plant stem with leaves and berries, two gilt-ruled panels with lettering, CRIMSON MOROCCO DOUBLURES with handsome inlaid frame of brown morocco segments with gilt botanical tooling separated by bars of tan morocco and bordered by strips of black morocco, greenish-gold jacquard silk endleaves, marbled flyleaves, all edges gilt. Original vellum wrappers printed in gold bound in. Housed in a suede-lined marbled paper chemise backed with dark green morocco, in a morocco-lipped slipcase. With 50 engraved etchings, including a frontispiece and 18 full-page plates, 24 head- and five tailpiece vignettes, and two initials, all composed by Luc Olivier-Merson and engraved by Léopold Flameng. Printed on papier vélin by Les Papeteries de Maris. Front marbled flyleaf with small "awf" book label of the distinguished Swiss dealer and bibliophile Adrian Flühmann. WITH AN AUTOGRAPH COPY OF A POEM, written in purple ink on lined notepaper and signed by the poet, bound in with the printed version of the poem ("Pour la Vaisseau de Virgile"). Carteret IV, 200. Faint offsetting from engravings, but A SPLENDID COPY, clean, fresh, and bright internally, with stately margins, and IN A SPARKLING BINDING.

Produced at the behest and under the aegis of a major French bibliophile and containing a signed autograph poem by the author, this sumptuous volume comes in a fine example of a binding showing Marius Michel the younger's ground-breaking and influential "La Flore Ornamentale" design. Considered the best binder of his generation as well as the founder of modern French bookbinding, Henri Marius Michel (1846-1925) began his career in the atelier established by his father Jean in Paris in 1849, where they produced distinguished work in the prevailing historical styles for two decades. After the father's death in 1890, the firm came to even greater prominence when Henri began producing bindings in a completely new and original style that did nothing less than change the course of modern bookbinding in France. According to Duncan & De Bartha, Henri believed passionately "that bookbinding needed a new vocabulary of ornamentation in order to express the mood and spirit of contemporary authors." The "vocabulary of ornamentation" he developed was based on nature, the revolutionary "La Flore Ornamentale" style that he unveiled at the 1878 International Exposition. Marius Michel fils was at first viewed as impudent and rebellious, and his work was objected to on theoretical grounds as being too much like "art" and too little like a product of the binder's craft. But, in the words of Duncan & De Bartha, "the young man's fervent convictions, as well as his superb technical skills, as both a binder and a gilder, won him an increasing number of supporters. By 1885 his designs were seen as a viable alternative to traditional bindings for certain books." Other binders began to imitate his approach, but Marius Michel the younger was the "undisputed leader of the new movement, [his] incomparable technique, harmonious selection of color, and infinite variety of plant motifs [placing] his work above those of his contemporaries." "Les Trophées" is a collection of 118 poems by the Cuban-born French Parnassian poet José-Maria de Heredia (1842-1905), who was deemed by contemporaries the master of the French sonnet. According to Britannica, each of the sonnets here "presents a picture, striking, brilliant, drawn with unfaltering hand—the picture of some characteristic scene in man's long history. The verse is flawless, polished like a gem; and its sound has distinction and fine harmony." Britannica notes that before "Les Trophées" was published late in the poet's career, his verse circulated in manuscript among the literati of Paris, establishing the reputation that would see him elected to the Academie Francaise in 1894. The present work captured the imagination of the esteemed collector René Descamps-Scrive (1853-1924), who worked with publisher and bookseller Léopold Carteret to create a bibliophile's edition worthy of the sublime verse. Descamps-Scrive funded the project, and tapped his favorite artist, Luc-Olivier Merson (1846-1920), to provide classically-themed illustrations. Descamps-Scrive's project found well-deserved success among bibliophiles. Our copy contains Heredia's "For Virgil's Ship" written in the poet's elegant hand and signed with his distinctively flourished signature..