L'EXPOSITION DE PARIS 1900 PUBLIÉE AVEC LA COLLABORATION D'ÉCRIVAINS SPÉCIAUX ET DES MEILLEURS ARTISTES

Paris: Librairie Illustrée, Montgredien et Cie, [1900]. 380 x 275 mm. (15 x 10 3/4"). Three volumes..
IMPOSING RED PEBBLE-GRAIN CLOTH BY MICHEL ENGEL (stamp-signed on front cover), decorated in gilt and black TO A DESIGN BY PAUL SOUZE, front cover with elegant gilt and black frame with caduceus cornerpieces, central panel with two aerial views of the Exposition, these separated by a title banner topped with gilt heraldic design, smooth spine with three compartments, that at top with a winged herald, the center one with gilt lettering, lower compartment with Mercury's winged hat and caduceus flanked by palm fronds. With an extra chromolithographed title pages by J. Minot after Luigi Loir, crest of Paris on title page, LAVISHLY ILLUSTRATED, with black wood engravings on every page of text (frequently more than one per page), 102 of these full-page, one of them in colors, 116 DOUBLE PAGE PLATES, 34 of these in color, and FOUR LARGE FOLDING PANORAMAS. With book label of the Publishers' Bookbindings collection of Ellen K. Morris and Edward S. Levin laid in at front. Isolated smudges or corner creases (from printing process), light offsetting from illustrations, or trivial foxing, but AN ESPECIALLY FINE COPY with none of the wear typical of picture books that see avid use, the text clean and fresh, the color plates pleasing, and THE BINDINGS IN SPARKLING CONDITION.

From a major American collection, this oversized account of the 1900 Paris Exposition is replete with historic illustrations and retains its eye-catching original publisher's binding in virtually immaculate condition. Held from April to November, the Paris Exposition presented its nearly 50 million attendees with a wide array of attractions, including dazzling demonstrations of new technologies, impressive architectural achievements, Art Nouveau design, and performing arts, all nestled along the Seine in the vicinity of the Trocadero and Eiffel Tower. The present text handles each of these spectacles in turn, detailing the construction of each of the structures and the specifics of the art and performances, with an abundance of illustrations detailing every aspect of the world extravaganza. The impressive bindings were executed by the Engel company, which Flety tells us was a pioneer in the industrialization of book binding. It was founded by Jean Engel (1811-92), who is sometimes known as "the father of industrial binding" because of his development and implementation of mechanical methods of bookbinding. Our binding was produced through the collaboration of Michel with engraver and designer Auguste Souze (fl. 1857-92), who produced many dies for publisher's bindings in France during this period, including a sizable number for Engel. This striking example cleverly uses black and gilt to emphasize light and shadow: for example, the lower vignette depicting the Palace of Electricity shines with gilt, imitating how the pavilion's 5,000 incandescent lights lit up the Parisian night. Our copy comes from the splendid library of publisher's bindings assembled over three decades by Ellen K. Morris and Edward S. Levin, a collection represented in an exhibition at the Grolier Club in 2000. In a review of the sumptuous catalogue for the exhibition, written for the Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, Andrea Krupp praises the "pristine condition" of this "glittering and opulent collection." This set is a particularly remarkable example of unlooked-for preservation--books this large and heavy and inviting the kind of avid viewing that its many illustrations encourage would virtually never be found in genuinely fine condition..