I have been in the rare and antiquarian book business for over forty years; my family has been in the rare books business since 1876. Rare books are in my blood.
Princesse Badourah, La
Paris: L'Édition D'Art H. Piazza, 1914. Item #02891
Limited to 500 Signed Copies
This Copy in a Beautiful Contemporary Binding by Franz Schauwers
With Decorations Not Found in the English Language Edition
DULAC, Edmund. La Princesse Badourah. Conte des Mille et une Nuits. Illustré par Edmond Dulac. Paris: L'Édition D'Art H. Piazza, n.d. [1914].
First edition in French, limited to 500 numbered copies signed by the artist, this being copy no. 347. Quarto (11 1/2 x 8 3/4 in; 294 x 221 mm). Ten mounted color plates within decorative borders.
Bound ca. 1914 by Franz [Schauwers] (stamp-signed) in three-quarter purple crushed levant morocco with gilt rules over marbled paper boards. Smooth spine lettered and richly decorated in gilt with nine red morocco floral onlays. Top edge gilt, others uncut. Matching marbled endpapers. Original wrappers preserved.
A very fine copy in a very attractive binding.
One of the most beautiful French illustrated books of the early twentieth century, and among the finest of Dulac’s Thousand and One Nights interpretations. Issued by H. Piazza - whose productions often surpassed their English counterparts in design ambition - this French edition includes a suite of ornamental elements entirely absent from the English-language editions. These comprise nine distinct chapter headpieces, each depicting a different stylised tree growing from an urn; decorated initials opening every chapter; seven tailpieces; and two ornamental surrounds framing the limitation statement and colophon. Together, these transform the book into a unified decorative object rather than a mere illustrated text.
The binding by Franz Schauwers - one of the leading Belgian binders of the Art Nouveau period - elevates the volume further, its floral onlays and jewel-like color palette echoing both the Persian subject matter and Dulac’s refined chromatic sensibility. Contemporary artistic bindings of this quality, especially on Piazza productions and with wrappers retained, are distinctly uncommon.
Hughey 31c.
Price: $1,500.00