[DENIS]

L’Imitation de Jésus-Christ. Traduction anonyme du XVII° siècle honorée d’un Bref de Notre Saint-Père le pape Pie IX. Bois dessinés par Maurice Denis.

Name: L'Imitation de Jésus-Christ. Traduction anonyme du XVII° siècle honorée d'un Bref de Notre Saint-Père le pape Pie IX. Bois dessinés par Maurice Denis.
SKU: 24492
Author: [DENIS]

Paris, [Imprimerie nationale], Ambroise Vollard, 1903.

1 vol. (224 x 300 mm) of xiii, 456 pp., 1 leaf and vii pp. of prospectus.

First printing of the 216 wood engravings designed by Maurice Denis, engraved under his direction with the collaboration of Tony Beltrand.

Limited to 400 numbered copies. One of 280 copies on mould-made vélin du Marais paper (no. 303) from the edition printing, with the “L'Imitation de J.-C.” watermark.

A magnificent book illustrated with wood engravings after compositions by Maurice Denis: 216 woodcuts, including 116 square half-page compositions (approximately 11 x 11 cm) heading each chapter, the others being headpieces and tailpieces. This remarkable Symbolist illustration belongs to the painter’s early manner; although published in 1903, Maurice Denis’s compositions were executed between 1893 and 1899.

Reproducing the drawings was a genuine technical challenge, entrusted by Ambroise Vollard to the care of the Imprimerie Nationale and to the skill of some sixty craftsmen who shared the work under the direction of Tony Beltrand. The book was issued without a slipcase: copies are generally bound, and such a copy in sheets and in very good condition has become rare.

Chapon, Le Peintre et le Livre. L’Âge d’or du livre illustré en France, 1870–1970, pp. 68–69; Skira, Anthologie du livre illustré, 1946, no. 62; Ray, The Art of the French Illustrated Book 1700 to 1914, no. 376; Carteret IV, p. 214.

#24492

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