NIETZSCHE, Frederic. POWILEWICZ, A.K. ~ Ainsi parlait Zarathoustra.
Translated by Henri Albert. Portrait frontispiece engraved after Aubert. Extra-illustrated with an additional hand-painted title page, 8 full page hand-painted original designs in gouache and 2 full page hand-painted designs for the binding in gouache all by A.J. Powilewicz in 1962. Pp. x, 448 [2]. 8vo., bound in full vellum painted on both sides and the spine in red, green, yellow, blue and gilt by A.K. Powilewicz, and with his hand-painted elaborate endpapers, original wrappers bound in, t.e.g. Boards a trifle bowed, otherwise very good.
On the verso of his hand-painted and written colophon Powilewicz writes in ink that the designs have been inspired by Persian miniatures and rugs from the Caucasus and Persia.
A delightful and playful extra-illustrated copy of a French edition of Nietzsche’s Also sprach Zarathustra, apparently put together for the personal pleasure of the artist. Powilewicz was an artist and illustrator known for his images for books in the 1920s and 30s including Charles Foix’s Promethee and Les Bassarides (1924 and 1926) and Albert Desbranche’s Clocheets et Grelots (1932).
A wonderful example of book-embellishment - an extreme form of grangerising.