DÉZÉ, Louis. LOUYS, Pierre. ~ Sanguines.
First edition. Pp. [vi], 263. 18.6 x 12.7 cm. 8vo., boudn in contemporary cuir repoussé by Louis Dézé, signature in blind on the lower cover, moulded leather to form a darncing female nude on the upper cover dancing on a fallen man within a Grecian style portico with two nude figures on top of the pillars, on the lower cover is a moulded romantic scene in a stylised mirror frame on top of small stack of books, another scene in moulded leather to the spine of a woman going to market with a pan like head beneath, gilt lettering to spine, top edge gilt, others uncut, turn-ins with gilt tooling, marbled endpapers, silk bookmark, original front wrapper and spine bound in.
An excellent signed example of Dézé’s accomplished, if not always tasteful, moulded leatehr bindings on the first edition of Pierre Louy’s first collection of stories.
Louis Dézé (1857-1930) was a noted practitioner of cuir repoussé, creating figurative designs in moulded leather and using cuts and tooling to create varied textures. He captures the libertine nature of Louys’s stories rather well with this binding - the stories include Une volupté nouvelle, La confession de Mlle X, Une ascension au Venusberg, and La persienne.