MARTIN, Pierre-Lucien, binder. VERLAINE, Paul. BONNARD, Pierre. ~ Parallèlement.
One of 170 copies on velin de Hollande, of a total edition of 230 copies. Frontispiece lithograph printed in plum and 108 original rose coloured lithographs all by Pierre Bonnard (printed by Auguste Clot) draped around the printed pages of Verlaine’s text all in Garamond type. With 8 wood engraved vignettes cut by cut by Tony Beltrand after Bonnard designs. 29.5 x 24 cm. 4to., bound by Pierre-Lucien Martin in 1967, signed on the lower turn-in, and with a tooled dedication to the binder Marius Michel on the front turn-in “Hommage à Marius Michel”, original pink calf, onlaid with long-grain plum morocco covers (the grain in two directions, with mosaic floral decoration arranged around an oval of pink calf, spine of onlaid plum straight grain morocco decorated with the mosaic title along the length of the work, pink reverse calf doublures, all edges gilt, original wrappers bound in and housed in the original chemise and slipcase.
Pierre-Lucien Martin (1913-1985) designed this floral-decorated binding reflecting the two colours of Bonnard’s lithographs, in homage to Marius Michel. In the same spirit, Martin designed two other copies for his personal library, one in homage to Paul Bonet, the second to Pierre Legrain.
This special copy come with the original maquette for the binding plus:
- the first cover and title page with the vignette device of the Imprimerie nationale.
- the privilege leaf titled, in French, "Printed by special decision of the Keeper of the Seals, Minister of Justice."
- the second version of the title page with the vignette by Bonnard
- the additional original lithograph by Bonnard, printed in plum, which replaced the privilege leaf
- the original 4 pp prospectus including a double page spread (bound in at the end).
Bonnard’s response to Verlaine’s poems in Parallèlement is seen at the first modern livre de peintre combining the text printed in Garamond type with a painter’s freehand drawings reproduced by lithography. The Metropolitan Museum in New York describe this remarkable production thus: “the harmonious relationship of word and image set a new standard in book design”.
Ex Libris of A. Loewy (Cat., Un libraire dans le siècle, 1996, n° 274) ; and of Fred Feinsilber - sold at the Fred Feinsilber sale at Sotheby’s in 2006 (lot n° 128) for 36,000 Euros.