DOI Heft:
Nr. 43 (October 1896)
DOI Artikel:Meier-Graefe, Julius: Some recent continental bookbindings
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17298#0058
Continental Bookbindings
stick it on the cover of a book to be at once a number of binders, old and young, who are more or
binder ! Never was so much elaborate work pro- less devoted to the early classical methods. Of these
duced, never so many illustrations done by hand as latter the only representatives at the Exhibition in
in Paris just now. In this Exhibition there were question were Mercier (successor of Cuzin), and
certainly from fifty to a hundred books, illustrated Magnier (Ch. Magnier et ses fils), who worthily
with water-colours or Indian-ink drawings by well- upheld the pre-eminence of their countrymen in
known artists. The temptation is strong to praise gilding and " forwarding." Unfortunately the two
work like this, with bindings painted by such finest collections of this old-modern binding in
popular artists as Henriot, Morin^ Rabaudi, and
Weber; but all this has really nothing to do with ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
the binding itself. As works of art pure and
simple, pictures to hang upon one's walls, they are
admirable enough, as witness the collection of
M. P. Gallimard, who exhibited his designs for
covers by Renoir, Carriere, Willette, Raffaelli, and %
others. But the most splendid painting cannot •
make one forget the natural qualities of colour ; and
the varied sorts of leather are pleasanter both to
the touch and to the aesthetic sense than any
painted surface can be.
bookbinding designed by rafarlier. Plllis
Paris—those of Baron de Claye and M. Beraldi,
wonderful treasures of gold work—were not ex-
hibited. An excellent idea, however, of this
admirable art was seen in a binding by Mercier—
a morocco mosaic, tooled in gold, and glistening
with a sheen as of metal and gems, and forming
an absolutely perfect piece of handiwork. This is
bookbinding designed By prouve. Nancy . admittedly based upon old models, just as many 01
Trautz-Bauzonnet's ideas were derived from the
But apart from all this amateurism, which one productions of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and
cannot seriously consider from a business point eighteenth centuries. It is with regret that one
of view, there prevails to-day in the French binding sees the remains of a great tradition split up by a
trade a most unsatisfactory confusion, from which new generation, thirsting for novel forms. One's
there seems as yet to be no prospect of issue. On sympathies in this struggle between the old and the
the one side we see a few upholders of the old French new schools are certainly on the side of the former,
traditions, the admirers and followers of the great which in this instance, at any rate, is in the right,
master, Trautz-Bauzonnet; and on the other, a There can he no better models than the craftsmen
46
I
stick it on the cover of a book to be at once a number of binders, old and young, who are more or
binder ! Never was so much elaborate work pro- less devoted to the early classical methods. Of these
duced, never so many illustrations done by hand as latter the only representatives at the Exhibition in
in Paris just now. In this Exhibition there were question were Mercier (successor of Cuzin), and
certainly from fifty to a hundred books, illustrated Magnier (Ch. Magnier et ses fils), who worthily
with water-colours or Indian-ink drawings by well- upheld the pre-eminence of their countrymen in
known artists. The temptation is strong to praise gilding and " forwarding." Unfortunately the two
work like this, with bindings painted by such finest collections of this old-modern binding in
popular artists as Henriot, Morin^ Rabaudi, and
Weber; but all this has really nothing to do with ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
the binding itself. As works of art pure and
simple, pictures to hang upon one's walls, they are
admirable enough, as witness the collection of
M. P. Gallimard, who exhibited his designs for
covers by Renoir, Carriere, Willette, Raffaelli, and %
others. But the most splendid painting cannot •
make one forget the natural qualities of colour ; and
the varied sorts of leather are pleasanter both to
the touch and to the aesthetic sense than any
painted surface can be.
bookbinding designed by rafarlier. Plllis
Paris—those of Baron de Claye and M. Beraldi,
wonderful treasures of gold work—were not ex-
hibited. An excellent idea, however, of this
admirable art was seen in a binding by Mercier—
a morocco mosaic, tooled in gold, and glistening
with a sheen as of metal and gems, and forming
an absolutely perfect piece of handiwork. This is
bookbinding designed By prouve. Nancy . admittedly based upon old models, just as many 01
Trautz-Bauzonnet's ideas were derived from the
But apart from all this amateurism, which one productions of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and
cannot seriously consider from a business point eighteenth centuries. It is with regret that one
of view, there prevails to-day in the French binding sees the remains of a great tradition split up by a
trade a most unsatisfactory confusion, from which new generation, thirsting for novel forms. One's
there seems as yet to be no prospect of issue. On sympathies in this struggle between the old and the
the one side we see a few upholders of the old French new schools are certainly on the side of the former,
traditions, the admirers and followers of the great which in this instance, at any rate, is in the right,
master, Trautz-Bauzonnet; and on the other, a There can he no better models than the craftsmen
46
I