first edition
1888 · Paris
by Loti, Pierre; [Johanna Birkenruth]
Paris: Calmann Lévy, 1888. First printing. Very good plus.. Lovely minimalist aesthete's binding of Loti's novel, one of the sources for Puccini's MADAME BUTTERFLY, bound in tasteful orange and white by pioneering book artist Johanna Birkenruth, who was closely associated with the Guild of Women Binders. The novel, presented as the journal of a naval officer married to a Japanese woman and based substantially on Loti's own diary of his contractual paid relationship with a Japanese woman while stationed in Nagasaki in 1885, was a highly successful example of fin-de-siècle French Japonisme and the source text for several adaptations. The two operas it inspired (Andre Messager's MADAME CHRYSANTHEME and Puccini's MADAME BUTTERFLY) attempted to endow the cold and rather repellent male lead with some semblance of human emotion, while also changing the heroine to a passive and floridly naive young girl who must die for the audience's prurient satisfaction.
Birkenruth, one of the first women of her era to give lessons in bookbinding (to Anglo-Catholic philosopher Evelyn Underhill, among others), was profiled early in her career as "A Lady Bookbinder" in the May 11, 1895 issue of TO-DAY. Though Birkenruth was not herself a member of the Guild of Women Bookbinders, her exhibited work influenced Frank Karslake in founding the Guild, and her work with semi-precious stones preceded Sangorski & Sutcliffe. Known for her intricate bindings inset with jewels and colored silks, Birkenruth stressed the importance of artistic unity, with the "colour of the leather, head-bands, end papers" all "duly chosen with relation to each other" — as in this effective, minimally decorated volume, designed exclusively in cream, orange, and gilt. An unusually spare and modern Japanese-influenced design from a master bookbinder of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 8.75'' x 5.75''. Contemporary cream vellum with gilt-stamped orange leather inlay and gilt-lettered spine by Birkenruth. All edges gilt. Orange endpapers. Illustrated with drawings and watercolors by Rossi and Myrbach, engraved by Guillaume Frères. "Johanna Birkenruth / London" stamp to front free endpaper. Bookplate of Louisa Frances (Wemyss) Foster to front paste-down. Light soil and minor edgewear to boards. (Inventory #: 53076)
Birkenruth, one of the first women of her era to give lessons in bookbinding (to Anglo-Catholic philosopher Evelyn Underhill, among others), was profiled early in her career as "A Lady Bookbinder" in the May 11, 1895 issue of TO-DAY. Though Birkenruth was not herself a member of the Guild of Women Bookbinders, her exhibited work influenced Frank Karslake in founding the Guild, and her work with semi-precious stones preceded Sangorski & Sutcliffe. Known for her intricate bindings inset with jewels and colored silks, Birkenruth stressed the importance of artistic unity, with the "colour of the leather, head-bands, end papers" all "duly chosen with relation to each other" — as in this effective, minimally decorated volume, designed exclusively in cream, orange, and gilt. An unusually spare and modern Japanese-influenced design from a master bookbinder of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 8.75'' x 5.75''. Contemporary cream vellum with gilt-stamped orange leather inlay and gilt-lettered spine by Birkenruth. All edges gilt. Orange endpapers. Illustrated with drawings and watercolors by Rossi and Myrbach, engraved by Guillaume Frères. "Johanna Birkenruth / London" stamp to front free endpaper. Bookplate of Louisa Frances (Wemyss) Foster to front paste-down. Light soil and minor edgewear to boards. (Inventory #: 53076)
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