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First edition. Hard cover, 12mo, 1 of only 150 copies upon japon and marais paper. An additional 250 copies were on marais only, for 400 copies overall. Text imprimé par (printed by) A. Lahure. Eaux- fortes par (etchings by) Charles Chadon, after paintings by Alcide Théophile ROBAUDI (1850-1928). In French. This out-of series Presentation Copy is inscribed from Parisian publisher LÉON CONQUET (1848-1898) to famed fellow publisher, LÉON VANIER, (1847-1896), also known as the "Father of the Decadents". The inscription reads: "à mon confrère/ Hommage arriveé/ (signature) or, to my colleague: Tribute arrives!"**CONDITION: Very Fine. Slight bleed-through of the watercolored title page shows as a small shadow to the limitation page.** An interesting element of the design has variation of the trim width of the pages, with the gatherings alternating in width by about a centimeter. The original black and white printed tile page has been brightly hand-colored and signed by Rouen's JULES ADELINE: artist, critic, noted collector of Japanese prints, books, benefactor to the museums of Rouen. He is considered an important disseminator of the "japanisme" which became such a feature of the art of the period. And which plays a fictional role in the story here: The titular Bouddha statuette is a Symbolist essence whose fate reflects a human misalliance. [See our related listing No. 9332 for Adeline's "Les Arts de Reproduction Vulgarisés."] **In the story, Edmund de Lauriér, ex-Legionnaire, falls in love with a woman, Antonia, who is an actress, known as "La Mousmée, and plays a role in a play about the Far East. She lives in an apartment swathed in a Japanese aesthetic. de Laurier brings her a gift of a gilded and painted Bouddha, but it does not survive, nor does their love.Edmund goes off to wage war in Indochina at Tonkin, (the Sino-French War of 1884-5) and, in the midst of battle, discovers another Bouddha which he liberates at the cost of two lives to bring home to his Antonia in Paris. An unexpected outcome awaits him Art imitates life and is reflected back upon itself.AUTHOR JULES Arsène Arnaud CLARETIE (1840-1913) was also a novelist and playwright as well as Director of the Théâtre Français, French National Theater. **The near-contemporary FINE BINDING is signed "C.E.G." in gilt to the lower front center of the gilt and red onlay decorated turn-in, which also features a red moire silk doublure; similar design at the rear of binding. Again, Tudor roses and laurel sprigs predominate. The bookbinder's signature is attributed to the Englishman, Capt. Charles Elsden Gladstone, RN. Both boards are lavishly decorated in full blue crushed morocco gilt, upon which are centered two circular red morocco onlays giving the appearance of Gallic military rosettes. Four additional shaped red onlays are fashioned into English Tudor roses. Gilt neoclassical framing is enhanced with opposing sprays of laurel leaves, here perhaps reminiscent of traditional Napoleonic/Greek crowns of victory. Stars, small flowers and other small stamped gilt decoration completes the complex and beautiful design. Titles in gilt appear vertically along the spine. All edges gilt, fillet rule upon board edges and shilling roll to head and foot of spine. Original pink wraps bound in. **Gladstone is an elusive figure in the records of fine English bookbinding at the turn of the twentieth century, but his work is included in the British Library collection, and our item seems to share use of some of the stamps illustrated by the BL. [ref. British Library blog below, illust. with a C.E.G. binding of Alfred de Musset's "On ne badne pas avec l'amour (Paris: 1904) shelf-mark C.188.114.] A unique and very special offering with associations to early modernism in literature and art begun in Paris in the 1880's. REFS: P.J.M.Marks, British Library, "Untold Lives: The Mysterious Captain Gladstone, RN: a bookbinding James Bond?" (28 May 2020). S. Rioland, (trad. J. Donnelly) "Jules Adeline".
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