About the cover:
Full-grain binding Undecorated, grey-brown marocco binding with five bands and hand-gilt title in the second and third band, gilt head edge, hand-stitched endpapers, gilt edges and inner edges, brown silk endpapers, half-leather chemise matching the bands with gilt spine title, light slipcase of brown half-cardboard.
About the content:
Honoré de Balzac: Le chef d'oeuvre inconnu
With 34 original lithographs by Theo van Elsen
Ex. No. 34 of 160
André Dérue, Paris 1957 This unknown masterpiece tells the story of the young Poussin, the future famous painter, and the end of Frenhofer, the unknown and misunderstood painter. The pragmatist Porbus stands between the two. The story takes place at the beginning of the 17th century.
About the artist: Thorvald Henningsen was born in Lausanne in 1896 and completed his bookbinding apprenticeship with Konrad Häsler in Zurich from 1910 to 1914. He gained a wide range of professional experience at various workplaces in Switzerland. After qualifying as a master craftsman in 1921, he was the manager of the Schumacher bookbindery in Bern. In 1946, he took over a bookbinding workshop at Napfgasse 4 in Zurich's old town, directly above Café Schober. The years leading up to the sale of his workshop in 1972 were intense: in addition to managing his soon very renowned workshop, he taught at the arts and crafts schools in Zurich and Bern, gave evening classes for bookbinders and preparatory courses for the master craftsman's examination. He was on the board of the Cantonal Zurich Master Bookbinder Association and the Museum of Bookbinding, as well as being involved in promotional films and trade exhibitions. He became known beyond Switzerland as the author of specialist books and articles.
