About the cover:

Full-grain binding Red marocco binding with five bands and hand-gilt title in the second and fifth band, two overlapping line structures in blind printing and hand-gilding on both covers, gilt head edge, hand-stitched silk capital, inner edges with blind-printed frame, beige silk endpapers, half-leather chemise, light brown Ingres paper cover, slipcase with leather-bound opening, light brown Ingres cover.

About the content:

André Gide: Paludes

With etchings by Alexandra Grinevsky

Ex. No. V of XXV on Japon Impérial and a suite, 355 in total

Copies Édition de la Nouvelle Revue française, Paris 1930 Paludes, written in 1895, is a satire on the sedentary, pusillanimous bourgeoisie. It is the story of a bachelor who lives in a tower surrounded by marshes and is unable to travel. It is also about animals that live in darkness and have forgotten how to see. ‘Perception begins when impressions change, hence the need to travel’.

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.