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 served his bookbinding apprenticeship with Konrad Hänsler in Zurich from 1910 to 1914. He gained a wide range of professional experience at various workplaces in Switzerland. After receiving his master’s certificate in 1921, he managed 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 following years, he was very active until selling his workshop in 1972: in addition to managing his soon highly renowned workshop, he taught at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Zurich and in Bern and gave evening classes for bookbinders as well as preparatory courses for the master’s certificate examination. He was on the board of the Association Kantonal-Zürcher Buchbindermeister-Verein 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.
