About the cover:

Half leather binding Dark grey box calf spine, two bronze-coloured calfskin binding straps pulled through the covers, attached covers made of black hardboard, without turn-ins. Covered with rust-coloured nubuck leather, ebony straps with metal eyelets mounted on the front and back covers along the spine, narrow ebony splint on the front edge; fine leather endpapers, barbered edges, board-to-board endpapers of the same bronze-coloured calfskin, flyleaf of black laid paper, brown half-leather chemise lined with moss-green suede, brownish paper cover, gilt-stamped spine title, slipcase opening edged with black leather, brownish paper cover.

About the content:

Henri Michaux: Peintures

Ex. No. 393 of 550 on wove paper

Editions G.L.M. Paris 1939 Seven poetic texts with 16 strange gouaches of ghostly figures and monstrous heads that do not really correspond to the times. Michaux believed that pictorial art could not be limited to a simple imitation of reality, but that the aim was - like Paul Klee or Max Ernst - to tread the path towards an imaginary art and the exploration of the inner world.

His work as a painter is celebrated today, especially his large ink drawings.

About the artist: Jean de Gonet set up a studio while still at boarding school and acquired his first skills in the field of bookbinding. After finishing secondary education and completing his military service, he found his first job as a bookbinder in the Service Historique de la marine in 1971. Two years later, he was able to set up his own studio thanks to orders from a famous collector. After an exhibit of some of his bindings at the Centre Pompidou in 1977, book dealers and curators became aware of his new style. Consequently, he was invited to present contemporary bindings of a young generation of binding artists together with Monique Mathieu and Georges Leroux in 1978. His first solo exhibition took place in 1982 at the Librairie Giraud-Badin.

At the request of the Centre Pompidou, he designed a library binding with PU covers in 1985. He had this patented and from then on worked with six employees for many large libraries. In 1987, he was awarded the Prix National des Métiers d’Arts.