About the cover:
Full-grain binding Smoothed fawn marocco, identical but colour-restricted depictions of stork, fowl, chicken, dog and cat on the front and back cover using coloured adhesive foils, supplemented with embossed gold and palladium lines, hand-gilt spine title, gilt head edge, hand-stitched endpapers, light brown mirror and the flying leaf of dark brown Ingres, slipcase with leather-bound opening and cover of coloured paper.
About the content:
Henry de Montherlant: La Rédemption (Redemption) par les Bêtes
With 22 lithographed drawings, including one double-page spread, by Pierre Bonnard, finished by Fernand Mourlot.
Ex. No. 271 of 280 on Grand Vélin de Rives, printed at the expense of an enthusiast, Paris 1959
About the artist: Roger Devauchelle was a bookbinder and bookbinding historian. His father had been killed in the First World War before Roger Devauchelle was born, and he had to leave school at the age of twelve to earn his living. He had a passion for drawing and books and learned bookbinding in Amiens.
During his military service in Paris, he met Georges Lahaye, who inspired him to take up the art of bookbinding. Later, in the Second World War, he was wounded and taken prisoner. He used the time in war prison to perfect his training with the help of a fellow inmate. Devauchelle could flee and joined the Resistance in the Landes in southwestern France, where he also opened his first studio.
Two years later, he moved to Paris. To perfect his techniques and comprehend the details, he dismantled high-quality bindings and expanded his skills to include hand gilding and edge gilding, taking advice from the best experts. Thanks to his uncompromising pursuit of perfection, he eventually became “Meilleur ouvrier de France” for binding, gilding and edge gilding.
