About the cover:
Full-grain binding Brown marocco leather, plain decoration on both covers and spine with fine silver line frames, supplemented with golden triangles, hand-gilt title on smooth spine; gilt head edge, hand-stitched capital, wide inner edges with fine silver line, triple endpapers, mirror and flyleaf in brownish silk, coloured paper. Half-leather chemise lined with light-coloured split leather, cover of coloured paper, leather-bound slipcase covered with the same coloured paper.
About the content:
Pierre Louÿs: Les Poésies de Méléagre
With etchings and final vignettes (culs-de-lampe) by André Marty
Unnumbered copy of 170 of the total edition for the ‘Société des éclectiques du livre’, 1933 In Greek mythology, Meleager is the main hero in the hunt for the Calydonian boar. Pierre Louÿs (1870-1925) first published the 131 epigrams of this mythology in manuscript form in French in 1893.
About the artist: Georges Cretté was a very skilled craftsman who was discovered by Marius Michel at the end of his training at the École Estienne and the École Nationale des Arts Décoratifs and was hired as his first employee. After Michel's death, he became his successor in 1925.
In the following years, George Cretté distanced himself from Marius Michel's influence and developed his own style, which prevailed in all his works from around 1930: simplicity instead of showmanship. He attached great importance to precise, perfect work, always with matching leather and in the right colour tone. Style and perfection continued to evolve.
