LOUYS Pierre - CARUCHET Henri. Byblis

Paris, A. Ferroud, 1901
In-8 (240x170mm) of [1] f., 1 watercolor, I-XVI, 46 pp., [2] ff.

Half morocco binding with gilt corners and fillets. Blueish marbled paper. Spine with five raised bands, gilt fillet on the raised bands, gilt title label. Marbled paper endpapers and guards.

Limited edition of 300 copies. Copy No. 11. One of ten deluxe copies on Japanese paper colored by the artist containing a suite in black on china and an original watercolor by Henri Caruchet after the unique copy on Whatman paper. Subscription booklet provided.

The book is composed of 44 art nouveau style compositions and an illustrated cover. Floral compositions or staging of the characters of the story.



One of Caruchet's most sensitive works, where the fragility of the line of his drawings reinforces the tragic aspect of the story. Symmetrical compositions follow one another with shapes and characters with more relaxed lines in an atmosphere of finely chosen pastel colors.



Pierre Louis takes up with all his sensitivity the myth of Ovid: Byblis. An impossible love between Caunos and Byblis, a nymph who, out of despair, turned into a fountain.

On the text, the preface by Gilbert de Voisins speaks for itself: "It seems that Mr. Pierre Louys thinks differently. When he speaks to us of a landscape, the setting is independent of men. It has its own existence. The tree, the stream, the pond, are lively people that the poet cherishes for themselves because they are verdant, harmonious or pure, and, if a voice happens to be heard, coming from a spring or singing between two stones, it is not his mortal feelings that he believes he hears the echo of, but the sound of the words that the hatched nymphs confide to him."

Condition :
The marbled paper of the half Moroccan has a 1cm tear at the bottom of the outer cover. Stain on the watercolor plate and transfer. Stains on the 4th cover preserved. And stain on the edge of the last blank pages from the 4th cover. Good condition overall.

For more informations :
Book digitized on the BNF website: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1520185c.r=byblis%20caruchet?rk=21459;2

Caruchet's Wikipédia :
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Caruchet

The ReportArt channel has dedicated a video to the book:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI61ze4xY38&ab_channel=ReportArt
Also a video on Henri Caruchet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dTsLVrmKwQ&ab_channel=ReportArt