MAETERLINCK Maurice - SCHWABE Carlos. La vie des abeilles.

Society of Friends of the Modern Book, Paris. 1908

Octavo (245 x 210 mm). Jansenist binding by Charles Meunier, dated 1928, mounted on a slipcase. Full brown morocco, spine with four raised bands, author's name in gilt in the first compartment and title label in the second, year in gilt on the lower headcap.
Double gilt fillets on the edges of the boards and a series of small gilt fillets on the edges of the headcaps. The endpapers are decorated with a complex border of gilt fillets, fleurons, and rolls. Gilt edges.
Marbled endpapers followed by white endpapers. Stencil-painted cover, original watercolor signed, gouache on the front covers, frontispiece, 67 illustrations in the text, and a breakdown of one of the plates in color.



Edited under the artistic direction of Charles Meunier and Léon Thévenin, the compositions are color wood engravings based on illustrations by Carlos Schwabe.

This book is not a treatise on beekeeping or bee breeding, but rather the work of a passionate beekeeper, a philosopher of bees. The author knows how to see and admire all the beauty and strength of these insects, unraveling their mysteries with the visionary eye of one who can draw life lessons from them.

“I want to speak simply of Ronsard’s ‘blonde bees,’ as one speaks, to those who do not know him, of an object one knows and loves.”
Maurice Maeterlinck

As you can see, this book is not a “classic” edition of Maeterlinck’s work, but a monument of modern bibliophilia. The Society of Friends of the Book, Meunier, Thévenin, Schwabe: this book is the result of a collaboration between individuals at the height of their artistic powers or passions.

Printed in an edition of 150 copies, this is number 21, printed for Ernest Braillard, and includes an original watercolor of one of the text illustrations.



The cover and frontispiece are magnificent and appear to be hand-colored using stencils, giving them a vibrant quality. The volume of the paint is palpable, yet the execution is flawless.



Two watercolor floral compositions frame the book, one on the back cover and another on a front endpaper. While it is sometimes difficult to discern the painting technique, we have observed these gouaches in other books for sale. Therefore, they are not original watercolors. A description of the illustrations as “gouache over lines by Carlos Schwabe” in a 2010 Alde auction seems apt.





The deconstruction of one of the illustrations, bound at the end of the book, goes beyond mere embellishment; it allows us to grasp the full complexity of the woodcut printing technique. Nine engraved plates are required to create a single drawing, resulting in exceptionally high-quality rendering, depth of color, and a three-dimensionality that brings Schwabe's drawings to life.

Carlos Schwabe, one of the greatest Symbolist painters, also illustrated Les Fleurs du mal (1900) and Les Paroles d'un croyant (1908) for Charles Meunier, as well as Pelléas et Mélisande (1924) with Maeterlinck.

For more information:
Maeterlinck's Wikipedia page: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Maeterlinck
Charles Meunier's Wikipedia page: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Meunier_(relieur)
Carlos Schwabe's Wikipedia page: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Schwabe
The book on Gallica:
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1527313r/f13.planchecontact.r=abeilles%20schwabe

Condition: Scratch on the spine endcap, the spine is slightly sun-faded (slight difference in color compared to the covers). The slipcase is rubbed at the edges. The interior is in very good condition.