SAMAIN Albert - SCHWABE Carlos. Au Jardin de l'Infante

Paris, Le livre contemporain, 1908
Compositions by Carlos Schwabe engraved on wood by J. C. G. M. Beltrand.

In-4 (257x183mm) of [1] f. with 1 frontispiece plate, 3 plates, 144 pp in 18 notebooks.

Book in loose notebooks with folded printed cover.
Original folder and slipcase with title label on the spine.
Collection of poems by Albert Samain, punctuated by quotes from famous poets: Edgar Allan Poe, Stéphane Mallarmé, Villier de l'Isle-Adam, Charles Baudelaire and Virgil. Most of the poems are dedicated to famous people contemporary to the author.
Frontispiece plus 3 frontispiece essays, 8 plates outside the text and grayscale floral compositions in symbolist style.

Print run for the Société Le Livre Contemporain, 120 numbered copies. Here is copy No. 100 for Mr. L. COMAR.

Impressive book by Carlos Schwabe, with a graphic style that is always so disconcerting. The book is fully illustrated, the floral compositions, of a very great visual diversity, push the imagination and perfectly accompany the poems.

By using several shades of gray, Carlos Schwabe manages to bring a volume that breaks any weariness of the drawing as you read.

As with most of the books illustrated by the artist, the text/image composition is very tasteful and perfectly balanced.


Finally, the orange-toned plates, reminiscent of a charcoal drawing, strike with an even deeper volume than the floral compositions, thanks to chiaroscuro ranging from black/gray/orange/white.


The subjects of the drawings plunge us into an almost nightmarish dreamlike quality, there is always something disturbing in Schwabe's characters: the posture, the face, the proportions that are never perfect. Which makes him an artist who is always apart, like this book that is unlike any other.



Condition : very well preserved book that has kept all its freshness in terms of colors, paper and cover. The folder and case are worn. There is a 4 cm tear at the bottom of the frontispiece that does not alter the image.



Belle édition recherchée et cotée. Carteret IV:355

To learn more :

Pete Beard documentary about Carlos Schwabe and his art : 
https://youtu.be/2JJMQOy1ZBo?si=I2rCp78OF5N5ydnA

Consult all the book on the BNF website : https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k15222378/f17.planchecontact