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300 x 207 mm. (12 x 8"). 4 p.l., ELEGANT SCARLET CRUSHED MOROCCO, GILT AND INLAID, BY THE CLUB BINDERY and LEON MAILLARD, Finisher (both names stamp-signed in gilt on front turn-ins), covers framed by curling gilt vines bearing citron morocco blossoms (a total of 104 inlays on each cover), raised bands, spine panels with gilt vine circlets blooming with a total of 20 inlaid citron morocco flowers, gilt lettering, turns-ins elaborately gilt, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed. Original paper wrappers bound in, the pictorial front cover present in three additional states (black & white, B&W before letters, and color). In (slightly worn) matching morocco-backed jacket. With 54 wood engravings by Romagnol, after François Thévenot (cover and portrait), Adrien Moreau (Act I), Charles Léandre (Act II), Albert Laurens (Act III), François Flameng (Act IV), and Albert Besnard (Act V), including five full-page plates, all in three states, one before letters, the full-page plates also in a color state separately furnished to subscribers by the publisher, per a notice bound in at the end of the text. Front pastedown with morocco bookplate of Robert Hoe. Lower corners a bit bumped, tail edge of lower board with shallow one-inch dent, occasional paper flaws or discoloration to edges of leaves, but an excellent copy, the interior clean and fresh, and the binding lustrous. This is a luxurious illustrated edition of Rostand's classic work, offered in a sumptuous binding done by the Club Bindery for its co-founder and manager Robert Hoe. Rostand's influential and enduringly popular 1897 verse play in five acts--sometimes referred to colloquially as the "Romance of the Nose"--is loosely based upon the real-life story of the French author and duelist Cyrano de Bergerac (1619-55) who was famous for having a prodigious proboscis. A theatrical triumph from its opening night, the play focuses on the eloquent Cyrano's unrequited love for the comely Roxanne, whom he must court as secret proxy for a friend of handsome visage but wooden tongue. Rostand (1868-1918) wrote a number of successful plays, often, like "Cyrano," based on figures from French history. The present beautiful large-format copy was originally owned by Robert Hoe, a founder of the Grolier Club and one of the world's great book collectors. After Grolier was established in 1884, it soon became apparent that the country's few established hand binders were overtaxed in providing repairs and rebinding for the club members' rapidly accumulating acquisitions. As a consequence, in 1895, Grolier members, along with Edwin Holden and other wealthy collectors, established the Club Bindery in order to attract European craftsmen to provide, close to home, fine quality binding work rivalling what was available abroad. The Club Bindery was in operation until 1909, with Hoe being its manager and most important client. It provided bindings that tended to be traditional in style--though frequently with elaborate decoration--and that lived up to its patrons' expectations in terms of excellence. The first members of the staff of the Club Bindery were the Englishmen R. W. Smith and Frank Mansell. They were subsequently joined by a number of French binders, chief among them being Leon Maillard, who had worked previously for Cuzin, Gruel, and Marius-Michel, and whose precise and intricate finishing is impressively demonstrated on our binding here. It is said by Beverly Chew that Hoe (1839-1911) had a collection that was "the finest [America] has ever contained." He acquired illuminated manuscripts, early printing (he owned a Gutenberg Bible on paper and one on vellum), fine bindings, French and English literature, and Americana, and when his library was sold in 1911-12, it fetched nearly $2 million, a record that held until the Streeter sale more than 50 years later. The present volume represents the fine level of aesthetic achievement typical of the bindery, and it is especially impressiv.
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