Marius-Michel, binder.- Bourget (Paul) Pastels, number 59 of 200 copies, colour illustrations by Robaudi and Giraldon, finely bound in dark blue goatskin, by Marius-Michel, upper cover titled in gilt with recessed panel of cyclamens inlaid in burgundy, beige, lilac and green goatskin and stems tooled in blind, spine titled in gilt with four raised bands, pink floral silk doublures and linings, doublures within border of gilt fillets and lines of small dots with leafy ornament to corners, signed at foot of front turn-in, marbled flyleaves with bookplate of Louis Barthou and label of Paris Exposition Universelle de 1900, original pictorial wrappers bound in, g.e., board slip-case (slightly rubbed), 8vo (binding c.250 x 170mm.), Paris, 1895.

⁂ Handsome binding by the master binder. Marius-Michel (1846-1925) trained at his father's bindery but soon developed his innovative use of floral and plant motifs in bindings. This Art Nouveau style became the mode and he the supreme practitioner until Legrain's modern Art Deco designs emerged following the First World War, when Georges Cretté took over his master's business. This binding was exhibited at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1900, at which Marius-Michel was awarded a Grand Prix and Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. An almost identical binding, with variation only in colours, is illustrated in Duncan & de Bartha's Art Nouveau and Art Deco Bookbinding, no.181 p.144.