Michel (Henri Marius, binder).- Musset (Alfred de) Lorenzaccio, Drame, number 78 of 115 copies, colour plates and decorations after watercolours by Albert Maignan, very occasional spotting or light marginal soiling, bound in brown morocco with onlaid strapwork design by Marius Michel, strapwork in black morocco enclosing large fleurs-de-lys and other small motifs in red morocco all tooled in gilt, spine titled in gilt with compartments inlaid with red fleur-de-lys within black frame and five raised bands, brown morocco doublures with triple gilt fillet border and red morocco fleur-de-lys onlay to corners edged in gilt, signed at foot of front doublure, red and gold brocade linings, marbled endpapers, t.e.g., others uncut, small red leather bookplate of Leon Rattier, very slightly rubbed with parts of onlaid strapwork lifting or missing (mainly from spine compartments), some discolouring to marbled endpapers, 8vo (c.235 x 150mm.), Paris, La Société des Amis des Livres, 1895.

⁂ Henri 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. Marius-Michel was awarded a Grand Prix and Chevalier of the Legion of Honour at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1900.