Le Violon de Faïence, fine binding & signed engravings

CHAMPFLEURY (1877), Le Violon de Faïence. E. Dentu, Paris, 173 pp., 34 etching prints by Adeline incl. the faience violin in frontispiece. In-8, half blue morocco binding with corners, spine with five raised bands adorned with gilt stippling, compartments bordered with a triple gilt fillet and decorated with small tools, gilt title, gilt fillet on the covers, gilt top edge, covers preserved. Signed Mercier, ss. de Cuzin, housed in a slipcase (showing some wear). Includes two artist’s proofs of the faience violin, signed by Adeline.

The work of the binder Cuzin, who died in 1890, was so well known and so highly esteemed that he was responsible for establishing what was called the Cuzin style. The Cuzin tradition was sustained in its finest form by his celebrated successor Emile Mercier (who signed bindings from this period “Mercier s[uccesseu]r. de Cuzin”).