An elegant and extremely rare early example of vegetal paper
Les Loisirs des bords du Loing, ou Recueil de pièces fugitives. Supplement: Essais de papiers fabriqués avec de l’herbe, de la soie et du tilleul.
12mo (95 x 160 mm). 2 parts in one volume: (8), IV, LX, 139, (1); (30) pp. Contemporary full calf, gilt fillets to boards, green morocco title piece to gilt spine.
A highly rare example of an early work printed on vegetal paper, from a printing of well under fifty copies. The invention of Pierre-Alexandre Léorier-Delisle (1774-1826), the paper was produced entirely from common plants in his paper-mill at Langlée near Montargis. As an example of the potential of this new technology, a small number of volumes of poetry and historical pieces were printed, on elegant pink paper. The small supplement, not included in most copies, demonstrates several other shades, including green, blue and lavender, different on each side.
The volume was intended as a showcase of Léorier-Delisle's discoveries for Louis Philippe I, the Duke of Orléans, who had provided financial backing for his work. The potential of the paper is demonstrated well by this exemplar, as it is elegant and robust, crisp and clean even today. The pieces were a selection of the poetry of Pelée de Varennes, a printer and administrator at Montargis, together with a number letters relating to local history. Pelée de Varennes was guillotined in 1794 during the Revolution.
Extremely rare: Barbier estimates the number of copies printed as around 50; Basanoff believes it was far fewer. A search of the Karlsruhe Virtual Catalogue reveals only 6 copies, 4 in the French Bibliothèque Nationale and 2 in the Herzog-August-Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel.
An elegant and rare monument in the history of printing.
1) Ex Libris stamp and signature of Louis-Nicolas-Jean-Joachim de Cayrol (1775-1859), French politician and historian. 2) Subsequently owned by Paul Darblay (1825-1908), French papermaker, with his engraved "Val cognatrix" bookplate (Château de Saint-Germain-lès-Corbeil) to front pastedown. 3) Sold by Pierre Bergé et Associés, 2016. 4) French private collection.
Spine chipped at top, hinges starting, bumped corners, some wear to boards and spine, but exterior overall clean and attractive. Edges neat, interior with a few minor marginal tears but overall a clean, crisp, pristine exemplar.
Barbier II, 1340. Conlon, Le Siècle des Lumières XXI, no. 84:1616 (with no mention of supplement). Basanoff, Le Papier botanique, in RFHL 14 (1977). Le Livre, exhibition at the Bibliothèque Nationale in 1972, no. 104.
