First edition, one of three or four copies printed on vellum skin, the most limited issue. A few copies printed on japon, 12 on Whatman, 12 on chine, and 350 copies on laid paper. Edited by Philippe Burty, the book features 42 sonnets and as many original etchings.
Contemporary full dark purple morocco binding, slightly recolored spine with five raised bands, gilt title, purple watered-silk pastedowns and endleaves followed by vellum endleaves, inner gilt dentelle, sides and spine-ends framed in gilt, all edges gilt, marbled paper slipcase bordered in purple morocco, binding signed by Auguste Petit.
Only two other vellum copies recorded: Melot and Delteil mention “two or three copies,” while Carteret lists four. One from the library of Philippe Burty (still in loose leaves at the time of his sale, later bound between 1891 and 1897 by Marius Michel, now in the MAK Museum, Vienna). The second was once in the collection of Raphaël Esmerian (bound by Marius Michel around 1895-1900, now in the Wormsley Library). Our copy was bound at the time by Auguste Petit.
An exceptional copy of this luxurious book-album entirely printed on vellum skin — ”the first livre d'artiste in the spirit of what would become a tradition in France, from Ambroise Vollard to André Maeght and Henri Kahnweiler” (Roselyne Pirson). Solely consisting of original etchings by the greatest masters of the time such as Manet, Corot and Millet, accompanying the poetic revival of the sonnet led by Parnassians poets, notably Paul Verlaine, José Maria de Heredia, and Théodore de Banville.
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This work remains the most ambitious project by Philippe Burty - passionate collector, executor of Eugène Delacroix's will, leading critic of Gazette des Beaux-Arts, and a regular commentator on engravings at the Paris Salon. Burty championed the etching as an art form at a time when it had fallen into disfavour.
The book opens with a charming title engraved by Manet's engraver Alfred Prunaire, after a composition by Édouard Renard. Numerous headbands, letters and culs-de-lampe also by Prunaire. Throughout the forty-two diptychs, poets and painters engage in a remarkable dialogue — sometimes poems inspire images or vice versa. Solicited by Burty himself, every artist etched directly onto the copper plate. 41 are original engravings, the only exception to the rule being Coutry's etching after an original ink by Victor Hugo. The collection also contains the very first published etching by Gustave Doré, a magnificent lion illustrating a poem by Cladel. Among the book's greatest masterpieces are Edouard Manet's famous Manola inspired by Goya's Caprichos, and a Normandy landscape by Camille Corot. The “nature painters” are well represented, with Jongkind and Jean-François Millet, the latter illustrating a poem dedicated to him. Other notable artists include Edmond Morin, Giacomotti, Célestin Nanteuil, Léopold Flameng, Bacquemond, and Daubigny.
Many of the poets chosen for the collection belong to Parnassian circles: Paul Verlaine, José Maria de Hérédia, Théodore de Banville, Anatole France, Leconte de Lisle, Sully Prudhomme, Catulle Mendès and Albert Mérat. Other poems are written by influential 19th century poets including Théophile Gautier, Jean Aicard, Joseph Autran, Antoni and Émile Deschamps, Arsène Houssaye, Victor de Laprade, Laurent-Pichat, Sainte-Beuve, Joséphin Soulary and Armand Sylvestre.
Burty solicited the finest artists and poets for this collection, yet the project soon exceeded his ambitions—and led to some controversial editorial choices that excluded famous poet Stéphane Mallarmé. Although not published in the book, his celebrated Sonnet in -yx was originally written for this project. This Mallarméan Symbolist masterpiece will later be regarded as a veritable “etching in prose” (Emmanuel Martin). Cazalis was furious at Burty's refusal to publish it: “the impresario of this silly affair now had more sonnets than aquafortists, and would no longer accept any, even a sonnet by God himself. I replied that he was a fool” (letter to Mallarmé), demonstrating the importance of being included in this poetic anthology.
The book's creation had numerous twists and turns, notably with Victor Hugo who declined the offer to write a preface. He contributed as a draughtsman rather than a poet although “This drawing, too, is poetry,” wrote Paul Mantz in Gazette des Beaux-Arts, referring to the magnificent ink by Hugo illustrating the poem written by his friend Paul Meurice. The book's title indeed breaks from Hugolian poetic legacy. Sonnets et Eaux-Fortes may seem a very prosaic title today; however, it was a resolutely modern statement for Burty and the artists contributors. The use of two art forms neglected since the Renaissance reflects a radical break from Romantic tradition: “Victor Hugo did not write sonnets. He is not one of those willing captives who enjoy confining themselves to a narrow cell” wrote Mantz. On the other hand, “Baudelaire's shadow looms over this rare book (he had died the year before), absent among the poets, yet present in spirit, he had greatly contributed to the revival of the sonnet and the celebration of etching in the 1860s” (Joël Dalançon). While his death prevented him from taking part in the book, he is nonetheless replaced by his poetic successor: a 24-year-old Paul Verlaine with just one published collection to his name.
Far more than a mere description of its contents, Sonnets et Eaux-Fortes is a manifesto title—a pioneering encounter between artists of modernity: “These two forms, the new poetry and the new etching, could not long remain strangers to one another” wrote Paul Mantz. The invention of the livre d'artiste where Art and Poetry are not merely illustrative or secondary to one another but exist in a fruitful, reciprocal exchange — much like Théophile Gautier's poem inspired by an etching by Leys: “Hence was born the collection we are announcing and which is likely to make some noise in Paris by the novelty of the spectacle it presents to the eye and the interest it awakens in our mind” (Paul Mantz, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, January 1869).
This rare copy on vellum is emblematic of the Parisian bibliophilic reaction against industrial mass production in the late 19th century. The large-scale reproduction of photography in books paradoxically triggered a wave of luxurious publications true to traditional manufacturing.
The few vellum copies were no doubt reserved for publisher Lemerre and editor Burty and intended to elevate the book to artwork status. They are a direct legacy of the medieval Book of Hours, which already united illumination and calligraphy. Most precious copies were made on these inalterable vellum skins – ensuring by their very nature the immortality of the words and images they kept within their pages. This quality of conservation is of vital importance here, since the original copperplates were destroyed after publication and many of the book's copies on laid paper were dismantled by collectors for individual prints.
Even the “regular” edition of 350 copies was intended for the happy few; this nearly unique issue on vellum — so exclusive it is not even mentioned in the imprint — embodies the height of fin-de-siècle bibliophilic refinement. One cannot help but recall Des Esseintes's obsession with copies of Barbey d'Aurevilly and Mallarmé poems printed on this exquisite and decadent material. Through his extravagant editorial pursuits, Burty himself was compared to the Goncourt brothers and the infamous aesthete of Huysman's À Rebours.
Rarest and most precious copy of this illustrated anthology, an extraordinary display of visual and poetic talent regarded as a landmark in the history of the book and of modern art. This is the only known copy on vellum housed in a contemporary binding.
