Histoire de la bibliophilie ….

6.06 Meunier binding.jpg

Creator

Techener, Jaques.

Title

Histoire de la bibliophilie ….

Coverage

Paris

Publisher

Librairie de J. Techener

Date

1861

Description

Charles Meunier (1865–1940) was noted for his innovative and energetic approach to binding, as well as for his prodigious output; but he was also criticized for his reliance on colorful—even gaudy—emblematic and pictorial themes. This example, which reproduces the painting “Grolier in the House of Aldus,” by François Flameng (1856–1923), incorporates all of Meunier’s impressive repertoire of binding tricks, including inlay, onlay, paint, gilding, marbling, tooling, and cuir ciselé. The result is a bit unnerving; but it is valued at the Club both as an example of particularly exuberant fin de siècle French binding, and because of its association with Samuel Putnam Avery. Avery donated the binding, as well as the painting from which it derives; it hangs in the Grolier Club lobby today.

Source

Gift of Samuel Putnam Avery, Jr., 1919.