Art Deco Bookbindings

Art Deco Bookbindings: The Work of Pierre LeGrain & Rose Adler.

$35

"A bookbinding is an ambiguous thing. It is  physically attached to the book and thus relates to its meaning and typography; but it is also an image. Even more radically, it is a structure that rapidly becomes an object in its  own right. Because of this, binding played a legitimate role in a period of artistic revolution, from 1870 to 1933, during which art expanded both its territory and its range of expression. A new freedom and inventiveness allowed bookbinding to move closer to the arts with which it was linked: poetry, typography, painting, sculpture, architecture, and furniture design. All these forms of creation would now advance in concert. The genius of the patron Jacques Doucet, as well as that of the designer-bookbinders Pierre Legrain and Rose Adler - in whose hands the modern book was born, lay in the fact that they did not isolate bookbinding from these brand new, completely reconceived forms of art, nor did they cling to old traditions of confine themselves to a limited professional circle. In short, they furthered the art of bookbinding - which in their hands became a major art in and of itself - and in their  own work reached a pinnacle that  invites very few comparisons."

This is one of the best books in the store - 7x9", duck-egg blue fabric cover with black and gold embossing.