About the cover:
Full-grain binding Orange-red marocco leather, smooth spine, diagonal lines continued across the spine and on both covers forming lozenges in blind printing and hand-gilding, gilt spine title, gilt edges on three sides, hand-stitched endpapers, wide inner edges with gold and blind lines, triple endpapers, dark brown suede mirror, orange-red silk flyleaf and marbled paper.
Slipcase with leather edging and velour lining, covered with marbled gold paper.
About the content:
Denis Diderot: Le Neveu de Rameau
With illustrations by Bernard Naudin
Ex. No. 121 of 355 on Vélin de Rives, with hand-gilt bookplate
‘Albert Natural Library’
Éditeur Auguste Blaizot, Paris 1924 The literary Diderot (Moi) meets the eloquent Rameau (Lui) at the Café de la Régence for an extended conversation. Rameau fiercely and unabashedly criticises the cultural scene, on which he himself is dependent. Here, Diderot describes the state of mind of a dishevelled and arrogant artist in order to make philosophical and culturally critical observations.
About the artist: Georges Cretté was a very skilled craftsman who was discovered by Marius Michel at the end of his training at the École Estienne and the École Nationale des Arts Décoratifs and was hired as his first employee. After Michel's death, he became his successor in 1925.
In the following years, George Cretté distanced himself from Marius Michel's influence and developed his own style, which prevailed in all his works from around 1930: simplicity instead of showmanship. He attached great importance to precise, perfect work, always with matching leather and in the right colour tone. Style and perfection continued to evolve.
