About the cover:
Full-grain binding Red marocco French binding with four bands and hand-gilt title in the long central band, stylised lotus emblem gilded with lines and scrollwork on the front and back cover, gilt head edge, hand-stamped capital, gilt standing edges, endpapers in brick-red laid paper, slipcase opening framed in leather, covered with brick-red laid paper.
About the content:
Rabindranath Tagore: L'Offrande Lyrique
With 19 engravings by Tavy Notton
Ex. No. 363 of 500
Marcel Lubineau, Paris 1951 ‘Where the spirit is fearless and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been divided between narrow party walls; Where words come from the depths of sincerity; Where tireless endeavour stretches out its arms towards perfection; Where the clear stream of reason has not strayed fatally into the dry and desolate desert of custom; Where the spirit leads...’
About the artist: Thorvald Henningsen was born in Lausanne in 1896 and completed his bookbinding apprenticeship with Konrad Häsler in Zurich from 1910 to 1914. He gained a wide range of professional experience at various workplaces in Switzerland. After qualifying as a master craftsman in 1921, he was the manager of the Schumacher bookbindery in Bern. In 1946, he took over a bookbinding workshop at Napfgasse 4 in Zurich's old town, directly above Café Schober. The years leading up to the sale of his workshop in 1972 were intense: in addition to managing his soon very renowned workshop, he taught at the arts and crafts schools in Zurich and Bern, gave evening classes for bookbinders and preparatory courses for the master craftsman's examination. He was on the board of the Cantonal Zurich Master Bookbinder Association and the Museum of Bookbinding, as well as being involved in promotional films and trade exhibitions. He became known beyond Switzerland as the author of specialist books and articles.
