GIDE André Le Voyage d’Urien. [Illustrations de Maurice Denis].

Garvey, 76 ; Monod, 5370; Chapon, Le Peintre et le livre, p. 278; Y. Peyré, Peinture et poésie, p. 106 (“Ce livre est la trace la plus accentuée du symbolisme, la ratification – par les Nabis du principe du livre de dialogue”).

First edition of this magnificent book, produced in complete harmony between author and illustrator, is also Maurice Denis’ (1870-1945) first illustrated book.

An exceptional copy inscribed by Gide to Rodenbach. Limited edition of 300 numbered copies on wove paper (this copy numbered 49). Less than a handful large paper copies (not mentioned in the colophon) are recorded: one or two copies on Japan (one of which is located at Harvard), and again one or two copies on China paper.

The work is divided into two large chapters, Voyage sur l’océan pathétique, and Voyage vers une mer glaciale, the latter being dedicated to “à Georges Pouchet, qui y est allé”. Georges Pouchet (Rouen 1833-1894), natural scientist and anatomist. Professor of comparative anatomy – he is the creator of the Gallery of Comparative Anatomy at the Museum d’histoire naturelle – took part in a polar expedition in 1892.

Thirty illustrations by Maurice Denis

This first book illustration contains 30 tinted lithographs in the text by Maurice Denis to which is added the woodcut vignette decorating the printed cover.

“Denis’ first published book illustration. The compressed, elongated composition demonstrates his theories of expression through abstract linear design. After seeing Denis’ unpublished drawings for Sagesse in 1891, Gide requested him to illustrate Le Voyage d’Urien, and the importance the author attached to the artist’s contribution is indicated by the title-page, which is headed ‘André Gide – Maurice Denis’. Here Denis best achieved his goal in book illustration, which he considered to be ‘the decoration of a book, without servitude to the text, but with an embroidery of arabesques on the pages, an accompaniment of expressive lines’. This little-known item is a masterpiece of Art Nouveau, the style of the nineties to which the graphic work of Denis and the Nabis made an important contribution” (Garvey).

Important association copy

This copy is inscribed and signed by Gide “à Georges Rodenbach, en hommage, André Gide”. Geroges Rodenbach (1855-1898) was a very famous Belgian symbolist poet and writer. Well introduced into the intellectual society of his time, he counted many writers (Émile Verhaeren, Stéphane Mallarmé, Alphonse Daudet, Huysmans) as well as artists (Rodin, Rops, Chéret, Monet, Cézanne), just to name a few, amongst his close friends.

Small traces of adhesive paper on the fly leaves, else a fine and well-preserved copy of important provenance.