Burton, John Hill

[Binding, Fine- Riviere, Extra-Illustrated with 11 Beautiful Watercolors] The Book-Hunter, etc.

Edinburgh: William Blackwood, 1862.

4.75” x 7”. Bound by Riviere in attractive russet brown crushed morocco with multiple fillet and dotted borders forming parallel rectilinear frames on both covers, and with similar design motif on spine. Title within decorative border, decorative head & tailpieces and initials. A superbly extra-illustrated copy, with 11 beautifully executed watercolors, full-page and in the margins, by Frederic Bourdin, highly finished, with excellent detail and composition. Gilt ruled dentures with dark green end papers. Top edge gilt. Bookplate of Sir Herbert Leon, who was a Liberal MP and the main figure in the development of Bletchley Park. “Bourdin illustrated books between 1911 and 1921 for several publishers. Other illustrated editions include works by Balzac (1911), Moreau (1919), and Guerrazzi (1921). Extra-illustrations was a sideline for him. He apparently made watercolors for an edition of Octave Mirbeau’s Le Journal d’une femme de chambre, and also tried his hand at extra-illustrating, or ‘illuminating’, English literary works, such as Alfred Tennyson’s Maud (1855), and Edwin Arnold’s The Light of Asia (1879). From Paul Capelleveen: These books have different English provenances, suggesting that Bourdin was asked by English dealers to add illustrations in watercolor. Almost no record of his life has survived, it seems, and most dictionaries of engravers and artists do not mention him. The 1999 edition of Benezit (Dictionnaire critique) mentions three works illustrated by Bourdin, but when and where he was born or died is not known. His sober and cerebral work was influenced by the post-impressionists. Near fine.

Price: $2,250.00   Item #6127