113 - FRAIPONT, Gustave, and BARRON, Louis. The Surroundings of Paris.

FRAIPONT, Gustave, and BARRON, Louis. The Surroundings of Paris. Paris, Maison Quantin, n.d. [c. 1890] In-4 (29 x 21 cm), red half-maroquin, decorated spine, title and author’s name gilt on a leather label, year of publication at the bottom. Binding signed “P. Ruban” on the first endpaper. Marbled edges. 604 pp. Very slight scuffing on the binding. Yellowed printing paper. A fine work on the major towns and valleys around Paris in the late 19th century. A still-rural world that would soon disappear, swallowed up by industry. The author, Louis Barron (1847–1914), was a clear-sighted intellectual. The political regime imposed on France following the bloody suppression of the Paris Commune and the military defeat of 1871 made Louis Barron pay dearly for his social and political convictions and his participation in the Paris Commune. In 1878, he was sentenced to deportation to the penal colony in New Caledonia. Upon his return to France, he made a living as a writer, publishing numerous articles in newspapers and magazines and producing many translations thanks to his excellent command of the English language; he also authored books—magnificently illustrated with engravings—on the rivers and landscapes of France, such as *Les Environs de Paris*. An illustrated edition featuring 500 drawings from life by Gustave Fraipont and a color map of the Paris region. This copy is bound in a beautiful binding by Pétrus Ruban, one of the great bookbinders of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Villefranche-sur-Saône in 1851, he practiced in Paris from 1879 to 1910; he passed away in Neuilly on April 21, 1929, at the age of 79. He had set up his first workshop at 16 Rue Dauphine before moving it to 9 Rue de Savoie in 1896.