124 - Cranach Presse - First brochure for “Virgile. Les Églogues et les Géorgiques.” Weimar, Cranach Presse, 1914. With two woodcuts by Aristide Maillol. Three thread-bound double-page spreads.

Cranach Presse - First brochure for “Virgile. Les Églogues et les Géorgiques.” Weimar, Cranach Presse, 1914. With two woodcuts by Aristide Maillol. Three thread-bound double-page spreads. Announcement time: approx. 1:11 p.m. (schedule subject to change) The first “artistic” print by Cranach Presse. Prior to this, in 1913, the press had printed two annual reports for the Weimar School of Applied Arts, which—like Kessler’s earlier publications—had previously been printed by R. Wagner Sohn. - As the press’s first book project, Kessler planned a two-volume edition of Virgil with woodcuts by Aristide Maillol. Parallel to the typesetting work, “the subscription prospectus for the Virgil edition was printed; as Kessler later explained, only a few copies were printed, and it served as a model for the 1926 prospectus” (Renate Müller-Krumbach). - Set in the Jenson Antiqua typeface cut by Edward Prince and printed on rag paper later known as “Maillol-Kessler handmade paper.” - Kessler’s plan to present at least the first of the two volumes as early as 1914 at the BUGRA in Leipzig could not be realized, as Kessler had overestimated the capacity of his workshop. Delayed by World War I and other projects, Kessler did not resume work on Virgil until 1924; the “Eclogues” were published in German and French in 1926, followed by the English edition in 1927. - Contents: 2 blank pages; frontispiece; three pages of text describing the plan for the edition; title page with a Maillol woodcut; spread 26/27 featuring Latin and French text and the Maillol woodcut of Galatea bathing; two pages describing the three planned editions (which were to be realized in 1926), prices, and subscription information from the French publisher Eugène Druet. Kessler also continued to work with this business partner in 1926. - Very rare. Brinks 32. - Müller-Krumbach, p. 31 and note on Cat. 40. - Not included in: 100 Years of Cranach Presse; see, however, the two printed items mentioned there, Cat. Nos. 20 and 21 31.5 × 24.0 cm. [3], 8, [1] pages. - Untrimmed edges slightly dusty.