273 - SCHMIED, François-Louis, and FORT, Paul. French Ballads: Mountains, Forests, Plains, and the Sea.

SCHMIED, François-Louis, and FORT, Paul. French Ballads: Mountains, Forests, Plains, and the Sea. A masterpiece of Art Deco illustration, this contributor’s copy is enhanced by a layout sheet featuring an original watercolor signed by the artist. Lyon, Cercle lyonnais du livre, 1927. In-4 (260 x 200 mm), loose-leaf, color-illustrated cover with flaps, in a slipcase and box. Unpaginated (approximately 200 pages), 54 woodcut illustrations printed in color, including 26 full-page illustrations, 5 large vertical banners, and 25 horizontal banners. Text framed by a gold line and adorned with small vignettes in bistre. Minor scuffs along the edges of the slipcase; a few slight smudges on the engravings, as is often the case. A splendid illustrated edition of this collection by the “prince of poets,” the Symbolist Paul Fort. It is adorned with 54 original compositions—including 26 full-page illustrations—by François-Louis Schmied, woodcut and printed in color in his studios in collaboration with Pierre Bouchet, engraver and printer. To complement Paul Fort’s pantheistic and musical poetry, Schmied employs highly stylized imagery: the four elements (mountain, forest, plain, sea) are rendered through pure geometric lines, stylized—almost abstract—landscapes, and skies structured by Cubist-inspired plays of light. Limited edition of 165 copies on tinted Arches vellum paper; this is one of the 45 numbered copies reserved for collaborators (No. 13). [Carteret, Illustrés, IV, p. 165]. Our copy is enhanced by an unused working sketch for the poem “Le rêve du monde,” illustrated with a beautiful original signed watercolor (1 sheet with handwritten annotations in graphite). As an illustrator, engraver, and publisher, Schmied supervised and orchestrated every stage of his production, conceiving the entire book as a total work of art. From the library of Jean-Claude Chalanson, a passionate collector of illustrated books from the Art Deco period (ex-libris). A very fine copy, in perfect condition.