Goncourt (Edmond et Jules de) - Lot 23

Goncourt (Edmond et Jules de) Renée Mauperin. Edition decorated with ten etchings by James Tissot. Charpentier & Cie, Paris, 1884. Ten original etchings by James Tissot (27.2 x 19 cm). Binding: Full red morocco, boards decorated with the gilt Goncourt cipher, ribbed spine, red morocco inner border with gilt fillets, scrolls and angular fleurons framing a green silk decoration woven with flowers and a dragonfly, combed paper endpapers, fillet on the edges, gilt edges on witnesses, cover and spine preserved (Marius Michel). Edmond de Goncourt's copy, magnificently bound for him by Marius Michel, one of the top twenty on Japon imperial paper, containing, as indicated in a handwritten note by Goncourt, in addition to the two sets of plates announced (on Japon vellum, signed, and on hollande with the monogram stamp), two additional suites donated by James Tissot: a suite of an annotated first state of the etchings, and a suite of the avant la lettre print run of the second state signed and annotated in graphite. As with most of the precious copies in his library, Edmond de Goncourt noted in pen his description: "Mon exemplaire, un des vingt exemplaires sur papier impérial du Japon, contenant en outre des deux séries de planches illustrants ces exemplaires ; I° Une suite complète d'un premier état des eaux-fortes (eau-forte pure), II° Une suite complète d'un tirage des toutes premières épreuves du second état fait pour l'artiste, avec la signature de l'aquafortiste et la page du livre (non encore gravé) au crayon. These two suites were given to me by Tissot. The print run was 550 copies, including 20 head copies on japon. Goncourt had his monogrammed book masterfully bound by Marius Michel, with extraordinary woven silk linings featuring multicolored floral decoration. This is the finest book illustrated by Jacques-Joseph (known as James) Tissot (1836-1902), one of the most prominent painters of the fin de siècle, who spent part of his life in England, where he became the darling of Victorian high society. Born in the Jura region on the Swiss border, after moving to Paris, he became a friend of Degas, Manet and Whistler. Close to other painters described as "worldly", such as Alfred Stevens and Antonio de la Gandara, but with a highly personal talent that erased all superficiality, he produced a number of works that have remained famous as testimony to an era, such as Le Cercle de la Rue Royale, in which we recognize Charles Haas, from whom Proust drew inspiration for the character of Swann. The subtle etchings by Renée Mauperin show Tissot's extreme virtuosity in engraving, and in 1880 he was one of the founders of the Royal Society of Painter-etchers in England. Provenance: Edmond de Goncourt (bookplate engraved by Gavarni); Marcel Lecomte.