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a picture of a book opened to show a picture of a couple of peoplea picture of a book with a picture of a city on ita picture of a picture of a painting on the walla picture of a book with a picture inside of itan image of a painting of a group of people on a beachan image of a painting of a man and a woman walking down a sidewalkan image of a painting of a woman walking down a sidewalka picture of a book with a picture of people on itan open book with a picture of a ship on itan open book with a drawing of a woman in a dressan open book with a picture of a group of peoplepainting of a woman holding a bunch of flowers in her right handpainting of a man riding a horse on a beach next to a body of waterdrawing of a horse drawn carriage being pulled by a manan open book with a painting of a woman sitting on a bencha painting of a group of people on the beacha picture of a picture of a painting on the walla painting of a woman sitting on a bench by the wateran old book sitting on top of a table next to a white wall
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652 - SIMON Lucien & LOTI Pierre (1861–1945) & (1850–1932): “Pêche…
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Estimate €5,000 - €7,000
Sale commission
Description
SIMON Lucien & LOTI Pierre (1861–1945) & (1850–1932): “Pêcheur d’Islande”, 1934. AN EXCEPTIONAL COPY, bound by Bernasconi, featuring two oil-on-canvas paintings by Lucien Simon on the front cover and spine. It is also embellished with six original gouaches, including two spread across two pages and two incorporated into the endpapers of the binding. It also includes a graphite sketch, a proof print on silk signed by Bouchet, the 11 woodcut components of the first plate, a facsimile of Louis Barthou’s preface, and a double set of the 50 woodcuts—one in the first state, the other in the final state—by Lucien Simon, a painter with a passion for Brittany. Carteret, IV, 246. In-4 (300 x 230 mm), illustrated with 50 compositions by Lucien Simon, wood-engraved by Pierre Bouchet. Limited edition of 125 copies on Arches vellum; this is no. 85, printed for the banker and patron Robert Zunz. Binding by Bernasconi and Goix, dated March–October 1939, in green morocco, decorated with two signed oil-on-canvas paintings by Lucien Simon; inside covers featuring two inlaid gouaches; palladium-edged pages; green morocco slipcase (the spine of the box is very slightly faded). PROVENANCE: Robert Zunz (1880–1944), Paris. It is March 1939. Robert Zunz, a discerning bibliophile, great collector and generous patron with a passion for Brittany, was no doubt placing one of his final commissions with this volume. Arrested by the Gestapo in 1941, he died in March 1944 as a result of his internment, shortly after his release. The man who played a key role in the rediscovery and promotion of numerous regional artists and French interior designers, and who had acquired the Manoir de la Grand-Cour in Tressaint, entrusted, in early 1939, a project close to his heart to the bookbinders Auguste Bernasconi and Goix. He asked them to bind his copy of Pierre Loti’s *Le Pêcheur d’Islande*, illustrated by Lucien Simon. No stranger to exceptional leather bindings, Bernasconi took on a remarkable challenge here: to incorporate into the binding itself two original works on canvas by Lucien Simon, placed on the upper cover and the spine of the book. Inside, the spectacle continues with no fewer than six original gouaches, including two spread across double pages and two others incorporated into the endpapers of the binding. This copy thus stands as a veritable treasure trove of art, designed for one of Pierre Loti’s major works, where bibliophilia, painting and the art of bookbinding come together in a single celebration of the book.
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About the sale L'AME BRETONNE Sale – 23rd edition
Auction location
Auction time 07/05/2026 at 10:00 AM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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