Adelbert de Chamisso / Myrbach [Reliure mosaïquée Art Nouveau] - Histoire merveilleuse de Pierre Schlémihl ou l'homme ... [Reliure mosaïquée Art Nouveau] - 1887

Splendid Art Nouveau binding in lemon half-morocco (unsigned) , smooth spine adorned with a sumptuous abstract mosaic decoration of red, green and blue leather patterns, embellished with fine interlaced golden threads. Pretty florets on the caps, date of edition at the bottom. Golden head. (covers and spine preserved) . Stunning ! Very beautiful illustrated edition, of the famous fantastic story written by the German writer and botanist of French origin Adelbert von Chamisso during the summer of 1813 "One of the strangest and most beautiful [fantastic] stories that romanticism has generated German. " (Laffont-Bompiani, Dict. of Works II-p. 628) An etching frontispiece & numerous in-text engravings by Myrbach. Copy of the print on ordinary paper after the 15 copies on China and 35 on Japan. The first French edition of this short novel appeared in 1822. According to the editor's note, this illustrated edition follows the translation by the author himself. Schlemihl means in Yiddish "a guy who has no luck but who puts up with it". Chamisso, who frequented enlightened Jewish circles, wrote on March 27, 1821 to his brother Hyppolyte “[…] In the Jewish dialect, we call by this name unhappy or clumsy people to whom nothing succeeds…[…] . The author, who would later say to Madame de Staël: “My homeland: I am French in Germany and German in France, Catholic among Protestants, Protestant among Catholics, philosopher among religious people and cagot among people without prejudice; a man of the world among scholars, and a pedant in society, a Jacobin among aristocrats, and among democrats a noble, a man of the Old Regime, etc. I am nowhere appropriate, I am everywhere a stranger – I would like to embrace too much, everything escapes me. I am unhappy… Since this evening the place is not yet taken, allow me to go and throw myself head first into the river…” “Among the romantic writers of the first half of the 19th century, there are few who, as much as Chamisso, have taken such an undeniable distance from both their country of childhood and their time. » Cf. Frédéric Torterat, The eternal in-between, University of Paris-Sorbonne. Adelbert de Chamisso / Myrbach Marvelous story of Pierre Schlémihl or the man who sold his shadow, followed by a selection of poems. Drawings by Myrbach printed in the text. Paris, Bookseller of Bibliophiles 1887 in-4 (32 x 23 cm) ; 196pp. Condition: Impeccable binding and interior. Uncropped, large margins. Very fine bibliophile copy, in a magnificent Art Nouveau binding. Subject: Superb Art Nouveau Mosaic Binding Peter Schlemihl Chamisso ill. Myrbach in4 1887 Fantastic SF