Peter Bichsel   Fine Books

Bourges, Elémir. Ranft, Richard. Le Crépuscule des Dieux. Eaux-fortes en couleurs de Richard Ranft.

With 30 orig. colour etchings on plates (incl. frontispiece) and 33 orig. colour etchings in the text (incl. title vignette and initials), all by Richard Ranft. 259 pp. 4to. Dark three-quarter morocco over 5 raised bands with gilt title on spine. Top edge gilt. Orig. wrappers with colour etching on front bound-in. – Paris, Le livre contemporain, 1905.

One of 119 numbered copies for the Société „Le livre contemporain“, the present one being no. 95 and printed for Monsieur G. Teyssier. First published in 1884, one year after the death of Richard Wagner, this novel by Élémir Bourges (1852–1925, Symbolist, Décadence) is a hommage to Wagner’s work and thinking. The Geneva born Richard Ranft (1862–1931) was educated by Gustave Courbet and later active in Paris. – Carteret IV, 78 (“intéressante publication“). – Exlibris on first flyleaf. Boards with some rubbing, – Best.-Nr. 18562