L'Illustration: Journal Hebdomadaire Universel. No 4787. 1er Décembre 1934
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Authors
Mévil, André
Issue Date
1934
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Book, Whole
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Abstract
Talk about a family business: there are four Baschets out of six names on the inside front cover! This number Includes an illustrated article Les Fables de la Fontaine illustrées par les artistes de tous les pays du monde by André Mévil. Drusilla is right: the article is lavish. I do not know if people publish magazines like this these days! Baron Feuillet de Conches conceived the idea of a unique copy of La Fontaine, constituted by the works of artists from all over the world approached to illustrate his fables. As a minister of foreign affairs for decades, he was in an excellent position to make the right contacts to produce such a book. The book never came into existence, but the collection of illustrations made for it was left in the hands of his grandson, M. Jagerschmidt. Typical examples from the collection are offered here. The engravings by French artists (Delacroix, Charlet, Bonheur, and Vernet) are excellent. Even more impressive are the ten illustrations tipped in, particularly those from India (especially MSA), Abyssinia, and Persia (especially of the cat changed into a woman). I count twenty-six illustrations in all. There are summaries in French and English well before the article itself. The diversity of processes that went into making up the art of this magazine is impressive! Even the initial for this article is tipped in! Later in the magazine one finds a review of an edition of La Fontaine with illustrations by Sylvain Sauvage (XLIV) and an advertisement for Märklin toys (XLVII). Here is an irony of book-collecting: having paid $40 for an inferior copy, I now pay $15 for a better copy!
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Publisher
L'Illustration
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Journal
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Identifier
2125 (Access ID)