[Fine Binding | Riviere & Son | Extra Illustrated by Frédéric Bourdin] The Book-Hunter

Burton, John Hill. The Book-Hunter. Edinburgh: William Blackwood, 1862. Title within decorative border, decorative head & tailpieces and initials. This copy has also been extra illustrated with 11 beautifully executed watercolors--full page and in the margins--by Frédéric Bourdin. Bound in russet brown crushed morocco, with multiple layers of fillet and dotted borders to boards. Five bands to spine with title and author in second and third compartments, and similarly ruled borders to the remaining compartments. Gilt ruled turn-ins with dark green endpapers. Top edge gilt. Bookplate of Sir Herbert Leon, Liberal MP and the main figure in the development of Bletchley Park. Measures approx. 4.75" x 7". Some light rubbing to edges and spine bands. A beautiful, and unique example.

"Not much is known about Bourdin. Between 1911 and 1921 he illustrated books for several publishers. Other illustrated editions include works by Balzac (1911), Moreau (1919), and Guerrazzi (1921). Extra-illustrations was a side-line for him. He apparently made watercolours for an edition of Octave Mirbeau's Le Journal d'une femme de chambre, and also tried his hand at extra-illustrating, or 'illuminating', English literary works, such as Alfred Tennyson's Maud (1855), and Edwin Arnold's The Light of Asia (1879). These books have different English provenances, suggesting that Bourdin was asked by English dealers to add illustrations in water colour. Almost no record of his life has survived, it seems, and most dictionaries of engravers and artists do not mention him. The 1999 edition of Bénézit (Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs de tous les temps et de tous les pays par un groupe d'écrivains spécialistes français et étrangers) mentions three works illustrated by Bourdin, but when and where he was born or died is not known. His work is characterised as follows: 'Son oeuvre conserve un hiératisme intellectuel cher aux synthétistes.' His sober and cerebral work was influenced by the post-impressionists" (Paul van Capelleveen).

This volume was listed for sale at £12 12s in a Maggs Bros. catalogue from 1911, and more than likely was commissioned by them.