Franz Melchers

I bought this beautiful book. But it is in bad shape. Nevertheless, it still is a very special book, It’s famous and it’s rare, though 1070 copies have been printed. The cover says it’s been printed in 1847. But that’s a mistake. It’s 1897. The book is called l’An (The Year) and contains poems by Thomas Braun and 16 colored woodblock landscapes by Franz Melchers.

The book is no longer a book, actually, it’s a collection of loose pages. But… a collection of ALL the pages. The edges are worn, have some tears and sometimes tiny holes (these plates have been pinned to a wall, I guess). But –important!- nowhere there’s a loss of text –or even more important- of the beautiful landscapes. (Only one illustration has a very small imperfection on the right corner above) Furthermore: the coloring still is fresh and radiant.

I wondered whether to restore the book and have it rebound. But I decided not to. I leave the book the way it is now. I had a box made, a beautifully made flat box with a photocopy of the cover of the book on the lid. Quite an expensive box, but I think it’s worth it. See for yourself.

Beautiful parchment

Riding my bike the other day I caught myself humming ‘I’m so excited’.

Why was that? It was because I was finally (it had taken weeks of careful negotiations) going to buy two full parchment volumes in splendid condition: stunning white and without any spots.

The first volume is one of the thirty luxury copies of Jan Plasschaerts monograph of Jan Toorop, signed by Toorop (1925). The second volume is a monograph of Willem Witsen (1860-1923) by N. van Harpen. 

Both are so vulnerable, but yet so fresh, they are a sight for sore eyes. See for yourself:

A visit to Fokas

Today I visited Fokas Holthuis in The Hague. In the late eighties Fokas studied in Nijmegen and helped us in our shop. Even as a young student he loved the expensive stuff. He was willing, no, better: he was eager to work 50 or 60 hours for one nice booklet printed by Maurice Laudy of the Renildis Press.

He started a business of his own and is very succesfull. He just returned from Mechelen where he -last weekend- presented his Catalogue Hugo Claus. A very fine catalogue with very special books and lots of illustrations. Besides the fact that Claus should have been given the Nobel Prize, as far as I'm concerned, he deserves a tribute like this.