Pastorale. Wood-engravings by Lucien Pissarro, with a Note on the Kelmscott Paper by John Bidwell. (and a Further Note by Miriam Macgregor).

(Whittington Press.) (ERAGNY PRESS.)

Pastorale. Wood-engravings by Lucien Pissarro, with a Note on the Kelmscott Paper by John Bidwell. (and a Further Note by Miriam Macgregor).

Description: VI/100 COPIES (of an edition of 300 copies) printed on Flower paper originally produced for the Kelmscott Press, 24 of Lucien Pissarro's wood-engravings printed from the original woodblocks held in the possession of The Ashmolean Museum, produced for 'The Queen of the Fishes', 'Daphnis & Chloe', 'Un Coeur simple' and other works, also for Christmas cards and an unpublished Eragny Press book; the frontispiece (used in 'The Queen of the Fishes') printed in four colours, each engraving printed on the recto of a leaf with the plate number beneath blocked in blind, title printed in black and light blue, these copies with a portfolio of the 24 engravings, each on a separate leaf, and a further large colour printed engraving (25.5 x 18.5cms.) in its own paper folder, all inserted in a folder of cloth and boards, pp. [vi], 12, (23 Plates), royal 8vo, original quarter pale blue morocco, the title blocked in blind on morocco to upper board, pale blue Fabriano Ingres paper boards, Pissarro's device for the Eragny Press to upper board, hint of sunning to backstrip, faint handling mark to upper board, untrimmed, Press subscription form and note regarding the paper laid in, the book and additional folder of engravings together in slipcase of cloth and boards (striped with blue and matching portfolio), slipcase with a couple of very faint marks, near fine

Publication Details: Oxford, New York & Risbury: The Ashmolean Museum, The Morgan Library & Museum, The Whittington Press, 2011

Notes: John Randle writes of this book that, having declined an invitation by the Ashmolean to print the catalogue for their exhibition of Pissarro's work, 'I suggested that we might be able to do something with Pissarro's original blocks which I knew they had, and this is what happened. I made an arbitrary choice of the blocks I particularly liked, and the title suggested itself when they turned out to be mostly of French peasant life as Pissarro remembered it. We found with the blocks Pissarro's proof book which was a help particularly with the colour blocks, and Miriam Macgregor, who herself had e...moreJohn Randle writes of this book that, having declined an invitation by the Ashmolean to print the catalogue for their exhibition of Pissarro's work, 'I suggested that we might be able to do something with Pissarro's original blocks which I knew they had, and this is what happened. I made an arbitrary choice of the blocks I particularly liked, and the title suggested itself when they turned out to be mostly of French peasant life as Pissarro remembered it. We found with the blocks Pissarro's proof book which was a help particularly with the colour blocks, and Miriam Macgregor, who herself had engraved colour wood-engravings, helped us with the critical mixing of the colours. Pissarro had been advised by his friend Ricketts to use Batchelor's paper (made originally for William Morris) for his Eragny Press books but had preferred to use the French Rives. I think our edition proved how right Ricketts was, we achieved a sharper result on the more glazed surface of the Batchelors, perhaps one of the nicest papers we have ever had to print on. Fortunately we had some packets of Batchelors, and even more fortunately the Morgan Library allowed to have another 2000 sheets from their precious stock, left over from an abandoned project a century earlier. This made the whole project viable, and the result was one of the prettiest books to come from the Press. The design of the three bindings echoed the Eragny style, and John Bidwell's foreword explained the provenance of the three different Batchelor papers, one used for each edition.' HIDE