Binding by Pierre-Lucien Martin

ANDRÉ FRENAUD. Énorme Figure de la Déesse Raison. Poème orné d'une gravure originale par Raoul Ubac. Paris: Joseph Zichieri, 1950.

One of twenty-four copies on papier pur chiffon d'Auvergne from a total edition of only thirty-four copies. This is number twenty-eight. Large folding frontispiece by Raoul Ubac.

Bound in 1967 in black calfskin to a design by Pierre-Lucien Martin, onlaid with black and grey calfskin and lettered with the author's and artist's names and the title onlaid in red calfskin; smooth spine lettered in white and blind; grey suede endleaves; top edge gilt.

Pierre-Lucien Martin (1913–85) attended the École Estienne from 1927 to 1931, learning binding from Charles Chanat and design from Robert Bonfils. After World War II, Martin won the Prix de la Reliure Originale and established his own workshop. As demand for his bindings increased, he himself no longer bound but employed Constant Dreneau, René Desmules, and others as forwarders, and Guy Raphaël, Robert Paris, Charles Collet, and André Jeanne as finishers, to carry out his designs.

Many of his bindings use lettering on the covers, multicoloured onlays, and striking trompe-l'oeil effects. Another copy of this book in a virtually identical binding is in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. This one is from Martin's own collection.