Richard RANFT

Illustrated edition with numerous ornaments, black vignettes, decorated letters and 45 color compositions including 15 hors-texte by Richard Ranft., one of 220 numbered copies on handmade laid paper.
Handsome copy.
Work decorated with ornaments framing the text on every page.

Rare original lithograph printed in colors, executed by Richard Ranft for L'Estampe Moderne, series number 12 published in April 1898.
One of 50 deluxe proofs printed on Japan paper with wide margins, artist's signature in the plate, publisher's dry stamp representing a child's profile in the lower margin, numbered stamp of the deluxe printing on verso, small dark dampstain with very slight loss to corner, light trace of the stamp from the previous engraving on recto; engraving preceded by a tissue guard captioned with the artist's name, title and an extract from a work; blank tissue guard.
Lithograph inspired by an extract from Jeux du cirque written by Hugues Le Roux, reproduced on the tissue guard of the print.
Magnificent French monthly publication edited between May 1897 and April 1899, L'Estampe moderne consists of unpublished chromolithographs which, unlike other journals such as Les Maîtres de l'Affiche and as stipulated on the tissue guards, were created specially by each artist for the journal. Thus 100 prints appeared in total, covering the major artistic movements of the end of the 19th century: Symbolism, Art Nouveau, Pre-Raphaelites, Orientalists and Belle Époque. Each delivery of four prints was issued in 2000 copies sold for 3.50F and 100 on Japan paper offered at 10F. Henri Piazza also planned a confidential deluxe printing: 50 copies on Japan paper with wide margins and 50 in black on China paper at the considerable price of 30F.
This print of handsome format is superbly printed on the most prestigious of papers: Japan paper. Thick, silky, satiny and pearlescent, it contributes to making each page a work in its own right. Its quality of ink absorption and its affinity with colors also make it the ideal support for these very fine lithographs.
The interest of French collectors in artistic posters grew at the beginning of the 1890s. Octave Uzanne, to qualify this fever, invented the term "affichomanie". The poster, originally popular and pasted on the streets of the capital, then became an art object and its ephemeral support became precious and destined for preservation.
Piazza decided to remove the poster from its advertising vocation and elevate it to the rank of a work of art in its own right, on the same level as the illustrated deluxe book. He thus composed a prestigious collection of entirely original works by the most prominent European artists of the moment: Georges de Feure, Eugène Grasset, Henri Detouche, Emile Berchmans, Louis Rhead, Gaston de Latenay, Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer, Gustave-Max Stevens, Charles Doudelet, Hans Christiansen, Henri Fantin-Latour, Steinlen, Ibels, Engels, Willette, Henri Meunier, Evenepoël, Bellery-Desfontaines, Charles Léandre, etc.
Handsome copy in a style and composition close to Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

Rare original lithograph, executed by Richard Ranft for L'Estampe Moderne, series number 12 published in April 1898.
One of 50 deluxe proofs printed on China paper with wide margins, artist's signature in the plate, publisher's dry stamp representing a child's profile in the lower margin, mounted on a sheet of laid paper with the numbered stamp of the deluxe printing on verso, pale marginal foxing, small dark dampstain with very slight loss to corner, light trace of the stamp from the previous engraving on recto.
Lithograph inspired by an extract from Jeux du cirque written by Hugues Le Roux.
Magnificent French monthly publication edited between May 1897 and April 1899, L'Estampe moderne consists of unpublished chromolithographs which, unlike other journals such as Les Maîtres de l'Affiche and as stipulated on the tissue guards, were created specially by each artist for the journal. Thus 100 prints appeared in total, covering the major artistic movements of the end of the 19th century: Symbolism, Art Nouveau, Pre-Raphaelites, Orientalists and Belle Époque. Each delivery of four prints was issued in 2000 copies sold for 3.50F and 100 on Japan paper offered at 10F. Henri Piazza also planned a confidential deluxe printing: 50 copies on Japan paper with wide margins and 50 in black on China paper at the considerable price of 30F.
This print of handsome format is superbly printed on one of the most prestigious papers: China paper. "Despite all its qualities, China paper, too insubstantial, owes its reputation not to its own beauty, but indeed to its particular affinities with printing ink. Its texture, smooth and soft together, is more suited than any other to receive a fine printing. This property makes China paper sought after for printing engravings..." (Anatole France).
The interest of French collectors in artistic posters grew at the beginning of the 1890s. Octave Uzanne, to qualify this fever, invented the term "affichomanie". The poster, originally popular and pasted on the streets of the capital, then became an art object and its ephemeral support became precious and destined for preservation.
Piazza decided to remove the poster from its advertising vocation and elevate it to the rank of a work of art in its own right, on the same level as the illustrated deluxe book. He thus composed a prestigious collection of entirely original works by the most prominent European artists of the moment: Georges de Feure, Eugène Grasset, Henri Detouche, Emile Berchmans, Louis Rhead, Gaston de Latenay, Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer, Gustave-Max Stevens, Charles Doudelet, Hans Christiansen, Henri Fantin-Latour, Steinlen, Ibels, Engels, Willette, Henri Meunier, Evenepoël, Bellery-Desfontaines, Charles Léandre, etc.
Handsome copy in a style and composition close to Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

First edition, one of 5 numbered copies on Japan paper, the only deluxe copies before 10 on China paper.
Half brown morocco binding with corners, smooth spine decorated with a gilt cartouche enhanced with typographic motifs and gilt fillets, gilt fillet frame on marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, top edge gilt retaining deckled edges, covers and spine preserved, contemporary binding.
Work illustrated with drawings by the author.
Rare.