L'Imitation de Jésus-Christ

First printing of this edition produced in chromolithography in imitation of illuminated manuscripts, whose illustrated pages required the use of more than 900 stones and 3 to 14 colors per stone. Each page is magnificently decorated with a rich and wide border framing the text, each one different (with stylistic unity per double page), and five feature full-page chromolithographs. 437 chromolithographs drawn from 14th to 16th century manuscripts, all mounted plates.
Publisher's binding in full old red morocco signed at the bottom of the front pastedown Léon Curmer. Curmer being a publisher rather than a binder, it is not known which binder he commissioned to execute these publisher's bindings. Spine with 5 raised bands decorated with compartments formed by triple blind fillets. Gilt title. Triple blind fillet frame on boards. Rich interior border. Edges gilt. Foxing on endpapers and half-title, rare in the volume; occasionally very faint traces of micro worming in white margins. Dampstain along part of the lower joint. One corner slightly worn, small bumps along the outer edge.
Very handsome copy.
Manuscript gift inscription: A Mesdemoiselles Fannély & Clotilde Arragon souvenir de mon ordination XXII décembre MDCCLXVI. Marc Burdin, prêtre. ["To Misses Fannély & Clotilde Arragon remembrance of my ordination XXII December MDCCLXVI. Marc Burdin, priest."]
Before chromolithography allied itself with advertising and large-scale printing at the end of the 19th century, it was still in its infancy when Curmer decided to use it for his project. Englemann's patent dates from 1837 but Curmer's work is the first of this scale to see the light of day in France that led the process into new territories, and when the book came off the presses, it presented a character of radical novelty. The work for the realization of such a book was considerable, not only in research but technically.
The Imitation of Christ is an anonymous work of Christian piety, written in Latin at the end of the 14th century or the beginning of the 15th century, which corresponds to the period of manuscripts used by Curmer. It is usually estimated that its author is Thomas à Kempis. It is the most printed book in the world after the Bible and, according to Yann Sordet, "one of the greatest publishing successes that Europe has known from the end of the Middle Ages to the beginning of the contemporary era." The text here reprises Marillac's translation (Paris, Gasse, 1626).
Illustrious publisher who left his mark on the 19th century, Léon Curmer ruined himself in the production of artistic books such as Paul et Virginie of 1838, Les Français peints par eux-mêmes...