La Décoration & l'Art industriel à l'Exposition de 1889

First edition of 30 copies printed on Japon paper of this offprint of L'Artiste for November 1890.
Contemporary Bradel binding of beige paper boards, ex-libris to pastedown.
Autograph inscription signed from Paul Verlaine to Edmond Bonnaffé on the justification of printing at end: “Exemplaire de Monsieur E. Bonnaffé. P. Verlaine [Monsieur E. Bonnaffé's copy. P. Verlaine]”. Edmond Bonnaffé (1825-1903) was a wealthy collector and noted historian of art, very close to the artistic movements of the age.
These pages by Verlaine are a critical review of the book by Roger Marx of the same name (Paris, 1890). In it, the poet discusses the great names in Art Nouveau, such as Bapst, Chaplet and Gallé. But above all, he writes his famous condemnation of the Eiffel Tower: “This skeletal belfry, that will never outlive, to the contrary indeed! the archi-centenarians of France and Belgium…”. Indeed, on 14 February 1887, Paul Verlaine signed a manifesto of protest published by Le Temps, along with other personalities in the arts and literature, including Charles-Marie-René Leconte de Lisle, Guy de Maupassant, Alexandre Dumas fils, Sully Prudhomme, and so on.
Illustrated with figures in text.
A good and rare copy.
Provenance: collections of Edmond Bonnaffé (ex dono), André Lefèvre (his sale, Paris 16 November 1966), Colonel Daniel Sickles (his sale, Paris 28 & 29 October 1992), Edouard-Henri Fischer.