Fortunio

First printing of the illustrated edition. One of 100 deluxe copies on Japan or China paper, here on China paper No. XLIII numbered by hand and justified. General printing of 600 copies. 24 engravings in 3 states, line, in black, in colors, totaling 72 illustrations. The stones, as stipulated in the printing notice, were destroyed.
Contemporary half orange morocco binding with corners signed Strobants. Raised band spine decorated with mirror irons set in a succession of compartments, roulettes at head and tail. Top edge gilt. Covers and spine preserved. Some foxing on the title page and in the margins, but very rare.
Engraved armorial bookplate by Malatesta: Bibliothèque de Monsieur H. Del Monte.
Painter, engraver and illustrator, Alexandre Lunois remained renowned for his color lithographic washes. To interpret his own drawings, he employs an almost forgotten process, treating the stone with a brush dipped in lithographic ink, in other words like a wash. The textures, nuances, color contrasts obtained distinguish his style. The result is a contrasted and violent style, which perfectly illustrates orientalism, as seen in Fortunio, a true painter's book and one of his major productions. He delights in giving different states of his engravings whose deep blacks are remarkable. About an orientalist plate, Edmond de Goncourt notes in his journal: "A very remarkable plate is a lithograph by Lunois entitled Danseuses espagnoles dans la danse. A plate of the greatest character escaping Japanese imitation through the intensity of tones, the raw blue of the background, the yellow, the frank red, the blacks of nocturnal shadow in full figure."