FRENCH MENUS AND PROGRAMS, WITH HUNDREDS OF EXAMPLES OF COMMERCIAL ARTWORK AND DESIGNS, AND WITH ORIGINAL PICTORIAL WRAPPERS DESIGNED BY ALPHONSE MUCHA BOUND IN—PRESENTATION COPY

MAILLARD, Leon. Les Menus et Programmes Illustres. Paris: G. Boudet and Ch. Tallander, 1898. Folio (9-1/2 by 12-1/2 inches), contemporary three-quarter dark green moroccorebacked with original gilt-decorated spine laid down, marbled boards and endpapers, top edge gilt.

First edition of this sumptuous collection art used in French menus and programs—including a number of lovely Art Nouveau examples—number 490 of 1000 copies on papier velin, with 460 fine reproductions, many in color, finely bound by P. Affolter with the original Alphonse Mucha-designed pictorial paper wrappers bound in. This copy with a lengthy handwritten inscription in French from author Leon Maillard on an additional limitation page, addressed to "Mon Cher Strauss."

Includes examples of commercial artwork and designs by Toulouse-Lautrec, Mucha, Meunier, Chèret, Boutet de Monvel and many others. The handwritten note by editor Leon Maillard, reads: "Puisque je rencontre, sur votre bureau, un livre que je connais bien, ma curiosité me porte à le feuilleter. Et bien des circonstances de son établissement me reviennent en mémoire. D'abord, il serait être présente en duex volumes, ensuite, il a bordé sur le marbre, dans sa forme définitive, quelques longs mois. Et juste au moment où il doit paraître en librairie, il est l'objet d'une mesure terrible. On en arrête la présentation et la vente par o par ordre de M. Félix Faure, Président de la République Française. L'auteur avait reproduit, sans son agrément, le menu du déjeuner du 14-26 Août 1897, sur le Pothnau: mais où est l'alliance russe? Il en reste un témoignage du temps dans: [printed half title] Les Menus et Programmes Illustrés [handwritten] feuilletés ce jour de 1918, en Août par votre lout devoté, Léon Maillard." Roughly translated: "Since finding, on your desk, a book I know well [presumably the present volume], my curiosity leads me to flip through its pages. And the circumstances surrounding its creation come back to my memory. First, it was to have been two volumes, but then it came to its final form in some long months. And just in the moment when it should appear in bookstores, it is subject to a terrible measure: we stopped the sale to the public by order of Felix Faure, President of the French Republic. The author had reproduced, without his consent, the lunch menu of 14-26 August, 1897, on the Pothnau [the date of the French President's visit to the Czar in Russia; Pothnau was the name of a French cruiser]: but where is the Russian alliance? It remains a testament to the time: [half title], inscribed this day of 1918, in August, by your devoted lout, Léon Maillard." From a total edition of 1050 copies. Text in French.

Contemporary morocco binding very attractive. A beautiful volume in fine condition.