Paris: Societe Litteraire de France, 1919. Duodecimo, 60 pages. First edition, one of 975 copies on Rives, from a total of 1000. Illustrated with woodcut ornaments by Alexandre Noll. Noll is perhaps best known as a furniture designer and sculptor who worked with rough-cut wood shapes. This small work dates from 1919, the year after Noll’s return from World War II, where he served with the Serbian Army, and it is likely his earliest book illustration (and first published work). Although the subject of the ornaments is botanical, the strong lines  and sense of vectored energy hints at the mastery of non-objective form in wood which was to come. Some very light wear to the head of the spine, otherwise a very good or better copy in publisher’s orange printed wrappers.

$650 -