Mérimée prosper

06431 — London: Hutchinson & Co. 1916. Edition de Luxe<br /> One of 100 Copies Signed by René Bull<br /> <br /> BULL René illustrator. MÉRIMÉE Prosper. Carmen. Translated by A.E. Johnson. With Pictures by René Bull. London: Hutchinson & Co. n.d 1916. <br /> <br /> Edition de Luxe. Limited to 100 numbered copies this copy being No. 55 signed by the artist. <br /> <br /> Quarto 10 3/4 x 8 7/16 inches; 273 x 214 mm. 2 blank x 204 pp. With color frontispiece and fifteen fine color plates each with descriptive tissue guard together with seventy-four black and white illustrations in the text. The plates richly colored and often heightened with a decorative sensibility drawn from both Orientalist and theatrical traditions form one of Bull's most accomplished book illustration cycles.<br /> <br /> Original vellum over boards pictorially stamped and lettered in gilt on front cover and spine a particularly handsome and appropriate binding for a deluxe issue. Gray and white pictorial endpapers all edges gilt. Spine a little darkened as often with vellum; otherwise an excellent and well-preserved copy of this very scarce signed limited edition.<br /> <br /> A distinguished illustrated edition of Mérimée's Carmen the novella that inspired Georges Bizet's opera here interpreted through Bull's dramatic and highly stylized visual language. His illustrations capture both the exoticism and psychological intensity of the story blending elements of Art Nouveau theatrical design and early twentieth-century decorative illustration.<br /> <br /> René Bull d. 1942 "was born in Ireland and went to Paris to study engineering but left this for art work in London 1892. After working for various magazines he was appointed 'special' for Black and White 1896 attending the Armenian massacres and the Graeco-Turkish War as artist.He served in the First World War in RNVR 1916 and RAF 1917. Bull was one of the most versatile specials because his stature as an artist was above average. Not only an accurate reporter he was a talented comic draughtsman and a brilliant illustrator of fairy stories" Houfe The Dictionary of 19th Century British Book Illustrators p. 81. Works illustrated by Bull include: La Fontaine's Fables 1905 Uncle Remus by Joel Chandler Harris 1906 The Arabian Nights 1912 The Russian Ballet by A.E. Johnson 1913 Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám 1913 Carmen by Prosper Mérimée 1916 and Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World by Jonathan Swift 1928. London: Hutchinson & Co., 1916 unknown