23. Félix Buhot
1847-1898

Ex Libris pour

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Ex Libris pour L’Ensorcelée

Ex Libris pour

Etching, drypoint and aquatint, 1877, 219 x 152 mm., Bourcard/Goodfriend 116 ii/iv. Very fine impression, before any text, on thick, tan, textured wove paper with full margins. Buhot used both his Ex Libris and Frontispice (B/G 114 and 115) to bring together different elements of Barbey d'Aurevilly's novel in a way that greatly exceeded the actual needs of the published book and, apparently, neither of them was used in the edition. In fact, Buhot was far less interested in book illustration per se than he was in literary evocation and that is what we are dealing with here.