BARBIER, Georges ( illustrator ); Théophile GAUTIER. Le Roman de la momie. Compositions de George Barbier, gravées sur bois par Gasperini.

BARBIER, Georges ( illustrator ); Théophile GAUTIER. Le Roman de la momie. Compositions de George Barbier, gravées sur bois par Gasperini.The Mummy Speaks an Art Deco Masterpiece BARBIER, Georges (illustrator); Thophile GAUTIER. Le Roman de la momie. Compositions de George Barbier, graves sur bois par Gasperini. Paris: A & G Mornay. 1929. 8vo. Original pictorial paper wrappers with fold over flaps, with glassine dust jacket; pp. [6], 323, [1], untrimmed, with colour illustrations by Barbier, wood engraved by Emile Gasperini (including frontispiece, title page, chapter headings, tail

The Mummy Speaks – an Art Deco Masterpiece

BARBIER, Georges (illustrator); Théophile GAUTIER. Le Roman de la momie. Compositions de George Barbier, gravées sur bois par Gasperini. Paris: A & G Mornay. 1929.

8vo. Original pictorial paper wrappers with fold-over flaps, with glassine dust jacket; pp. [6], 323, [1], untrimmed, with colour illustrations by Barbier, wood-engraved by Emile Gasperini (including frontispiece, title page, chapter headings, tail pieces and illustrations in the text); light shelf wear to spine ends, corners a little bumped, spine and top edge of rear wrapper gently toned, else a near-fine, bright copy; printed publisher’s note loosely inserted.8vo. Original pictorial wrappers by Gasperini after Barbier with fold-over flaps, with glassine dust-jacket, partially untrimmed; pp. [vi], 325, [2 (colophon, blank)]; over 30 wood-engraved illustrations by Gasperini after Barbier (including frontispiece, title-page, head- and tailpieces, initials, and in-text illustrations); spine lightly bumped at head and foot, slight wear to corners, spine and head of rear wrapper lightly toned; else a near-fine, bright copy; printed bifolium (quire 21) and printed publisher’s note on green paper loosely inserted (see below).

Uncommon first edition of Gautier’s novel – set partly in the nineteenth century and partly in ancient Egypt – to be illustrated by Georges Barbier, no. 289 of 834 copies printed on Rives paper, from a total edition of 1091.

Le Roman de la momie follows a young English aristocrat and a German Egyptologist on an expedition to the Valley of the Kings, where they uncover a sarcophagus containing the perfectly preserved mummy of Tahoser, the beautiful daughter of a high priest. The narrative then unfolds her past life and lovers. This edition is beautifully illustrated by Georges Barbier (1882–1932), celebrated designer of stage costumes and one of the most renowned French Art Deco illustrators, and was one of the last illustrative projects executed before his death.

Théophile Gautier (1811–1872) was a prolific and influential author whose work became a touchstone for later literary movements including Parnassianism, Symbolism, Decadence, and Modernism, and was much admired by the likes of Charles Baudelaire, T. S. Eliot, and Marcel Proust. First serialised in Le Moniteur universel in 1857 and published in book form the following year by Hachette, Le Roman de la momie remains one of the most successful literary products of nineteenth-century Egyptomania.

Loosely inserted is a printed notice from the publishers, apologising for the colophon’s erroneous statement that this is the forty-seventh volume in their Beaux Livres series (it was the forty-eighth), along with a printed bifolium in which the error has been corrected. ‘Four of the five titles which Barbier undertook between 1924 and 1931 for Mornay’s series, Les Beaux Livres, are tales by Henri de Régnier, also with 18th century settings … More attractive is Gautier’s Le roman de la momie of 1929, thanks in large part to the harmonious engravings printed in color by which Gasperini rendered the artist’s designs. Barbier seems to have welcomed the opportunity offered by Gautier’s Egyptian setting to rival the middle eastern subjects which preoccupied Schmied at this time’ (Ray, p. 43).

Outside continental Europe, OCLC finds eight copies, of which six in North America (Fisher, Morgan, RIT, Royal Ontario Museum, SMU, University Club Library), one in Japan (Waseda), and only one in the UK (NLA).

See Ray, The Art Deco Book in France II (2005); this edition not in Cartier (cf. vol. III, p. 179).

SKU: 2123802