JOAN OF ARC.

UK,slim,oblong 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn thus.[The first UK HB edn/ issue, but preceded by the first US,8vo HB+dw/dj,a year earlier,1980 - by The Viking Press (NY).] FINE/FINE-.No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright,crisp,clean,glossy laminated,colour pictorial artwork by Maurice Boutet de Monvel,illustrated dw/dj panels with b/w lettering to front and white lettering to spine/backstrip; with negligible shelf-wear, bumping or creasing to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present. Minor,minimal scoring/indents to either panel of dw/dj,but without penetration or affecting the boards beneath.Top edge with faint,but minimal,sporadic dust-soiling,fore-edges bright and clean without foxing/spotting or thumbing; contents bright,tight,clean,solid and sound - pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners,appears unread - apart from my own collation.Bright,crisp,clean,sharp-cornered,publisher's original navy blue cloth bds with bright,crisp,stamped gilt fleur-de-lys design with an ovoid,ribbon-tied, leaved wreath and gilt lettered title within same,to the front board, bright,crisp,blocked gilt letters to spine/backstrip and bright,crisp, blocked,similar front board gilt fleur-de-lys design but without any lettering or wreath,a black/navy blue headband and immaculate plain red endpapers.UK,slim,oblong 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn thus,6-55pp [paginated] includes a page-edge coloured illustrated introduction by Gerald Gottlieb (Curator of Early Children's Books,The Pierpont Morgan Library,New York City),juvenile biography/story with profuse full-colour artwork illustration by Maurice Boutet de Bonvel to each page; plus [unpaginated] colour double wreath (one of leaves,the other of thorns) vignetted half-title page,colour pictorial illustrated title page,a coloured armorial shield illustrated separator page,and at rear,reverse of last paginated page with publishing+printing details.
Boutet de Monvel was born in 1850 in Orleans,a city that had been obsessed with Joan of Arc ever since the Maid delivered it from siege in 1429 and she subsequently became France's national heroine.As a boy in Orleans he saw the name of the young heroine everywhere - on streets and squares,on public statues,on boxes of candy.He became an art student,and by 1874,at the age of twenty-four,he was an academic painter,exhibiting at the Paris annual Salon.Early in his career he turned to the illustration of magazines and books for children,and here he enjoyed success both financial and artistic.(At the same time he pursued another career,with even happier financial results,becoming international society's painter of choice for portraits of children.)
Among the children's books he illustrated in the 1880s was 'La Civilite puerile et honnete',a work on etiquette for the young in the manner of the French courtesy books,which has a history going back to the Middle Ages (though his treatment was somewhat tongue-in-cheek) He also illustrated a selection of La Fontaine's 'Fables'.
In 1896 he set out to celebrate Joan of Arc's achievements in a book for children.By then,of course,Joan had been revered in France for nearly five centuries.There had been countless illustrated versions of her story, for children of every age.But he now managed to create a masterpiece.His 'Jeanne d'Arc' would be more admired and loved,and would influence more artists and illustrators,than any other children's book of its era.He produced a series of pictures that would be his 'chef-d'oeuvre',his own monument to the Maid.For this new children's book he not only painted the pictures but also wrote the text.
Originally published in 1896,in Paris,a copy of that first edition is among the rare early children's books in the collections of The Pierpont Morgan Library in New York.The present edition,prepared from the Morgan copy,is the first edition since the 19thC which faithfully reproduces de Monel's extraordinary colours and compositions.
The French text written by himself was first translated into English in 1897,by A. I. du Pont Coleman.The English text of the present edition is an adaptation of that translation.It has been modified for modern readers,but an effort has been made to retain the flavour of the 19thC original.
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