Alphonse Mucha - Ilsee Prinzessin von Tripolis - 1901

Alphonse (Alfons) Mucha is, next to Gustav Klimt, probably the best-known Jugendstil artist from the then German-speaking region. His greatest successes were in Paris with theater and advertisement posters and newspaper illustrations. Jugendstil book projects by Mucha are relatively rare and mostly adorned only with miniatures (e.g. Clio).

The present "Ilsee, Prinzession von Tripolis" is the only large-format book production with original lithographs by Mucha. It was published in 1901, at the peak of Mucha's Parisian glitter period. Mucha had begun with stage paintings in Vienna and Munich and moved to Paris in 1889 on the occasion of the World’s Fair. There he achieved his artistic breakthrough in 1894 with a poster for the world-famous stage actress Sarah Bernhardt. His posters became so popular in Paris that almost all free-hanging ones were stolen by art lovers in a short time.

This book is exceptionally magnificently designed for that. Every page is pictorially designed by Mucha, and thus each page is in itself a small Mucha artwork (reference: Mucha Museum in Prague). If you know how expensive Mucha originals are today, a book with 132 full-page Mucha original lithographs in large format is surely worth its price. I deliberately photographed not only the main pages but also a few quite ordinary pages.

The book is, by the way, still in the very rare original slipcase and the original cover folder of the publisher. It is only bound with a softcover wrap and in loose binding, as at that time it was common among collectors to buy individual pages of valuable books and have them privately bound.

I am selling here a large part of my private erotica collection, because I am raising money for the renovation and expansion of a Baroque estate in Thuringia.

My lovely wife and I plan to set up vacation apartments here, between Weimar and the Kyffhäuser Mountains, in a baroque and Jugendstil style to offer authentic experiences. Here you can enjoy special holidays. Each apartment will have a small library. In the courtyard a cottage garden with historic fruit varieties, raised beds for own vegetables and herbs, and lots of colorful flowers and shrubs for wild bees and butterflies will flourish. Our guests can relax by the pool. There will be hammocks, swing benches, and a large fire pit and grilling area. And if you’d like, you can try delicious Palatschinken pancakes for breakfast or sample our legendary soups and borscht creations.

We have 1001 insider tips for excursions in the surrounding area. If you wish, we can organize trips to special power places: Goethe, Schiller, Luther, and even the old Thuringian dukes are very present in our region, and still Thuringia, especially in the nearby Erfurt–Weimar–Jena area, is also very modern.

We would be happy to include a overnight voucher with the book so you can get to know our heartfelt project firsthand.