Charles Nodier / Paul Avril - Inès de Las Sierras [Reliure signée Stroobants; avec suite] - 1897

Copy in a splendid binding signed Stroobants, in full mahogany morocco, covers framed by three gilt fillets, gilt initials A. M. stamped in the center, spine with ribbed bands richly decorated with small gilt tools, fillets along the edges, interior border decorated with a fine foliage decoration and fleurons at the corners. Gilt head. Covers and spine preserved.

Contains a bibliophile's edition of Charles Nodier's strange romantic-fantasy tale published in 1837, illustrated with 16 compositions drawn and etched in color by Paul Avril.

Work printed in only 200 numbered copies on rag vellum, this one numbered and initialed
with the initials of the publisher Ferroud (no. 36), increased by a suite (58 plates) of illustrations in four states (decomposition of three colors and a state in black of 14 compositions and two for the cul-de-lampe)

Copy in very good, fresh condition, luxurious binding with a small tear on the first cover and rubbed corners. Bright paper, rare foxing and slight transfer of the engravings on certain pages.

Inès de Las Sierras tells a fantastic story of an apparition, a ghost and a haunted castle against the backdrop of the Spanish War of Independence of 1812 (Catalonia - Gerona, Barcelona).

Work which inspired Théophile Gautier for his collection Enamels and Cameos (1852).

Provenance: Binding with the number A.M. and bookplate with the same initials surmounted by a lion on the inside cover (see photos).

Charles Nodier / Paul Avril
Inès de Las Sierras. Compositions drawn and etched in color by Paul Avril. Preface by A. de Claye.
Paris, A. Ferroud, 1897
in-4 (28.5 x 19 cm); xxix-108pp. + more