2-999-372 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Book cover for "Deux Contes", 1926. François-Louis Schmied (1873-1941) was a painter, illustrator, engraver, and bookbinder who, in the years following World War I, specialized in creating éditions de luxe (luxury editions) - lavishly and artistically produced luxury volumes. Overseeing the typography, page design, printing, illustration, engraving, and binding, Schmied spared nothing to achieve the quality he desired. Although this copy of two of Oscar Wilde's fables, translated into French, was bound by Paul Gruel rather than Schmied himself, it is entirely fitting for such an extravagantly made book.