DENIS (Maurice) & GIDE (André).

DENIS (Maurice) & GIDE (André).

Le Voyage d'Urien. Paris, Librairie de l'art indépendant, 1893. In-8 small-edged ivory vellum, smooth ornate spine, gilt title, triple gilt fillet framing the boards, illustrated cover preserved, in slipcase (period binding), all in modern cream cloth slipcase. First edition, the first work illustrated by Maurice Denis, with a woodcut on the cover and 30 original lithographs in monochrome, 2 of them full-page. Edition of 301 copies on laid paper (n°198). Armorial bookplate of Henry Cochin. "Masterpiece of Art Nouveau" (The Artist and the Book, n°76), whose illustration was composed as the text was being developed. After seeing Maurice Denis's as yet unpublished drawings for Sagesse, Gide asked him to illustrate Urien's Voyage; the importance attached by the author to the painter's collaboration is underlined by the indication, on the title page, of their names in letters of equal importance. The arrangement of the images in the text is most harmonious: Maurice Denis's symbolist lithographs, practically the only ones of his illustrative work, are pink and bistre for Voyage sur l'Océan pathétique, light brown and sepia for Voyage sur la Mer des Sargasses, and green and black for Voyage vers une mer glaciale. This work holds an important place in the history of illustrated books, being the first to feature color lithographs. A fine copy of this very rare and sought-after edition.