RIPPL-RONAI (Joseph) & PITCAIRN-KNOWLES (James) - [BING (Samuel)] & RODENBACH (George).

RIPPL-RONAI (Joseph) & PITCAIRN-KNOWLES (James) - [BING (Samuel)] & RODENBACH (George).

The Virgins. [and] Les Tombeaux. [Paris], [Imprimerie Chamerot et Renouard], sd. 2 in-8 paperback volumes, moiré paper covers, illustrated dust jackets. First editions of this diptych illustrated by two painter friends close to the Nabis, one Hungarian, József Rippl-Rónai, and the other Scottish, James Pitcairn-Knowles, at Samuel Bing's request even before an author or text had been found to illustrate. The client had decided to present a manifesto of "L'Art Nouveau" at the opening of his gallery, and it was Georges Rodenbach, a Symbolist poet, who was finally commissioned to write the complementary text to the illustrations. Les Vierges features four color lithographs by Joseph Rippl-Rónai, and Les Tombeaux three black woodcuts by James Pitcairn-Knowles. Paperback copies in their moiré paper covers, one white, the other black, each complete with its strip of Ingres paper illustrated with a woodcut by Pitcairn-Knowles. Both volumes in modern slipcase and chemise.