! The MoneyMuseum Collection of Bibliophile Books A!bibliophile!book!represents!not!only!the!intellectual!achievement!of!an!author!but!the!combined! skills!of!the!artisans!and!artists!who!produced!it!—!the!designer,!the!papermaker,!the!printer,!the! lithographer!and!finally,!the!bookbinder.!Together!they!create!an!object!that!often!needs!years!of! intensive!individual!and!collective!work.!! A!bibliophile!book!is!a!labor!of!love,!art!and!craft,!and!it!also!serves!as!a!record!of!a!particular! moment!in!time.!That!is!no!less!true!for!artisanal!modern!books,!even!with!all!the!recent!technical! advances!in!the!production!of!fine!books!in!areas!like!typography!and!photographic!processing! and!reproduction.!A!beautiful!book!is!a!joy!to!behold.! The!bibliophile!books!in!the!MoneyMuseum’s!collection!may!not!appeal!to!the!broadest!possible! sector!of!the!public!but!they!will!always!be!appreciated!by!those!who!understand!their!many,!very! special!qualities.! ! ! ! ! 1 von 25! !! www.sunflower.ch! ! Chinese Woodblock Prints ! This volume results from a collaboration between the eminent art historian Tcheng-Chen-To and the celebrated author Lu Hsun. The colored woodblock prints date from the late Ming Dynasty and were first published in 1644. Collected in the Shih Chu studio, Beijing Editor: Jung Pao Chai Hsin Chi, Beijing Woodblock!printing!uses!relief!carving!on!a!block!of!hardwood!to!transfer!ink,!and!later,!color,!to! paper.!The!white!areas!on!the!paper!appear!where!the!block!of!wood!has!been!carved!away!so! that!it!does!not!come!in!contact!with!the!paper.!! Woodblock!printing!is!the!oldest!of!all!printing!techniques!for!both!text!and!graphics.!It!is!the! foundation!for!modern!book!printing!as!well.!Precisely!when!and!where!it!was!first!developed!is! unclear.!The!technique!was!used!in!China!as!early!as!the!third!century!AD.!But!there!are!also! indications!that!the!technique!was!known!to!the!ancient!Egyptians,!as!suggested!by!the!engraved! panels!found!on!some!sarcophagi.!! In!any!case,!by!the!sixth!century!AD,!woodblock!printing!was!widely!used!in!China!for! reproducing!images!on!a!large!scale,!paving!the!way!for!book!production.!Color!was!introduced!to! the!process!in!the!course!of!the!16th!century.!This!innovation!reached!its!peak!in!China!in!the!17th! century,!the!period!when!the!prints!in!the!MoneyMuseum’s!book!were!produced.! ! ! 2 von 25! !! www.sunflower.ch! ! La Légende de Saint Julien l'Hospitalier ! Gustave Flaubert Illustrated by Gaston Bussière Librairie Des Amateurs, Paris, 1912 ! Gustave!Flaubert!is!a!giant!of!French!literature.!Despite!that!exalted!status,!it!cannot!be!said!that! he!led!a!happy!life.!The!son!of!a!surgeon,!he!was!born!in!Rouen!in!1821!and!endured!a!childhood! devoid!of!warmth!or!affection.!He!was!sent!to!Paris!to!study!law!but!he!was!an!indifferent!student! and!in!1844,!after!an!attack!of!epilepsy,!he!broke!off!his!studies!and!began!to!travel.!He!first!went! to!Corsica!and!Italy,!then!on!to!Greece,!the!Middle!East!and!North!Africa.!In!1864,!as!a!wellV established!writer,!he!returned!to!France!and!settled!in!Croisset,!near!Rouen,!where!he!died!in! 1880.! Much!as!Flaubert!himself!was!an!outsider!in!life,!his!“Trois!Contes,”!Three%Tales,!is!a!bit!of!a! literary!outlier.!Published!in!1877,!and!despite!good!reviews,!they!received!far!less!attention!than! Flaubert’s!other!work,!not!least!because!the!author!himself!downplayed!their!significance.! Readers,!critics!and!other!authors!—!Kafka,!Calvino!and!Burgess,!to!name!but!a!few!—!disagreed,! and!the!book!is!broadly!acknowledged!as!a!masterpiece!of!shortVstory!writing!and!psychological! insight.! The!stories!are!about!three!very!different!lives:!a!poor!servant!girl,!St.!John!the!Baptist!and!a! soldier,!Saint!Julian!the!Hospitalier.!They!focus!on!questions!of!faith,!fate!and!worldly!power.! Our!volume!contains!The%Legend%of%Saint%Julian%the%Hospitalier!and!is!richly!illustrated!with! the!engravings!of!French!Symbolist!painter!Gaston!Bussière.! ! ! ! 3 von 25! !! www.sunflower.ch! ! Le Roman de Tristan et Iseut ! Edited by Joseph Bédier L’Edition D’Art H. Piazza, Paris, 1922 ! The!tragic!story!of!the!adulterous!love!between!the!Cornish!prince!Tristan!and!the!Irish!princess! Isolde!was!originally!a!Celtic!legend!but!took!root!in!the!literature!of!France.!It!was!already!a! fixture!of!French!romantic!poetry!in!the!12th!century.!Richard!Wagner!completed!his!opera! Tristan%und%Isolde!in!1865!but!it!opened!in!Paris!only!at!the!end!of!the!19th!century,!and!then!it! caused!an!uproar.!The!appropriation!of!this!fixture!of!national!identity!by!that!most!Germanic!of! composers,!Wagner,!was!greeted!with!considerable!consternation!by!the!French!public!the! intellectual!establishment.!! To!reclaim!the!story!for!France,!Joseph!Bédier,!the!leading!French!medievalist!of!his!day,!sought!to! recover!what!many!regarded!as!a!symbol!of!French!national!culture.!He!published!a!new!version! of!the!tale,!returning!to!what!he!argued!was!its!original!written!source,!that!of!Thomas!of!Brittany,! a!12th!century!poet.!The!MoneyMuseum’s!volume!is!an!example!of!Bédier’s!version,!which!still! enjoys!a!wide!readership!today.! ! ! 5 von 25! !! www.sunflower.ch! ! Marienbader Elegie ! Johann Wolfgang Goethe Officina Bodoni Montagnola, 1923 ! Goethe!was!not!only!a!giant!of!literature;!he!was!also!a!prolific!lady’s!man,!even!in!his!later!years.! The!Marienbad!Elegy!is!part!of!his!Trilogy%of%Passion,!three!poems!on!love.!The!elegy!was! triggered!by!his!oneVsided!infatuation!with!Ulrike!von!Levetzow.!They!met!at!the!Marienbad!spa! in!1821,!where!Goethe!had!gone!for!health!reasons.!He!was!seventyVtwo!at!the!time!and!she!a! mere!seventeen.!The!great!man’s!passion!led!him!to!instruct!a!friend,!the!Grand!Due!Karl!August,! to!deliver!his!marriage!proposal!to!Ulrike!on!his!behalf.!Ulrike’s!rejection!was!immediate!and! crushing,!but!it!led!to!the!Marienbad!Elegy,!which!many!regards!as!one!of!Goethe’s!greatest!and! certainly!one!of!his!most!personal!poems.! The!publishers!Officina!Bodoni!printed!books!by!hand!in!Montagnola!di!Lugano,!Switzerland,!and! after!1928,!in!Verona,!Italy.!Their!books!are!widely!collected!and!greatly!admired!by!bibliophiles! as!outstanding!examples!of!bibliophile!quality.! ! ! ! 6 von 25! !! www.sunflower.ch! ! Der Schuss von der Kanzel ! Conrad Ferdinand Meyer Publisher: Verlag der Buchdruckerei Berichthaus Zürich, 1923 ! A!young!theology!student,!Pfannenstiel,!has!a!rather!low!opinion!of!himself.!He!is!certain!that!he’s! far!too!lowborn!to!marry!the!fair!Rahel,!the!pastor’s!daughter.!He!appeals!to!General!Wertheimer! for!help!but!the!general!also!thinks!the!young!man!is!a!poor!match!for!Rahel.!Nonetheless,!the! general!agrees!to!help!the!young!man!as!best!he!can!and!what!follows!is!a!humorous!comedy!of! manners!that!has!won!a!permanent!place!in!Swiss!literature.! The!edition!in!the!MoneyMuseum’s!collection!is!one!of!three!hundred!reVissues!published!to! commemorate!the!25th!anniversary!of!Meyer’s!death!in!1923.!Our!example!carries!the!number! 218.!The!engravings!are!by!the!wellVknown!Swiss!artist!Fritz!Gilsi.! ! ! 7 von 25! !! www.sunflower.ch! ! La Vie et l’Art Romantique Delacroix – Peintre, Graveur, Écrivain ! Raymond Escholier R. Floury, Paris 1926 ! In!1830!France!was!in!turmoil.!The!July!Revolution!filled!the!streets!with!students,!merchants!and! workers!fighting!alongside!each!other!against!the!rule!of!King!Charles!X.!They!were!protesting!the! abolition!of!press!freedom!and!election!changes!they!feared!would!marginalize!their!votes.!And! right!in!the!middle!of!it!all,!in!the!heart!of!Paris,!Eugène!Delacroix!had!his!studio.!! The!artist!closely!observed!the!conflict!and!captured!his!impressions!in!his!iconic!painting!Liberty% Leading%the%People.!In!the!center!of!the!canvas,!with!the!French!flag!in!one!hand!and!a!musket!in! the!other,!a!bareVbreasted!woman!defiantly!leads!a!crowd!of!people!forward,!over!fallen!bodies.! Delacroix’s!painting!quickly!became!the!quintessential!symbol!of!French!liberty!and!its!resistance! to!tyranny.!!! The!artist!was!a!leading!cultural!figure!of!his!time.!Not!only!a!brilliant!painter!and!an! accomplished!engraver,!he!also!wrote!a!highly!respected!diary!that!was!published!in!the!1890s,! some!thirty!years!after!his!death.! The!MoneyMuseum’s!volume!on!Delacroix!was!written!by!Raymond!Escholier,!a!French!art! critic,!journalist,!and!novelist,!who!served!as!curator!of!La!Maison!de!Victor!Hugo!and!the! Petit!Palais!in!Paris.! ! ! ! 8 von 25! !! www.sunflower.ch! ! Journey to Jerusalem, 1520-1521 Heinrich Wölfli ! Published by the Swiss Society of Bibliophiles Hans Bloesch, Editor (in German) Bern, 1929 ! The!son!of!a!pastor,!Hans!Bloesch!was!born!in!1878!in!Bern.!Except!for!a!few!years!in!Rome,! where!he!worked!as!a!correspondent!for!the!Frankfurter!Allgemeinen!Zeitung!and!Bern’s!Bund! newspaper,!he!spent!his!entire!life!in!the!Swiss!capitol,!passing!away!there!in!1945.!! After!completing!his!university!studies!in!literature,!philosophy!and!history,!Bloesch’s!literary! inclinations!led!him!to!work!as!an!editor!at!various!journals!and!newspapers.!In!1919!he!began! his!career!as!a!librarian!and!in!1927!he!became!Head!Librarian!of!the!city!and!university!libraries! of!Bern.! His!passion!for!fine!books!was!evident!in!another!activity,!as!a!publisher.!From!1911!through! 1944,!a!year!before!his!death,!he!published!numerous!volumes,!including!the!complete!works!of! Jeremias!Gotthelf!as!well!as!various!chronicles!of!Bern’s!history.!He!also!had!a!taste!for!the!exotic,! like!this!record!of!a!journey!to!Jerusalem!made!by!the!Bernese!choirmaster!Heinrich!Wölfli!in! 1520.! Besides!his!various!professional!engagements!with!books,!Hans!Bloesch!was!also!president!of! Bern’s!bibliophile!society.!His!love!of!finely!crafted!books!is!evident!in!the!MoneyMuseum’s! example!of!his!publishing!endeavors.! 9 von 25! !! www.sunflower.ch! ! Odyssée ! Homer’s Odyssey In French.