La Bièvre by J.-K. Huysmans

2005, edition of 50

10.68 x 5.87" Set by URDLA in Villeurbanne, France on BMK Rives paper. Illustrated by seven original engravings by Claire Illouz. Signed and numbered by the artist. Eight folios in slip case.

New translation by Rob Swigart and Danielle Trudeau

La Bièvre is a lengthy prose poem, an extended elegy for a corrupted and lost piece of wild landscape.

This bilingual edition is illustrated with seven engravings by French artist Claire Illouz, who uses the tormented texture of sugar aquatint on zinc plates to enhance the decadent atmosphere of Huysmans' text.

Text (French and English) on facing pages.

From its source not far from Versailles the Bièvre loops through the 13th arrondissement of Paris. Over the centuries it has been gradually driven underground and today almost nothing remains visible within the city limits, though one can still walk along stretches running through lush vegetation to the south of the city.

In 1890, Huysmans published this expanded version of an article that originally appeared in 1878.

Editions Illouz/Rob Swigart, 2005

Suggested price: $475.00