[Sketchbook] [École de Boulle] Cours de l'histoire de l'art

Paris, 1916. [Original Manuscript]. Card Covers. Fine. Beautifully executed sketchbook, in pencil, pen-and-ink, and watercolor, by a student at the prestigious École de Boulle in Paris. Demy 8vo (217 x 165mm): 27 leaves of graph paper with lesson notes (emphasizing architecture) in an elegant script on verso and drawings (mostly in color and many on thick paper pasted down) on recto, followed by 26 blank leaves. Black quarter cloth over mottled green card covers, speckled end papers. A superb survival, skillfully drawn and richly colored, tightly bound and clean throughout. Original manuscript containing the notes for art history classes given in 1915-1916 at the École de Boulle in Paris, a sequence of 25 lessons, excepting the fourteenth (which the author perhaps missed) taken by a second-year student whose surname, which appears on front cover, title page, and following leaves, was Reynoud (one Marcel Reynoud was enrolled at the École as a first-year student in 1914). The École de Boulle, a college of fine arts and crafts and applied arts founded in 1886, is one of the most famous art schools in Paris, named for the cabinetmaker André-Charles Boulle, the preeminent marquetry artist during the reign of Louis XIV (1643-1715). The school trains students in two main departments: artistic crafts, including marquetry, cabinetmaking, tapestry, and upholstery (Marcel Reynoud's specialty), and applied arts, such as interior architecture and furniture design. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books and manuscripts in exceptional condition, carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).