MODERN PRINT (THE). Monthly publication containing... Lot 45

MODERN PRINT (THE). Monthly publication containing four unpublished original prints in colour and black of the main French and Foreign Modern Artists. Paris, Imprimerie Champenois, May 1897- April 1899. 24 issues grand in folio (55 x 40,5 cms), in sheets, ill. covers by Mucha. L'Estampe Moderne was intended to be representative of the various artistic trends of its time. It was founded by the publisher Henri Piazza and by Charles Masson, the future director of the Musée de Luxembourg. It is one of the most emblematic illustrated publications of Art Nouveau in which all the greatest illustrators of the end of the 19th century are represented with unpublished prints, reserved for the book. One of the 150 numbered copies of the deluxe edition (n°129), ON JAPAN WITH A BLACK SUITE ON CHINA plates, and also the 4 prints given as a bonus to subscribers, that is to say a set of 99 beautiful colour lithographs on Japan (out of 100, the 1st of issue 14 is missing as well as its cover), 95 prints in black on China, thus 194 ENGRAVINGS, all bearing the cold stamp of the Estampe Moderne and of a larger format than those of the current edition. The covers are illustrated by Mucha who also gave 2 original prints. Other artists include Puvis de Chavanne, Fantin-Latour, Berton, de Feure, Rhead, Léandre, Nicholson, Rassenfosse, Doudelet, Jouve, Meunier, Grasset, Boutet, Ibels, Lepère, Donnay, Engels, Dinet, Girardon, Steinlen, etc, etc, etc... 4 boards have a slightly fringed edge, some corners folded in the margin, several dusty edges, a dozen snakes are missing.