Pocket Cathedrals : a French Connection of the Gothic Revival
Résumé
The gothic revival in book art can be seen as a connection between late 19th century French and British private press. There are many links between William Morris’ Kelmscott Press and Lucien Pissarro’s (son of the famous impressionist painter Camille) Eragny Press, both in substance and form. According to William Morris, Middle Age and early Renaissance had to be considered as a guideline for the production of books. At the very end of the 19th century, these ideas went around in Europe and got mixed with others. Some people blatantly made them their own and began manufacturing books with the ideas of Beauty, Ethics and Good in mind. Of course, the result was somewhat different but the architectural and utopian approach surely derived from Morris’ principles. Therefore, Lucien Pissarro’s Eragny Press really acted at that time as a bridge between French and British identity. And because of the original and atypical path he chose, Lucien Pissarro and his work left a mark in the European History of the Book – an explicit connection with the continent. Actually, his lack of success may as well be connected to this synthesis, however well managed it may be. The books issued by the Eragny Press seemed not to have met a real readership on both sides of the Channel, maybe because, on an aesthetical level, they just might have been too French for the English and too English for the French.