The Catalogue Raisonni of the Prints of Charles Meryon, 1821-1868

London: Garton & Co. / Scolar. Very Good/Very Good. 1990. First Edition. Hard Cover. 4to 0906030234 Near fine condition. Dust jacket complete. Green cloth with bright gilt titling on spine. Book plate of Peter Foster, Surveyor of Westminster Abbey from 1973 to 1988, on verso of ffep. A few small marks on verso of ffep, no other ownership marks. 310x250mm 216 pages with index. Illustrated black and white with fold-out. Clean and tight. etched work of Charles Meryon stands as a unique and original force in the history of printmaking. Meryon was an artist living on the edge of sanity, who ultimately starved himself to death in a mental institution. The strange, haunting views of Paris have no obvious precedent, but were to influence generations of printmakers which followed him. This is all the more extraordinary when one considers that his reputation rests only on the twelve to fifteen prints by which he is universally known, and that the remainder of his 100 or so prints have only had a very small audience at any time. Contemporaries were highly appreciative of his etchings. Some were exhibited in the Salon and were collected and admired by a variety of people. The Goncourt brothers were greatly impressed by his work and Raudelaire commented, `I have rarely seen the natural solemnity of an immense city depicted with such poetry'. He later wrote to Victor Hugo telling him of the work of Meryon and lamenting the latter's melancholic affliction. This troubled spirit is evident in his work. Although Meryon concentrated on scenes of his beloved Paris, they are more than just bricks and mortar; the buildings themselves have become infected with his unease. It is the sense of foreboding which sets his etchings apart from others and perhaps the reason he appealed so greatly to the literary men of his time. This book began as an updated version of the 1924 Delteil and Wright catalogue to incorporate Wright's extensive annotations made after publication. Schneiderman's research drew him to the conclusion that a chronological ordering rather than the hitherto accepted subject ordering, was the only viable way to follow the workings of Meryon's mind. While respecting the scholarship of Harold Wright, both in his errata and manuscript notes, examination of the actual proofs referred to has required substantial alterations, and it is in this perspective that the new catalogue has been written. Dr Schneiderman's extensive research covered all the major institutions and several private collections containing Meryon's work. The 103 etchings are listed chronologically, with each entry detailing its title and all known derivations, references to earlier catalogues, medium, size and fate of the plate. Institutional holdings of each state are listed. There then follows a brief discussion of the subject of the print and any controversies surrounding it. The author cites relevant comments from Burty's catalogue and any response by Meryon taken from Mes Observations and his letters. "I-he various states, including previously uncatalogued ones, are numbered and listed noting their points of difference, any inscriptions and where the states may be found. Many of Meryon's prints were copied by later artists and where such copies may be deceptive notable differences are listed. Dr Richard Schneiderman is the director of' the North Carolina Museum of Art, and author of A Catalogue Raisonne of the prints of Sir Francis Seymour Haden. 196 black-and-white illustrations. .