REMONDINI AND RIZZI, A CHAPTER IN ITALIAN DECORATED PAPER HISTORY

New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Books, 1990. cloth-backed boards covered with patterned paper, in facsimile of an original Remondini pattern specially executed by Henry Morris, leather spine label. Bird & Bull Press. 8vo. cloth-backed boards covered with patterned paper, in facsimile of an original Remondini pattern specially executed by Henry Morris, leather spine label. 55, (5) pages. A first edition limited to 215 numbered copies. A fine copy with prospectus loosely inserted. Remondini and Rizzi is set in Perpetua and printed by letterpress on Johannot mouldmade paper by Henry Morris at the Bird & Bull Press (Berger B36). Italian block-printed papers were the start of the collection of decorated papers that Tanya Schmoller and her husband Hans gathered together for over twenty years. The use of woodblocks to transfer designs to cloth and paper can be traced back in Europe to the fourteenth century. In the region of what is now Italy there were several firms supplying these colorful papers, the most eminent of which was Remondini, established in 1650. This work traces the history of the Remondini enterprise and later the Giuseppe Rizzi enterprise, which took over the Remondini woodblocks after 1861. It examines the sales techniques and production methods of these two firms and contains actual specimens of Rizzi decorated paper. Such samples are rarely found today and they are usually very expensive. The illustrations include a three-color facsimile of a Remondini woodblock and a fold-out reproduction of a decree authorizing the sale of gilt paper. Also included are four pages of genuine Rizzi paper samples.