La Guirlande de Houblon, 1859 | Antique French Cartonnage Book

Épisode de la vie d’un pauvre maître d’école de campagne
By Christoph von Schmid | Translated by Louis Tridel
Tours: Ad Mame et Cie, Imprimeurs-Libraires, 1859
Collection: Bibliothèque de la Jeunesse Chrétienne

A beautiful mid-19th century French cartonnage romantique edition by the famed Mame publishers of Tours, exquisitely bound in light blue glazed boards with intricate gilt-stamped decoration and a hand-colored central vignette showing two girls in a garden. The back cover features a richly embossed floral gilt design in full symmetry, characteristic of Mame’s finest decorative bindings of the 1850s.

The volume presents Christoph von Schmid’s moral tale La Guirlande de Houblon (“The Hop Garland”), a tender story of virtue, simplicity, and faith set in a rural village, translated from the German by Louis Tridel. Illustrated with a finely engraved frontispiece, with decorative typographic chapter heads and borders throughout.

A lovely example of devotional and didactic literature for youth, produced at the height of the cartonnage romantique movement — where books were as much objects of art as they were of moral instruction.

In the 19th century, France witnessed a remarkable era of artistic and luxurious bookbinding known as cartonnage. Cartonnage bindings emerged as a popular form of decorative coverings for books, showcasing the exquisite craftsmanship and artistic sensibilities of the time. These bindings were typically made from stiffened pasteboard or cardboard, covered in decorative paper or silk fabrics adorned with intricate designs, gold tooling, and vibrant colors.

French cartonnage bindings of the 19th century often incorporated various techniques such as embossing, gilding, and marbling to create visually striking covers that captivated the eyes of book lovers and collectors alike.

Binding bright and clean with only minimal edge wear; spine gilt crisp; interior clean with light age toning and occasional faint spotting.

Condition: Very Good. 

Size: 3 ½” x 5 ¾”

A luminous example of French Romantic binding artistry — where story and ornament intertwine in perfect harmony.