La Bièvre. De Joris-Karl Huysmans. Edition bilingue francais-anglais; A bilingual edition edition French-English. Translation into English by Rob Swigart and Danielle Trudeau. Gravures de Claire Illouz. 4to, pp.30, colophon, 25cm, (Claire Illouz) Cherence, 2005.
Printed on BFK Rives paper by l'URDLA at Villeurbanne. Illustrated with 7 etchings printed in various colours. One of an edition of 50 copies signed by the artist (this marked 'HC V'). Folded etched covers in grey, spine titled in black, black paper-covered slipcase. A new copy.
"The Bièvre is a small river that once ran through Paris. The text is a lengthy prose poem, an extended elegy for a corrupted and lost piece of wild landscape by the nineteenth- century French writer J.-K. Huysmans. From its source not far from Versailles the Bièvre loops through the 13th arrondissement of Paris. Over the centuries it has been gradually driven underground and today almost nothing remains visible within the city limits, though one can still walk along stretches running through lush vegetation to the south of the city. In 1890, Huysmans published this expanded version of an article that originally appeared in 1878. This new translation by Rob Swigart and Danielle Trudeau in a bilingual livre d'artiste is illustrated with seven original etchings by French artist Claire Illouz."
