F. L. Schmied

This is one of the most interesting books that I have read - ever:



A decade ago a Paris bookseller specializing in art deco books, particularly those signed by the legendary Francois-Louis Schmied, was approached by a young woman who asked her why she always talked about Schmied books and continued to say that it was her great-grandfather Gustave Miklos who made them.

She presented a large amount of documents and drawings to prove what she had said.

It appears that the Schmied legend (his books sold at very high prices when new in the 1920's, and continue to sell at higher and higher prices today) was nothing but a lie.

After having read this book that the bookseller wrote together with a few colleagues, it appears clear that Schmied didn't illustrate any of his books - it was Gustave Miklos who did. The books were then produced in Schmied's atelier by the wood engraver and printer Pierre Bouchet and Schmied's young son Théo Schmied. Then F-L Schmied signed them and sold them.

It's a fascinating story to read about Miklos from his birth in Hungary, how he met Schmied and how he actually never got fully paid for his work. When the financial crisis hit France in the early 1930's, Schmied had to anchor his Yacht (decorated by Miklos) in the mediterranean, hurry to Paris and close his atelier and, totally ruined, move to Morocco.

Miklos - and everybody else involved - kept silent - omertà.

Schmied was a good businessman and marketer.

This book is available directly from the publisher Fata Libelli in Paris.

Interesting. You might also look at a couple of books by the well known LA printer Ward Ritchie:

Ward Ritchie, François-Louis Schmied: Artist, Engraver, Printer: Some Memories and a Bibliography, Tucson: University of Arizona Press (1976). Edition of 750 copies.

Ward Ritchie, Art Deco: The Books of François-Louis Schmied Artist/Engraver/Printer With Recollections and Descriptive Commentaries on the Books, San Francisco: The Book Club of California (1987). 550 Copies printed by Permier Printing Corp. Bound by Bela Blau.

Ritchie was apprenticed to Schmied in Paris in 1930, so he was in a position to see how the books were produced.

>2 dpbbooks: Do the books differ much or are the contents virually the same?

>3 cupidum: Different, but some overlap. The Book Club of California edition is longer, but more complete, and much better produced.

The title page alone is "the most intricate of all Schmied's illustrations, requiring some forty-five different blocks to achieve the lacquer-like quality he wanted. And then it took almost two months to print that single page" (Ward Ritchie)

Mesmerising Beauty.