Jean-Michel Frank (1895-1941) was the most influential French interior designer of the 1930′s. He is known for minimalist interiors decorated with walls of straw marquetry, sofas of creamy leather, screens of mica, and plain-lined but sumptuous furniture. Frank was inspired by the abstraction of primitive arts, bringing to the 1930s an original style whose elegance won him the loyalty of a wealthy and elite clientele. Frank’s style of understated luxury perfectly complemented the Picassos and Braques his clients hung on their walls.

In 1915 he was informed the death of his two elder brothers, French soilders on front line, and then his fathers subsequent suicide. Four years later he lost his mother who had been in an asylum for several years. In the first part of the 1920′s he traveled the world. It was in Venice that he first met the cosmopolitan society, and the Parisian decorator Adolphe Chanaux. Together in 1932 they opened their shop in Paris. During the winter of 1939 he left France for South America and the United States. Tragically in 1941, he committed suicide while in New York. His subtle sense of understatement and minimal design is still a influence on interior designers even to this day.

Description: Hard bound with dust jacket. Limited printing, one of four thousand printed copies. 216 pages profusely illustrated in b&w and color. Text in English and French. Designed by Andree Putman, and with photographs by Jacques Boulay. A beautifully produced monograph authored by Jean-Michel Frank’s former studio Partner Adolphe Chanaux. Some wear and minor chipping to dust jacket, otherwise very good. A rare and sought after monograph.

Bookseller Inventory # 18331

$650

Jean-Michel Frank
Chanaux, Adolphe

Publisher: Editions Du Regard
Publication Date: 1980
Binding: Hard Bound
Book Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
Edition: First Edition

· Category: Design, Featured Items, Interior Design ·

Description: A classical & beautifully illustrated monograph, describing in detail the art of traditional Japanese packaging. Hard bound with original white glazed boards and dust jacket. Double-spread and tinted endpaper maps. Foreword by George Nelson. 203 pages profusely illustrated with rich black&white plates after photos by Michikazu Sakai. Text on the plates by Hideyuki Oka at end (also illustrated)

Bookseller Inventory # 21131

$300

How To Wrap Five Eggs: Japanese Design in Traditional Packaging
by Oka, Hideyuki

Publisher: Harper and Row
Publication Date: 1967
Binding: Hard Bound
Book Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
Edition: First U. S. Edition

· Category: Design ·

Description: Hard bound copy with dust jacket SIGNED BY EVA ZEISEL on the front free endpage. Part of the compact design portfolio series.

Bookseller Inventory # 18043

$250

Publisher: Chronicle Books
Publication Date: 2003
Binding: Hard Bound
Book Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition:Very Good
Signed: Signed

· Category: Design ·

Description: Hard bound in dust jacket. Stated first edition. 219 pages with index. 108 pages of illustrations, 72 in color. Some minor wear to dust jacket edges, otherwise very good. Baldwin’s career is one of the most celebrated in all of interior design. Billy Baldwin Decorates is one of the most authoritative book ever written on interior decoration.

Bookseller Inventory # 22909

$250

Billy Baldwin Decorates
Baldwin, Billy

Publisher: Holt, Rinehart and Winston
Publication Date: 1972
Binding: Hard Bound
Book Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
Edition: First Edition

· Category: Design, Interior Design ·

Description: Paperback copy. 172 pages. Published on the occasion of the August 17, 2002 exhibition organized by the Hagley Museum A very nice copy, bright and clean.

Bookseller Inventory # 17472

$110

Publisher: Hagley Museum and Library
Publication Date: 2002
Binding: Paperback
Book Condition: Very Good

· Category: Design ·