Author(s): Adolph de Meyer; Jacques-Émile Blanche (Text by); Jean Cocteau (Text by); Auguste Rodin (Text by)

Photography

This is an exacting facsimile_and fi rst re-print overall_of Baron Adolph de Meyer_s especially rare book Le Prélude à l_après-midi d_un faune , fi rst published in 1914 in a handcrafted edition of 1,000. Today only six copies are known to exist, and this Steidl edition recreates a book from Karl Lagerfeld_s personal collection.

De Meyer_s book is a privileged record of Vaslav Nijinsky_s perfor- mance in the fi rst ballet he choreographed: Le Prélude à l_après-midi d_un faune (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun) for Serge Diaghilev_s famous Ballets Russes, set to a score by Claude Debussy and inspired by a poem by Stéphane Mallarmé. The ballet debuted in Paris in 1912 and shocked audiences and critics with its eroticism and unconven- tional choreography. De Meyer_s 30 photos capture Nijinsky_s animalis- tic performance as the faun surrounded by prancing nymphs, and are an important record of Léon Bakst_s Symbolist sets and costumes. In this new edition Gerhard Steidl recreates the original, published by Editions Paul Iribe & Cie, with as much attention to detail as possible. Le Prélude is a hand-stitched brochure with a hand-folded dust jacket. Iribe_s collotypes (photomechanical ink prints) on vellum paper are recreated in offset as quadratone prints tipped-in by hand onto Somerset Cotton paper, mould-made by St Cuthbert_s Mill_all in a limited edition of 1,000 books.