Raymond Charmaison (1876-1955), Les jardins précieux. Preface by Henri de Régnier (1864-1936). ([Paris]: Meynial, [1919]). Copy 184 of 300. Charles Rahn Fry Pochoir Collection. Graphic Arts (GAX) Oversize 2003-0020E.
G.D. Groening wrote, “Only civilization creates gardens. Those who garden express a sensitivity, which has been generated, promoted, and communicated as a result of cognitive achievement. Gardens first emerge as human ideas, which then become implemented in a myriad of culturally coined ways of which the spatial arrangement is one of many only.”
The French landscape painter Raymond Charmaison worked with master pochoir stenciller Jean Saudé to create the eight color plates for this book of “precious gardens.” Printed in a limited edition, the book was published by Jules Meynial, who specialized in luxurious plate books of Paris fashion, under the care of Mrs. Nicole Pierre Corrard (wife of the poet/publisher Pierre Corrard).
