Dreamers of Decadence, Ex Libris Elaine Kaufman
[Third Party Gift Inscription to Elaine Kaufman] Jullian, Philippe. Dreamers of Decadence, Symbolist Painters of the 1890’s. First American Edition. 1971. Book and dust jacket are both in very good condition. This copy is from the library of legendary restaurateur and literary den mother Elaine Kaufman. It includes a warm inscription to her from Maurice, Jr. [surname unknown] along with a pencil sketch. Laid in is a rectangular slip of paper with a collage of the word “Elaine” in a variety of sizes and directions.
Great works of art are reproduced and written about so frequently that there is the risk they become unexciting. That is not the case here. This book is thrilling. It is imaginative and intellectual but never academic. Jullian has no interest in the banal, and this book is a feast for the eye, mind, and soul.
“There are fashions in painting as in hats: what is considered sublime one season becomes commonplace within ten years and comic after thirty.”
--Philippe Jullian