Deux Ans a Constantinople. Journal d'un peintre

Paris: Edition Quatre Vents, 1930 4to (28.5 x 22 cm), 295, [7] pp, bound in original watercolor. Contemporary decorative binding combining morocco and paper, gilt-lettered spine with two raised bends, top edge gilt, fore- and bottom-edge untried, marbled endpapers, original wrappers and spine bound in (Max Fonseque), housed in burgundy cloth box with gilt-lettered leather label (biding slightly rubbed, collector's blind stamp on the half-title). Limited to 300 copies, this is no. 295 on Rives paper, bound in original watercolor, depicting a church on the walls of Constantinople (14 x 19.5 cm, signed in pencil bottom right). First edition of of a travel journal penned by Ukrainian artist Alexis Gritchenko (1883-1977), chronicling his two-year sojourn in Constantinople following his emigration from revolutionary Russia and preceding his relocation to France. "'Two Years in Constantinople' is the title of a work published in 1930, in which Gritchenko recounts his experiences in a city that spared him nothing -- neither suffering nor the consolation found in the joy and rapture of beauty. These were two years of misery and intense work, which shaped Gritchenko into the artist and man that we admire today." (Paul Fierens) The book features 40 lithographs, including 16 full-page illustrations, 13 within the text, and 5 vignettes, initials, and cover reproductions, all showcasing Gritchenko's famous and highly prized watercolors. Maxime Fonsèque (1891-1965), apprenticed at Lotric, is renowned for his distinctive style marked by the incorporation of vertical elements that blend morocco and paper, separated by broad gilt roulettes. A beautiful copy of an inquisitively published book enriched by original watercolor in fine contemporary binding.