Cornell University, New York
Date: 1895
Technique: Chromolithography
Art Nouveau book in the form of a black magic farmer's almanac for 1896. The darkly comical, satanic spoof written in a parody of old French was penned by Austin de Croze (who was primarily known for his writings on food and wine) and illustrated by Manuel Orazi. It was published by Bing who owned L'Art Nouveau gallery. It is a tour-de-force of illustration in which each page is a seemingly chaotic yet inventive composition that touches on just about every imaginable occult symbol and macabre image. The phantasmagoria within includes witches, devils, burning candles, blood, pentagrams, owls, keys, demons, ghouls, skeletons, braziers, maidens, snakes, sorcery, alchemy, astrology, horoscopes and much more. In addition to its content it is also a masterpiece of printing as evidenced in the deepness of the blacks, the sophisticated gradations of the grays and the richness of the bronze ink. Although it is written that the book was allegedly printed in a limited edition of 777 copies, this number is likely a part o the book's humor, and is some unexplained pun on numerology. Given the scarcity of the book, it is likely that far fewer copies were actually printed.
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