Liste des grand vins fins.

Établissements Nicolas, Charenton-Le-Pont, 1930-01-01

Probably one of the most spectacular of the Établissements Nicolas catalogues, both in terms of content and design. Complete with the rare advertising supplement ‘Appellations d’origine …’

Description: Spiral bound. Gold paper laminated covers, blind embossed and illustrated. Octavo: 24 × 18 cm; unpaginated, [12]ll. 2 mounted photomontages.

Enclosed: Loosely laid in is the editor’s rare advertising supplement ‘Appellations d’origine des grands vins de Bourgogne’.

Condition: Covers slightly rubbed and bumped. Contents with occasional minor blemish but generally clean, the photomontages well preserved (the second with a tear at the lower margin). All in all a very well preserved copy.

Notes: In addition to the regular catalogues, Établissements Nicolas also published so-called ‘Tarifs de luxe’ for luxury wines between 1928 and 1973. Renowned artists such as Charles Loupot, A.M. Cassandre, Raoul Dufy and André Derain were regularly commissioned to design these special catalogues. The 1930 catalogue was produced under the artistic direction of Paul Iribe (1883–1935) in collaboration with François Kollar (1904–1979). Iribe used Nicolas’ trademark Nectar as a guiding design theme. Nectar, the humorous depiction of the somewhat cranky wine merchant with moustache and large saucer eyes, laden with countless bottles in each hand was drawn by Dransy (Jules Isnard 1883–1945) in 1922. While Kollar stages Nectar in a Dadaist manner in his two photomontages, Iribe reduces Dransy’s Nectar to basic geometric shapes, without detracting from the self-deprecating portrayal of Nicolas’ mascot.