1832 Scarce half snakeskin binding by J. Franklin Mowery - Countess d'ANOIS - La Bonne petite souris - The Little Good Mouse.

 

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Author: Marie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, Baroness d'Aulnoy (Countess d'Aulnoy). 
Title: La Bonne petite souris, conte. Par Madame D*** ; Suivi des Proverbes francais.
Publisher: A Troyes, Chez Ve. Andre, imprim.-libraire et fabricant de papier, Grande-rue, no date (circa 1832).
Language: Text in French.
Size: 6 " X 3.5 ". 
Pages: 35 pages.
Binding: Attractive and near fine half snakeskin (python) binding by J. Franklin Mowery  (hinges fine) under a protective removable mylar cover. 
Content: Very good content (tight and clean - as shown). 

The book: Scarce and attractive edition of this fairy tale by the Countess d'Aulnoy beautifully bound in half snakeskin (python) binding by J. Franklin Mowery binder.

The Author: Marie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, Baroness d'Aulnoy (1650/1651–4 January 1705), also known as Countess d'Aulnoy, was a French writer known for her fairy tales. When she termed her works contes de fées (fairy tales), she originated the term that is now generally used for the genre.

The Binder: Born in Lake Charles, Louisiana in 1953, Mowery is the son of two librarians. He got his first taste of bookbinding working for his father at the library of Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, dusting books and mending them with pressure-sensitive tape and self-adhesive book cloth. He did such a good job that it was suggested that he become a bookbinder. After looking for a place to train in the United States he turned to Europe where he was offered a place to study in the Staatliche Hochschule für bildende Kunste in Hamburg, Germany under the guidance of Professor Kurt Londenberg. He was awarded as an Ober Meister the level of Master Bookbinder. He worked as a student in the conservation department of the University Library in Hamburg and after that training at the Art School he went to the Academy of Art in Vienna, Austria to train for a year and a half as a paper conservator, under Otto Wächter. He spent six months working as a book conservator in Florence, Italy at the Bibliothek Nationale before returning to the United States. His first job was at the Huntington Library in California. Then in August of 1977, he became the head of Conservation at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C., a position he still holds. His bindings have been on display in exhibitions around the world, most notably was his first one-man show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York in 1982. For nearly ten years he was President of the professional Guild of Book Workers. He currently runs a private practice as a paper conservator.