Franҁois Righi

This book, made in collaboration with Marie Grégoire, features drawings and thoughts inspired by the coffered ceiling in the oratory of the Hôtel Lallemant, a Renaissance-era building in Bourges. The fourteen coffers decorated with cherubs are the inspiration for Righi’s intricate drawings and calligraphies showing the circles of time, while the sixteen coffers decorated with crests are the inspiration for the engraved frontispiece. Two additional engravings further illustrate the book. This volume is part of a larger trend in the Righi’s work, which in his own words, “attempts to inscribe [the place] within the the spaces . . . of a book.” The coffered ceiling of the Hôtel Lallemant is also the subject of the book Le Miroir Volatil (2003), a collaboration between Righi and Robert Marteau. 

This deluxe edition is one of only 3 copies that are accompanied by an engraved copper plate used in the printing of the book. This copy includes the plate for the first print in the book which is featured on the book’s front wrapper. The plate is mounted on a board lined with decorative, indigo-colored paper and is protected by a white facing mat. Housed in the box with the book, the mat is titled and signed by the artist below the plate. 

The deluxe copy with the second plate has been acquired by the Koopman Collection of French books held by the National Library of the Netherlands.  It, along with four more of Righi’s books recently traveled to the Grolier Club in New York in 2016 where they were exhibited as part of the exhibition entitled “The Imaginative French Book in the 21^st Century.” 

This book was created in an edition of 31, with 3 copies hors commerce. This copy is numbered 1 and signed by the author and artist at the colophon.