Simulacre, a surrealist novella by Michel Leiris with illustration by French artist André Masson was printed in 1925. The binding was designed by Rose Adler and executed by Emmanuel Lecarpentier in 1927. Bound in full black calf with an inlay of cabochon of agate capping off a semi-oval of coral-pink crocodile set within an aluminum fillet. Title on the spine overlaps an inlay of red calf, tooled with aluminum on the black and black on the red.
The edges are gilt in aluminum, full leather doublures lacquered in gilt with endleaves of black watered silk. This is an impeccable binding, the vast negative space is perfectly balance against the bold and highly textured crocodile skin.
