Aurea Catena gravé et COMMENTÉ par Raphael Augustinus Kleweta

Belvezy: Editions Anima Mundi 2002, 2002. Limited edition, 19 of 50. 150x120mm. Unpaginated. pp.20. The text is printed in red from the Kleweta's calligraphy. Illustrated with six coloured engravings including one on the title page and line drawings in the text. Bound in red morocco illustrated on the upper cover and lettered in gold to upper and lower cover. Near fine. Printed by Kleweta on his own press, this is an attractive example of his distinctive dream-like style and left-field choice of subject mixing erotic prints with alchemical symbols. Basilius Valentinus was, supposedly, a fifteenth-century alchemist and monk although it seems that no such person ever existed. Instead, he is now thought to have been Johann Thölde, a German salt manufacturer and Kleweta gives us "Valentinus's" recipe's for the production of salt. A curious and beautiful artist's book. Rafal Augustyn Kleweta was born in Lodz, Poland in 1949. He worked for the film director Jerzy Hoffman before winning an art scholarship to Berlin in 1971. He settled in France in 1976 and adopted the name Raphaël Augustinus Kleweta. His principal work was in ornamental design but he was a fine engraver and printer. In 1989 he set up his own publishing enterprise, Anima Mundi where he produced some fifty books.