Jerome K. Jerome Bloche: Contrefaçons Tirages de tête

Jerome K Jerome Bloche Contrefacons tirages de luxe cover

A 104-page album, 30 × 42 cm format, numbered and signed by Alain DODIER! Containing the entirety of the 70 original plates in facsimile reproduction, 25 pages of colour graphic notebook resuming research, as well as all the plates and boxes abandoned or redone in a facsimile reproduction of the original. Reproductions of photos from Alain Dodier’s personal collection, how an author puts himself in the scene! A magnificent silkscreen bookplate with an original illustration, 25 x 32 format, produced by the print house Experience, signed by Alain Dodier, and a second bookplate using the cover design with a new colouring from Studio Cerise! It is produced in High Definition digital art proofing, printed by éditions Belloloco. A cardboard cover without gloss for an old effect, original cover visual, round spine in tile red canvas with hot stamping of the title. Printed on Munken Supérieur 170g paper. Sent in shielded cardboard packaging.

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As with all AE format material (Artist’s Editions, Artifact Editions, Gallery Editions, Art Editions, Studio Editions, etc.), this is a collection of classic comic material and I’ll be reviewing the book and not the story. For a complete list of all current and announced editions, with review links, please visit our Index. Also, see What is an Artist’s Edition and our Artist Index. This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

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Presenting the original artwork from Alain Dodier’s twenty-seventh Jerome K. Jerome Bloche album Contrefaçons, along with a gallery (Les Compléments) of covers, creator photos, roughs, and rejected panels. Signed and numbered out of 250, and includes two prints, one of the cover and a signed exclusive created for this package.

Scan quality is excellent: every page is clear and without issue. The art fills the page horizontally and has small black borders at the top and bottom. No signs of paper ageing, but the paper is a slightly grey colour. Correction fluid is visible throughout, as are paste-ups. Pencils visible in some of the art and word balloons. Gradients are visible in the inks.

The design is excellent. Very clean and colourful with excellent use of images. The black borders make the inks pop. A full image cover with the normal publication information on the back cover is an interesting take. As well the signature sticker worked into the endpaper is unique but may have been better on the tirage de tête numbered page. Working the colophon into the panels of a page was brilliant.

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A sewn binding of thick matte paper stock. This is 170gsm paper, one of the thickest I’ve encountered in an AE format book. For comparison, Graphitti Designs uses 160gsm paper. I had trouble getting the first few pages to lie flat, but the rest of the book worked with smoothing the center. The book comes in a cardboard case with a small colour sticker showing the title, partial cover art, ISBN, and edition number out of 250. It’s not shrinkwrapped as both prints are inside the book.

This is my first volume from Editions Black and White, and I am impressed. To draw a comparison of a North American AE format book, I would put this volume with Frank Miller’s Sin City Curator’s Collection. They share a cloth spine, fine attention to detail, and comprehensive extras. This volume goes a few steps beyond with 170gsm paper stock and two included prints. I’m not a big fan of prints, that seems to be a thing for the European market, but that’s me; I’d rather see a price reduction and no prints. Raphaël Wacker has taken the AE format from North America, worked with its elements such as design, layout, packaging, and elevated it.

I admire that Editions Black and White has taken the approach of creating a limited art product and marketing it as such. There are only 250 of these, so they focus on that detail and use it as an advantage, creating exclusivity. If the book wasn’t the very best of its kind that approach would fail, but here it excels.

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Getting European books to North America can be an expensive proposition. I was not able to find a Canadian retailer or distributor but did find Collector BD was significantly cheaper for shipping and was very thorough in their customer service. I only wish they had an affiliate program.