Nature Stories
Written by Jules Renard.
Illustrated by Pierre Bonnard.
1. The Magpie
2. Grasshoppers
3. The Worm
4. Swallows
5. The Cricket
6. The Mouse
7. The Butterfly
8. The Dragonfly
9. The Goby
10. The Frog
11. Ants
12. The Toad
13. A Family of Trees
14. The Cow
15. The Donkey
16. The Dog
17. The Turkey
18. The Cat
Leisure
What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
William Henry Davies.
Scans source: Jules Renard - Storie Naturali (prefazione di Italo Calvino) - Einaudi - Gli struzzi, 1977.
ReplyDeleteJanas, have you seen the Lautrec and Stein illustrations for Renard's Natural Histories? I personally like Bonnard's more, but there are some handsome lithographs and drawings by these two. I am fond of the donkey. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteHi, dear Josh!
ReplyDeleteYes, two beautiful versions. The toad of Lautrec is awesome.
In the illustrations of Walter Stein, the sign extends over the entire surface of the sheet, vibrant and accurate, unlike Bonnard that conceives the sheet as a vaste natural space of white light that brings out and enhances the black graphic impressions of animals and trees in their spiritual synthesis, taken In their instants of everyday life, as in Zen painting.