It was not until the emergence of the artist book in the 20th century that book bindings—a book’s front and back covers and spine—came to be appreciated as more than merely protective or decorative. In the early 1900s, any deluxe artist book—with original print illustrations by a well-known artist, printed on fine papers, and issued unbound in limited quantity—fairly cried out for a creative binding. Collectors of these elegant books often commissioned bookbinders to fabricate unique leather covers with original designs that evoked the spirit or mood of the book’s text or illustrations.

In 1940, art director and fashion illustrator René Bouché (1905-1963) left war-torn Paris for New York and became a regular contributor to Vogue magazine. In 1945, Vogue commissioned Bouché, who was an art director and fashion illustrator in Paris before World War II, to cover the first post-war couture shows in Paris. The trip to Europe was traumatic for the artist, who discovered a people struggling to regain normalcy after the war.