Giovanni Boccaccio, Decameron

Certain libraries are formed around literature alone. Others emerge from an entire way of
inhabiting the world. Books & Gardens belongs to the latter tradition.

Few works in European literature possess the vitality of Boccaccio’s Decameron. Written in
the shadow of plague and social collapse, the work turns not toward death, but toward life in
all its complexity: desire, wit, intelligence, sensuality, fear, performance, deception, and
grace. The hundred tales narrated by the young Florentines form not merely a literary
structure, but an entire human theatre.
This edition was conceived as a monumental collector’s work adequate to the scale and
cultural permanence of the text itself. The volume opens to more than one metre in width,
creating an almost architectural presence when handled. Its proportions alter the physical
experience of reading, restoring to the book something ceremonial and spatial.
The illustrations by Sławomir Chrystow were developed over a period of several years and
enriched by hand with genuine gold. Rather than illustrating individual episodes literally, they
construct an atmosphere oscillating between refinement and unease — qualities inseparable
from Boccaccio’s vision of humanity.
Bound by hand in natural leather with sculptural onlays and hand-tooled decoration in 24-
carat gold, each copy assumes an individual artistic character while remaining part of a
coherent edition. The bindings draw discreetly upon the language of Renaissance
manuscripts without resorting to historical imitation.
Printed on archival permanent paper and issued in strictly limited form, the edition was
conceived for private libraries shaped around continuity, inheritance, and cultivated
intellectual life.
Several copies entered major private collections shortly after publication. Selected exemplars
and binding variations may be presented through private enquiry.