LITTLE OLD ONES

Emile Verhaeren

Lucien Pissarro believed in the hand-set printed book as a work of art. He designed his own typefaces, and carved lettrines to match. In 1901, he chose Emile Verhaeren's "Les Petits Vieux" for one of the illustrated books poetry and fable he produced at Brook House. Verhaeren's poem tells the story of an old pair of entwined trees that are named "the Little Old Ones" after a beloved couple who had lived nearby. The woodcut he made for the frontispiece, featuring the lovers when they were young, shows how he fused the English Arts and Crafts sensibilities with his neo-Impressionist painting style.