SERIES OVERVIEW:
This series attempts to showcase material by artists whose work might be described as 'decadent' in its style or subject matter.
It does not intend to give anything other than the briefest of biographical overviews (though references for such are given within each entry). It instead aims to present a short selection of illustrations which are either typical of the artists work or perhaps illustrate a text or theme that falls within the remit of the series.
We welcome suggestions or contributions to this ongoing series.
If anyone needs to be reminded of the fact we are just cosmic dust motes let Mera Sett be that reminder for today. Virtually nothing is known of him and it is only very tentatively that I gives his dates as around the late 1870 but certainly dead by 1945.
Part of Setts obscurity rests in his exceedingly limited output of just two (?) books, a version of that old favourite, the 'Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyám' (Galloway and Porter, 1914. 250 copies) and a book of his own prose works 'Sculptured Melodies' (Grant Richards 1922. 500 copies). Both are now rare and expensive.
In the former there is a little piece of biography that says he was an Indian Pharsee, his full name was Mera Ben Kavas Sett and that he was a 'well known' European artist and interior designer. My own diggings have discovered nothing more.
The Rubaiyat was paid for by his father as Mera was unwilling to censor the drawings with fig leaves and the like (though of course they are quite innocuous by todays standards) while the latter was "privately printed and published for the author".
I have never physically seen a copy of the 'Rubaiyat' but a few images from it surfaced briefly earlier this year and they are presented below. The complete book consists of some 15 single sides of the verses and a further 15 of illustrations, the latter protected by a tissue sheet with the appropriate ruba’i on it
However I was fortunate to obtain a copy of 'Sculptured Melodies' described by the bookseller as having "about the ugliest stained and soiled cover I've ever acquired" (and thankfully) at a price reflecting this. The contents were unsullied by hideousness and very interesting they are to, being eleven decadent pieces of prose inspired by various pieces of music. Their written style is in the vein of Pierre Louÿs who is, in my opinion, 'decadent-lite'. The illustrations are in a similar style to that of the 'Rubaiyat'. I have added the first few pages of 'Sculptured Melodies' below. As the stories and artworks seem to want to stay together I will post one tale a week on the Side Real Press blog. Go to the the bottom of the page for the links to them.
(Front cover)
THE OPENING PAGES OF
'SCULPTURED MELODIES'
(Grant Richards 1922)
It does not intend to give anything other than the briefest of biographical overviews (though references for such are given within each entry). It instead aims to present a short selection of illustrations which are either typical of the artists work or perhaps illustrate a text or theme that falls within the remit of the series.
We welcome suggestions or contributions to this ongoing series.
Mera Sett
INTRODUCTION
If anyone needs to be reminded of the fact we are just cosmic dust motes let Mera Sett be that reminder for today. Virtually nothing is known of him and it is only very tentatively that I gives his dates as around the late 1870 but certainly dead by 1945.
Part of Setts obscurity rests in his exceedingly limited output of just two (?) books, a version of that old favourite, the 'Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyám' (Galloway and Porter, 1914. 250 copies) and a book of his own prose works 'Sculptured Melodies' (Grant Richards 1922. 500 copies). Both are now rare and expensive.
In the former there is a little piece of biography that says he was an Indian Pharsee, his full name was Mera Ben Kavas Sett and that he was a 'well known' European artist and interior designer. My own diggings have discovered nothing more.
The Rubaiyat was paid for by his father as Mera was unwilling to censor the drawings with fig leaves and the like (though of course they are quite innocuous by todays standards) while the latter was "privately printed and published for the author".
I have never physically seen a copy of the 'Rubaiyat' but a few images from it surfaced briefly earlier this year and they are presented below. The complete book consists of some 15 single sides of the verses and a further 15 of illustrations, the latter protected by a tissue sheet with the appropriate ruba’i on it
However I was fortunate to obtain a copy of 'Sculptured Melodies' described by the bookseller as having "about the ugliest stained and soiled cover I've ever acquired" (and thankfully) at a price reflecting this. The contents were unsullied by hideousness and very interesting they are to, being eleven decadent pieces of prose inspired by various pieces of music. Their written style is in the vein of Pierre Louÿs who is, in my opinion, 'decadent-lite'. The illustrations are in a similar style to that of the 'Rubaiyat'. I have added the first few pages of 'Sculptured Melodies' below. As the stories and artworks seem to want to stay together I will post one tale a week on the Side Real Press blog. Go to the the bottom of the page for the links to them.
Mera Sett
SOME ILLUSTRATIONS FROM
THE RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM
(Galloway and Porter 1914)
SOME ILLUSTRATIONS FROM
THE RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM
(Galloway and Porter 1914)
THE OPENING PAGES OF
'SCULPTURED MELODIES'
(Grant Richards 1922)
