Book - Poems by József Kiss

In 1897, the Révai Testvérek (Révai Brothers) publishing house issued a deluxe edition of the collected poems of József Kiss, a popular and highly influential poet of the turn of the century. The volume was illustrated by the artists of the Nagybánya (present-day Baia Mare, Romania) artists’ colony that had been organized one year earlier (Károly Ferenczy, Béla Grünwald, Simon Hollósy, István Réti, and János Thorma). The style of this bright green publisher’s cloth binding made at the Nándor Gottermayer bookbinding shop is strikingly Art Nouveau, in contrast to the illustrations. The front cover is filled with a single, enormous gold decoration, in the middle of which is the poet’s name. The decoration and the dynamic outlines of the lettering show the influence of Belgian and French Art Nouveau.