Colette's Three Earthly Paradises
If you have gone looking for Colette's Earthly Paradise and come back confused, the fault is not yours. There are three of them, and they are not editions of one another.
Paradis terrestre (1953)
by Colette
Colette's prose set against fifty photographs by Izis — a late book-club photobook, and not the 1932 art book of nearly the same name.
- 1953
About Colette
The story, briefly
Spoiler-freeParadis terrestre — singular — is a photobook published in Lausanne by La Guilde du Livre in October 1953. Fifty black-and-white photographs by Izis, the Lithuanian-born photographer working in Paris, are set against prose by Colette: four texts taken from her 1949 collection En pays connu, together with eight pieces written for this book. Issued in more than fifteen thousand copies for the members of a book club, it is a very different object from the rare 1932 Paradis terrestres, plural, made with Paul Jouve. (What's inside is described below.)
The story, in more detail
The book belongs to a genre Izis helped define: the photographer's book of France, in which images of landscape and rural life are paired with a writer's prose. Izis — Israëlis Bidermanas, born in Lithuania in 1911 and working in Paris — supplied fifty photographs, reproduced in heliogravure; Colette supplied the words. She was eighty and near the end of her life when it appeared.
Her contribution is mostly reused. Four of the texts come from En pays connu, her 1949 gathering of prose on familiar ground: 'La Maison proche de la forêt,' 'Le Désert de Retz,' 'Amertume,' and a chapter already called 'Paradis terrestre' — which is where the book gets its title. Eight further pieces were written for this volume, set against the photographs. The subject is landscape and the visible world: forests, gardens, rural France, with the Jardin des Plantes and the zoological park at Clères among the places photographed.
It was made for readers rather than collectors. La Guilde du Livre was a Lausanne book club, and the edition ran to just over fifteen thousand numbered copies reserved for its members — the opposite of the 1932 art book's hundred and fifty. Most dealer records give La Guilde du Livre as publisher, though a few name Éditions Clairefontaine, another Lausanne house connected to it.
What's inside
There is no plot. The book pairs fifty black-and-white photographs by Izis with prose by Colette on landscape and the visible world — forests, gardens, and rural France, including the Jardin des Plantes and the zoological park at Clères.
Four of Colette's texts are reprinted from her 1949 collection En pays connu: 'La Maison proche de la forêt,' 'Le Désert de Retz,' 'Amertume,' and 'Paradis terrestre,' the chapter that gives the book its name. Eight further pieces were written for this volume. It was published in October 1953 in just over fifteen thousand numbered copies for the members of the Lausanne book club La Guilde du Livre.
Why we recommend it
Colette and Izis
A late pairing of her prose with fifty photographs by one of the defining photographers of postwar Paris.
The visible world, late
Written in her eightieth year, its subject is looking — forests, gardens, and the ordinary landscape of France.
The book most often confused
Knowing this is the Izis photobook, not the Jouve art book, untangles the most persistent muddle in Colette's bibliography.
What this book explores
From the Journal
Bring it to book club
- The book sets prose against photographs. Do Colette's words describe the images, or run alongside them?
- Most of her texts here were written years earlier for another book. Does reuse weaken the volume, or give the photographs a deeper voice?
- Fifteen thousand copies for a book club, against a hundred and fifty for the 1932 art book. What does each format say about who a book is for?
Timeline
1949
En pays connu is published; four of its texts will be reused in this book.
1953
Paradis terrestre is printed in Lausanne in October by La Guilde du Livre, with fifty photographs by Izis.
Book editions
Hardcover
- Hardcover
- 1953
Reader reviews
Readers may also like
Paradis terrestres (1932)
The 1932 art book of nearly the same name — a different work, and the source of most confusion.
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Earthly Paradise
The 1966 English anthology whose title is the English of this one, though it is a separate editorial compilation.
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In a Familiar Land
The 1949 collection from which four of this book's texts are drawn, including the title chapter.
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The Blue Lantern
The late memoir written in the same last years, close in its attention to what can still be seen.
Read our takeParadis terrestre (1953): frequently asked questions
Who made Paradis terrestre?
Colette wrote the prose and Izis — Izis Bidermanas — supplied the fifty photographs. It was published in Lausanne by La Guilde du Livre in October 1953.
Is this the same book as Paradis terrestres (1932)?
No. This one, singular, is the 1953 photobook made with Izis. Paradis terrestres, plural, is a rare 1932 art book of animal texts illustrated by Paul Jouve. They share no texts.
What is Paradis terrestre about?
It is a photobook on landscape and the visible world — forests, gardens, and rural France — pairing Izis's photographs with Colette's prose.
Are the texts new?
Mostly not. Four are reprinted from her 1949 collection En pays connu, including the chapter 'Paradis terrestre' that gives the book its title; eight further pieces were written for this volume.
Is it the same as the English Earthly Paradise?
No. Earthly Paradise (1966) is a separate English anthology of Colette's autobiographical writing, edited by Robert Phelps and drawn from around forty of her books. Its title is simply the English of this one.