Poet and scholar Walter Strachan (1903-1994) was fascinated by the art of the book. His interest was inspired by a visit to an exhibition of artists’ books at the National Gallery in London in May 1945. In due course he wrote many articles on the subject, as well as a major reference work, The Artist and the Book in France (published 1969); he also encouraged successive Keepers of the National Art Library at the V&A “to buy them for England.” To this end he visited France every year, to meet the artists, and acquired proof pages to illustrate his articles and to show to potential purchasers of the books, including the V&A. Over the years he amassed a collection of images of owls; some of these were illustrations from livres d’artistes, and others were designed especially for him as gifts or greetings. The collection of owls began with a visit to the artist Roger Chastel (1897-1981) in 1952, where he witnessed the printing of Le Bestiaire de Paul Eluard. In a subsequent article (“Genesis and Growth of a Collection”, for Connoisseur, 1972) he explained: “My article on Chastel’s Bestiaire had the happy result of bringing me a special print on Auvergne paper of the owl which I had admired in the book. Contacts in the art-world of Paris are close and friendly, and I was marked down as an owl-man, in consequence of which I have gradually been given dedicated owl prints and originals in every medium from pen and ink to enamel…”

Strachan owned several artist books illustrated by French expressionist Edouard Goerg (1893-1969), including Les Fleurs du Mal by Charles Beaudelaire (1821-1967), illustrated with lithographs in two volumes (Paris: Sautier, 1948 and 1952). Printed by a friend of Beaudelaire’s Auguste Poulet-Malassis (1825-1878), the first edition (1957) of this book of poems achieved notoriety through an obscenity trial and it sold out within a year. The second definitive edition of 1861 omitted six censored poems but included thirty-five new ones. Les Fleurs du Mal has been published in numerous different illustrated editions since then, and several owls in Strachan’s collection, including this one, are illustrations to the poem entitled ‘Le Hibou’ in this book.