New
Louise de Vilmorin
L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts and the Italian publishing house Franco Maria Rici present Dédale. The very singular Dédale series features major literary works as well as little-known or obscure texts, all with ties to the world of jewelry, precious stones and the arts in general. Richly illustrated, each book begins with the manifesto of the series, a foreword by a guest author and a thematic introduction by an expert at L’ÉCOLE. Two new volumes will be added in the series every year, in spring and fall. Each work is available in a standard edition and in a collector’s edition.
“It would be unwise, she thought, to get rid of an heirloom, or of a large number of jewels of inferior value, owing to the difficulty of accounting for their disappearance; so she decided, when she had gone through her jewel case, to sell a pair of earrings made of two superb diamonds, cut in the shape of hearts. It had been a splendid present which Monsieur de had given her on the day after their marriage. She called on her jeweller. He was a thoroughly reliable man; in the houses of many of his most important customers he was as much a friend as a jeweller. She swore him to secrecy, and spoke to him in such a way that he received the impression that Monsieur de was aware of what his wife was doing. The jeweller assumed that Monsieur de had some private money troubles, and wishing to help him without letting Madame de realise what he suspected, he tactfully asked:
“But, Madame, what will you say to Monsieur de ?”
“Oh,” she answered, “I shall tell him I’ve lost them.”
“You are so charming that I am sure people always believe whatever you say,” said the jeweller, and he bought the earrings.
Madame de paid her debts, and her beauty, free of care, shone brighter than ever.”
Among the threads of desire woven into the narrative, the supposedly lost earrings represent, quite literally, the corpus delicti: they embody, like emblems in seventeenth-century books, the invisible power of passions...
Authors: Louise de Vilmorin, Patrick Mauriès (for.), Emmanuelle Amiot (intro.), Laurent de Commines (ill.)
Publishers: L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts - Franco Maria Ricci
Publication: November 2025
Available languages
Characteristics
Collector's edition
