Date: 1900
Size: 5 x 8.25 inches (interior), 9 x 12.25 inches (exterior)
A menu, in excellent condition, brought in recently by one of the great-great grandchildren of the original Lefèvre-Utile family. Exquisite in every way, this is an exceptional piece of Belle Époque ephemera.
Lefèvre-Utile was founded in Nantes, France, in 1846 by Jean-Romain Lefèvre and his business partner and wife, Pauline-Isabelle Utile. Their initials (LU) were first used by Alphonse Mucha for an 1897 calendar ad for the Lefèvre-Utile Biscuit Co. That same year the company hired Firmin Bouisset to create a poster for their rectangular-shaped crested biscuits . Bouisset created Petit Écolier ("the Little Schoolboy") which also incorporated the LU initials. Bouisset's poster was used extensively and the image was embossed on the company's Petit Beurre line of biscuits. Within a few years, the success of the logo resulted in the company becoming known as LU. (Notwithstanding the humble beginnings of LU, the company, now owned by a large multi-national, sells in excess of $2 billion USD every year - that's a whole lot of cookies!)
A rare find, with a perfect provenance. For serious collectors or those who appreciate classic Art Nouveau style.