Founded in 1826, Devambez successfully crossover various highly skilled activities under its name, including heraldic engraving for the aristocracy, the publishing of highly covetable books, as well as establishing an art gallery. This gallery, on the Boulevard Malesherbes, broke new artistic ground and created controversy at the time by showing the sulfurous drawings of Rodin, organising the first exhibition of African and Oceanic art as well as displaying the works of notable avant-garde painters, printmakers and sculptors such as Bracque, Dufy, Matisse, Picasso, Modigliani and Foujita.
Devambez published thirty fine art books in limited editions. The authors included Joris-Karl Huysmans, Gustave Flaubert, Pierre Loti, Colette, Oscar Wilde and Paul Verlaine; their writing was illustrated by the same great artists whose work was exhibited within the gallery.
In 1928, Paul Poiret commissioned Devambez to edit his iconic work PAN, Annuaire du Luxe in Paris. Today, the Editions Devambez retains this enviable link to its luxurious past. The Goyard book now assumes its rightful place within the noble tradition of stationery and printing 'grande mesure' that Devambez long ago established and still upholds.
