BELLES A CHEWABLE, a book to devour… Chocolate has caused a lot of ink to flow and chocolate buffs will finally be able to go after their knowledge. 
 The packaging was created to transport goods, but since the 19th century it has had a completely different function, which is to present and highlight a product. Boxes and boxes will replace boxes and crates and the crystal pouch will be abandoned for artistically decorated dancing bags. Packaging has become an art. 
 From the end of the 19th century, master chocolate confectioners were, along with perfumers, the most sensitive to art in presentation. It is they who will produce the first, the most sumptuous packaging declined in a multitude of forms in the most noble, rich and varied materials. 
 The evolution in the presentation follows industrial progress and trends suggested by fashion. Illustrators, photographers, designers are the actors of achievements perceived by collectors as true artistic works. 
 In this book, Geneviève Fontan presents a collection of more than three hundred and fifty boxes of chocolate makers and confectioners and a work of memory on confectioners and illustrators of the 20th century. This work should arouse in people sensitized to the work of cardboard makers a real desire to save from danger all these boxes emptied of their sweetness but charged with historical interest. Geneviève Fontan has revealed and brought out from the attics the treasures of ancient perfumery, she is convinced that the same will apply to boxes of confectioners. 
 Today's creations are tomorrow's antiques. You always have to think about it and know how to keep the pieces that you consider interesting.