BOUTERON MarcelLivre Rare Book
Étrennes Comiques
06082Paris: Aubert & Cie. 1848. A Superb Hand-Colored Anthology of French Romantic Caricature<br /> Twenty Lithographs by Daumier Gavarni Bouchot Pruche & Platier <br /> from Aubert's Celebrated Étrennes Comiques<br /> <br /> BOUCHOT Frédéric. PRUCHE Clément. GAVARNI Paul. PLATIER Jules & DAUMIER Honoré. Étrennes Comiques par les Principaux Dessinateurs du Journal pour Rire du Charivari du Musée Philipon et de la maison Aubert. Paris: Aubert & Cie. ca. 1848.<br /> <br /> Folio 13 1/8 x 9 7/8 inches; 333 x 251 mm. Pictorial lithographic title-page and twenty magnificent hand-colored lithographs all heightened with gum arabic. The plates comprise works by Frédéric Bouchot 6 Clément Pruche 5 Paul Gavarni 4 Jules Platier 3 and Honoré Daumier 2. Title-page neatly strengthened at the inner margin without loss. One Daumier plate with a neatly repaired marginal tear just touching the image; one Pruche plate with repaired and strengthened outer blank margin.<br /> <br /> Early twentieth-century light brown cloth over boards front cover lettered in gilt.<br /> <br /> The album is particularly distinguished by the quality of its hand-coloring. Executed in delicate transparent washes and frequently heightened with gum arabic the coloring preserves the softness of the original lithographic crayon while lending remarkable brilliance to costume interiors landscapes and architectural settings. The impressions themselves are fresh and unusually well preserved and are introduced by an exceptionally handsome engraved title-page - a lively composition crowded with comic figures that serves not merely as a decorative frontispiece but as a visual manifesto for Aubert the publishing house that dominated French satirical lithography during the 1830s and 1840s.<br /> <br /> An exceptionally attractive publisher's anthology bringing together some of the finest comic lithographs produced by the celebrated Aubert publishing house during the great age of French Romantic caricature. Rather than commissioning a single artist Aubert assembled this album as an étrennes - a luxurious New Year's gift volume - selecting hand-colored impressions by the principal contributors to Le Charivari the Journal pour rire and the Musée Philipon. The result is a miniature survey of French comic lithography at its artistic peak juxtaposing the differing temperaments of Daumier Gavarni Bouchot Platier and Pruche within a single volume.<br /> <br /> The diversity of subjects is one of the album's principal charms. Daumier contributes two of his incisive social satires; Gavarni observes bourgeois manners with his customary elegance; Bouchot supplies a sequence of exquisitely staged domestic comedies from Soins Tyranniques and Trop Tôt; Platier offers both fashionable physiognomies and scenes from La Famille Bas-Bleu; while Pruche provides lively political and urban caricatures together with humorous coach-travel scenes. Together they create an unusually rich panorama of Parisian life fashion politics family life travel and social ambition during the final years of the July Monarchy.<br /> <br /> We have handled another example bearing this engraved title-page but containing an entirely different selection of hand-colored lithographs by Daumier Vernier Traviès Gavarni Platier and Bouchot. This strongly suggests that Aubert assembled these luxurious Étrennes Comiques albums from varying stocks of hand-colored impressions rather than issuing them in a fixed configuration. As a result each surviving copy is effectively unique providing not only a delightful anthology of French Romantic caricature but also valuable evidence for the publishing and marketing practices of Aubert the foremost producer of satirical lithography in nineteenth-century Paris. Paris: Aubert & Cie.,, 1848 unknown
David Brass Rare Books, Inc. · États-Unis4 500,00 $US≈ 3 807,45 €
