La Ménagerie Parisienne (n.d. but 1854)

Item Details

Au Bureau du *Journal pour rire*, (n.d. but 1854), no covers

First edition, first printing, Good

Paris: Au Bureau du Journal pour Rire, n.d. [1854]. Oblong volume 10.25 x 13.5 inches (26.5x34.5 cm), containing the printed title page and 22 lithographed plates (out of 24).
Original paperback copy, incomplete: missing the printed covers and the last two plates (nos. 23 and 24). Title page and first plate are loose, each with a tear and a missing section at the top. Corners of the pages are dog-eared; scattered light foxing. The margins of plates 9 and 10 are trimmed slightly short.

An extremely rare first edition and first printing of this superb satirical album created by Gustave Doré, then twenty-two years old. One of the artist’s earliest published works, created just before he rose to fame through his illustrations for the Complete Works of Rabelais.
Our copy consists of 22 (out of 24) black-and-white lithographs by Gustave Doré, first impressions, produced by the Vayron workshop in Paris, and all captioned in French..
This early work gives Doré the opportunity to pay homage to the man who inspired him from his very first sketches: Grandville. Indeed, this series of 22 (out of 24) engravings, presented with no text other than a laconic caption, is a true reinterpretation of one of Grandville’s earliest works, created at the same age: 'Les Métamorphoses du jour', later revisited in 'Scènes de la vie privée et publique des animaux'.
Gustave Doré thus drew inspiration from Grandville’s zoomorphic perspective to sketch Parisian society in his own way. However, by retaining the animal allegory only through the captions of the engravings, the young caricaturist achieved the remarkable feat of producing highly realistic drawings that nonetheless unmistakably evoke the bestiary with which they are associated. Thus, all the social types of the capital appear side by side, highlighting the relationships between the different classes embodied by animals of varying nobility: aristocratic lions and lionesses, sewer rats and swindlers, chattering snakes, venal panthers…
The artistic quality and relevance of each plate, as well as the rarity of this early work with its limited print run, unfortunately contributed to the dismemberment of this rare and fragile album, whose plates were subsequently sold individually.
This album marks the passing of the torch between the two greatest illustrators of the 19th century, Grandville and Doré.
Provenance: stamp on the title page and the first plate.