first edition
by DAUMIER, Honoré; Gavarni; Alhoy, Maurice; Philipon, Charles
Paris: Chez Aubert, 1839. With 150 Hand-Colored Lithographs,
including Forty-Five by Honoré Daumier and Forty-Two by Gavarni
[DAUMIER, Honoré, Gavarni, and others, illustrators]. [ALHOY, Maurice, Louis Huart, and Ch[arles] Philipon, editors]. Le Musée pour rire. Dessins par tous les caricaturistes de Paris; Texte par MM. Maurice Alhoy, Louis Huart et Ch. Philipon. Paris: Chez Aubert, Editeur des Cent-et-Un Robert-Macaire, 1839-1840.
Three quarto volumes (10 3/16 x 7 15/16 inches; 259 x 202 mm.). [2, half-title], [2, title], [200], [2, “Table”], [4, publisher’s advertisements]; [2, half-title], [2, title], [200], [2, “Table]; [2, half-title], [2, title], [200], [2, “Table], [4, publisher’s advertisements] pp. With 150 numbered hand-colored lithographs heightened with gum arabic by Honoré Daumier (forty-five), Gavarni (forty-two), Frédéric Bouchot (twenty-two), Victor Adam (ten), Platier (seven), Benjamin [i.e. Benjamin Roubaud] (four), Bourdet (three), Pruche (three), Platel (two), Grandville (two), Edme-Jean Pigal (two), Alophe Menut (two), Charles Vernier (two), Charles-Joseph Traviès (one), and others.
Early twentieth-century half red scored calf, ruled in gilt, over marbled boards by A[dolphe] Cuzin (stamp-signed in gilt at foot of spine). Smooth spines decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers. Expert and almost invisible minor restoration to corners and spine extremities. Occasional light foxing and/or browning. A wonderful copy.
“The house of Aubert was ingenious in marketing its products. Its lithographs…were published one by one in periodicals like Le charivari and together in suites by the same artist without letterpress. Still a third form of publication was in albums made up of lithographs by several artists with accompanying texts. These collections most commonly took the form of volumes with the generic title Paris comique, which consisted of twenty colored lithographs accompanied by quite unrelated texts. Aubert remarked that the resulting hodgepodge had ‘a plan that is easy to follow, for it consists in not having any,’ and in fact this was indeed a frugal procedure for reusing old texts and already published plates. The interest of the various volumes of Paris comique resides entirely in the lithographs they happen to contain. It can be considerable, however, since Daumier and Gavarni are the predominant artists. Le musée pour rire represents a more considerable effort on the part of Aubert. To accompany 150 lithographs, including forty-five by Daumier (among them twenty-seven from Croquis d’expression[s] and eight from La galerie physionomique) and forty-two by Gavarni, new commentaries were commissioned on each plate, all except two by Alhoy and Huart. Daumier’s lithographs were trimmed slightly, and their captions were relettered. The designs of the other artists were provided with decorative frames. The whole was then published in three handsome volumes, and in copies with expert contemporary coloring like this one, Le musée pour rire is among the freshest and most attractive of romantic illustrated books” (Ray, The Art of the French Illustrated Book).
Le Musée pour Rire “contained 150 lithographs by Daumier, Gavarni, Bouchot, Traviès etc. These are re-impressions (some of them in mirror image), which had previously already been used for publication in Le Charivari. Most prints of the series ‘Croquis d’expressions’ are contained in the book. The name of the series is missing and the texts were printed in a different type than in the original Charivari version. We do not consider these prints original lithographies, but rather prints ‘after Daumier’” (The Daumier Register at http://www.daumier-register.org).
Ray, The Art of the French Illustrated Book, 164. (Inventory #: 05964)
including Forty-Five by Honoré Daumier and Forty-Two by Gavarni
[DAUMIER, Honoré, Gavarni, and others, illustrators]. [ALHOY, Maurice, Louis Huart, and Ch[arles] Philipon, editors]. Le Musée pour rire. Dessins par tous les caricaturistes de Paris; Texte par MM. Maurice Alhoy, Louis Huart et Ch. Philipon. Paris: Chez Aubert, Editeur des Cent-et-Un Robert-Macaire, 1839-1840.
Three quarto volumes (10 3/16 x 7 15/16 inches; 259 x 202 mm.). [2, half-title], [2, title], [200], [2, “Table”], [4, publisher’s advertisements]; [2, half-title], [2, title], [200], [2, “Table]; [2, half-title], [2, title], [200], [2, “Table], [4, publisher’s advertisements] pp. With 150 numbered hand-colored lithographs heightened with gum arabic by Honoré Daumier (forty-five), Gavarni (forty-two), Frédéric Bouchot (twenty-two), Victor Adam (ten), Platier (seven), Benjamin [i.e. Benjamin Roubaud] (four), Bourdet (three), Pruche (three), Platel (two), Grandville (two), Edme-Jean Pigal (two), Alophe Menut (two), Charles Vernier (two), Charles-Joseph Traviès (one), and others.
Early twentieth-century half red scored calf, ruled in gilt, over marbled boards by A[dolphe] Cuzin (stamp-signed in gilt at foot of spine). Smooth spines decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers. Expert and almost invisible minor restoration to corners and spine extremities. Occasional light foxing and/or browning. A wonderful copy.
“The house of Aubert was ingenious in marketing its products. Its lithographs…were published one by one in periodicals like Le charivari and together in suites by the same artist without letterpress. Still a third form of publication was in albums made up of lithographs by several artists with accompanying texts. These collections most commonly took the form of volumes with the generic title Paris comique, which consisted of twenty colored lithographs accompanied by quite unrelated texts. Aubert remarked that the resulting hodgepodge had ‘a plan that is easy to follow, for it consists in not having any,’ and in fact this was indeed a frugal procedure for reusing old texts and already published plates. The interest of the various volumes of Paris comique resides entirely in the lithographs they happen to contain. It can be considerable, however, since Daumier and Gavarni are the predominant artists. Le musée pour rire represents a more considerable effort on the part of Aubert. To accompany 150 lithographs, including forty-five by Daumier (among them twenty-seven from Croquis d’expression[s] and eight from La galerie physionomique) and forty-two by Gavarni, new commentaries were commissioned on each plate, all except two by Alhoy and Huart. Daumier’s lithographs were trimmed slightly, and their captions were relettered. The designs of the other artists were provided with decorative frames. The whole was then published in three handsome volumes, and in copies with expert contemporary coloring like this one, Le musée pour rire is among the freshest and most attractive of romantic illustrated books” (Ray, The Art of the French Illustrated Book).
Le Musée pour Rire “contained 150 lithographs by Daumier, Gavarni, Bouchot, Traviès etc. These are re-impressions (some of them in mirror image), which had previously already been used for publication in Le Charivari. Most prints of the series ‘Croquis d’expressions’ are contained in the book. The name of the series is missing and the texts were printed in a different type than in the original Charivari version. We do not consider these prints original lithographies, but rather prints ‘after Daumier’” (The Daumier Register at http://www.daumier-register.org).
Ray, The Art of the French Illustrated Book, 164. (Inventory #: 05964)
(818) 222-4103
