Scènes de la vie privée et publique des animaux.; Vignettes par Grandville. Études de moeurs contemporaines. Publiées sous la direction de M. P.-J. Stahl. Avec la collaboration de messieurs de Balzac, L. Baude, E. de la Bédollaire, P. Bernard, J. Janin, Ed. Lemoine, Charles Nodier, George Sand; de Balzac, L'Heritier (de l'Ain), Alfred de Musset, Paul de Musset, Charles Nodier, Madame M. Menessier Nodier, Louis Viardot.
Paris: J. Hetzel, Éditeur, 1842, 1844. Grandville. Mixed edition. Leather-backed boards. Two vols; uniform small 4tos, 386 + 390pp; contemporary morocco-backed boards. Bookplates, edges rubbed, good copies. Item #202476
The second volume is from the first edition; the first is a later printing. A nice set of Grandville's masterpiece, lampooning contemporary politics and society via his animal-caricatures. The project was spearheaded by Hetzel, using the pseudonym P.-J. Stahl, who rallied several prominent writers to contribute texts to accompany Grandville's vignettes. The work appeared serially in its original form, these volumes are from subsequent book-printings. Grandville executed no fewer than 323 illlustrations, the majority being full-page plates. Carteret III 552-559. Gordon Ray, The Art of the French Illustrated Book 194.
Price: $650.00