First edition of Grandville’s marvellous speaking animals, the forerunner of the cartoons combined with the most refined satire of 19th century France

Grandville and Stahl. Scènes de la vie privée et publique des animax. Paris, Hetzel et Paulin éditeurs, 1842.

Two volumes in large 8vo (260x180 mm), XIX century quarter calf binding, gilt spine title surrounded by extended gilt floral decoration, marbled end-papers, pp. [8], 386, [6], [92] for the first volume; pp. [12], 390, [4], [105] for the second volume.

Two hundred full page engravings by the famous french caricaturist Grandville, representing the “humanised” life of animals and many vignettes.

First edition of Grandville’s renowned and celebrated «Public and private life of the animals», considered the forerunner of the cartoons.

The work was edited by Hetzel, de Balzac, Sand and other famous writers wanting to give words to the animals as a satire on French politics and personalities of nineteenth century.

Grandville’s drawings influenced many generations of illustrators included Walt Disney.

Amazing collection of litographies by Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard, commonly known as Grandville. The images, declared to be a study of the contemporary customs of French people, represent animals with human bodies and attitudes and are accompanied by the texts of some ofthe most influential writers of the 19th century France, such as Honoré de Balzac and George Sand.

Though Grandville’s designs are occasionally unnatural and absurd, they usually display keen analysis of the characters and marvellous inventive ingenuity, and his humour is always tempered and refined by delicacy of sentiment and a vein of sober thoughtfulness.

Ray: «The moving force behind this book was its publisher P.-J. Hetzel, who himself contributed many chapters under the pseudonym of P.-J. Stahl Through Grandville’s animals, Hetzel and his colleagues offered a witty and telling commentary on contemporary politics and personalities. Bouchot described the result as the best satire on French manners during the middle of the century, recalling “the anger to which it gave rise, the outbursts of laughter it provoked and the lawsuits of which it ran the risk”. [...] These allusions pass largely unnoticed today, but Grandville’s animals remain as amusing as ever, thanks to the wit and verve of his compositions. The types and situations he depicts are indeed of every period and every country. [...] The final plate shows the artist at the zoo of the Jardin des Plantes. He is sketching the visiting creatures who in turn are peering at cages containing Hetzel, Balzac, Jules Janin, and other authors of the Scènes de la vie privée et publique des animaux. It should be noted that the engravings for this book are by Brévière, the one craftsman whose renderings of his work Grandville refused to criticize».

Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard commonly known as Grandville (1803-1847) was an illustrator and a satirical caricaturist in France. The name Grandville comes from the theatrical tradition of his family, namely it was his grandparents’ stage name. He was the first to have the innovative idea of representing animals which behave, dress and fell like human beings; for this reason, he is considered the forerunner of the cartoons.
In fact, the work which first established his fame was Les Métamorphoses du jour (1828–29), a series of seventy scenes in which individuals with the bodies of men and faces of animals are made to play a human comedy. The success of these drawings, remarkable for the extraordinary skill with which human characteristics are represented in animal facial features, led to his being engaged as artistic contributor to various periodicals, such as La Silhouette, L’Artiste, La Caricature, Le Charivari; and his political caricatures, characterized by marvelous fertility of satirical humour, soon came to enjoy a general popularity. In 1835, Grandville turned almost exclusively to book illustration, supplying illustrations for various standard works, as the songs of Béranger, the fables of La Fontaine, the Don Quixote, Gulliver’s Travels and Robinson Crusoe. He also continued to issue various lithographic collections, among which may be mentioned the present work, Les Cent Proverbes, L’Autre Monde and Les Fleurs animées.

P.J. Hetzel commonly known as Stahl (1814-1886) was born in Chartres and studied law at Strasburg. In 1837 he founded a publishing company and he published works by Victor Hugo, Honoré de Balzac and Émile Zola. He spent a period of seld-imposed exile in Belgium because of the advent of Second Empire and, when he came back to France, he obtained a great success with the publication of Jules Verne’s novels. Hetzel wrote tales for youths under the pseudonym of P.J. Stahl.

References: Vicaire VII, 12 columns devoted to this book (405-416). Sander 312. Carteret III, pp. 552-559. G. N. Ray, The Art Of The French Illustrated Book 1700 to 1914, 1986, 194 (citing incorrect number of plates). Benezit, VI, p. 373. Brivois, pp. 364–370. Rebeyrat, pp. 289-90. C. Baudelaire, L’Artiste, 1858 (and also in Curiosités esthétiques): Cet homme [Grandville], avec un courage surhumain, a passé sa vie à refaire la création. Il la prenait dans ses mains, la tordait, la rarrangeait, l’expliquait, la commentait, et la nature se transformait en apocalypse. Il a mis le monde sens dessus dessous». L. Garcin, J.J. Grandville, révolutionnaire et précurseur de l’art du mouvement, p. 45: «Dans cet ouvrage Grandville se complaît, non sans une certaine cruauté, à la représentation des défaillances humaines». J. Adhémar-J.P. Seguin, Le Livre romantique, 1968, p. 87: «Ce dernier livre est supérieur aux précédents par le fantastique de l’illustration. Grandville aimait particulièrement cette atmosphère de rêve, ce mélange de la réalité et de la féerie». H.J. Martin, Histoire de l’édition française, vol. III, pp. 179-180: Les éditeurs des années 1840 ne pouvaient pas envisager de commander aux écrivains de la génération romantique, dont la réputation était consacrée, des manuscrits destinés à une publication illustrée, mais il restait toujours possible de leur arracher quelques pages spirituelles et bien écrites assorties d’une signature prestigieuse. Telle fut (...) la stratégie adoptée par Jules Hetzel quand il donna les Scènes de la vie privée et publique des animaux avec des collaborations de Balzac, Jules Janin, Alfred et Paul de Musset, Charles Nodier et sa femme et quelques-uns de leurs amis, que Grandville se chargea d’illustrer».

Light yellowing and minor traces of use; very good copy.