Vertus & Qualités
Paris: chez Arnauld de Vresse, 1860. Item #02896
Extremely Scarce
Children Satirize Good Adult Behavior
MONTAUT, Henri de. Vertus & Qualités. Dessins Composés par... Paris: chez Arnauld de Vresse, n.d. [c. 1860s].
Colored issue. Oblong folio (11/4 x 15 7/8 in; 285 x 403 mm). Twelve hand-colored lithographed plates with interleaves. Each plate is imprinted "chez Aubert," the renowned Parisian printmaking house who also issued the book with plain (tinted) lithographs.
Original cloth with blind-stamped arabesque panel enclosing an elaborately gilt centerpiece with title within.
A few very light marginal finger-marks, inner hinges expertly strengthened.
Excessively scarce, with OCLC recording only one copy in institutional holdings worldwide, at Princeton.
The companion volume to Montaut's Defauts et Vices. Charming period plates in the rococo style reminiscent of Boucher (1703-1770) illustrate children in Ancien Regime costume acting out various adult virtues and qualities in behavior and character, i.e., talent, generosity, courtesy, propriety, valor, etc. to beguiling comic effect.
Henri de Montaut (1825- c. 1890) was a caricaturist, writer and French illustrator. He was responsible, along with other artists such as Riou and Roux, for illustrations to the novels of Jules Verne. He was a contributor to Journal amusant, Journal pour rire, and La Vie parisienne, and editor-in-chief of Le Journal Illustré.
The plates:
1. Humanité - Générosité
2. Etude - Talente
3. Politesse Amabilite
4. Travail - Savoir
5. Dévouement - Générosité
6. Valeur - Courage
7. Adresse - Précision
8. La Propreté
9. Plaison - Philanthropie
10. Bonté - Bienfaisance
11. La Poiété
12. Le Dévouement.
Price: $4,800.00