GAVARNI, Paul [pseudonym of Guillaume Sulpice Chevallier]

Clichy

Paris: En vente Au Bureau du Journal Amusant…et au Bureau du Charivari, 1840. Item #05405

Gavarni's Memories of his Time in the Debtors Prison 'Clichy'
Depicted in Twenty-One Lithographed Plates

GAVARNI [pseudonym of Guillaume Sulpice Chevallier]. Clichy. Album par Gavarni. Paris: Au Bureau du Charivari, [n.d., 1840-1841].

Large quarto (13 3/4 x 10 1/2 inches; 349 x 267 mm.). Publisher's yellow front wrapper with printed title. Twenty-one superb numbered lithographed plates. All plates in first printing, second state with printed titles and "Chez Bauger" & "Imp. d'Aubert" with the exception of plates 17 & 19 which are in the third state.

Modern quarter light blue cloth over light blue cockerel boards, smooth spine lettered in gilt. Original yellow lithographed front wrapper bound in as title.

These plates were initially published in Le Charivari with the exception of the nineteenth plate which was produced for La Caricature.

“In 1835 [Gavarni] was arrested for debt and sent to Clichy. Far from being overwhelmed, he saw this experience as a fresh opportunity for observation. Indeed, he made a lithographic series from his memories: Clichy, twenty-one lithographs, 1840-1841” (Ray, The Art of the French Illustrated Book, p. 217).

"So assured did Gavarni's position seem at the end of 1833, that he began to publish the weekly Journal des gens du monde, for which he also provided much of the text and illustrations. It failed after twenty numbers, only eighteen of which were issued, leaving him with obligations which were to embarass him for many years. In 1835 he was arrested for debt and sent to Clichy. Far from being overwhelmed, he saw this experience as a fresh opportunity for observation. Indeed, he made a lithographic series from his memories: Clichy, twenty-one lithographs, 1840-1841" (Armelhault & Bocher p. 1-25)

On the 23rd of July 1867 the French government abolished the ancient law decreeing imprisonment for debt. In Paris, the ninety-seven inmates of the Clichy Debtor's Prison were promptly released…

Exceptionally rare. According to OCLC & KVK there are no copies in libraries and institutions worldwide.
We have been unable to locate any copies at auction over the past 100 years.

Armelhault & Bocher, nos. 429-448.

The Plates:

1. Enfoncé!!!...
Sunk!!!...

2. Je viens déjeuner chez toi. Ah! bon! Et diner chez toi. Ah! bah!! Et coucher chez toi! Ah! fichtre!!!
I'm coming to have lunch with you. Ah! Well! And have dinner at home. Ah! bah!! And sleep at home! Ah! damn!!!

3. “Au moins un Dieu sourit encore à la jeunesse et lui rend, enc e lieu, de ces jours qu’on lui prend. Qui n’aurait pas pitiè des beaux ans qu’elle y laisse?”
“At least one God still smiles at youth and gives them back, in place, those days that are taken from them. Who would not pity the beautiful years she leaves there?”

4. Vous le voyez, le chagrin ne m’aigrit pas! Et je donnerai un conseil à mes créanciers, dans leur intèrêt: s’ils veulent me tirer d’ici qu’ils se hâtent, car on ne pourrait bientôt plus me passer par la porte.
You see, grief does not embitter me! And I will give advice to my creditors, in their interest: if they want to get me out of here, let them hurry, because soon they won't be able to get me out the door.

5. Petit homme nous t’apportons ta casquette, ta pipe d’ecume, et ton Montaigne.
Little man, we bring you your cap, your meerschaum pipe, and your Montaigne.

6. Enfin, à la fin, je l’ai tant mijotè, je l’ai tant mijotè, qu’il a dit: eh! bien, qu’il paye seulement les frais et j’accorderai du tems pour le reste. Et encore, il a dit, voyez-vous, Mademoiselle, c’est par consideration pour vous… Le vieux gueux!...j’espère bien que quand tu sortiras tu lui ficheras une pile soignée à celui-là!
Finally, at the end, I simmered him so much, I simmered him so much, that he said: hey! Well, let him just pay the cost and I'll allow time for the rest. And again, he said, you see, Mademoiselle, it's out of consideration for you... The old beggar!... I really hope that when you go out you'll give him a neat pile on that one!

7. L’amour est parti? V’là l’amitiè.
Love is gone? That's friendship.

8. Dites donc, l’ancien, c’est aujourd’ui Dimanche. Ou’est-ce que ça te fait? Tiens! Le Dimanche on se fiche du Garde-du-commerce: çà me fait que je pourrais aller me promener, si je pouvais sortir.
Say, the old one is today Sunday. What does it do to you? Here! On Sundays we don't care about the Garde-du-commerce: that makes me think I could go for a walk, if I could go out.

9. Ne donnez pas d’acomptes! Voyez vous, le créancier qu’on ne paye pas n’est qu’un créancier; le créancier qu’on paye est un tigre!
Do not give deposits! You see, the creditor who is not paid is only a creditor; the creditor one pays is a tiger!

10. Dites donc, voisin, on a peu boissonné chez vous hier! ça allait rondement! ça va bien ce matin? Pas mal, et vous?
Say, neighbour, we had a little drink at your house yesterday! it was going smoothly! how are you this morning? Not bad and you?

11. Le portrait du créancier.
The portrait of the creditor.

12. Voyons! Pour aller à Tivoli ce soir, il faudrait d’abord payer au greffe dix-huit-mille-cinq-cents francs pour le capital et onze-cent-vingt-neuf francs, cinquante centimes de frais…et encore, non (je suis bête!) Tivoli coûte trois francs d’entrée, et je n’ai que quarante deux sous.
Let's see! To go to Tivoli this evening, you would first have to pay the clerk's office eighteen thousand five hundred francs for the capital and eleven hundred and twenty-nine francs, fifty centimes for costs...and again, no (I'm silly!) Tivoli costs three francs to go, and I only have forty-two sous.

13. Aux Gardes-du-Commerce: que le bon Dieu les patafiole!
At the Gardes-du-Commerce: may the good Lord spoil them!

14. Quand nous voulons danser, Tivoli est là, mon cher: Entre Tivoli et nous il n’y que deux murs et un coup de fusil.
When we want to dance, Tivoli is there, my dear: Between Tivoli and us there are only two walls and a gunshot.

15. Mon cher Monsieur, je vous laisse la guérite comme je l’ai prise et la consigne comme on me l’a donnée: “de l’amour sur la conscience et du champagne dessous”,…rien de bon comme ça pour les rhumes de chagrin. Courte et bonne! c’est le mot d’ordre ici, comme ailleurs.
My dear sir, I leave you the sentry box as I took it and the instructions as they gave it to me: “love on your conscience and champagne underneath”,…nothing good like that for the colds of sorrow. Short and good! this is the watchword here, as elsewhere.

16. Moi j’ai signé pour cinq cents francs et je n’en ai eu que trois cents, et encore en vin de champagne…et on m’a repris le vin pour les frais… Ils auraient mieux fait de t’amener ici tout de suite; au moins nous aurions les fioles.
I signed for five hundred francs and I only got three hundred, and again in champagne wine...and they took the wine back from me for the expenses... They would have done better to bring you here straight away. after; at least we would have the vials.

17. Mias comment as-tu pu te laisser prendre comme ça? Demande aux Canards sauvages comment ils se laissent prendre!... Il a tire sur moi le premier Mars, on m’a ramassé le cinq Avril: voilà comme çà se fait.
Mias how could you let yourself be taken like that? Ask the Wild Ducks how they let themselves be caught!... He shot me on the first of March, they picked me up on the fifth of April: that's how it is done.

18. Voilà un Tilbury, Pamela, qui nous a menés en moins de trois mois de la rue Saint Jacques à Clichy… Hein le bon cheval!
Here is a Tilbury, Pamela, who took us in less than three months from rue Saint Jacques to Clichy… Hein, the good horse!

19. Ici on ne peut pas faire de farce à sa Ninie: v’la ce qui vous chiffonne!
Here you can't prank your Ninie: that's what's bugging you!

20. Entends tu; à Tivoli?... Il y en a deux ici, des cavaliers seuls, et qui ne demanderaient pas mieux que de faire la chaîne des Dames.
Do you hear; at Tivoli?... There are two here, single riders, who would like nothing better than to make the chain of Ladies.

21. Sans le mur cette boule – là irait loin. Et ton camarade aussi.
Without the wall this ball – there would go far. And your friend too.

Price: $4,500.00