SCHEFFER, Jean-Gabriel J.S -.

Recueil de Cinquante Scènes de Grisettes

Paris: Delpech, 1826. Item #05491

Grisettes
Fifty Superb Hand Colored Lithographs

[SCHEFFER, Jean-Gabriel]. J.S -. Recueil de Cinquante Scènes de Grisettes. Paris: Delpech, [1826].

First edition. Folio (13 x 9 1/2 inches; 330 x 241 mm.). Vignette lithograph title-page and fifty hand-colored lithographs.

Contemporary quarter black diced paper over marbled boards, spine expertly restored. Front cover with bat-shaped paper label lettered in manuscript "Cinquante Scènes De Grisettes". Some minor spotting and staining throughout but still an excellent example of this notoriously rare book. Housed in a fleece-lined quarter black morocco clamshell case, spine with five raised bands decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt in compartments.

Exceptionally rare with no copies appearing at auction over the past one hundred years. OCLC/KVK locate just three examples (all complete with 50 color plates) in libraries and institutions worldwide: Morgan Library & Museum (NY, US); Harry Ransom Library, University of Texas, Austin (TX, US); Kunstbiblio Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Germany).

A Grisette (sometimes spelled Grizette) refers to a French working-class woman from the late 17th century and has remained in common use through the Belle Époque era, albeit with some modifications to its meaning. It derives from gris (French for grey), and refers to the cheap grey fabric of the dresses these women originally wore. The 1694 edition of the Dictionnaire de l'Académie française described a grisette as simply "a woman of lowly condition". By the 1835 edition of the dictionary, her status had risen somewhat. She was described as: a young working woman who is coquettish and flirtatious.

The contemporary manners and customs of Parisian couples, illustrated with great charm and wry, understated humor by Swiss genre painter and lithographer Jean Gabriel Scheffer (1797-1876), who studied with Regnault and was a friend of Corot, Aligny, and Léopold Robert. His work was shown at the Salon de Paris beginning in 1822; his reputation as a designer of many wryly humorous lithographs, typically signed "J.S.," was firm.

Recueil de Cinquante Scenes de Grisettes Plates (all signed J.S.):

-. Dieu, que je suis lasse!
-. Eh bien, tiens,…ne crie plus.
2. Que c'est ennuyeux les vacances!
-. Allons, allons, pas tant de raisons…
5. Ah vous me faites des niches!
6. Et puis vous épouserez une femme riche.
7. Vous ne serez plus méchant?
8. Ça ne vous regarde pas.
9. Nous serons comme frère et soeur?
10. C'est un beau jeune homme.
11. Ah bah! un de perdue, deux de retrouvés.
12. C'est un gage de fidelite…
13. Nous les rattraperons.
14. Le te pardonne mais tu me le pairas.
15. Sans compter…qu'il fait des Romances…
16. Il set passé - ai-je eu peur.
17. Ah, si j'avais su comme tu es!
18. Le loyer, 2000 francs…
19. Oh, qui je voudrais use chaine comme ça!
20. Et ce monsieur…? - il est très riche mais…
21. Tu n'es pas gentil ce soir.
21. Votre fidèle ami pour la vie ton nom…et enfoncé.
22. Oh, je t'en pie, ne me, parle pas raison…
22. Pas possible!
26. Est-ce que je peux empêcher qu'on m'aime?
27. Dis done, Constance…
25. Puisqu'il me la juré…
28. Je comprends ma bonne, je comprends.
29. Une minute, je suis sauvage yusqu’a onze heures.
One minute, I'm wild until eleven.
30. ?... – moi je n’ai rien avec lui.
?... – I have nothing with him.
31. Comment, ma petite, il vous écrit en prose!
How, my little one, he writes to you in prose!
32. Je taime toujours, ma parole.
I still love you, my word.
33. Si l’on était bavarde!...
If we were talkative!...
34. A-t-il un ami?...
Does he have a friend?...
35. De qui est-ce...ah j’y suis.
From who is it...ah I'm there.
36. Tu ne me donnes plus tant d’agrement?
Don't you give me so much pleasure anymore?
37. Les étudians! c’est ma bête noire, les négotcians en gros à la bonne heure.
Students! it's my pet peeve, wholesale traders at the right time.
38. Le tems des amours devrait durer toujours!
The time of love should last forever!
39. ça me fait un vide, je ne peux pas rester sans.
it leaves me empty, I can't stay without it.
40. Ayez donc la liberté de la presse, c’est aimable!
So have freedom of the press, it's nice!
41. Je me souviens bien de mes deux premiers Alfred et León mais après ça je m’embrouille.
I remember my first two Alfred and León well but after that I get confused.
42. Comme t’es belle! il t’a donc r’augmentée.
How pretty you are! so he increased you.
43. Comme tu engraisses, mon ami!...
How fat you are, my friend!...
44. Il est si caressant! oui mais...il me rapporte pas.
He is so caressing! yes but... it does not bring me back.
45. J’ai bien vu que tu lui as serré la main à la queue du chat de la poule.
I saw that you shook his hand on the tail of the hen's cat.
46. Comme c’est attachant qand il l’enléve!
How endearing when he takes it off!
47. Tu sais que je suis si sensible et tu me fais toujours du chagrin.
You know I'm so sensitive and you always hurt me.
48. Jamais!
Never!
49. Toujours.
Always.
50. Ni jamais, ni toujours.
Neither ever nor always.

Lipperheide 3685; Not in Bobins, Colas or Hiler.

Price: $14,500.00