DORÉ, Gustave

La Ménagerie Parisienne

Paris: Au Bureau du Journal Pour Rire, [1854]. Item #06358

"From Lions to Sewer Rats: Doré’s Merciless Pencil Spares No Class of Parisian Society"

DORÉ, Gustave. La Ménagerie Parisienne. Paris: Au Bureau du Journal Pour Rire, n.d. [1854].

First [proof] printing of this remarkable and extremely rare album, comprising 24 original lithographs by Veyron after Gustave Doré. The work was advertised in the Bibliographie de la France on 28 October 1854 (no. 3826).

Oblong folio (10 1/4 x 13 1/2 inches; 259 x 343 mm). Original publisher’s green paper wrappers, title stamped in gilt.
A minute chip to the lower edge of the front wrapper (approximately 5/8 x 3/8 inch), otherwise a superb, fresh copy, preserved in the publisher’s original glassine and entirely free of foxing. Housed in a quarter red morocco chemise, gilt-lettered, over marbled boards, within a matching red leather-edged slipcase.

An exceptionally fine and unrecorded example, printed on papier vélin fort. Not listed by standard bibliographers, the leaves are 5/8 inch wider than usual examples. This suite appears never to have been commercially marketed. It was issued without a printed title-page, the title instead stamped in gold on the green wrappers.

In La Ménagerie Parisienne, Doré delivers a scathing and brilliantly observed satire of Parisian society. Social types are transformed into a kind of urban “fauna,” each class assigned an animal identity that mirrors its dress, posture, and moral character - yet without ever sacrificing humanity. Aristocrats of the Faubourg Saint-Germain appear as “lions” and “lionesses,” adopting a term already current in 18th-century England, while the social scale descends inexorably to the “rats” of the Parisian sewers. Doré’s vision is unsparing, and no stratum of urban life escapes his scrutiny. (Michèle Lavallée, Gustave Doré 1832-1883, p. 287).

Produced during Doré’s youth, this album reveals the formative synthesis of his influences. While the titles and captions recall Grandville, whose work deeply marked Doré’s early career, the drawings themselves resonate strongly with the graphic force and social acuity of Daumier. Among the most celebrated plates is the riotous assembly of washerwomen, a scene that would become emblematic of Doré’s early satirical power.

Doré first visited Paris in 1847 with his parents and soon showed his drawings to Charles Philipon, who immediately recognized his talent and engaged him for the Journal Pour Rire. Although Doré’s earliest lithographic albums - beginning with Les Travaux d’Hercule, published when he was just fifteen - are today among his most engaging works, they remain conspicuously under-represented even in advanced collections due to their extreme scarcity. As Gordon Ray observed, albums such as Les Différents publics de Paris, Les Folies gauloises, Les Agréments d’un voyage de désagrément (1851), and La Ménagerie Parisienne (1854) reveal Doré at his most inventive and humorous, combining youthful exuberance with a remarkably sophisticated social vision. Gordon Ray. The Art of the Illustrated Book in France 1700-1914, p. 327.

A rare and important early Doré album, virtually unobtainable in this condition and state.

The plates:
1. Lions
2. Petits Lions, Lions adultes
3. Lionnes
4. Lionnes (Sortie de la messe d'1 heure)
5. Lionnes et leurs petits
6. Paons
7. Rats (d'opéra)
8. Rats (d'égout)
9. Rats peintres (alias rapins)
10. Rats de Jardin
11. Loups
12. Loups cerviers
13. Vautours
14. Les dindons et les oies
15. Serpents
16. Pies
17. Crapauds
18. Coq (de barriere)
19. Tigre / Serin
20. Pantheres
21. Chouettes
22. Vielles Pantheres
23. Buses
24. Oiseau de proie / Merlan.

Price: $6,000.00