Prophéties Charivariques
Paris: Chez Aubert & Cie. Editeurs, 1846. Item #06726
Quillenbois’ Rare Album of Sixty-Nine Facetious Prophecies of Parisian Life
Twenty Fine Hand Colored Lithographs all Heightened with Gum Arabic
[QUILLENBOIS, pseudonym of Charles-Marie de Sarcus, illustrator]. Prophéties Charivariques. Par Quillenbois. Paris: Chez Aubert & Cie., [n.d., but ca. 1846].
Large folio (13 1/8 x 9 7/8 inches; 333 x 251 mm.). Hand colored lithographed title and twenty hand colored lithographed plates all heightened with gum arabic, containing sixty-nine captioned vignette caricatures illustrating a series of humorous and satirical “prophecies.” Plates clean and bright throughout.
Modern quarter brown cloth over red marbled boards, spine lettered in gilt. Original pictorial lithograph front wrapper bound in. A near fine example with just the bare minimum of light occasional marginal foxing.
A rare album of French caricature published by Aubert & Cie., the celebrated Parisian house responsible for issuing the works of Daumier, Grandville, Gavarni, Cham, and many of the leading satirical artists of the nineteenth century. Through sixty-nine witty visual predictions, Quillenbois transforms ordinary aspects of contemporary life into comic forecasts, lampooning the fashions, ambitions, vanities, and social pretensions of the Parisian bourgeoisie. Each vignette presents a self-contained joke, while collectively they offer a lively panorama of mid-nineteenth-century French society viewed through the lens of caricature.
The album belongs to the rich tradition of humorous lithographic publications associated with Le Charivari and the flourishing culture of illustrated satire that reached its height in Paris during the 1840s. Rather than political criticism, Quillenbois directs his attention toward the absurdities of everyday life, employing exaggeration, visual irony, and keen observation to create a succession of comic scenes that remain remarkably fresh and engaging. The inventive format, with multiple vignettes arranged on each plate, recalls the visual storytelling techniques developed in the illustrated press and demonstrates the artist’s considerable skill as both draftsman and humorist.
Charles-Marie de Sarcus (1821–1867), who worked under the pseudonym “Quillenbois,” was among the younger generation of caricaturists active during the final great flowering of French lithographic satire. A friend and associate of Cham, he contributed drawings to numerous illustrated journals including La Revue Comique, L’Éclair, La Mode, and L’Illustration, and served as official artist for Le Caricaturiste between 1849 and 1851. Although his work appeared widely during his lifetime, his separately published albums are today considerably rarer than those of his more celebrated contemporaries.
Rare. OCLC records only two institutional holdings worldwide: the Morgan Library & Museum, New York, and the Zentralbibliothek Zürich. We also know of two other copies in private collections. We have been unable to trace another copy in the auction records, underscoring the exceptional rarity of this delightful and evocative survival from the golden age of French caricature.
Price: $3,500.00