1869 Les Metamorphoses du Jour Par J.J. Grandville. Richly illustrated.

Seventy zany lithographs from J.J. Grandville illustrate this 1869 Les Metamorphoses. Grandville was called, "The First Star of French caricature's great age... the zoomorphic figures that populated his cartoons anticipated and influenced the work of generations of cartoonists and illustrators from John Tenniel, to Gustave Dore and Walt Disney. He was also called a 'proto-surrealist' and was greatly admired by Andre Breton among others."

"Grandville's first real success was Les Métamorphoses du jour (The Metamorphoses of the Day), a set of 70 color lithographs first published in 1829. In this series, figures with human bodies but the heads of various animals, from fish to elephants, are depicted acting out a human comedy, perceptively satirizing the bourgeois of Paris and human nature in general. It established his reputation with the public and he was thereafter sought after as an illustrator by publishers and periodicals." - Wikipedia

Provenance -

This copy with the ex-libris plate of the Lavaur de Sainte-Fortunade family, of Sainte-Fortunade, France.

Bibliographic Details -

Worldcat OCLC catalogue number 12005650. Title notes that this is a new edition, revised and completed for the text.

Physical Attributes -

Measures approx. 27.5 x 18 x 5.5 cm, signed in four. Leather spine and corners, dark green. Spine with five raised bands, five compartments with a central gilt tool, and one with Grandville and the title in gilt.

One title page plate, and 70 colored/numbered plates.

Pages - Four unnumbered pages, lxiii, 480 (and 70 plates).

Condition -

See pictures. Binding with some wear around edges and corners, some rub to boards. Green leather slightly faded. Book just slightly out of square. Ex-libris plate on pastedown. Some toning and rust/fox spots throughout as is typical to paper of this age. Occasional thumb mark. Sometimes the stubs the plates are mounted off protrude on the other side of a gathering, at the gutter. Some ghosting of plates onto facing pages. Almost all tissue guards are gone. All 70 numbered plates and the title page plate present.