La Bible comique - 1880

The Comic Bible, text by Beausapin, drawings by Edmond Lavrate

The Comic Bible is a rare and delicious work pairing Beausapin’s prose with Edmond Lavrate’s drawings, two figures of the world of illustrated press and French caricature in the second half of the 19th century. In the grand tradition of parodic literature and French satirical illustration, The Comic Bible offers a humorous and irreverent re-reading of the biblical texts, a genre particularly popular under the Third Republic, an era of outspoken freedom and the rise of illustrated press.

Here is a spirited and playful Beausapin text, cleverly brought to life by the drawings of Edmond Lavrate, an illustrator with a lively and expressive line, whose style belongs to the tradition of the great French caricaturists of the time. The whole forms a savory dialogue between text and image, in the vein of the great illustrated albums of the 19th century. A precious testimony to the free, jovial spirit of Belle Époque France, The Comic Bible is a rare and endearing bibliophilic object, reflecting an era in which one dared to laugh at everything with talent and lightness.

Undated (circa 1880), 19 x 27 cm, 634 pages. Half-leather tobacco binding, smooth spine with gilded title and author. Worn binding, worn corners. Pages detached: from the front flyleaf to page 2, page 7/8. Tears on the back flyleaf. Sporadic browning."}