Louis Reybaud / Tony Johannot - Jérôme Paturot - 1849

Superb illustrated set of this mordant social and political satire of the 19th century, where the eponymous character embodies the illusions, ambitions, and contradictions of post-revolutionary French bourgeoisie -

Volume I, entitled Jérôme Paturot in Search of a Social Position, initially published in 1843, depicts a provincial petit bourgeois aspiring to success in mid-range Paris -

Through his misadventures, Reybaud critiques institutions, careerism, the facades of modernity, and social utopias -

The style is lively, ironic, and punctuated with witty dialogues, while Johannot’s illustrations – incisive, expressive, often caricatural – reinforce the comic and critical dimension of the narrative -

Volume II, Jérôme Paturot in Search of the Best of Republics, published in 1848 in the bubbling context of the Second Republic, extends the satirical vein by confronting the hero with republican ideologies, reformers, revolutionaries, and the contradictions of universal suffrage -

Reybaud, liberal economist and pamphleteer, deploys a sharp critique of political utopias and democratic drift, while preserving a humorous and detached tonalité -

Louis Reybaud / Tony Johannot - Jérôme Paturot - 1849 - Volumes I and II - Michel Lévy Frères -
286, 285 pages, large format (26.5 x 19.5 cm)

Good condition of bindings, works in their half-black morocco of the period, wear from use, corners, heads and tails rubbed, marbled edges, spine with raised bands and decorative compartments, gilded titles and volumes -

Good interior condition, foxing, works enriched with numerous illustrations in and out of text and on the frontispiece, pink endpapers -

good copy of this splendid work."