Grandville - Cent proverbes - 1845

Magnificent illustrated edition of this major work by Grandville, the famous French illustrator and caricaturist of the 19th century, in which the artist transforms around a hundred proverbs and popular expressions into visual scenes that are humorous, satirical, absurd, and deeply observant of society of his time -

The work rests on a simple but particularly fruitful principle, that of taking well-known proverbial formulas and giving them an unexpected graphic translation, often literal, paradoxical or subverted, in order to create a mismatch between the traditional meaning of the expression and the depicted situation -

Grandville thus exploits the richness of popular language to build an universe where words seem to take shape and where maxims become real little theatrical scenes. Each proverb constitutes the starting point of a composition in which characters, animals, objects, gestures, costumes and settings are combined to produce an immediate reading while leaving room for several levels of interpretation -

The artist does not merely seek to illustrate the expressions mechanically, for he uses their ambiguity, their figurative sense and their moral connotations to create comic situations that often reveal the contradictions of human conduct -

Grandville - Cent proverbes - 1845 - H. Fournier -
400 Pages.

Very good condition of the binding, the work in its original half-chagrin leather binding, boards covered in percaline, slight signs of wear, gilt edges, spine with finely decorative raised bands, title and author’s name gilded, cold-stamped rules framing the boards -

Very good interior condition, handsome vignette on title page, pretty headbands, beautiful initial, the work enriched with charming engravings in black both within and outside the text including the frontispiece, modern endpapers in good condition, a fine copy -

Delivery service available within a few days -