Paul Gavarni / Théophile Gautier, Laurent-Jan, P.-J. Stahl - Œuvres choisies de Gavarni — Études de mœurs contemporaines - 1846-1848

GAVARNI (Paul). Selected works, revised, corrected and newly classified by the author. Studies of contemporary mores. Paris, J. Hetzel, Warnod et Cie, and Garnier frères, 1846-1848. Four volumes, illustrated with full-page wood engravings and titles ornamented.

Together gathering the twelve series of the Selected Works: The Terrible Children, Translations into vernacular language, The Court Ladies, The Actresses; Disguises of women in matters of sentiment, Clichy, Paris by night; The Carnival in Paris, Paris by day, The Students of Paris; The Life of a Young Man and The Scavengers. The general titles are dated 1846, 1846, 1847 and 1848; some series titles bear a distinct date, notably The Carnival in Paris, 1846.

The notes placed at the head of the series are due notably to Théophile Gautier, Laurent-Jan, Auguste Lireux, Léon Gozlan, A. Barthet, A. de Soubiran and P.-J. Stahl. Text and image combine to present a panorama of Parisian society: student life, theater, nocturnal pleasures, carnival, small sentimental intrigues and domestic scenes. The captioned dialogues extend the satire of the drawing, with particular attention to the gestures, costumes and the language of the characters.

The edition gathers wood-engraved compositions after Gavarni, with a frontispiece by Lorentz. The scenes depicted in the exemplar show the diversity of this gallery of types and situations. The presentation of isolated figures on the page emphasizes the line and the relations between the characters.

Uniform old bindings in red half-leather, smooth spine adorned with gold rules and roll decorations, titles and volumes gilt, boards of red and black marbled paper, marbled endpapers. A decorative set of four volumes devoted to one of the great graphic observers of the mores of his time.

Condition: wear and epidermural marks to the spines, small color losses and scratches, wear to the ends and corners. Foxing and spots; a substantial brown stain affects the half-title and the title of the volume containing The Carnival in Paris, especially along the outer margin. The photographed engravings retain a clearly legible impression.