La Bible comique - 1880

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

The Comical Bible is a rare and savory work pairing Beausapin’s prose with Edmond Lavrate’s drawings, two figures of the world of illustrated press and French caricature in the latter half of the 19th century. In the great tradition of parody literature and French satirical illustration, The Comical Bible offers a humorous and irreverent rereading of biblical texts, a genre especially in vogue under the Third Republic, an era of great freedom of tone and the rise of illustrated press.

Here is an alert and playful text by Beausapin, deftly rendered in images by the drawings of Edmond Lavrate, an illustrator whose lines are vivid and expressive, whose style follows in the tradition of the great French caricaturists of the period. The whole forms a tasty dialogue between text and image, in the spirit of the great illustrated albums of the 19th century. A precious testimony to the free and roguish spirit of Belle Époque France, The Comical Bible is a bibliophilic object that is rare and endearing, a reflection of a time when one dared to laugh at everything with talent and lightness.

Without date (circa 1880), 19 x 27 cm, 634 pages. Half-calf tobacco binding, smooth spine with gilded title and author. Worn binding, corners dulled. Disbound pages: from the front free endpaper to page 2, page 7/8. Tears on the rear free endpaper. Foxing.