[Modes et Ridicules]

Paris: Gihaut Frères, éditeurs, 1825. One of Henry Monnier's Earliest Works
Ten Superb Hand-Colored Lithograph Plates Depicting 'Absurd Fads'

MONNIER, Henry, illustrator. [Modes et Ridicules]. Paris: Gihaut Frères, éditeurs, 1825.

Quarto (10 7/8 x 8 1/2 inches; 276 x 216 mm.). Ten superb hand colored lithograph plates, mounted on stubs. Plate margins with some light foxing.

Recently bound by Roger Devauchelle in full violet cloth, black leather label lettered in gilt on front board. An excellent copy of an extremely scarce album.

The plates:

1. Avec beaucoup de plaisir, Monsieur! (With a lot (truncated) of fun, sir!)
2. Voulez-vous me faire l'honneur, Mademoiselle?… (Will you do me the honor, Miss?)
3. Satisfaction personnelle. (Personal satisfaction)
4. Embarras de Soi-meme. (Self embarrassment)
5. Mes jours de danse sont passés!… (My dance days are over!…)
6. Mécontentement intérieur. (Domestic discontent)
7. Le Journal ne dit rien!… (The journal does not say anything!…)
8. Distraction.
9. Je ne trouve plus de danseur! (I cannot find a dance partner anymore!)
10. Un Chanteur de Romanees. (A singer of Romanees.)

According to OCLC there are only two copies in libraries and institutions worldwide: The Morgan Library & Museum (NY, USA) and Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek Klassik (Germany).

“Between 1825 and 1827 Monnier passed much of his time in London, where he collaborated with Lami in what was to become the Voyage en Angleterre. On his return to Paris he embarked on a series of albums in which he recorded the manners and humors of the city with unprecedented profusion. Between 1826 and 1830 he satisfied the insatiable demand for his designs with almost 500 lithographs, nearly all of which were drawn with a pen and colored by hand. For each design he himself colored a master print and carefully supervised its subsequent preparation… Some of the salient titles in his human comedy may be mentioned. There are potpourris like Recréations du coeur et de l’esprit, Paris vivant, and Rencontres Parisiennes. Macédoine pittoresque. There are more closely focussed surveys like Les grisettes, Moeurs administratives, Galerie théâtrale, Boutiques de Paris, and Six Quartiers de Paris. There are suites like Jadis et aujourd’hui and Les contrastes, which take their departure from comparisons in time or of manners…Monnier was a satirist with a difference. His attitude towards his subjects hardly varies. His aim was to set down what he saw with elegance and precision, but with no overt interpretation or judgment” (Ray, The Art of the French Illustrated Book, p. 199). (Inventory #: 04509)