Proverbes et Bons Mots Mis en Action, d'après les Moeurs Populaires;

PIGAL, Edme-Jean; ARAGO, Joseph Honoré; PAJOU, Augustin

Published by Paris: Chez Noël et Dauty, 1823

About this Item

Proverbs and Good Words Put Into Action… Complete With Sixty-Six Fine Hand Colored Lithographs PIGAL, Edme-Jean (1798-1873). ARAGO, Jacques (1790-1855). PAJOU, Augustin (1800-1878). [Proverbes et Bons Mots Mis en Action, d'après les Moeurs Populaires; Composés et Lithographiés par MM. Pigal, Pajou et J.s Arago, avec Texte explicatif rédigé par J.s Arago…]. Paris: Chez Noël et Dauty, 1822-24. First and only edition. Large folio (13 3/8 x 10 inches; 340 x 254 mm.). Sixty-six fine hand colored plates lithographed by Langlumé, each with a printed leaf of explanation by Jacques Arago. Many plates with light foxing and or staining, the most noticeable being on plate 51. Plates 56 & 58 with erroneous numbers changed in early ink; Plates 57 & 59 with erroneous numbers changed in pencil. Light foxing and or staining to text leaves. Still a wonderful copy of this very rare and amusing book - the contemporary coloring of the plates quite superb. Bound ca. 1840 in full brown pebble-grain morocco over boards, smooth spine ruled and lettered in gilt, marbled end-papers. Excessively rare with just three copies located in libraries and institutions worldwide (all with sixty-six plates) This exceptionally rare and beautiful book of sixty-six hand colored caricatures depicting French proverbs is complete as issued. It was published in fascicules (parts), each with six hand colored plates and apparently was intended to run to twelve fascicules, but it was discontinued after the eleventh part. The amusing proverbs include "Un peu d'aide fait grand bien."(A little help does a lot of good…); "Honni soit qui mal y pense." (Evil be to him that thinks evil…); "L'occasion sait le larron." (Opportunity makes the thief…); "Battons le ser tandis qu'il est chaud." (Strike while the iron is hot…); "Ventre assamé n' a pas d'oreilles." (A hungry stomach has no ears…); "Pierre qui roule n'amasse pas mousse." (A rolling stone gathers no moss…); "Tout ce qui reluit n'est pas or." (All that glitters is not gold…);"Tôt ou tard la vérité se découvre." (Sooner or later the truth is discovered…); "Il vaut mieux tard que jamais." (It is better late than never…); and "Mari sourd et Femme aveugle sont toujours bon ménage." (A deaf husband and a blind wife are always a happy couple…). "Pigal produced an album illustrating proverbs which is not listed in standard reference books. Precedent for this subject had been set by Breugel in the sixteenth century, but Goya's Disparates were not published until 1964. The French proverbs represented in the exhibition are by and large close to similar sayings in English, and the pictures are self-explanatory."(Beatrice Farwell. The Charged Image, French Lithographic Caricature 1816-1848, pp.132-135 and full-page color illustration La nuit, tous chats sont gris on p. 34). "Like the caricatures in La Charge, Arago's prints were both thematically and stylistically similar to the caricatures published in Philipon's newspapers. This is hardly surprising since Arago, like his brothers Étienne [who was the owner of the Théâtre du Vaudeville and the foremost republican militant in the theatrical world] and Francois, was a committed republican and one of Philipon's friends. He had in fact contributed to La Caricature in 1833; it is hardly surprising that he used Philipon's arsenal of anti-Louis-Philippe imagery in his work for the legitimists…" (David S. Kerr. Caricature and French Political Culture 1830-1848, pp. 176-177). We can locate just three copies in Libraries and Institutions worldwide: 1. (BNF) Bibliotheque Nationale de France, 2. Universitätsbibliothek Erlangen-Nürnberg, Hauptbibliothek, 3. (BVB) Bibliotheksverbund Bayern No complete copies have appeared at auction over the past one hundred years. The plates: 1.Un peu d'aide fait grand bien.A little help does a lot of good… (Pigal) 2. Nécessité n' a pas de lois. Necessity has no law… (Pajou) 3. A l'impossible nul n'est tenu. No one is bound to do impossibilities… (Arago) 4.Celui qu. Seller Inventory # 05399

Bibliographic Details

Title: Proverbes et Bons Mots Mis en Action, ...

Publisher: Paris: Chez Noël et Dauty, 1823

Edition: 1st Edition