La Menagerie Parisienne

1861. DORÉ, Gustave. La Ménagerie Parisienne. Comprised of a printed title and 24 lithographic plates. 4to, 243 x 325 mm., disbound, in a new cloth folding box. Paris: Journal Pour Rire, 1854. First edition of this very early work by Doré. Created as a social satire of French culture, La Ménagerie Parisienne was intended by Doré to be witty more than critical. He attributed an animal name to select Parisians, attitudes and fashion in clothing corresponding to the characteristics of the animal. For example: Lions portrays a group of preening, bearded men haughtily studying female pedestrians as they promenade past; Lionnes gives us a portrait of indifferent women of high class speeding in a carriage through a Parisian street; Rats d'opéra reveal three men in a box at the Paris opera house leering at the stage populated with a phalanx of comely ballerinas; and Coq is a sheer delight, displaying a male dancer on tip-toe, nose high in the air, performing a street jig for a captivated audience. Other subjects include: Loups (wolves), Les Buses (buzzards), Chouettes (owls), Panthères (panthers), Pie (magpies), Gens de Bourse (stockbrokers), and Grandes Dames ou Gens du Peuple. This early Doré publication offers lithographs very much in the spirit and under the influence of Honoré Daumier. All three of these lithographic albums are rare. Most copies were long ago taken apart to sell the lithographs individually. This copy is without the original wrappers and has some minor foxing and soiling, but is a generally fresh and desirable copy of an early Doré rarity. Malan, Gustave Doré, p. 230. Leblanc, Catalogue de L'Oeuvre Complet de Gustave Doré, p. 237.