Ce Que Parler Veut Dire

Paris: Paris: Chez Aubert gal: Vero-Dodat, 1837. Thirty Fine and Very Humorous & Satirical Hand Colored Lithograph Plates by Henri Bouchot

BOUCHOT, Frédéric, illustrator. Ce Que Parler Veut Dire. (What Talking Means). [Paris: Chez Aubert gal: Vero-Dodat, 1837].

Folio (13 15/16 x 10 1/8 inches; 355 x 257 mm.). Complete. Thirty fine hand colored lithograph plates, heightened with gum arabic. All plates signed 'Bouchot' except numbers 22, 27 & 28. Most plates interleaved. Small (3/4 inch) neatly repaired tear to lower blank margin of plate 12. A few very light marginal spots, otherwise fine.

Contemporary French maroon scored morocco over marbled boards. Spine with five raised bands, ruled and lettered in gilt, marbled endpapers.

A wonderful copy of this exceptionally rare book.

"French romantic lithography extended from 1817 to the 1850's. It is perhaps the greatest of all schools in the history of the medium" (Ray, p. 155). Artists like Bouchot, Gavarni, and Daumier were masters of lithography, depicting Paris life, manners, and dress with a vulgar and bawdy twist. Hand-colored lithographed plates by Bouchet are rare.

Frederic Bouchot (1798-?) was a leading French lithographic caricaturist and illustrator who regularly contributed to such publications as Le Charivari, La Caricature, and Journal pour rire. He also collaborated on individually published albums with such artists as Daumier and Morin. He is known primarily for his depictions of musical subjects and domestic scenes.

Exceptionally rare. OCLC locates just three copies in libraries and institutions worldwide: Getty Research Institute (CA, USA); Dorigny Unithèque, Bibliothèque Cantonale et Universitaire BCU Lausanne (Switzerland) & Kunstbiblio Staatliche Museen Zu Berlin (Germany). All three of these state 30 hand colored plates - however both Hiler & Lipperheide state 28 colored plates.

The plates - all with the headline "Ce Que Parler Veut Dire" (What Talking Means):

1. Cette toilette vous sied à ravir... / Vous avez l'air d'une borne habillée...
(This toilet is perfect for you ... / You look like a dressed bollard...)

2. Mon, mon ami, cela serait folie, je ne veux rien... / Si tu ne me l'achête pas, nous verrons...
(My friend, it would be folly, I do not want anything ... / If you don't buy it, we'll see ...)

3. Vous nous restez, n'est-ce pas?... Allons, acceptez sans façon / Ennuyeux personnages!... Mon dîner va être trop
court...
(You will stay with us - won't you? ... Come, accept without ceremony / Boring characters! ... My dinner will be too
short ...)

4. Mais sans doute nous lui ferons faire son chemin... / Je t'enverrai aux grandes Indiens, beau cousin de ma femme...
(But no doubt we will make him this way ... / I'll send you to the big Indians, my wife's beautiful cousin ...)

5. Vous vous ressemblez comme deux gouttes de lait / Crois ça et bois de l'eau!...
(You resemble two drops of milk / believe it - and drink water! ...)

6. Vraiment, on vous prendrait pour les deux soeurs... / Vieille folle, va!...
(Really, I would take you for two sisters ... / You old crazy, go! ...)

7. Vous êtes lég re comme une plume! / Ouf quelle charette!
(You are light as a feather! / Phew what a weight!)

8. Je suis toujours satisfaite de savoir mon mari avec vous... / J'ésp re bien le brouiller avec une aussi mauvaise
connaissance
(I'm always happy to know my husband is with you ... / I hope it doesn't get twisted into gossip)

9. Il ne vous faut plus que l'air de la campagne / Pour mourir...
(All you need is the air of the countryside / To die ...)

10. Monsieur, puisque c'est la volonté de les parens / Puisque vous êtes riche et que je suis pauvre
(Sir, since it is the will of my parents / Since you are rich and I am poor...)

11. Ch re amie, signez mon bonheur / Signe ma fortune, vieille folle
(Dear friend, sign my happiness / Sign my fortune, old mad woman...)

12. Ruinée!... pauvre amie... / Tu ne m'écraseras plus avec ton luxe
(Ruined! ... poor friend ... / You will not crush me anymore with your luxury...)

13. Enchanté, Madame, de vous rencontrer... / Le diable l'emporte, je la croyais v pres
(Nice to meet you, madam ... / The devil wins, I thought she was in Vespers)

14. Sublime! Admirable! Pyramidal!... / Je n'ai jamais rien entendu d'aussi soporifique
(Sublime! Admirable! Pyramidal! ... / I've never heard anything so boring...)

15. Quel bonheur... je ne t'attendais pas sitôt / Comment vais je faire avec Jules
(What happiness ... I was not expecting you soon / How shall I go with Jules?)

16. Je chante, mon oncle, parceque je suis contente / Et que c'est notre signal
(I sing, Uncle, because I'm happy / And that's our signal)

17. Verser encore cent mille francs et l'affaire devient superbe!... / J'ai mangé le premier capital et j'en veux un
second...
(For another hundred thousand francs the business will become superb! ... / I ate up the first capital and I want a
second...)

18. Votre fils, Mr le Comte a les plus belles dispositions... / A devenir un crétin comme son p re
(Your son, the Count has the most beautiful disposition ... / To become a moron like his father...)

19. Votre demande m'honore... assurément... mais ma fille est encore si jeune!... / Tu es trop laid, trop béte et surtout
trop pauvre...
(Your request honors me ... certainly ... but my daughter is still so young! ... / You are too ugly, too stupid and
especially too poor ...

20. Cette pauvre amie, femme de chambre!! Je vais parter pour toi / Elle me compromettrait, je la ferai chasser
(This maid - my poor friend!! I will speak to her / She'll compromise me, I'll hunt her down)

21. Le'n'est rien Madame... peine vous ai-je sentie... / Le diable t'emporte, maudit éléphant!
(It's nothing Madame ... I hardly felt .it.. / The devil take you away, you damn elephant!)

22. J'aurai bien de la peine me consoler de cette perte douloureuse / Me voila veuve et hériti re
(I will have a hard time consoling myself for this painful loss / Here I am a widow and an heiress...)

23. Ne faites donc pas attention, ce n'est rien... / Vieux maladroit il n'en fait jamais d'autres
(Do not pay any attention, it's nothing ... / Clumsy old man he never thinks about others)

24. C'est une bonne fortune pour moi de reconduire madame votre soeur / A l'autre bout de Paris... c'est amusant!
(It's a good fortune for me to bring back your sister / At the other end of Paris ... it's amusing!)

25. Oh mon! Oh mon! mon cher... cette fois... je ne souffrirai pas... / Paye! Paye conscrit!...
(Oh my! Oh my! my dear ... this time ... I will not suffer ... / Pay! Pay the bill...)

26. Oh! Oui, Mamzelle, c'est par par intérêt au moins... / C'est l'chat!... vieux grigoux, sans ton testament je te lacherais
joliment
(Oh! Yes, Madamoiselle, it is at least interesting... / It's the cat! ... old devil, without your will I will let you off nicely)

27. Mon cher ami je suis horriblement g né en ce moment... / Ce pr ter c'est donner, je serai toujours g né pour toi,
mon cher...
(My dear friend, I am very annoyed at this time ... / This loan is a gift, I will always be happy for you, my dear ...)

28. Allons adieu... ã bient r / A jamais... je vais vous signaler au concierge, mes petits amis
(Let's say goodbye ... See you soon ... I will tell the concierge, my friends...)

29. C'est drõle, mon pere, je n'ai rien entendu... / C'est lui!...
(It's funny, father, I did not hear anything ... / It's him!)

30. Comment donc Madame, mais nous r glerons ça quand vous voudrez / Ah! Si j'avais su, je t'aurais fait manquer ta
soirée...
(So how about Madame, we'll settle it when you want / Ah! If I had known, I would have missed your evening ...)

Bobins V, 1530; Hiler p. 106 (28 colored plates only); Lipperheide 3574 (28 colored plates only). Not in Colas.