//Pictures
  • Le Grelot / journal illustré politique et satirique, №21, dimanche, 3 septembre 1871. Artist: Caporal (signed in the lower-left corner) Engraver/Printer: J. Lefman (signed LEFMAN SC in the lower-right corner) Title: LE COUP D'ÉTAT DU 4 SEPTEMBRE  1871. The Coup d'Etat of September 4th 1871. The artist equalled the 4th of September revolution when Napoleon III was ousted and the Second Empire collapsed, to a coup d'Etat. Although the number is marked September 3, it is dedicated to the events of September 4th. This was a usual French newspaper practice to postdate their issues. That's why they almost always operated with categories such as "today", "yesterday", and "tomorrow" instead of definitive calendar dates. "Le Grelot" means "The Sleigh Bell". Personages: Ratapoil – fictional personage invented by Honoré Daumier (French, 1808 – 1879), a Napoleon III caricaturized figure. Ratapoil is addressing the audience holding up Napoléon Bonaparte's tricorn cocked hat. Pietri – Joseph Marie Piétri [Joachim Piétri] (French, – is sitting in the first row, taking notes. Rouher – Eugène Rouher (French, 1814 – 1884), president of the Senat. Canrobert – François Marcellin Certain de Canrobert (French, 1809 – 1895), French Marshal, captured by the Prussian army in Metz with Marshal Bazaine during the surrender of Metz on October 28, 1870. Ollivier – Olivier Émile Ollivier (French, 1825 – 1913), head of the government. Hiding behind the theater decoration are: Napoleon III (Lui!), his wife Eugénie (Elle!), their son Prince Imperial (Le P'tit!), and Pierre Bonaparte (L'Autre). Sitting in the theatre box facing the scene: Adolphe Thiers (French, 1797 – 1877), Jules Favre (French, 1809 – 1880), Louis-Jules Trochu [Le General Trochu] (French, 1815 – 1896), and the other members of the "Government of National Defence". On the gallery: youngsters and two men in sans-culottes hats. An unidentified person on a ladder holding to an eagle figure is having a paintbrush and a bucket with 'tender green' paint. Ref: Musée Carnavalet
  • The 103rd Bon Bock Dinner Invitation

    Artist: François Avenet a.k.a. Alexandre Ferdinandus (French, 1850 – 1888).

    Bismarck à Alphonse

    Alphonse, cher poissure! Roi pschutt du monde u’lan! Je te fais Colonel des pillards de pendules! Si cela fait rager le Bon-Bock et les Jules Tant mieux! Mais garde bien to Trône Basque-Uhlan. O. Pradels.

    Cher monsieur, Le 103ème Dîner du Bon-Bock aura lieu mardi prochain / à 7h précises aux Vendanges de Bourgognel / 14, rue Jessaint (place de la Chapelle). Si vous nous faites le plaisir d’y assister : Veuillez écrire à Mr. E. Bellot, / 37 rue St Marc, au plus tard lundi soir. Votre réponse / est absolument obligatoire pour faire mettre votre couvert (nos camarades des théâtres exceptés.) L’affirmative entraine le paiement de la cotisation présence ou absence. / Programme de notre dernière soirée. 1e H Covin (piano) une valse de sa compo- / sition. 2e de Courment : Le Chanteur du roi (1ère série) par l’auteur. / 3e Dulin de l’o.p.e. Rondeau de la petite mariée 4e Doublemard : / souvenir de la Plage La baigneuse 5e "la famille des Saltimbanque" / 6e C. Maubant Romance de la Traviata. 7e Ct. Carjat Toast à l’Alsace-/Lorraine vers par l’auteur. 8e Guillabert de l’ap. de Nantes : le Pressoir mud. de / Faure . 9e Ch. Delacour : le Poete, Sonnet. 10e if. le Duc Jean if. 11e / Fromentin. Panurge (Mus. d’Hervé) 13e A. Claris la Haine vers par l’aut. / Benty : mon p’tit neveu : paroles d’Po Clouvier. mus. de Darcier. 15e Charles / Delacour : la leçon d’Arithmétique. 16e J.B. Collegnon Fanchette, romance/ par l’auteur. 17e Doublemard : le Cocher (monologue de P. Marzin) 18e / Dulin : le Cor musique de Flégier. 19e J. M. Collignon : Elle s’appela/ Marguerite par. De L. Baillet mus de Collignon. 20e L. Bellot / annonce de l’exposition des arts incohérents sous la direction de / Jules Féry. Tous nos remerciements à Mr. Henri Covin qui a tenu le/ piano toute la soirée et a nos Camarades Ferdinandus pour son / croquis qui est absolument v’lan et à O. Pradels pour son quatrain/ des plus pachutt. // Recevez, cher Monsieur, nos salutations bien Cordiale / E. Bellot, G durater E. Cottin, R. Géner, L. Bocilart, H. Héger comba / assistaient au Dernier Dîner Mrs : Henner, Jean Brenner, Et. Carjat / Margue, Dulin, Fromentin, H. Stéger, A . Stéger, eh. Delacour, G. Mayer, Sanzel/ Denis Poulot, Bricaire, Doublemard, Vigneron, T. Boulart, L. Mayeur, Mayeur/ flle, Magnan, E. Maubant, Guillabert, H. Corin. ___ Lebreton, Tucy, Blangarnon. / Comt. Vallée, Dr Pourbain, Latapie, E. Colleville, Roumier, Hoffer, Ollivier / Verchère, Delhaye, Dr Deschamps, Ch. Hofer, Dr Geneirp, Péginissel p, et F. , Pierson, Guérin, Cronnot, de Courmont, Eliot, Fasquelle et filsm Malasamy, Guillaume fils /G Caux, Dabert, Michel p, et f.s, ___Rey. Vaundremer, Girau, general Lipovvski, Ballin, Ersetemenn, Délivré, Lepéné, de Bouillanne, V. Roser, Delbroueth. Pasquet, Treterre, / A. Claris, Thoniel, du Castaings, Pingray, Benjamin, I. Petit, Champon, Destape, Viotlat, F. Percheron, Dr Hubert, A. Aubin, Zimmermann, Vannes, A. Heulard, / Gourlet, Coppin, Hubner, laprandie, Samuel, Séguin, Ménard, Cougoul, J. B. Collignon, Beri L. Besnier, Gillandi. // 9e Année 103e Diner du Bon-Bock (Les 2e Mardi de Chaque Mois). Cotisation 5h50 / Cette invitation est strictement personnelle / Paris 3 8bre 83.
    Bismarck to Alphonse Alphonse, dear annoyance! King shushh from the Uh'lan world I name you Colonel of the looters of pendulums! If this makes the Bon-Bock and Jules angry All the better! But protect your Basque-Uhlan throne well. O. Pradels.
    Dear sir, The 103rd Dinner of the Bon-Bock will take place next Tuesday at 7 pm precisely at the Grape Harvest of Bourgognel, 14, Jessaint street (la Chapelle plaza). If you would do us the honour of coming: Please write to Mr E. Bellot, 37 St Marc street, on Monday night at the latest. Your answer is absolutely mandatory to prepare the place settings (our friends from the theatres excluded.) The 'yes' comes with a payment of the due whether or not you end up attending. Program for our last evening. 1st – H. Covin (piano) a waltz composed by him. 2nd – Courment: Le Chanteur du roi (King's singer) (1st series) by the author. 3rd – Dulin: Rondeau from opera "Le petite mariée" (The Little Bride) 4th – Doublemard: Memory of the bather's beach 5th – "The Saltimbanque family" 6th – Maubant: Romance of "La Traviata". 7th – Étienne Carjat Toast to the Alsace-Lorraine, verses by the author. 8th – Guillabert from the opera "Nantes: le Press mud" by Fauré. 9th – Charles Delacour: the Poet, Sonnet. 10th – "Duke Jean" 11th – Fromentin. Panurge (Mus. of Hervé) 13th – A. Claris "The Hatred" verses by the author, Benty: my lil’ nephew: lyrics by Clouvier, music by Darcier. 15th – Charles Delacour: the lesson in arithmetic. 16th – J.-B.Collegnon, "Fanchette", romance by the author. 17th – Doublemard: the Coach driver (monologue by P. Marzin). 18th – Dulin: the horn music by Flégier. 19th – J.-B. Collignon: "Her name was Marguerite", lyrics by L. Baillet music by Collignon. 20th  – L. Bellot, an announcement from the incoherent arts exhibition curated by Jules Férry. All of our thanks to Mr Henri Covin who played the piano all night and to our Friends Ferdinandus for his sketch that is absolutely bam and to O. Pradels for his quatrain among the most pazazz worthy. We send you our most cordial salutation, Monsieur. E. Bellot, G. Durater, E. Cottin, R. Géner, L. Bocilart, H. Héger, Henner, Jean Brenner, Et. Carjat, Margue, Dulin, Fromentin, H. Stéger, A . Stéger, Ch. Delacour, G. Mayer, Sanzel, Denis Poulot, Bricaire, Doublemard, Vigneron, T. Boulart, L. Mayeur, Mayeur daugter, Magnan, E. Maubant, Guillabert, H. Corin. Lebreton, Tucy, Blangarnon. Comt. Vallée, Dr Pourbain, Latapie, E. Colleville, Roumier, Hoffer, Ollivier, Verchère, Delhaye, Dr. Deschamps, Ch. Hofer, Dr. Geneirp, Péginissel père et fils, Pierson, Guérin, Cronnot, de Courmont, Eliot, Fasquelle et fils Malasamy, Guillaume fils, G. Caux, Dabert, Michel père et fils,  Rey. Vaundremer, Girau, General Lipovvski, Ballin, Ersetemenn, Délivré, Lepéné, de Bouillanne, V. Roser, Delbroueth, Pasquet, Treterre, A. Claris, Thoniel, du Castaings, Pingray, Benjamin, J. Petit, Champon, Destape, Viotlat, F. Percheron, Dr. Hubert, A. Aubin, Zimmermann, Vannes, A. Heulard, Gourlet, Coppin, Hubner, Laprandie, Samuel, Séguin, Ménard, Cougoul, J. B. Collignon, Berti, Besnier, Gillandi. 9th Year 103rd Dinner of the Bon-Bock (The 2nd Tuesdays of Each Month). Due 5:50 pm. This invitation is strictly personal. Paris 3 October 1883. Bismarck hands a certificate for the title of colonel along with a lance, an Uhlan helmet (Polish cavalry) and a sword to a joker. The joker wears a traditional Polish folk hat inscribed with 'XIV' and holds a guitar. ______ Comments: Émile Bellot [L. Bellot] (French, the second half of the 19th century) – engraver, model for a painting by Édouard Manet "Le bon bock", the founder of Le Bon Bock Dinner. Covin, Henri (French, 1845 – 1887) – Musician, arranger. Étienne Carjat (French, 1828 – 1906) – Journalist, caricaturist and photographer. Charles Delacour (French, 18.. – 1898) – Composer. Jean-Baptiste Collignon (French, 18..-1906) – Composer. Ange Flégier (French, 1846 – 1927) – Composer. Joseph Darcier (French, 1819 – 1883) – Composer, singer and actor. Le petite mariée (The Little Bride) – a three-act opéra-bouffe, music by Charles Lecocq, libretto by Eugène Leterrier and Albert Vanloo. La plage de la Baigneuse – beach of Saint Jean de Monts in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France. La Famille du Saltimbanque: L'Enfant Blessé – The Family of Street Acrobats: the Injured Child – painting by Gustave Doré (French, 1832 – 1883) produced in 1873. Henri-Polydore Maubant (1821-1902) – actor, vocalist (baritone) Gabriel Urbain Fauré (French, 1845 – 1924) – French composer, organist, pianist, and teacher. Hervé [Louis Auguste Florimond Ronger] (French, 1825 – 1892) – French singer, composer, librettist, conductor and scene painter, inventor of the genre of operetta in Paris.  
  • Artist: André Gill [real name Louis-André Gosset] (French, 1840 – 1885). L'Esclave Ivre [The Drunken Slave] was a  Parisian weekly, published in 1881, 4 issues total. Léon Gambetta (French, 1838 – 1882) stands arm in arm with Marshal Patrice de MacMahon (French, 1808 – 1893). Dead bodies of communards lie in the midground and a landscape is faintly perceived in the background. 1871 is written on the hill on the left. L'Esclave Ivre, Issue 1. Entre Amis. Text below the image: - Qu'est-ce que je veux, moi? Faire notre affaire. / - Bien sûr! Moi aussi. / - Comme il me comprend cet animal-là, et on ne veut pas que je le gobe! [In between friends / - What do I want? To make a deal. / - Of course! Me too. / - How well this animal understands me, and we do not want me to swallow him!]
  • Artist: James (nothing else is known). According to Maurice Quentin-Bouchart (p. 95), this is sheet №2 of only two known caricatures by James except for Collection Wentzell (publisher) of 14 sheets. Text: De bien jolies bottes, ces Prussiens, mais quelle odeur!..... [What beautiful boots these Prussians have, but what an odour!.....] Two women from the bourgeoisie stand in front of a line of Prussian officers. One covers her nose with a handkerchief and hides what she is saying from the men with her fan.
  • Polina de Mauny [Vladimirova] (Russian, French, b. 1981). Dry pastel on black paper. Size: 30 x 21 cm.
  • L'Éclipse : journal hebdomadaire, №94, 07-11-1869. La Bataille de Louqsor, par Job. [The Battle of Louqsor, by Job]. Le père Gagne, monté sur l'Obélisque, s'écrie: — Citoyens, du bas de ce monument, quatre-vingt mille…..parapluies me contemplent. [The father Gagne mounted on the Obelisk, cries out: — Citizens, from the bottom of the monument, eighty thousand….umberellas contemplate me]. Étienne-Paulin Gagne, known as Paulin Gagne (French, 1808 – 1876), holding a hat with a tricolour cockade and umbrella with the head of a devil on its grip straddles the obelisk of Luxor at the centre of the Place de la Concorde with marching scarabs on it. A spider dangles from his heel. In the background is The Palais Bourbon, a meeting place of the French National Assembly. The ground is made out of open umbrellas. Paulin Gagne was a graphomaniac poet, essayist, lawyer, politician, inventor, and eccentric, and a perpetual candidate for the Assembly. Ref.: Gallica; Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Philosophie, histoire, sciences de l'homme, FOL-LC13-114
  • Pictorial album 55.5 x 41.0 cm, publisher’s quarter sheepskin over cloth, upper cover and flat spine lettered in gilt. Title: MONUMENTS et RUES de PARIS | Dessinés et lithographiés par William Wyld, | et publiés par Rittner & Goupil, 15 Boulevard Montmartre, | et Susse Frères, Place de la Bourse. | 1839. Collation: Title plate + 20 plates numbered from 1 to 20, printed by Godefroy Engelmann (French, 1788 – 1839) in tone lithography after drawings by William Wyld (British, 1806 – 1889). Published in Paris by Rittner & Goupil and Susse Frères in 1839. Plates: 54.8 x 39.8 cm. Contents:

    Title page: Tombeau d'Heloïse et d'Abélard

    1. Le Pont Neuf
    2. L'église de la Madeleine
    3. La Porte St. Martin
    4. Palais des Tuileries
    5. Pont des Saints-Pères
    6. Hôtel de Ville
    7. Marché des Innocents
    8. Palais Royal
    9. Boulevard des Italiens
    10. Rue de la Paix
    11. Bourse et Tribunal de Commerce
    12. Porte St. Denis
    13. Pont Royal
    14. Place de la Concorde
    15. Paris from Père Lachaise
    16. Notre-Dame
    17. Jardin des Tuileries with Arc de Triomphe in the Distance
    18. Panthéon
    19. Chambre des députés
    20. Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile
    Description of Shapero Rare Books, London: A very rare pictorial record of Paris before the French capital was drastically remodelled by Haussmann during Napoleon III’s Second Empire. William Wyld (1806-1889), an English painter and lithographer, set up his studio in Paris in 1834, becoming friends with the French painters Ary Scheffer and Paul Delaroche. His first subjects were fashionable orientalist scenes, however, he soon turned to classical architectural, winning a gold medal at the Paris Salon for his two-meter wide canvas ‘Venice at Sunrise’ in the same year in which he published Monuments et rues de Paris. This series is a compilation of twenty fine views of Paris, showing both architectural features, street scenes and views over the river Seine, as well as a panorama of the city from the cemetery of Père Lachaise. Some of the views, such as the representations of the Palais des Tuileries, the Marché des Innocents or the Pont des Sts Pères, testify to the beauty of these structures that no longer exist.
  • Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞] a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代歌川豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). Signed: Toyokuni ga [豊国 画] in a red toshidama cartouche. Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburō [伊場屋仙三郎] (Japanese, c. 1815 – 1869). Double nanushi censor seals: Hama & Magome, Kaei 2-5 (1849 – 1852). An uncut fan print (uchiwa-e, 220 x 292 mm) depicts a beautiful woman sitting on a balcony overlooking a bay and reading a book. Above the book, there is an obi with a pattern of stripes or modified key fret motif, with lettering that reads: 菅原島 [Sugawara-jima] and 美立 [mitate]. The lettering and the blossoming plum branch next to the obi provide an allusion to  Sugawara no Michizane [菅原 道真/菅原 道眞] (Japanese, 845 – 903) - a prominent scholar and poet of Heian period exiled from Kyoto to the island of Kyushu as a result of another courtier's slander. A legend says that his beloved plum tree was so fond of its master that it flew to Kyushu with Sugawara. The Davis Museum at Wellesley College describes the print as belonging to the series A Parody of Sugawara Stripe Patterns (Mitate Sugawara-jima). To make the fact of an allusion transparent, Kunisada had changed the usual way of writing "Sugawara stripes" from 菅原縞 to 菅原島 and "mitate" from 見立 to 美立. An unusual spelling was also used to provide additional information to the reader in other cultures. E.g. during the Prohibition Era, the West Coast United States speakeasy bars and bordellos misspelt the items on a menu ("scollops") or in a neon sign ("Martuni's") to tell: here we have more pleasures for you than you may have expected. After Tenpō reforms, the printing of bijin-ga (画, "picture of beautiful woman") images was restricted. Our print disguises a typical bijin-ga as an advertisement of an obi (帯, a kimono sash) fabric pattern. "The market of portraits was satisfied and the authorities fooled" [Rebecca Salter. Japanese popular prints. — Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2006].
  • Owner's convolute binding of the period in quarter tan cloth, yellow marbled boards, no title page, no pagination. Contents: (1) Venetian Album –12 lithographs by Émile-Aubert Lessore (French, 1805 – 1876) after William Wyld (British, 1806 – 1889). — Venice: Charles Hopfner, [1834]. Printed at Premiata Litografia Veneta under the direction of  Ferdinand Wolfgang Flachenecker (German, 1782 – 1847). Inscription: Premiata Litografia Veneta, dirigée par C. Flachenecker.
    1. L'Église de St. Marc
    2. La place St. Marc
    3. Le palais Ducal
    4. Le Môle
    5. L'Arsenal
    6. La Riva dei Schiavoni
    7. Le Grand Canal, (1re vue)
    8. Le Grand Canal (2me vue)
    9. Le Grand Canal (3me vue)
    10. Le Grand Canal (4me vue)
    11. Le Grand Canal (5me vue)
    12. Le Grand Canal (6me vue)
    (2) Veduta della casa di Loreto – 5 etchings by Filippo Jaffei, – Loreto: Jaffei, 1828.
    1. Title: Spiegazione / delli quattro prospetti dei bassi rilievi in marmo che circondano le mura della S. Casa di Loreto / qui annessi in puntata, oltre l'altro prospetto del palazzo pontificio / facciata del tempio, campanile, e cuppola etc.
    2. Prospetto della Basilica, e Piazza Lauretana, ed annesso Palazzo Apostolico / V. Jaffei incise.
    3. Settentrione. Prospetto laterale de Bassirilievi in Marmo, che circondano le Mura di S. Casa di Loreto. Jaffei incise Loreto.
    4. Oriente. Prospetto de Bassirilievi in Marmo, che circ=ondano le Mura di S. Casa.  Jaffei incise Loreto l'Anno 1828.
    5. Mezzo Giorno. Prospetto laterale de Bassirilievi in Marmo, che circondano le Mura di S. Casa di Loreto. Jaffei dis. ed inc. in Loreto.
    6. Occidente. Prospetto de Bassirilievi in Marmo, che circ=ondano le Mura di S. Casa. Jaffei dis. ed inc. in Loreto l'Anno 1828.
    (3) Line engraving signed F. Ferrat (...). (4) View of Cloaca Maxima in Rome etched by Tommaso Cuccioni (Italian, 1790 – 1864), negoziante. Possibly from the album Num. cento vedute di Roma e sue vicinanze. Presso Tommaso Cuccioni, negoziante di stampe in Roma, Via della Croce n. 25. Inscription: Cloaca Maxima. Si vende in Roma da Tommaso Cuccioni Neg.e di Stampe Via della Croce № 25.
  • Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞] a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代 歌川 豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). Signed: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga [香蝶楼国貞画] in a double-gourd cartouche. Iseya Sōemon [伊勢屋惣右衛門] (Japanese, 1776 – 1862); seal: Ue [上] (Marks 02-041 | 156a). Inscription in the red stripe: Five types of haiku in shōfū style [俳諧五流蕉風] (Haikai gōryū shōfū). Censor's seal: Watari [渡] (Watanabe Shōemon), VI/1842–V ic/1846. Media: Fan print [団扇絵] (Uchiwa-e); size: 225 x 292 mm. An uncut fan print depicts a young woman with an insect (firefly) cage in her left hand. Her striped kimono is adorned with the design of white, grey and blue cherry blossoms. Two of the Seven Grasses of Autumn [秋の七草] (aki no nanakusa), namely Platycodon grandiflorus (kikyō) [桔梗] a.k.a. Chinese bellflower (or balloon flower) and Patrinia scabiosifolia (ominaeshi) [女郎花] a. k.a. Eastern (or Golden) Valerian, are seen on her right-hand side.
  • Quaritch's description: Single sheet (435 x 625 mm); coloured lithograph by Kirchmayr after a drawing by M. Fontana; hand-painted details; signed to lower left ‘M. Fon[tana]’ and to lower right ‘M. Fontana Edit. Prop. S. Giacomo dall’Orio in Isola N°.1481’; lower margin with the title ‘Il bombardamento di Venezia nell’Agosto 1849’ and key; restored tears in many places, especially along upper and lower blank margins, some affecting print; losses to lower left corner, affecting a small portion of the print, ruled border, and key, restored and re-drawn where needed; loss to the upper left corner of blank margin; two small areas of restoration to the centre of upper blank margin; the whole sheet backed; nevertheless a remarkable survival. Exceedingly rare and striking lithograph of Venice as seen from Fusina, depicting the first ever aerial bombardment in history. The bombardment took place in 1849, under the orders of Field Marshal Josef Radetzky (1766–1858), to quell the revolts that had started the previous year during the First Italian War of Independence. This curious and little-known action was the brainchild of Colonel Benno Uchatius, a brilliant young officer in the Austro-Hungarian Artillery. After long months of unsuccessful siege, Uchatius decided to deploy an unusual weapon: a hot air balloon able to bomb the city from above. Having calculated the wind speed and direction and evaluated the requisite dimensions of the hot-air balloon, Uchatius set up a workshop near Mestre, where a group of engineers and craftsmen began to manufacture a balloon equipped with a large wicker basket which could transport two crewmen and approximately one hundred kilograms of small long-fuse devices (metal spheres filled with gunpowder, pitch, oil and five hundred rifle buckshot). The initial trials, however, proved to be a disaster, because the balloon would drift off course, making it impossible to accurately deploy the bombs. Uchatius then hit upon the idea of using several smaller unmanned balloons roped together. These were to be launched over the city and, using the position of the first ‘pilot’ balloon, which was unarmed, the Austrians could calculate the correct fuse settings for the bombs. The ‘bomber’ balloons had a cloth envelope of one hundred cubic metres and a reduced load of about twenty kilograms of ordnance. According to Uchatius’ calculations, the line of balloons, launched from Mestre, would reach the lagoon city in thirty-five to forty minutes, carried by the north-west wind. In July 1849, a first launch was attempted, but when a breeze began to blow from the sea some of the balloons broke the connecting ropes and floated away, while others settled in the water in front of the northern part of the city, where a curious crowd of Venetians observed the failure of the enterprise and commented colourfully on the ‘buffoonery of Radetzky’. Uchatius’ second attempt, which is depicted in this lithograph, was also largely unsuccessful: only a few of the unmanned bomber balloons reached their target, and some even drifted back over the Austrian lines. Uchatius, having accomplished the first ever aerial bombardment, and having designed the first ever military ‘drones’, was forced to abandon the project permanently. Another fascinating aspect of this work is the vantage point used to depict the city of Venice, seen here from Fusina, a very rare viewpoint that makes this piece even more remarkable. We were unable to locate any copies in any institution or bibliography. G. Kirchmayr (fl. mid-19th century) is mentioned at British Museum database as "Lithographer active in Venice; related to Venetian painter Cherubino Kirchmayr (b. 1848)?" However, I was not able to find that name on the print. Not much is known of M. Fontana either.  
  • A suite of 12 etchings 160 x 118 mm each, in the first state, pasted on paper, 2 per sheet, with a cover (250 x 210 mm).
    0. Cover. Les femmes de Paris pendant le siège./R.Martial/1871.
    1. Lorsqu'à l'approche de l'ennemi on demandait l'éloignement des bouches inutiles [...] 2. L'Ennemi ! 3. No inscription 4. Quête pour les veuves. 5. Concert et quête pour les enfants blessés, malades, infirmes. 6. Au bastion/Et celles non moins précieuses qui dirigeaient ces ventes [...] 7. Vente pour les orphelins de la guerre. 8. No inscription 9. Une ration, bouillie romaine et Vin/Cantine municipale[...] 10. No inscription 11. No inscription 12. Les effets de cette union patriotique des femmes sont connus.[...]
  • Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞] a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代 歌川 豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). An untrimmed fan print titled Fuji Tsukuba aiaigasa, shows the actors Ichikawa Ebizo V [市川海老蔵] and the onnagata actor Iwai Shijaku I [岩井紫若] sharing an umbrella against the wind. Tsukuba, about 50 kilometres from Edo, was an area where both Fuji and Mount Tsukuba could be viewed together. Mount Fuji being the female and Mount Tsukuba the male. An aizuri-e background (common to all the designs in this set). A play on images and words. Actors: Ichikawa Danjūrō VII [市川団十郎] (Japanese, 1791 – 1859); other names: Ichikawa Ebizō V [市川海老蔵], Ichikawa Hakuen II, Ichikawa Shinnosuke I. Iwai Matsunosuke I [岩井松之助] (Japanese, 1804 – 1845); other names: Iwai Hanshirō VII, Iwai Shijaku I [岩井紫若], Iwai Komurasaki I. Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburo [伊場屋仙三郎] (Japanese, fl. c. 1845 – 1847). The publisher’s seal is on the umbrella. Date: circa 1832. Signed: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga in a red double-gourd cartouche. From the series of fan prints:

    SVJP-0341.2021

    Two more prints from the series 'Fuji and Tsukuba sharing an umbrella' (Fuji Tsukuba aiaigasa), not in this Collection:
    Kabuki actors Onoe Kikugorō III and Iwai Kumesaburo II. Year: c. 1832; Publisher: No seal; Signed: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga From Kunisada Project.
    Kabuki actors Bandō Minosuke II and Iwai Shijaku I. Year: c. 1832; Publisher: No seal; Signed: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga From Kunisada Project.
     
  • Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞], a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代 歌川 豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). An untrimmed fan print titled Fuji Tsukuba aiaigasa, shows the actors Nakamura Shikan II [二代目中村芝翫] and the onnagata actor Iwai Kumesaburō II [岩井粂三郎] sharing an umbrella against the snow. Tsukuba, about 50 kilometres from Edo, was an area where both Fuji and Mount Tsukuba could be viewed together. Mount Fuji being the female and Mount Tsukuba the male. An aizuri-e background (common to all the designs in this set). A play on images and words. Actors: Nakamura Utaemon IV [中村歌右衛門] (Japanese, 1796 – 1852); other names: Nakamura Shikan II [二代目中村芝翫], Nakamura Tsurusuke I, Nakamura Tōtarō. Iwai Hanshirō VI [[岩井半四郎] (Japanese, 1799 – 1836); other names: Iwai Hanshirō VI, Iwai Kumesaburō II [岩井粂三郎], Iwai Hisajirō I, Baiga (poetry name), Shūka (poetry name). Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburo [伊場屋仙三郎] (Japanese, fl. c. 1845 – 1847). Date: circa 1832. Signed: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga in a red double-gourd cartouche. From the series of fan prints:

    SVJP-0342.2021

    Two more prints from the series 'Fuji and Tsukuba sharing an umbrella' (Fuji Tsukuba aiaigasa), not in this Collection:
    Kabuki actors Onoe Kikugorō III and Iwai Kumesaburo II. Year: c. 1832; Publisher: No seal; Signed: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga From Kunisada Project.
    Kabuki actors Bandō Minosuke II and Iwai Shijaku I. Year: c. 1832; Publisher: No seal; Signed: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga From Kunisada Project.
  • Title: COSTUMES ET MODES | D’AUTREFOIS | HORACE VERNET | Incroyables | et | Merveilleuses | Paris | 1810–1818 | TEXTE PAR | ROGER–ARMAND WEIGERT | Conservateur au Cabinet des Estampes | de la Bibliothèque Nationale | ÉDITIONS ROMBALDI | PARIS || Content: 24 photomechanical reproductions of the images from Bibliothèque nationale de France, printed on vélin paper from Papeteries Aussedat by Papeteries de la Moselle printing presses and stencil-coloured by Edmond Vairel. Text printed by Imprimerie Kapp on October 20, 1955. A print run of 4,000 copies, of which this is №122. Exterior: Pink lettered dust jacket over wrappers. Pagination: loose double leaves, [4 blanks] [4 h.t. and t.p.], i-xi [xii], 24 unnumbered plates, [4 blanks].  

    Weigert, Roger-Armand (French, 1907-1986).

    Émile Jean-Horace Vernet [Horace Vernet] (French, 1789 – 1863). Gatine, Georges Jacques (French, 1773 – after 1841).  
  • Black and white photographic half-length portrait of Fred Astaire [Frederick Austerlitz] (American, 1899 – 1987) in sailor's uniform, signed "Fred Astaire" in black ink. Probably, from "Following the Fleet", a 1936 American RKO musical comedy. Size: 26.2 x 20.6 cm sheet; 23.3. x 19.3 cm image. Certificate of authenticity from John Reznikoff, University Archives.
  • Audrey Hepburn [Audrey Kathleen Ruston] (British, 1929 – 1993) black and white head-shot in profile to right, pre-production photo testing hairstyle. "War and Peace", a 1956 epic historical drama film based on Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel of the same name. Stamp on verso: Blue ink, in oval, "AUDREY | HEPBURN | The Personal Collection Part III | May 2018 | CHRISTIE'S || Size: 12.0 x 17.5 cm sheet; 12.0 x 16.7 cm image. Condition: small abrasion to cheek and rough lower edge. Certificate of authenticity from John Reznikoff, University Archives.
  • Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞], a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代 歌川 豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). Signed: Toyokuni ga [豊国 画] in a red toshidama cartouche Block carver: Yokokawa Takejirō [横川竹二郎] (Japanese, fl. 1845 – 1863), seal: 彫竹 – hori Take. Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburō [伊場屋仙三郎] (Japanese, fl. c. 1845 – 1847). Media: Untrimmed fan print (uchiwa-e), 232 x 300 mm. Title: Tamagiku [玉菜]. Series: Chronicles of Elegant Women [風雅女史傳] (Fūga joshiden). Combined date seal and kiwame censor seal: Ansei 6 (1859). Other prints from the same series in this collection [SVJP-0216.2016] — Princess Sotoori: SVJP-0400.2023 — Saiko:   Note by Elena Varshavsky: Tamagiku [玉菜] (Japanese, 1702 – 1726) – Precious Chrysanthemum (translated also as Jade Chrysanthemum; one can say also Gem Chrysanthemum). She was a courtesan famous for her beauty, kind heart, and countless artistic accomplishments. She died young and was deeply grieved by the establishment of Nakamanji-ya (中万字屋) for which she worked, and beyond. Her memory was celebrated during the Bon festival of the commemoration of the dead, and lanterns were hung at the gallery of that establishment and other neighbouring ones to commemorate her and appease her soul. These lanterns are seen behind her. Kabuki plays were continuously dedicated to her, she figured in Edo period literature and was often portrayed on ukiyo-e prints. In many cases, she was shown with the lanterns associated with her. Those lanterns were called “Tamagiku Lanterns”. Other depictions of Tamagiku:

    Tamagiku (Ancient and modern women's biography) by Kunisada, 1859.

     

    Courtesan Tamagiku by Kunichika.

     

    Tamagiku of the Nakamanjiya, Inaki Shinnojō, and Nakamanjiya Yahei (looking through the window) by Kunisada.

     

    Nakamanji-Ya Tamagiku by Kunisada

     

    Nakamanji-Ya Tamagiku by Kunisada, 1857

    Sources: darumapediakajiipetakabuki21crosseyedgallery.  
  • Title: IDYLLE | PRINTANIÈRE || Verso: {Headpiece} | Justification du tirage | {7 lines of text} | Exemplaire № 56 (digits by hand) | HP (monogram by hand) | {tailpiece} || Album of 30 hand-coloured lithographs and frontispiece in a cardboard folder; each sheet mounted in a 32.5 x 25 cm passepartout with 19 x 13 cm window; published in Paris in 1938 by Henri Pasquinelli (attributed). No artist, no publisher name indicated. According to Justification du tirage, the print run of 516 copies on Arches laid tinted paper (vergé), copy A – control artist’s uncoloured, 15 copies B–P reserved for collaborators and friends, copies 1–500 – for bibliophiles. This copy № 56, autographed by the publisher's monogram: "HP". Catalogue Raisonné: J.-P. Dutel, vol 2 (1920–1970), #1726, p. 207-8. Provenance: J.-P. Dutel.
  • Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞] a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代歌川豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). Signed: Gototei Kunisada ga [五渡亭国貞画]. Publisher: Ibaya Kyūbei [伊場屋 久兵衛] (Japanese, 1804 – 1851); seal Marks 08-055|126a. Date-aratame seal: Bunsei 13 / Tenpō 1 (1830). Actor: Nakamura Utaemon IV [中村歌右衛門] (Japanese, 1796 – 1852); other names: Nakamura Shikan II [中村芝翫], Nakamura Tsurusuke I, Nakamura Tōtarō. Play:  Yoshitsune’s Letter at Koshigoe [義経腰越状] (Yoshitsune Koshigoe-jo). Uncut fan print (uchiwa-e, 団 扇 絵) depicting kabuki actor Nakamura Shikan [中村芝翫] as Gotobei [五斗兵衛], dressed in a green kimono with hanging wisteria crest (sagari fuji mon) on the shoulder, posing behind a large saké cask. Nakamura Utaemon IV held the name of Nakamura Shikan II from the 11th lunar month of 1825 to the 1st lunar month of 1836. He was born as Hirano Kichitarō in Edo in 1796. Another fan print with the same subject in this collection [SVJP-0349.2021]; there are also more details about the play and its heroes. Horst Graebner also noted that the performance took place at Nakamura Theatre in Edo on Bunsei 13/03  (03/1830) (see Waseda University Cultural Resources Database # 100-4224):

    Toyokuni II

  • Coloured etching by E. Charreyre (French, fl. 1880 – ?) after a watercolour by Juan Antonio González, (Spanish, 1842 – 1914). A book illustration for 'Son Altesse La Femme' by Octave Uzanne (1851 – 1931), chapter: 'La Caillette' (Le lever d’une petite-maitresse au XVIIIe siècle). Published by Albert Quantin (French, 1850 – 1930) in 1885.

    Size: print 17.5 x 12 cm, pasted to leaf 27.7 x 19.5 cm.

  • Artist: Utagawa Sadahide [歌川貞秀] (Japanese, 1807 – 1879). Publisher: Iseya Ichiemon [伊勢屋市右衛門] (Japanese, fl. c. 1820s – c. 1860s). Size: Uncut fan print (uchiwa-e), 220 x 285 mm. Date-kiwame seal: 1835 (Tenpō 6). Signed: Sadahide ga in a double-gourd cartouche. Man trying to catch a catfish with a gourd during a picnic on an autumn evening. Five Festivals [五節句の內] (Gosekku no uchi), Ninth Month [九月] (Kugatu), Full moon celebration on the 15th night of the month (Tsuki machi)  [月まち]  or [月待]. The autumnal spirit is also supported by the presence of Patrinia scabiosifolia (ominaeshi) [女郎花] and Miscanthus sinensis, or Japanese pampas grass (susuki) [薄]. These two are part of the Seven Grasses of Autumn (aki no nanakusa) [秋の七草]. Description by Richard Kruml: "Viewing the full moon in the eighth and ninth months was a popular activity passed down from the aristocracy in Heian times; especially where the moon's reflection could be seen in the water. One such party is seen here where a member vainly attempts to catch a catfish with a gourd: A hopeless task with such an unsuitable utensil. This is based on a Zen riddle posed by the shōgun Ashikaga Yoshimochi [足利 義持] (Japanese, 1386 – 1428) on how to catch a catfish with a gourd, which inspired the 15th-century artist Josetsu [如拙] (Japanese, fl. 1405 – 1496) to paint the subject with accompanying poems on the conundrum by Zen monks".
  • Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞], a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代 歌川 豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). Signed: Toyokuni ga [豊国 画] in a red toshidama cartouche Block carver: Yokokawa Takejirō [横川竹二郎] (Japanese, fl. 1845 – 1863); seal: Hori Take [彫竹]. Publisher: Iseya Magobei [伊勢屋孫兵衛] (Japanese, fl. c. 1794 – 1868); seal: Hanmoto, Masu [板元, 益] (Marks 19-039 | 150d). Date-aratame seal: Ansei 2 (1855). Title: Time in Fukagawa, Iyo Province (Fukagawa Iyo setsu). Ref.: [LIB-3008.2022] Andreas Marks. Japanese woodblock prints: Artists, publishers and masterworks, 1680 – 1900. — Tuttle Publishing, 2010; p. 221. –> 1855 Kunisada. "Iyo Province-time at Fukagawa" (Fukagawa Iyo setsu). Fan print. Japan Ukiyo-e Museum, Matsumoto.
  • Round portrait of a little girl (22-month-old) with bright black eyes and red hair, draped in a semi-transparent shirt which leaves her chest and stomach bare, keeping a red apple in her right hand and two others lying in the fold of her clothes, standing against a dark natural background: bushes, leaves, an apple tree, blue skies, clouds, etc. Oil on metal; in an ormolu frame, in a wooden frame. Diameter without frames 8 cm, with frames – 12.6 cm. Sitter: Courtois, Fortunée-Florentine Elisabeth (French, August 23, 1800 г. – after 1878). Inscription (handwriting, nut ink): Fortunée, Florentine Elisabeth | Courtois a 22 mois. | née 5e fructidor an 8 || Attributed to Lié Louis Périn-Salbreux (French, 1753 – 1817). Fortunée-Florentine Elisabeth Courtois is a mother of Maurice Joly (French, 1829 – 1878). See also in this collection: blogLIB-0460, blogLIB-1038.2016, and Une Épave de l’Ancien Bateau by Tout-Paris. A Lost Article by Proust? The portrait was sold at Drouot (Paris) in 2020 with the following description: "École FRANÇAISE de la fin du XVIIIe siècle Fortunée Florentine Courtois enfant en chemise, en pied dans la nature, tenant trois pommes. Miniature sur ivoire, identifiée au revers : « Florentine Fortunée Elisabeth / Courtois à 22 mois / le 5e ( ?) Fructidor an VIII » [août 1800]; Diam. à vue : 7 cm; Cadre rond en bois tourné et noirci. Florentine Courtois, fille d’André et d’Elisabeth Corbara, épousa vers 1818 Lambert Philippe Joly, conseiller général du Jura, avocat ; leur fils Maurice Joly, avocat, fut ministre de la Justice du gouvernement provisoire en 1870 et grand maître du Grand Orient de France".  Maurice Joly was a lawyer, but nothing else in his description given by Drouot is true. From this inscription, we learned that Fortunée-Florentine Elisabeth Courtois was born on August 23, 1800. We were unable to verify this from any other source. From Morice Joly autobiography (Maurice Joly, son passé, son programme par lui-même. — Paris, Lacroix, Verbœckoven et Ce, 1870) we know that she was born in Bastia and that her father, Laurent Courtois (in some sources André François Désiré Courtois, born c. 1771), was a treasurer of Corsican troops under Napoleon Bonapart. Her mother was Elisabeth Marie-Grâcieuse Corbara (born c. 1750).
  • Sawamura Gennosuke II [沢村源之助] (Suketakaya Takasuke III, Sawamura Chōjūrō V, Sawamura Sōjūrō V, Sawamura Tosshō I, Sawamura Genpei I, Japanese, 1802/7 – 1853) as Ushiwakamaru [牛若丸], a.k.a. Minamoto no Yoshitsune [源 義経]. Ichikawa Danjūrō VII [市川団十郎] (Ichikawa Ebizō V, Ichikawa Hakuen II, Ichikawa Shinnosuke I, Japanese, 1791 – 1859) as Benkei, a.k.a. Saitō Musashibō Benkei [西塔武蔵坊弁慶] (Japanese, 1155 – 1189) Performance: Grand finale dance play [大切所作事] (ōgiri shosagoto) at Soga Festival - A Composite Piece of Musashi「曽我祭武蔵摂物  ごさいれいむさしのひきもの)」 (Gosairei Musashi no hikimono), performed at Kawarazakiza (河原崎座)  in 05/1831 (See kabuki plays from 1831). Soga Festival (Soga Matsuri) is an annual theatre event in Edo (Tokyo). Scene: The Fight on Gojo Bridge or Benkei on the Bridge [橋弁慶] (Hashi Benkei). The story relates how Benkei, first a monk, then a mountain ascetic, and then a rogue warrior, a man of Herculean strength, was subdued by the young Onzoshi Ushiwaka Maru (Yoshitsune) on Gojo Bridge. Benkei wandered around Kyoto with the intention of relieving 1000 samurai of their swords. One night, with one more sword to go, he saw Yoshitsune playing the flute and wearing a golden sword at the Gojotenjin Shrine. They agreed to fight on Gojo Bridge in southern Kyoto. However, Yoshitsune was too agile for Benkei and had been educated in the secrets of fighting by the tengu. Following Yoshitsune’s victory, Benkei became Yoshitsune’s retainer. Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞], a.k.a. Toyokuni III (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburo [伊場屋仙三郎]. Signed: Gototei Kunisada ga [五渡亭国貞画]. Date-aratame seal: Tenpō 2 (1831). Size: Fan print (uchiwa-e). Ref.: (1) Tokyo Metropolitan Library, 請求記号 M339-6/東M339-006. (2) Ritsumeikan University, Art Research Center, Portal Database M339-006(02).
  • A woodcut illustration after drawing by Leo von Elliot, published at Illustrirte Zeitung, 17 January 1863. English translation: Student bar "The Hole" in Brussels.

    The official name of this bar, located at Rue des Sols in Bussels, was "À la vue de l'Université" (In sight of the University). This was the place where the students of the Université libre de Bruxelles (Free University of Brussels), and especially the members of Société, ou Cercle, des Crocodiles (The Crocodile Society, or Circle), gathered in the 1860s.
  • Artist: Utagawa Sadahide [歌川貞秀] (Japanese, 1807 – 1879). Publisher: Kojimaya Jūbei [小島屋重兵衛] (Japanese, c. 1797 – 1869); seal: Marks #264, p. 210) Signed: Gyokuransai Sadahide ga [玉蘭斎貞秀 画]. Date seal: 1830 (Bunsei 13 / Tenpō 1). Size: Uncut fan print (uchiwa-e); 229 x 292 mm  
  • Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞] a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代歌川豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). Signed: Kunisada ga [国貞画] in a yellow double-gourd cartouche. Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburo [伊場屋仙三郎] (Japanese, fl. c. 1845 – 1847). Date aratame seal: Bunsei 13 – Tenpō 1 (1830). Actor: Nakamura Utaemon IV [中村歌右衛門] (Japanese, 1796 – 1852); other names: Nakamura Shikan II [二代目中村芝翫], Nakamura Tsurusuke I, Nakamura Tōtarō. Play:  Yoshitsune’s Letter at Koshigoe [義経腰越状] (Yoshitsune Koshigoe-jo). Uncut fan print (uchiwa-e, 団 扇 絵), 229 x 267 mm, depicting kabuki actor Nakamura Shikan [中村芝翫] as Gotobei [五斗兵衛]. Nakamura Utaemon IV held the name of Nakamura Shikan II from the 11th lunar month of 1825 to the 1st lunar month of 1836. He was born as Hirano Kichitarō in Edo in 1796. Another fan print with the same subject in this collection [SVJP-0344.2021]: "...The play Yoshitsune Koshigoe-jo was originally written for the puppet theatre (Bunraku) and staged for the first time in the 7th lunar month of 1754 in Ôsaka at the Toyotakeza. It was a revision of two early plays, Namiki Sōsuke's Nanbantetsu Gotō no Menuki (1735) and Yoshitsune Shin Fukumijō (1744). The title, which suggested that the play focused on Minamoto no Yoshitsune, was in fact dealing with the siege of the Ōsaka Castle, led by Tokugawa Ieyasu to destroy the Toyotomi clan in 1614 and 1615. This play was quickly forbidden because of the 4th act in which Gotobei's wife fired a gun at Yoritomo (this was of course interpreted as an attack on the Shogunate). Yoshitsune Koshigoe-jo was revised in 1770 by Toyotake Ōritsu, who completely rewrote the 4th act for a puppet production at the Kitahorieza in Ōsaka". Yoshitsune Koshigoe-jo was staged for the first time in Edo, at the Ichimuraza on the 9th lunar month of 1790, and is still performed. Gotobei [五斗兵衛] (Gotohei or Gotobē), one of Yoshitsune’s loyal retainers, is forced to choose between his son’s life or his loyalty to Yoshitsune. Nishikidō brothers, who do not want Gotobei to become Yoshitsune's chief strategist, forced him to drink sake and get asleep. To prove Gotobei's military abilities, Izumi no Saburō fires a gun next to Gotobei's ear, and "he jumps up immediately, in full possession of his senses, ready to repulse any enemy". See: [LIB-1193.2013] Samuel L. Leiter. Kabuki Encyclopedia: An English-language adaptation of Kabuki Jiten. — Westport, CT; London: Greenwood Press, 1979; pp. 266-7). Ref:  [LIB-2993.2022] Fig. 24 in Israel Goldman. Japanese prints and paintings / 40th anniversary; Catalogue 27, 2021. Two more Kunisada's fan prints (in Paul Griffith's collection), depicting the same actor Nakamura Shikan II as Toneri Matsuōmaru [舎人松王丸] were published in 1832 by Iseya Ichiemon. The play was Sugawara's Secrets of Calligraphy [菅原伝授手習鑑] (Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami). See: [LIB-1212.2017] Robert Schaap. Kunisada: Imaging, drama and beauty / Introduction by Sebastian Izzard, contributions by Paul Griffith and Henk. J. Herwig. — Leiden: Hotei Publishing, ©2016.
  • Artist: Utagawa Toyohiro [歌川豐廣] (Japanese, 1773 – 1828) Publisher: Takasu Soshichi (Marks 25-247 / 517) Size: pillar print (hashira-e), 69.2 x 13 cm.

    Signed: Toyohiro ga [豐廣画]

    Catalogue raisonné: Jacob Pins, The Japanese Pillar Print, № 923, p. 326.
  • An uncut fan print shows a young woman holding a basket on a landscape background with hills and pines under a rising sun. Haruo Shirane: "Under the luni-solar calendar, the New Year coincided with the beginning of spring, making it the most important observance of the year for the aristocracy. In the Heian period, New Year ceremonies extended from New Year’s Day (Ganjitsu) to the Day of the Rat (Nenohi), which usually fell on the seventh day of the First Month, when courtiers went out to the fields (no), pulled up small pines, and gathered new herbs (wakana) as a prayer for long life. This ritual gradually spread to the provinces and to commoners, eventually resulting in the New Year practice of the gate pine (kadomatsu), in which a pair of small pines was placed at the gate of a house. A popular Heian-period painting topic representing the First Month was “prayers on the Day of the Rat” (Nenohi no asobi), which depicted the auspicious scene of pulling up small pines in a spring field. Both young herbs and gathering young herbs, particularly at Kasuga Field, became major poetic topics for the First Month, appearing in both the spring and celebration (ga) books of the Kokinshū (Collection of Japanese Poems Old and New, ca. 905). By the Kamakura period, the observance of the Day of the Rat had been abandoned at the imperial court, but the custom of gathering and eating young greens continued as the annual ceremony known as the Seven Grasses (Nanakusa). Note: The Heian-period ritual of pulling up the roots of small pines (komatsu ) on the first Day of the Rat derives from the homonyms ne (rat) and ne (root). Pulling up roots was auspicious, since it implied lengthening the year.  The rising sun (hinode) was considered an auspicious sight, particularly at the beginning of the year". [Haruo Shirane, Japan and the Culture of the Four Seasons. Nature, Literature, and the Arts. — Columbia University, NY, 2012]. Title: Gathering of the young herbs on the Day of the Rat [子の日乃若菜] (Nenohi no wakana). Series: Three elegant sources of light [風流三光の内] (fūryū sankō no uchi); meaning the sun, the moon and the stars). Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞]; a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代歌川豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). Signed: Toyokuni ga [豊国 画] in a yellow toshidama cartouche. Publisher’s seal: Izuzen (Marks: seal 06-029 | U103b) Date and double nanushi censor seals: Mera and Watanabe, Kaei 6 (1853). A similar theme can be found in Kunisadai's triptych published in about 1844 (HARA SHOBO):

    豊国三代「豊歳子日若菜摘ノ図」

  • A set of 12 photomechanically reproduced illustrations after gouaches by Umberto Brunelleschi (Italian, 1879 – 1949), in colour; b/w photographs reproductions on verso, in a paper folder without the outer wrappers (b/w with birds, insects, and flowers). Text on the folder by French novelist Francis de Miomandre (French, 1880 – 1959); published by Grands Magasins Dufayel (1856 – 1930), a Parisian department store, run by Georges Dufayel (French, 1855 – 1916). Size: 29 x 24 cm. Images printed on cream paper within a beige frame, lettered above the frame in beige: "Societé Anonyme des Administrations et Grands Magasins DUFAYEL — Paris —", under the frame: "Palais de la Nouveauté ~ Palais du MobilierEntrée principale 7 Bould BARBES"; at the bottom of the frame lettered black on each image: Le Style Chinois, Le Style Empire, Le Style Japonais, Le Style Louis XIV, Le Style Louis XV, Le Style Louis XVI, Le Style Moderne (2), Le Style Moyen Age, Le Style Renaissance, Le Style Vénitien, Le Style Persian.
  • Seventeen drypoint prints in purple plus one original ink sketch by Marcel Vertés (French, 1895 – 1961) – illustrations to the book by Pierre Louÿs Trois filles de leur mère, in a paper folder. Front : DIX-SEPT POINTES SÈCHES | D'UN ARTISTE INCONNU | POUR | TROIS FILLES | DE | LEUR MÈRE | {space} | AUX DÉPENS D'UN AMATEUR | NON MIS DANS LE COMMERCE || Pencil manuscript Vertés under “ARTISTE”, autograph vignette above “AMATEUR”, erased dedication inscription above “DÉPENS” À L’AMI [erased] X. Back: JUSTIFICATION DU TIRAGE | 17 EXEMPLAIRES SUR VÉLIN D’ARCHES CONTENANT | UNE SUITE DES DIX-SEPT POINTES SÈCHES EN | NOIR : UNE SUITE EN COULEURS COLORIÉE PAR | L’ARTISTE ; UN DESSIN ORIGINAL ET SA PLANCHE | DE CUIVRE ; DIX-SEPT CROQUIS ORIGINAUX | MARQUÉS A à Q. | 50 EXEMPLAIRES SUR VÉLIN D’ARCHES CONTE- | NANT UNE SUITE DES DIX-SEPT POINTES | SÈCHES ET TROIS CROQUIS ORIGINAUX | NUMÉROTÉS DE 1 à 50. | {space} | EXEMPLAIRE № {by hand} H. C. || Size : folder 28 x 17.5 cm; sketch 26.6 x 17.6 cm; prints 27.5 x 19 cm. Printed on wove paper with MBM watermark (Arches MBM Paper). Bookplate pasted to the makeshift extra folder with title: “EX-LIBRIS | Jacques | Crepineau”. Provenance: Jacques Crepineau (French, 1932 – 2017). Description by seller: [CURIOSA - VERTÈS (Marcel)]. Dix-sept pointes sèches d'un artiste inconnu pour Trois filles de leur mère. S.l. : Aux dépens d'un amateur, [1927]. — In-8, en feuilles. Dutel 2517*. Rare suite de 17 pointes-sèches libres réalisées par Marcel VERTÈS, probablement publiée par Marcel Cotinaud. Elle était destinée à accompagner l'édition originale de Trois filles de leur mère de Pierre Louÿs publiée un an plus tôt. Tirage à 67 exemplaires sur vélin d'Arches. Les épreuves sont tirées en violet. Exemplaire sans le feuillet de titre, ni celui de la justification. Il comprend un croquis original de l'artiste, non signé, ayant servi d'étude pour l'une des planches. Selon les tirages, chaque exemplaire devrait comprendre 17 croquis pour les 17 premiers, ou 3 pour les 50 autres, non n'en avons ici qu'un seul. Envoi de Vertès sur la couverture, accompagné d'un dessin original. Le nom du destinataire a été effacé. Manque la chemise et l'étui. Description by DUTEL v.3, p. 389, № 2517: In-4 (28 x 19) de 2 ff., 17 pointes sèches, étui, chemise. … publiée en 1927 probablement par Marcel Cotinaud (SV : publisher of Vertés was Paul Cotinaud)… Les planches sont tirées en violet (SV : like this one). Tirage : 17 ex. …avec une suite coloriée par l’artiste, un dessin, un cuivre et 17 croquis. 50 ex. … avec 3 croquis. Other names: Marcel Vertès, Marcel Vertes, Marcell Vértes
  • 12 hand-coloured soft-ground etchings by André Collot, unbound, in a paper folder with pink lettering and vignette engraved on wood, with a title-page in black: JEUNESSE | 12 VERNIS MOUS COLORIÉS | tires à exemplaires | réservés aux Amis de l’Artiste | 1933 ||, in a frame. Edition: 1st edition, limited to 60 copies. Catalogue raisonné: Dutel 1920-70: 1786.
  • Pictorial album of 20 hand-coloured wood engravings by Firmin Gillot after Alfred Grévin; numbered 1 to 20, bound with tissue guards in half-brown cloth over marbled boards, publisher's gilt-lettered blue wrappers preserved, purple-blueish endpapers. Front wrapper (gilt on blue): LES FILLES D'EVE | ALBUM | DE TRAVESTISSEMENTS | PLUS OU MOINS | HISTORIQUES | Par A. GRÉVIN | — | PARIS | AUX BUREAUX : DU JOURNAL AMUSANT, DES MODES PARISIENNES | DE LA TOILETTE DE PARIS ET DU PETIT JOURNAL POUR RIRE | 20. Rue Bergère. || ; Henri Plon's imprint to back wrapper. Contributors: Grevin, Alfred (French, 1827 – 1892) Gillot, Firmin (French, 1820 – 1872) Plon, Henri (French, 1806 – 1872) Ref.: Metropoliten Museum.
  • Pictorial album of 41 etchings, incl. two portraits, by various engravers after Achille Devéria, printed on India paper (after letters) and pasted on thick wove paper, bound with tissue guards in half calf over marbled boards bordered gilt, spine decorated gilt, marbled endpapers; base paper and tissue guards are substantially foxed, images mostly intact. The title page and the subscription page are bound-in at the beginning and at the end, respectively. Title page: (in ornamental frame): COLLECTION | DE VIGNETTES | POUR LES ŒUVRES | DE | J.-J. ROUSSEAU | GRAVÉES | PAR MM. FORSTER, LAUGIER, LEROUX, MULLER, ETC. | D'APRÈS LES DESSINS DE DEVÉRIA. | (pasted over) ÉPREUVES CHOISIES, SUR PAPIER DE CHINE. | {publisher’s device} | A PARIS, | CHEZ DALIBON, LIBRAIRE | DE S. A. R. MGR LE DUC DE NEMOURS, | Palais-Royal, galerie de Nemours. | M DCCC XXV. | Under the frame: Le portrait de Mme de Warens étant terminé, nous y avons joint trois vignettes pour former la quatrième livraison. — Le portrait de | J.-J. Rousseau avec deux vignettes en formera une aussi ; de cette manière le nombre des livraisons reste le même. || This collection was published by Dalibon the same year as the 25-volume Rousseau's Œuvres completes. Related persons: Jean-Jacques Rousseau (French, 1712 – 1778). Mme de Warens: Françoise-Louise de Warens [Louise Éléonore de la Tour du Pil] Swiss, 1699 – 1762). S.A.R. Mgr Le Duc de Nemours: Prince Louis of Orléans, Duke of Nemours [Louis Charles Philippe Raphaël d'Orléans] (French, 1814 – 1896). Contributors: François-Denis Dalibon (French, 1794 – 1853) – publisher. L'Imprimerie de Rignoux (Paris); Thomas-François Rignoux (1781 – 1863?) – printer. Achille Devéria (French, 1800 – 1857) – artist. Engravers : François Forster (French, 1790 – 1872) Jean Nicolas Laugier (French, 1785 – 1875) Jean Marie Leroux (French, 1788 – 1871) Henri Charles Müller (French, 1784 – 1845) Herbert König (German, 1820 – 1876) Louis Jean Désiré Delaistre (French, 1800 – 1871) Jean Louis Toussaint Caron (French, 1790 – 1832) Pierre Michel Adam (French, 1799 – 1853) Ferdinand Sébastien Goulu (French, 1796 – 1848) Jean-François Pourvoyeur (French, 1784 – 1851) Jean Baptiste Touzé (French, fl. 1810 – 1830) Narcisse Lecomte (French, 1794 – 1882) Louis Hercule Sisco (French, 1778 – 1861) Edme Jean Ruhierre (French, 1789 – fl. 1826) Auguste Thomas Marie Blanchard (French, 1819 – 1898) François Manceau (French, 1768 – after 1837) Gabriel Louis Lacour-Lestudier (French, 1800 – 1849) Fulley [Frilley?] Jean Jacques Frilley (French, 1797 – after 1850) Philippe Joseph Augustin Vallot (French, 1796 – 1870) Etienne Devilliers (French, 1784 – after 1844) Jean Bosq (French, fl. c. 1801 – 1844) Zachée Prévost (French, 1797 – 1861) Jean Baptiste Guyard II (French, 1787 – 1831/32) Antoine François Gelée (French, 1796-1860) Constant Louis Antoine Lorichon (French, 1800-1856?) Antoine Joseph Chollet (French, 1793 – after 1848) Adrien Migneret (French, 1786 – 1840) Alfred Johannot (French, 1800 – 1837) Arnold Jéhotte (French, 1789 – 1836) Hippolyte Prudhomme (French, 1793 – 1853) Achille Lefèvre (French, 1798 – 1864) Pierre Pelée (French, 1801 – 1871) Antoine [Tony] Johannot (French, 1803 – 1852) Pierre Joseph Tavernier (French, 1787 – after 1845) Leclerc (?) Levasseur (?)  
  • A young woman playing a four-string musical instrument with a bow (kokyū). Series: Assortments of Beauties Accomplishments [美人芸盡] (Bijin gei-zukushi). Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞]; a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代歌川豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). Signed: Kochoro Kunisada ga [香蝶楼 国貞画] in a red double gourd cartouche. Publisher: Ibaya Kyūbei [伊場屋久兵衛] (Japanese, 1804 – 1851); seal: Hanmoto, Kyū [板元久] (Marks 19-040 | 126e) Date seal: Bunsei 12 (1829). Censors' seal: Kiwame. Size: Fan print (uchiwa-e).
  • Cover with title: Im Garten der Aphrodite | 18 Bildgaben | von | Franz von Bayros | {vignette} | Privatdruck || in a frame; table of contents and limitation to verso; 18 plates with the drawings of Bayros in collotype reproduction, each mounted on cardboard and protected with the remnants of tissue guards, some lacking. Of the publisher’s folder, only the front board with an oval title label is present. Some images signed “Choisy le Conin” – von Bayros’s pseudonym. Two prints are missing: (1) Das Füßchen and (2) Die Liebesschaukel, the other 16 prints present. The vignette on the cover is a photomechanical reproduction. Edition: limited to 350 copies of which this is № 253. According to Christie’s: a collotype reprint, about twenty years after their first publication. English equivalent: The Garden of Aphrodite. Portfolio with 18 photogravures. Catalogue raisonné: The amorous drawings of the Marquis von Bayros (1968): pp. 177-1877; Bayros Zeichningen (1987): pp. 143-152.
  • An album 45 of 50 prints, 31 photogravures and 14 in raster chromotype after drawings and paintings by Franz von Bayros; most with tissue guards, some in passepartout; colour prints mounted on the same paper that is used for photogravures. Title-page: BAYROS | MAPPE | MIT VORWORT VON | RUDOLF HANS BARTSCH | VERLAG ED. STRACHE / WIEN • PRAG • LEIPZIG || Limited edition of 500 copies. This is copy № 286. Lacking 5 prints: (1) Abschied vom Paradies, (2) Weihnacht, and (3) Harmonie from Symphonie von der Gūte, die Schönheit ist; (4) Divina commedia from Florentiner Phantasien; and (5) Mozart from Varia. Contributors: Franz von Bayros (Austrian, 1866 – 1924) Rudolf Hans Bartsch (Austrian, 1873 – 1952)
  • Etching on laid paper, monogrammed in the plate and inscribed "Au Lac Siljan, Août 1874". Owner's stamp LVM on verso.

    Dimensions: Paper: 47 x 34 cm; Plate: 24 x 19 cm; Image: 21 x 14 cm.

    Catalogue raisonné: Rouir 858:5; Arthur Hubschmid (1977): 320.

  • A woman from Antwerp or a servant,  another title "Laitière anversoise"; 2nd state. Etching on wove paper. Owner's stamp LVM on verso.

    Dimensions: Paper: 24.4 x 15.8 cm; Image: 12 x 7.5 cm

    Catalogue raisonné: Arthur Hubschmid (1977): 343.

  • "In the olive grove", etching on laid paper. Signed on the plate and inscribed "L'olivierade Monaco, 76" (sic.). Owner's stamp LvM on verso.

    Dimensions: Paper: 44 x 30.5 cm; Plate: 40 x 27 cm; Image: 35 x 24.5 cm.

    Catalogue raisonné: Arthur Hubschmid (1977): 323; Graphics irreverent and erotic (1968): 323.

  • Sanguine print on toned China paper pasted on cream wove paper sheet, depicting a dressed-up man trying to copulate with a hanged sow. Inscription on top of the plate: "Ne faites pas aux truies ce que vous ne voudriez pas qu'on vous fit", and below: "Visection" (sic.). Owner's stamp 'LvM' on verso.

    Dimensions: Paper: 26.8 x 20.6 cm; India paper: 21.5 x 16.2 cm; Image: 19.3 x 14.2 cm.

    Catalogue raisonné: Arthur Hubschmid (1977): 661; Graphics irreverent and erotic (1968): 42.

  • Etching on laid paper, depicting a kneeling groom with his head between the spread legs of a bare-breasted woman in a veiled hat. Inscribed on plate: Un groom a tout faire. Owner's stamp LVM on verso.

    Dimensions: Paper: 24.4 x 15.8 cm; Image: 12 x 7.5 cm

    Catalogue raisonné: Arthur Hubschmid (1977): 662.

  • Soft-ground etching on laid paper. Inscribed on plate: "Le dessous de cartes d'une partie de whist" [The underside of a game of whist]. Owner's stamp 'LvM' on verso.

    Dimensions: Paper: 26 x 20 cm; Image: 24 x 17.7 cm.

    Catalogue raisonné: Arthur Hubschmid (1977): 43; Graphics irreverent and erotic (1968): 273.

  • Drypoint on wove paper, depicting a woman in a hat with a ribbon lettered "ACADEMIE", carrying in her hand a male head in spectacles on a plate. Monogrammed "FR 83", inscribed: LA MODERNITÉ. — Imp. Eudes.; in pencil on verso."L'ARTISTE" – OCT. 1886 | (PRUD'HOMME ONTHOOFD) E 332-V". Owner's stamp 'LvM' on verso.

    Dimensions: Paper: 27.2 x 17.8 cm; Plate: 19.7 x 14 cm; Image: 18.5 x 13 cm.

    Catalogue raisonné: Rouir 767:5; Arthur Hubschmid (1977): 405; Graphics irreverent and erotic (1968): 72.

  • Etching on wove paper, depicting an old woman trying to thread a needle. Signed in plate: "Felicien Rops, 76 Septembre". Owner's stamp LvM on verso.

    Dimensions: Paper: 51.9 x 35 cm; Plate: 27.5 x 21 cm; Image: 23.5 x 16 cm.

    Catalogue raisonné: Arthur Hubschmid (1977): 358; Graphics irreverent and erotic (1968): 54.

  • Etching and drypoint on wove paper, depicting Athena with an awl on her helmet and holding a shield with Medusa head. Owner's stamp 'LvM' on verso.

    Dimensions: Paper: 38.7 x 26.5 cm; Plate: 31 x 18 cm; Image: 24.5 x 14.5 cm.

    Catalogue raisonné: Arthur Hubschmid (1977): 317; Graphics irreverent and erotic (1968): 41.

  • Two prints on laid paper, one in an earlier state, published under the name Niederkorn. Owner's stamp 'LvM' on verso.

    Dimensions: Paper (1): 31 x 22.3 cm; Paper (2): 46 x 33.8 cm; Plate: 31 x 22 cm; Image: 25.5 x 17.5 cm.

    Catalogue raisonné: Arthur Hubschmid (1977): 318; Rouir 954:3 and 954:5?.

  • Etching and drypoint on wove paper, depicting a woman with a face mask on her buttocks. Monogrammed in the plate 'FR'. Owner's stamp 'LvM' on verso.

    Dimensions: Papaer: 22.2 x 18.5 cm; Plate: 17.5 x 13.3 cm; Image: 15.5 x 12 cm.

    Catalogue raisonné: Arthur Hubschmid (1977): 448; Graphics irreverent and erotic (1968): 106; Rouir 648.

  • Photogravure after a pastel drawing by F. Rops. Monogrammed in the plate 'FR'. Owner's stamp 'LvM' on verso.

    Dimensions: Paper: 26 x 20 cm; Plate: 25 x 18 cm; Image: 21 x 14.5 cm.

    Catalogue raisonné: Arthur Hubschmid (1977): 543; Graphics irreverent and erotic (1968): 156.

  • Aquatint finished by a drypoint on wove paper; printed by R. Taneur, depicting young woman in bar Folies Bergère in Paris. Signed in plate under image: "Félicien Rops | AUX FOLIES-BERGÈRE | L'Artiste. — Imp. R. Taneur.  Owner's stamp 'LvM' on verso.

    Dimensions: Paper: 26.7 x 17.6 cm; Plate: 17.5 x 11.5 cm; Image: 13.5 x 8 cm.

    Catalogue raisonné: Graphics irreverent and erotic (1968): 125.

  • Etching and drypoint, signed in pencil by the artist under the plate; 2nd state. Pasted on a sheet of blue paper. Fragment of "La messe de Gnide". Owner's stamp 'LvM' on verso.

    Dimensions: Blue paper: 32 x 27 cm; Laid paper: 30.7 x 22 cm; Image: 12.5 x 4 cm.

    Catalogue raisonné: Arthur Hubschmid (1977): 364; Graphics irreverent and erotic (1968): 59; Rouir: 508.

  • Two images printed on one sheet of van Gelder wove paper.  Owner's stamp 'LvM' on verso.

    Dimensions: Paper: 46.7 x 31 cm; top Mon bourgmestre: 11 x 9 cm plate, 9 x 7.5 cm image; Bottom Le modèle: 13.5 x 8.5 cm plate, 10 x 7 cm image.

    Catalogue raisonné: Arthur Hubschmid (1977): 341 & 342; Rouir 425:4 & 517:7.

  • Etching on laid paper, backed. Massar (1971): 59-61. View of the Pont Neuf in Paris, with the statue of Henry IV at centre in front of the Seine, the church of St.-Germaine l'Auxerrois and the Louvre to the right, and the Hôtel de Nevers and Tour de Nesle to the left (MET). in the banner below: LUDOVICO XIIII GALLIARUM ET NAV REGI; below image: PONS LVTETIÆ STRVCTVS, DICTVS NOVVS, ET QVÆ EX EO PROSPICI POSSVNT.; bellow: En pulcherrimus toto ... caufatus, vifere; along the bottom: Ste. Della Bella Florentinus In. e Fecit DD. 1646. Cum Privilegio Regis; additional lettering a lower left and right identifying places depicted.

    State: 2nd, with the weathercock on the belltower of Église Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois (under 8). Size: 35.5 x 67.6 cm. Condition: Three vertical folds, these partly cracked and backed at the bottom, dusty or slightly stained, partly slightly rubbed, a small diagonal crease on the upper left, tiny marginal blemishes.

    Quotation from Phyllis D. Massar. Presenting Stefano della Bella. — NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, [1971]: "For size and complexity, one of Della Bella's most impressive achievements is his view of Paris across the Pont Neuf from a point between the buildings bounding the Place Dauphine. Besides the well-known landmarks-the Hộtel de Nevers, the Tour de Nesle, the church of Saint Germain l'Auxerrois, and, at the centre, the bronze equestrian statue of Henri IV by the Florentines Giovanni Bologna and Pietro Tacca – the print provides a microcosm of Paris in transit across the Seine. With a glass, one can compile a census of 451 people, thirty-eight horses, nineteen dogs, three donkeys, and one lamb. All but lost in the vast scene, nevertheless, all contributing to it, are duelists, men fighting with staffs, brawlers routing passers-by, a tooth-puller making an extraction, sellers of sweetmeats and fruits, falconers, hunters with a pack of dogs, a legless cripple, many begging gypsies (one of them telling a fortune), and a hurdy-gurdy player with an audience. Moving among the splendid carriages is a humble water cart, and back among the market stands at the right is an early Seine-side bookstall."

    Catalogue raisonné: Massar (1971): pp. 58-61; De Vesme p. 132, № 850ii/ii. Contributor: Stefano della Bella (Italian, 1610 – 1664) – artist and engraver.