Colour Plate & Illustrated
MONNIER, Henry.
Moeurs Administraives dessinées d'aprés nature par Henry Monnier ex-Employé au Minist'ere de la Justice.
Paris: Delpech, 1828. Oblong folio (9 1/16 x 11 1/2 inches; 231 x 292mm), lithographed vignette title and eighteen hand-coloured lithographed plates by Delpech (the first twelve cariacture the daily life of government employees in Paris, the last six cariacture the professional hierarchy from the office boy to the director), slightly later green boards, minimal wear to extremities, occasional mainly marginal light foxing or browning, an excellent copy of this extremely scarce suite of plates.
Hiler, Lipperheide, and Ray all call for twelve hand-coloured lithographs. The only copy located in OCLC and RLIN (New York Public Library) has only six plates. "In this album, 'drawn after nature by Henry Monnier, former employee at the ministry of Justice,' the artist shows a typical government office hour by hour from eight to four and concludes with four salient scenes outside this time scheme. His principle themes are the inactivity of the staff, their lack of individual character, and their entire submission to superior authority. The curve of supple obsequiousness in terms of which Monnier depicts the hierarchy 'going to compliment a New Excellency' (no. 12) shows how far he was from being a 'senographic copyist' or a 'mirror'" (Ray). Hiler, p. 627; Lipperheide 3662; Ray, The Art of the French Illustrated Book, 136.
Price: £ 1130
US Dollar Price: $ 2250
Stock Number: 74439