[Parent, Aubert] | The French Revolution illustrated by contemporary prints with manuscript commentary

[Parent, Aubert]

Recueil D'Estampes Satiriques et Plaisantes Gravé A L'Occasion De La Grande Revolution Opéré en L'Année A Jamais Memorable M.DCC.LXXXIX. [Paris, 1795]

4to (277 x 198 mm). 156 leaves, including 84 engraved or etched plates by a variety of artists (69 in fine contemporary color; one full-sheet, one folding), the manuscript text neatly printed in French block-letters, text and most prints on blue paper, some smaller prints mounted to size (a few two to a sheet); a few plates cropped with loss of printed captions or edges of image, scattered soiling, but withal fresh and bright. Eighteenth-century French mottled sheep, spine gilt in six compartments with red morocco title label in second, marbled endpapers, blue-sprinkled edges; extremities, especially joints and head and foot of spine, rather worn, some minor repair. 

Highly interesting collection of satirical prints with extensive commentary in manuscript, carefully assembled to form an illustrated history of some of the principal events of the French Revolution from May of 1789 to January of the following year. The vast majority were evidently separately issued, some are rare, and most are finished in vivid and generally very handsome contemporary color. The collection is of the greatest interest not only for the substantial number of individual prints, but for the vivid contemporary commentary, which includes testimony relevant to the dating of a significant number of politically important prints, the identification of figures who may not otherwise be known, and anecdotes that shed light on political satire whose motives are obscured by the course of time. 

Each print is introduced by a page or so of text block-printed in a regular eighteenth-century hand, often of considerable historical interest (some annotations are supplemented by brief commentary in a later, cursive hand). Typical entries discuss the printing, publication, and reception of the individual prints, as well as sometimes offering exegesis.

The introduction to this album credits Aubert Parent (1753-1835) for the conception of this album ("Cet idée a été conçu par Aubert Parent …"), but it seems this artist would have been very unlikely to have written the text or to have executed the prints, which would have been highly uncharacteristic for him. It should be noted, however, that seven of the prints are signed “A.P.” and one (no. 39) “At. Pt.” The manuscript commentary evidences a Royalist perspective and provides much circumstantial evidence that an artist or an intimate of the artist (a print seller?) was involved in the production of the album.

An itemized listing of the prints is available from the Books and Manuscripts Department.