DORÉ (Gustave). Pleasure of a pleasure trip. Paris,... Lot 34

DORÉ (Gustave). Pleasure of a pleasure trip. Paris, Féchoz & Letouzey, sd. Album in-4 oblong paperback, illustrated cover. Second edition of this youthful work by Gustave Doré (the first one was published by Aubert et Cie in 1851). This suite of 24 lithographed pages representing 170 captioned drawings tells the story of the journey of a Parisian bourgeois couple, Mr. and Mrs. Plumet, to the Alps. Inspired by Töpffer's albums and Cham's illustrations, this book is considered one of the first modern French comic strips. A hilarious satire of the bourgeoisie, alpine tourism and romanticism, the work is also distinguished by its formal and narrative inventiveness, thanks to vignettes of widely varying sizes, often unframed and in layouts resolutely original for the period. Elements of the fictional narrative are printed on the pages of the album as if they were real: for example, a muddy sole print runs across an entire page at the moment when Mr. Plumet tells of a clumsy person who set foot on his notebook. Doré also stages himself, within the narrative, during a meeting with his protagonist. The back cover is torn off with missing, rare, if not very good, freckles on this rare album.