Life and Philosophical Opinions of a Penguin.

[motodraconis]

I has a book. Illustrated by J J Grandville. (I'm a bit of a fan.)



This book was first published (in French) in 1842, these pics are from an English copy dating from 1877.


Grandville was one of the first artists to depict animals as people, and his work (published as early as 1829 using the latest technology of lithography) is said to have inspired Gustave Dore, Beatrix Potter, Arthur Rackham, Walter Crane, Edward Gorey and even Walt Disney. (I'm hoping to work some studies of Grandville into my not-phuud, hence I've been rooting his stuff out.)

Here's a few pics from the book...



No, it didn't come with a CD Rom, I put that in for scale.













A few more on flickr including one picture of humanistic insects (to warn any insectophobes out there.)

Comments

[lethe1]

Oh, that is fantastic! Is this a recent addition to your library, or did you already own it?

I must admit I had never heard of Grandville, but I will keep an eye out now. I daresay Tenniel was inspired by him, too.

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

He's not especially well known outside of his native France, and in England, he'd only be known of by the sort of person with a particular fondness for early cartoons (like me - I was a Punch (http://www.punch.co.uk/historyofpunch.html) addict as a child.)

I've had a modern collection of his drawings since I was a teenager, but until the Magic Book Debacle of '06 (http://motodraconis.livejournal.com/115930.html) it never occurred to me that I'd ever be able to source any of his original(ish) books.

So fairly recently, it struck me that I might be able to research him as part of my not-phuud, which seemed as good an excuse as any to go on a hunt.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, those are wonderful!

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

That last picture is just....too weird!

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

I wonder if Lovecraft got some idea off that...

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

Well Grandville did go mad and ended his days in an asylum.
SPOOKY!

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Ooops.
Oh, would you mind if I linked your flickr shots for some people who'd love to see them?

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

Go ahead, they should be free licence and downloadable too.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[crazycrone.livejournal.com]

Amazing; love the weasel.

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

Here's an excerpt...

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/motodraconis/2739798808/)

I dunno, but I find it funny...

[yakshaver.livejournal.com]

That's totally brilliant!

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

I was surprised to find the text remarkably readable - the book arrived this morning at work and I started flicking through it and before I knew what had happened I'd devoured the entirety of The Sufferings of a Beetle. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/motodraconis/2738979946/sizes/o/) (This did catch me off guard, I've often found old books very tedious in their prose - this reads very easily indeed - to easily! I had a lot of work to do and I kept getting distracted into reading more chapters - I had to restrain myself.)

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Finally it has clicked what the cover reminded me of: Brian Froud's work.

[gm-cow.livejournal.com]

Those images are really hypnotic. I'm captivated by them, especially the shark surgeon...

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

I think there's another bizarre shark picture in the book - I may try and rootle it out for you.

[gm-cow.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that'd be cool. He's a cool customer that shark.

[cleanskies.livejournal.com]

Remind me to pull a few things off the shelf for you when you're visiting. Nothing as glorious as this I fear, but you may be interested all the same!

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

Cool! I'll see you tomorrow (probably at the Jam Factory) will bring camera for books.

[the-leechwife.livejournal.com]

Aw, that is the business! I love Mr Snail, and I may make an icon from the scary-poof-monster fellow.

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

Scary-poof is something else!