Scènes de la vie privée et publique des animaux

First edition, superbly illustrated with 200 full-page plates and 120 in-text vignettes by Grandville. Second-issue printing, with the errors corrected. It may be identified by the fact that, in the first issue, the opening third of the volume was printed on tinted wove paper, whereas this second issue was entirely printed on uniform white paper; the frontispiece no longer bears the title Badigeneographie but instead Des affiches seront, d'après ses ordres....
Publisher's original full green ribbed percaline binding, decorated with special blocking tools commissioned by Hetzel specifically for this edition. Smooth spine stamped with tortoise, butterfly and beetle motifs. Upper covers featuring a large central decorative block and four smaller animal corner blocks; lower covers similarly decorated with a different set of tools. All edges gilt. Internally, the paper remains remarkably fresh and clean, with only a few occasional foxing spots. Corners slightly rubbed and gently bumped.
A very attractive copy, seldom encountered in the original publisher's binding.

This celebrated publication scarcely needs an introduction. A satirical portrayal of Parisian society under the Second Empire, it was conceived by Hetzel, who, under the pseudonym Stahl, contributed several texts himself and commissioned others from some of the most distinguished writers of the period, including Balzac, Musset, Sand and La Bedollière. The final chapter recounts the imprisonment of the various authors, who are depicted in enclosures at the Jardin des Plantes. One of Grandville's great imaginative achievements, brimming with wit and inventive fantasy.