Gouget 1834 Prints · Carlson Fable Collection

Title

Gouget 1834 Prints

Description

I have found the work of Emile Joseph Alexandre Gouget on three occasions and in three forms. The first two, the simplest, cost €2 apiece at a flea market in Strasbourg in July, '19.

In my short time in Paris in the summer of 2014, I managed to find a number of fable materials. Among them are broadsides or separated pages from Gouget's edition of La Fontaine in 1834 (Bodemann #279.1). There are two groups.

One group of five is carefully matted but without decoration around the page of text and illustration. They are slightly colored. The seller labeled them "1834" and that was the first clue that these are Gouget's work. Gouget's signature is at the bottom of most texts. The illustrations here are slightly colored. These five are the following. And now I have found a sixth, "The Lobster and Her Young," for €20 from Albert van den Bosch, June, '23. Click on any image to see it enlarged.

A third group of twelve has elaborate printer's designs around the (identical) illustration and text. Each has these three signatures: Gouget Dir. Ex"; "N. PA. Xardo Sc."; and "LeMercier."

These prints include the following. Click on any image to see it enlarged.

Date

1834