La Caricature, journal fondé et dirigé par Charles Philipon (Paris: Aubert, 1830-1835). Année 1-5, v. 1-10, no. 1-251; 4 nov. 1830-27 août 1835. Graphic Arts (GAX) 2009- in process
Princeton’s Rare Books and Special Collections recently acquired a complete set of La Caricature in the original publisher’s binding, with all lithographs and advertisements as originally published.
Following the July revolution of 1830, the citizen-king Louis-Philippe took over the French throne. Artist Charles Philipon (1800-1862) took advantage of a relaxation in censorship laws to establish La Caricature, a journal of politics and art. Through 251 issues—four pages with two or three lithographs in each—over five years from 1830 to 1835, La Caricature become the most famous of all the nineteenth-century satirical magazines.
The major contributors were Honoré Daumier (1808-1879) and J.J. Grandville (Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard, 1803-1847) but there were also lithographs by Henry-Bonaventure Monnier (1799-1877), Denis-August-Marie Raffet (1804-1860), Paul Gavarni (1804-1866), Charles Joseph Traviés de Villers (1804-1859), and others.
Included in this set are the first 15 plates (out of 24 published) of the Mensuelle supplements. As the text and images of La Caricature became more and more aggressive in their attacks on Louis-Philippe, the magazine was seized over a dozen times, the publishers repeatedly prosecuted, and Philipon served a year in jail. To cover legal costs, Philipon and his brother-in-law Gabriel Aubert created a special edition of La Caricature: L’Association pour la liberté de la presse (or Association mensuelle lithographique).
Association members paid an extra franc above the regular subscription price of 52 francs and received one extra lithograph. Although subscribers were galvanized behind demands for freedom of the press, the French government succeeded in passing legislation in 1835 that forced La Caricature to close.
Attached is a complete index to the artists and their work in each issue: http://libweb5.princeton.edu/visualmaterials/gapdf/caricature.pdf
And what about the price?
Jan Myrdal