[Illustration: Tail-piece from “Contes et nouvelles en vers” by La Fontaine, 1762.] [Illustration: Choffard’s visiting card] XVIIIth CENTURY FRENCH BOOK-ILLUSTRATORS CHOFFARD BY VERA SALOMONS ILLUSTRATED WITH 29 PHOTOGRAVURES FROM NEGATIVES BY THE AUTHOR LONDON JOHN & EDWARD BUMPUS LTD. MCMXII (ALL RIGHTS RESERVED) CHISWICK PRESS: CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO. TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TO MY MOTHER THE PRESENT LITTLE VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TO THE READER You may never have heard of Choffard and never have seen his work, but if any production from his hand should be brought before your eyes, however insignificant, and you fail to admire it, then it is to confess that no artistic corner exists in your soul! Of all the vignettists, Choffard is the freshest, most ingenious, and charming. Elegance exists in all his productions equalled, perhaps, by no other artist. None act so well a love scene on the stage as those who love each other in real life, so with all things and with book writing in particular. To love an artist, gives the author a hand unfettered in dealing with his work; it becomes no longer a forced history of his art, but a work of affection free from affectation. The author of this little book is a true admirer of Choffard and you may accept the contents as a faithful representation of the artist and his work. I therefore trust that after you have perused the pages which follow, if not already an admirer of Choffard, you will have become one. D. S. BROOMHILL, TUNBRIDGE WELLS. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PREFACE Most biographers are so self-confident that they believe the subject of their book will prove interesting to others; the present writer is no exception to the rule and trusts that the following pages may help, in a small degree, to attract the reader’s attention to the work of Pierre-Philippe Choffard. The 1762 edition of La Fontaine’s “Contes et nouvelles en vers,” which is illustrated by Eisen’s masterpieces and by some of Choffard’s exquisite etchings, is the work of that period best known to British book-lovers; possibly in a measure due to the free character of the stories, yet probably owing to these beautiful plates by Choffard and Eisen. It seems, therefore, fair to assume that art lovers of to-day, who interest themselves in French illustrated books of the eighteenth century, may care to know something more about the artist whose lovely work is a source of so much pleasure and admiration to them.