Monsieur Seraphin de Chikepatan
- SIGNED
- Paris: Nouvelle Librairie de la Jeunesse, 1895
Paris: Nouvelle Librairie de la Jeunesse, 1895. The Comic Adventures of a Bumbling Egotist
[MOVABLE BOOK]. MEGGENDORFER, Lothar, illustrator. Monsieur Séraphin de Chikepatan. Natif de Gratin-les-Gommeux (Seine et Garonne). Paris: Nouvelle Librairie de la Jeunesse, [circa 1895].
Rare early French edition, possibly the first issue. Tall folio (13 7/8 x 10 1/4 inches; 352 x 260 mm). [2] pp. (including title). With eight superb full-page movable chromolithographic plates, each with its own comic caption and explanatory facing text (in French).
The illustrations follow the improbable and mock-heroic exploits of Monsieur Séraphin de Chikepatan, a comically vain adventurer “from Gratin-les-Gommeux (Seine et Garonne),” in the style of Baron Münchhausen or the Vapeur de Nadar.
Publisher’s original pictorial paper-covered boards, printed in color, with red cloth spine. Corners a little rubbed but still a remarkable, complete copy of a very fragile production with no restoration whatsoever.
Rare early French edition, possibly the first issue, of this vividly absurd and grotesque visual narrative by the German caricaturist and movable book pioneer Lothar Meggendorfer - here presented in a tall upright folio format, and in a unique French variant not recorded in standard bibliographies.
This edition is entirely in French and bears the imprint of the Nouvelle Librairie de la Jeunesse, which appears to have produced a limited domestic run for the Parisian juvenile market. The tall, narrow dimensions differ from the oblong format of the Plon, Nourrit version (c.1900), suggesting this may precede the more commonly cited issue.
Each scene is delightfully absurd, depicting Séraphin caught in ever more implausible situations: fleeing from monstrous fowl, falling into native cooking pots, conversing with lobsters, or blasted from a cannon. Meggendorfer’s chromolithographs are dazzling in color and executed with masterful control of scale, exaggeration, and comic pathos. Though this is not a movable book, it retains the energy and sequencing of a cinematic farce—an early form of visual storytelling akin to comic strips.
The Genius of Lothar Meggendorfer (1985) features no. 1 "En Ville" (The Dandy Fellow) & no. 6 "Au Café" (The Pool Player).
While Monsieur Séraphin de Chikepatan never existed as a real person, he represents a parodic archetype - a spoof of provincial adventurers and fashionable eccentrics, animated to ridiculous life by one of the great masters of the movable book. His improbable name and improbable adventures are part of Meggendorfer’s genius in blending satire, animation, and illustration into a single kinetic spectacle.
Though published by the Parisian Nouvelle Librairie de la Jeunesse, this album is clearly a German-French collaboration, with Meggendorfer providing the visual mechanics and satirical absurdities, and a French editorial team adapting the text to local tastes.
The book does not appear in Benzing’s bibliography of Meggendorfer’s German works, nor is it commonly found in institutional holdings; OCLC locates just a handful of copies worldwide (e.g., BnF, Munich, Cotsen).
Meggendorfer’s French imprints are far scarcer than his German or English publications, and this title is among the most elaborate. It was likely issued in small numbers for the Parisian holiday market around 1895, in the same vein as his celebrated Internationaler Circus or Zum Zeitvertreib.
1. En ville
2. Au jardin zoologique
3. Sport
4. Plaisirs champeteres
5. Sur l'eau
6. Au café
7. Amis et ennemis
8. Au clair de la lune
The Genius of Lothar Meggendorfer (1985) features no. 1 "En Ville" (The Dandy Fellow) & no. 6 "Au Café" (The Pool Player).
[MOVABLE BOOK]. MEGGENDORFER, Lothar, illustrator. Monsieur Séraphin de Chikepatan. Natif de Gratin-les-Gommeux (Seine et Garonne). Paris: Nouvelle Librairie de la Jeunesse, [circa 1895].
Rare early French edition, possibly the first issue. Tall folio (13 7/8 x 10 1/4 inches; 352 x 260 mm). [2] pp. (including title). With eight superb full-page movable chromolithographic plates, each with its own comic caption and explanatory facing text (in French).
The illustrations follow the improbable and mock-heroic exploits of Monsieur Séraphin de Chikepatan, a comically vain adventurer “from Gratin-les-Gommeux (Seine et Garonne),” in the style of Baron Münchhausen or the Vapeur de Nadar.
Publisher’s original pictorial paper-covered boards, printed in color, with red cloth spine. Corners a little rubbed but still a remarkable, complete copy of a very fragile production with no restoration whatsoever.
Rare early French edition, possibly the first issue, of this vividly absurd and grotesque visual narrative by the German caricaturist and movable book pioneer Lothar Meggendorfer - here presented in a tall upright folio format, and in a unique French variant not recorded in standard bibliographies.
This edition is entirely in French and bears the imprint of the Nouvelle Librairie de la Jeunesse, which appears to have produced a limited domestic run for the Parisian juvenile market. The tall, narrow dimensions differ from the oblong format of the Plon, Nourrit version (c.1900), suggesting this may precede the more commonly cited issue.
Each scene is delightfully absurd, depicting Séraphin caught in ever more implausible situations: fleeing from monstrous fowl, falling into native cooking pots, conversing with lobsters, or blasted from a cannon. Meggendorfer’s chromolithographs are dazzling in color and executed with masterful control of scale, exaggeration, and comic pathos. Though this is not a movable book, it retains the energy and sequencing of a cinematic farce—an early form of visual storytelling akin to comic strips.
The Genius of Lothar Meggendorfer (1985) features no. 1 "En Ville" (The Dandy Fellow) & no. 6 "Au Café" (The Pool Player).
While Monsieur Séraphin de Chikepatan never existed as a real person, he represents a parodic archetype - a spoof of provincial adventurers and fashionable eccentrics, animated to ridiculous life by one of the great masters of the movable book. His improbable name and improbable adventures are part of Meggendorfer’s genius in blending satire, animation, and illustration into a single kinetic spectacle.
Though published by the Parisian Nouvelle Librairie de la Jeunesse, this album is clearly a German-French collaboration, with Meggendorfer providing the visual mechanics and satirical absurdities, and a French editorial team adapting the text to local tastes.
The book does not appear in Benzing’s bibliography of Meggendorfer’s German works, nor is it commonly found in institutional holdings; OCLC locates just a handful of copies worldwide (e.g., BnF, Munich, Cotsen).
Meggendorfer’s French imprints are far scarcer than his German or English publications, and this title is among the most elaborate. It was likely issued in small numbers for the Parisian holiday market around 1895, in the same vein as his celebrated Internationaler Circus or Zum Zeitvertreib.
1. En ville
2. Au jardin zoologique
3. Sport
4. Plaisirs champeteres
5. Sur l'eau
6. Au café
7. Amis et ennemis
8. Au clair de la lune
The Genius of Lothar Meggendorfer (1985) features no. 1 "En Ville" (The Dandy Fellow) & no. 6 "Au Café" (The Pool Player).