EDMOND LAVRATE (French, 1829-1888). Important personal album of 58 original watercolor political and social cartoons, circa 1880. Each signed in ink "Lavrate". Satirical depictions especially targeting the military and local magistrates of various towns and villages in the environs of Paris. Each watercolor accompanied by a descriptive rhyme or pun in French, written in the artist's script. Hard-cover bound with leather spine tooled in gilt. - Each page, 12 in. x 10 in. Estimate $7,500-10,000
Lavrate was a prominent mid 19th century caricaturist of French everyday life whose cartoons appeared weekly in "Le Monde Plaisant", a comic and satirical journal. At one time his illustrations were censured and banned from sale due to their vulgar and devilish nature.
