A. Vémar [Gustave Marx’s pseudonym]. Almanach illustré de l’Homme qui rit, parodie en vers comiques. Paris, A. Panis, Et chez tous les Libraires de France et de l’Étranger, [1869]. Little in-4°. 43, [5] pp. Vignette on the title and at the head of L’Homme qui en rit. Half raspberry percaline, eggplant morocco label, yellow illustrated cover preserved, two-column text.
First edition of the parody l’Homme qui en rit, published in the same year as Hugo’s famous work. Grand-Carteret describes it as “a booklet that has become extremely rare, like all Victor Hugo’s parodies”; this parody is in two parts (pp. 9 to 24).
It is preceded by 4 lines of dedication from the author to the poet: « Parodier c’est un bravo qu’on atteste / En se créant dans le manteau d’un roi / Quelque pourpoint d’occasion ; quant à moi, / J’ai beau tailler, je n’aurai qu’une veste », and by 6 pp. of the almanac; our parody is followed by another, les Travailleurs de l’Amer (pp. 25 to 35, originally published in 1866 in Paris by Cournol) then by Petite Préface de la Grammaire de l’amour (pp. 36 to 43, some extracts from his Grammaire de l’Amour : à l’usage des gens du monde et du demi-monde and from his Code de l’Amour, pp. 39 à 42 are missing, forgotten by the binder). The next 5 unnumbered pp. present a review by Gaston d’Harcourt in favor of the Simpson sewing machine, and announcements of publications by bookseller Panis (including L’Homme qui rit)
Gustave Marx, a publicist, columnist and satirist, is also the author of Les Misérables pour rire, a successful parody published in 1862.
From the library of Étienne Cluzel, with his gilt bookplate on tan leather.
Vicaire, IV, 343 ; Grand-Carteret, Les Almanachs français, 2968.
Small tears, not serious, restored on the 4th cover, small tear without missing in the margin of the title. A good copy.
450 €