Imagerie d'Epinal Album d'Images (1888) 1888

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Original edition published 1888. "Imagerie d'Epinal Album d' Images" by various French artists. Printed and hand colored in France expressly for the Humoristic Publishing Company by Jean-Charles Pellerin's Imagerie d'Epinal printing house, which was founded in 1796. Printed on one side only. This is a collection of fifty to sixty broadsheets (actual number of broadsheets vary by copy; a broad sheet is a single sheet), originally sold separately. Overstreet states: "all known copies only have fifty of the sixty known broadsheets, three slightly different covers known to exist," some with the original French text on the broadsheets, some with English translations, with or without the general title "Contes de Fees" ("Fairy Tales"). According to Overstreet, all known copies were collected with sheets 15-20, 23,24, 47 and 48 missing. See individual item description for further details. Each broadsheet tells a different fairy tale, in sequential art panels (with accompanying descriptive text below each panel). This historically important graphic collection presages the format used by Hal Foster in his Prince Valiant strips by some fifty years, and is a clear forerunner of the modern day comic book. Pellerin for Humoristic Publishing Co., Kansas City, Mo; no date but Overstreet states this was published in 1888. 11-1/2" x 15-1/2", Overstreet states 108 pages but page count may vary per copy. Please see individual item description for further details. Full color hardcover, hand colored interior.