63 - [CARTOON - GRANDVILLE]. The Draft Dodgers, as Depicted by Themselves During the War of 1870–1871.

[CARTOON - GRANDVILLE]. The Draft Dodgers, as Depicted by Themselves During the War of 1870–1871. Illustrated pamphlet, featuring 13 fine photographs of drawings that evoke or parody Grandville, forming a unique work in the spirit of the satirical press of the time. Bound folio album (330 x 240 mm), full red shagreen, plain ribbed spine, covers stamped with a cold-embossed frame and adorned with a gilt title, gilt edges. 13 photographs of drawings on albumen paper mounted on heavy cardstock, with handwritten captions and most featuring scrolls, all mounted on tabs. Binding shows wear at the jaws, raised bands, corners, and edges; some decorative scrolls are missing. A rare satirical album with a political message, conceived in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War and the traumas of the Paris Commune (1870–1871). It parodies the 1840 moral encyclopedia *Les Français peints par eux-mêmes* and uses animal metaphors here to mock the “draft dodgers”—those insubordinate National Guardsmen and bourgeois civilians accused of cowardice in the face of the Prussian army. The anonymous artist (likely from Cham’s or Draner’s circle) draws on Jean-Jacques Grandville’s most famous plates, reproducing them while, in some cases, altering their morphology to create a series of rabbits or hares—universal slang figures for the coward and the “prey” that takes flight. The appeal of this album lies in its narrative structure built on metaphors and antitheses. While certain figures (such as the stork-doctor, the mouse on a leash, or the unchanged allegory of the “Hunter in Times of Peace” engraved by Jules Caqué) do indeed come from *Scenes from the Private and Public Life of Animals* (1842), others are inspired by the fantastical engravings of *Another World* (1844). One plate reproduces a drawing of rabbits by Gustave Doré for La Fontaine’s Fables (1868). By meticulously altering the original faces to insert his own figures, the pastiche artist unifies this body of work under a consistent political message amplified by the captions. The album opens with the collective rout of “La Parisienne des Réfractaires,” in which crustaceans march “all backward .” This is followed by a portrait of the bourgeoisie in the prewar era, “Hunter in Peacetime,” affecting the arrogance of a predatory hunting dog as long as there is no danger. But at the first cannon shot, the metamorphosis takes place: the notables become timid “prey” and transform into rabbits holed up in a “Club during the war… Saving the country while saving ourselves too!…” Through this play on textual mirrors, the album ironically demonstrates that the only strategy left to the draft dodgers is pretense and flight. In the biting spirit of *Charivari* or *Grelot*, this album resembles a mock-up for a publishing project or a personal sketchbook by the artist. Pages in perfect condition.