Satirical and Absurd Illustrations From JJ Grandville’s Un Autre Monde, 1844

‘Un Autre Monde: Transformations, Visions, Incarnations Et Autres Choses’ by JJ Grandville (1803-1847) was published by H. Fournier of Paris in 1844. The illustrations are, as the book’s sole reviewer at the Internet Archive puts it, “nutty, weird and wonderful – funny and strange.” The work is “very good!”. It is.

h/t: flashbak

JJ Grandville, nee Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard (13 September 1803 – 17 March 1847), generally known by the pseudonym of Jean-Jacques, was a French caricaturist and illustrator. His surreal drawings seem to hover in the twilight between sleep and waking. Animals and plants walk, talk and dance. Celestial objects take human forms. In one scene playing cards fight one another. A smiling giant juggles the planets of the known solar system.

Written by Taxile Delord, the editor of the journal Le Charivari to which Grandville had contributed numerous drawings, Un Autre Monde features a trio of Supreme Beings travelling through a version of the human world. The absurdities of life are there to see and enjoy.