CHAM (pseudonym of Amédée de Noé) — à la Guerre Comme à la Guerre

Paris: Chez Aubert & Cie. 1845. All is Fair in Love and War" Cham's Complete Satirical Album of the French Army in Algeria - Thirty-One Lithographed Plates CHAM [pseudonym of Charles Amédée de Noé]. À la guerre comme à la guerre. Par Cham. Paris: Chez Aubert & Cie. [n.d. 1846]. First edition. Oblong folio (10 1/8 x 12 3/4 inches; 254 x 324 mm.). Pictorial lithographed title-page and thirty numbered lithographed plates, each with printed caption beneath, presenting Cham's wonderfully comic and frequently irreverent view of the experiences and misadventures of the French army in Algeria. Publisher's original pictorial green boards, front cover reproducing the design of the lithographed title-page, rear cover plain. Minimal rubbing and wear to spine ends and extremities; internally remarkably clean and fresh. An exceptional survival in the original publisher's pictorial boards. Near fine. A complete suite of Cham's celebrated caricatures of the French military campaign in Algeria, comprising the pictorial title and all thirty numbered plates. The title, À la guerre comme à la guerre, is a proverbial French expression - literally, "in war as in war" - conveying the idea that in difficult circumstances one must make do with whatever is available: essentially, "you have to take things as they come." It provides the perfect framework for Cham's comic assault upon the romantic conception of military life. Rather than heroic battle scenes and martial glory, Cham gives us the decidedly less glamorous realities of campaigning in North Africa: exhausting marches, hunger and thirst, unruly Arab horses, uncomfortable nights beneath canvas, troublesome provisions, razzias, encounters with wild animals and the innumerable indignities suffered by the ordinary soldier. Officers and enlisted men alike are subjected to Cham's irreverent eye, the hardships of colonial campaigning becoming the raw material for a sustained sequence of visual jokes. The album relates specifically to the French conquest of Algeria, begun in 1830 and still very much an active military enterprise when these lithographs appeared. By the mid-1840s the French army was engaged in the final stages of its long struggle against the forces of Abd el-Kader. Cham transforms this serious contemporary subject into an extended comic narrative of military discomfort, confusion and misadventure. CHAM, pseudonym of Charles Amédée de Noé (1818-1879). One of the most prolific French caricaturists of the nineteenth century, Cham belonged to the generation that followed Daumier and Gavarni and became particularly associated with Le Charivari. His extraordinary productivity - he was said to have had "an idea a day" - resulted in thousands of drawings and lithographs, many subsequently gathered into albums such as the present work. "It is to be regretted that space will not serve to represent the caricaturists and depictors of manners who followed in the wake of Daumier and Gavarni. Among the most attractive of the former is Amédée de Noé, known as Cham (that is, Ham, the son of Noah) of whom it was said that he had 'an idea a day' for Le charivari. A good proportion of his thousands of lithographs were gathered into albums. His contributions to the Album du siège, in which Daumier was his collaborator, are typical of his work" (Ray, The Art of the French Illustrated Book, pp. 155-156). The Plates: Pictorial lithographed title-page. Ça ne vaut pas l'eau filtrée!!. Au diable les chevaux arabes! Quelle chance!! Pour faire un bon pot-au-feu. V'là soixante lieues d'avalées! Ces gueux d'arabes. Dites donc, caporal. Une visite sous la tente. Encore quinze lieues à faire.. Une razzia.. C'est fort drôle conscrit!.. Un héritage flambé. Allons bon!.. Gueux de sauvages! Y a des gens qui ont du bonheur! Il est bon d'avoir des amis. C'est une flêche empoisonnée. En toute chose il ne faut jamais considérer la faim. Qué beau pays!!! Est-ce que tu attends l'omnibus?.. Pauvres camarades! Cristi! V'la mon paletot qui se déchire! Y a pas de bon sens! Cher papa et chère maman. Mon Général.. C'est un coup superbe! Un petit homme à grandes passions. Marche de nuit. Un réveil désagréable. L'appétit est le meilleur cuisinier. A remarkably fresh example of one of Cham's most entertaining lithographic albums, complete with all thirty plates and retaining the particularly desirable original pictorial boards. .