VADÉ (Jean-Joseph)
Oeuvres Poissardes de J. J. Vadé, suivies de celles de l'Ecluse; édition tiréee à 300 exemplaires, dont 100 sur grand papier; et ornée de figures imprimées en couleur.
ONE OF 100 LARGE PAPER COPIES of an edition limited to 300. The ‘poissard’ genre of literature, named after the fish wives of Les Halles the erstwhile great market in Paris, well known for its louche haunts, was popular in the second half of the 18th century and Vadé is the best known exponent of the genre. He was born in 1719 dying after a fairly rackety life in 1757. The French critic Freron wrote: ‘le poissard peint la nature, basse si l’on veut aux regards dédaigneux d’une certaine dignité philosophique, mais très agréable, quoi qu’en disent les délicats’. The plates after Monsiau give a certain 18eme charm to the somewhat rough scenes depicted.
Provenance: William Harry Vane Milbank (1848-1892) was educated at Eton and served in the Royal Horse Guards, latterly acting as a JP in North Yorkshire where he was born. Book plate of Frederick A. Crisp (1851-1922), genealogist and owner of a private press, whose library was sold at Sotheby’s in 4 parts in 1922, 1923, and 1935; ownership inscription in ink(!) on half-title of R. Lionel Foster, collector of Nelsonian and other maritime materials some of which are now at Greenwich.
