Books and Manuscripts

Hand-Made Example of the "Optique No. 4. Promenade de Longchamp" Paper Peepshow
No place, no date, (presumably France, ca. 1828). Hand-made accordion-style paper peepshow after "Optique No. 4. Promenade de Longchamp" (Paris, ca. 1827), depicting the tree-lined Champs-Élysées thronged with strolling pedestrians, figures on horses, and horse-drawn carriages. Comprising four pen and watercolor cut-out scenes, and one pen and watercolor back-scene, connected at top and bottom by paper bellows (watermarked 1828); in hand-made paper viewing boards, with pen and watercolor illustration; first paper bellow at top separated; boards worn and rubbed. See Hyde, Paper Peepshows 24

A charming and unique contemporary hand-made example of this 1827 French paper peepshow, depicting the popular annual society promenade down the Champs-Élysées in Paris. The view looks east down the tree-lined boulevard toward the then incomplete Arc de Triomphe (completed in 1836), busy with strolling figures and horse-drawn carriages. The promenade traces its origins to the early days of the reign of Louis XV, beginning as a pilgrimage made to the Abbey of Longchamp during Holy Week. The Abbey was torn down during the Revolution, and in the following years the pilgrimage was transformed into a fashionable promenade, especially for Paris's milliners, dressmakers, and tailors, where they advertised their goods to the strolling passersby. A similar hand-made example is held in the Jacqueline and Jonathan Gestetner Collection at the Victoria & Albert Museum (see Hyde 25).

Provenance
The Estate of G. Franklin Ludington, New York City.