Book illustration, taxes and propaganda

La Fontaine’s Contes et nouvelles en vers was probably the most famous illustrated book to have appeared in France during the eighteenth century. The celebrated 1762 edition, published by the Louis XV’s detested tax-gatherers, the Compagnie des Fermiers généraux, held among its claims to supremacy its magnificent copperplate illustrations, designed by Charles Eisen. In this highly illustrated book, David Adams first sets out a publishing history of the edition, using historical, bibliographical and cultural evidence, and next provides a detailed study of the plates as a whole. In so doing, he gives his interpretation of the values and attitudes of the Compagnie, the members of which took great care to ensure that the plates reflected their view of contemporary society. Finally, he gives a synoptic view of the illustrations, and situates the work in the wider context of contemporary French illustrated books. This pioneering study of the relationship between text and image in eighteenth-century France shows that the illustrations the Fermiers généraux commissioned for this literary classic were intended to promote their own patrician values, and to assert their freedom of action, turning literature into propaganda with consequences they did not foresee. Acknowledgements List of illustrations 1. Introduction: the French illustrated book in the eighteenth century i. Introduction ii. The Compagnie des Fermiers généraux iii. The Fermiers and the authorities iv. The publication of the Contes et nouvelles en vers v. The fate of the Contes vi. Editions of the Contes before 1762 vii. Illustrated editions of the Contes before 1762 viii. The genesis of the illustrations ix. Questions of interpretation x. Some historical conclusions 2. The illustrations to La Fontaine’s Contes et nouvelles en vers, volume 1 3. The illustrations to La Fontaine’s Contes et nouvelles en vers, volume 2 4. The lessons of the Eisen illustrations i. General observations on the interpretation of the illustrations ii. The presentation of the plates – themes and variations iii. The Contes as a rococo book iv. Nudity in French illustrated books of the eighteenth century v. The place of illustrations in French eighteenth-century books vi. The audience for the illustrations vii. La Fontaine and the idea of personal freedom viii. The theme of freedom as manifested in the Contes ix. The Fermiers généraux, freedom and conventional values x. The assertion of the Fermiers’ freedom in the illustrations xi. Revelations: the role of curtains and clothing xii. The significance of the 1762 Contes in the history of the eighteenth-century French illustrated book xiii. Epilogue List of works cited Index