Frontispiece for L'Illustration Nouvelle

Etching, drypoint, aquatint and roulette, 1877, Bourcard/Goodfriend 124 (v/V) 13 5/8 x 10 7/8 in. Signed in the plate, lower left. Signed in pencil. This superb impression also bears the following inscription, "à mon camarade et ami, E." There's a further Buhot pencil inscription, "frontispiece pour L'Illustration Nouvelle de Cadart". The paper is a fine laid and the margins are full. This impression is before the plate edges were cleaned. This print is described by Goodfriend as follows: "The subject of this curious allegory is the 'death' of reproductive engraving (the spirit of the engraver's tool is carried aloft by angels, while the 'body' is taken off by an old hearse labeled 1876, drawn by a winged horse) and the triumphant arrival of original etching transported by a modern locomotive called 'L'Illustration Nouvelle' and dated 1877." Signed impressions of this print are rare. Based on the pencil dedication it appears that this is the impression illustrated in Catalogue Number Four (1986) by C. & J. Goodfriend, page 35, # 90.