Benjamin Rabier, French Comic Gallery 5

   

1 [1908] Les Tribulations d’un chat.

THE KING of French comic albums was Benjamin Rabier (1864-1939) with over 137 children’s books and albums available for browsing on Gallica. Rabier contributed to La Chronique Amusante, Gil Blas Illustré, Le Journal Amusant, Le Chat Noir, Robida’s La Caricature, Le Journal Pour Tous, Le Rire, and Images d’Épinal. He published his own journal Histoire comique et Naturelle des Animaux in 1907 and 1908. Rabier also worked in animation for Pathé Baby in the twenties.

2 [1908] La Jeunesse Illustrée No. 5, March 29. 

3 [1899] Le Journal Amusant, September 23. 

4 [1911] Le Journal Amusant, July 8. 

5 [1930] Gédéon dans la forêt. 

6 [1908] Histoire Comique et Naturelle des Animaux No. 26, February 13.

7 [1908] Histoire Comique et Naturelle des Animaux.

8 [1908] Les Tribulations d’un chat.

9 [1914-15] La Grande Guerre par les artistes.

10 [1920] Advertisement.

11 [1907] Le Rire No. 250, November 16.

Four complete issues of 

Histoire comique et Naturelle des Animaux

 can be read HERE.

Images courtesy Gallica

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Alain Saint-Ogan, French Comic Gallery 3

THE COMIC ALBUM has been an integral part of French publishing since April 1839 when Charles Philipon and Gabriel Aubert published a comic album plagiarism of Rodolphe Töpffer’s ‘Histoire de Mr. Jabot.’ In 1925 Alain Saint-Ogan (pen-name of Alain Marie Joseph Paul Louis Fernand Lefebvre Saint-Ogan, 1895-1974) created the comic series ‘Zig et Puce’ appearing in Le Dimanche illustré, a weekly supplement of the daily L’Excelsior. His later strip about a comic bear, ‘Prosper L’Ours,’ first appeared in the newspaper Le Matin on February 16, 1933 and soon dominated sales of comic albums for children in France. Seven PROSPER albums were published by Hachette between 1933 and 1940.

[1] Advertisement in Philipon and Aubert’s Journal Amusant for a comic album by Léonce Petit (1839-84), ‘Les Mésaventures de M. Béton,’ November 21, 1868.

[2] Le Jardin Des Lettres, November 1933, No. 31.

[5] Prosper comic album advertisements, Le Matin, December 29, 1936.

[6] Le Matin, December 19, 1937.

[7] PROSPER merchandising, Le Matin, December 19, 1933.

[8] Le Matin, December 25, 1935.

[9] Le Matin, February 9, 1936.

[10] Le Matin, December 25, 1937.

[11] Le Matin, June 18, 1939.

[12] ‘Les nouvelles aventures de Zig et Puce,’ Le Matin, July 23, 1936.

[13] ‘Zig et Puce à New York,’ 1930.

Images courtesy Gallica

G. RI, French Comic Gallery 2

♪♪♪  Fantasy adventure comics by Victor Mousselet, who under the pen-name ‘G. RI’ was active from 1896 to circa 1930 in French weeklies. These works appeared in 1902-12 in L’Album Comique de la Famille and Les Belles Images.

1 [1905] Les Belles Images, Dec 7

2 [1902] L’Album Comique de la Famille, No. 4

3 [1906] Les Belles Images, Jan 4

4 [1906] Les Belles Images, Jan 18

5 [1906] Les Belles Images, May 31

6 [1906] Les Belles Images, Jun 14

7 [1906] Les Belles Images, Aug 2

8 [1907] Les Belles Images, Jan 3

9 [1907] Les Belles Images, Jan 24

10 [1907] Les Belles Images, Feb 7

11 [1907] Les Belles Images, Oct 10

12 [1910] Les Belles Images, Mar 24

13 [1910] Les Belles Images, Mar 31

14 [1912] Les Belles Images, Aug 1

15 [1901] Le Progrès illustré, Mar 24

All images courtesy Gallica
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French Comic Gallery 1

1 [1928] Zig et Puce Millionnaires

2 [1904] Le Rire, February 20

3 [1923] La Dépêche, July 1

4 [1923] Le Petit Marseillais, July 15

5 [1922] Petit Marseillais Illustré, August 20

6 [1911] Le Rire, June 24

7 [1941] L’Aventureux, ‘Journal illustré de grandes aventures,’ August 31

8 [1908] Histoire Comique et Naturelle des Animaux, February 13

9 [1922] La Dépêche, October 29

10 [1924] Le Rire, November 15

11 [1936] L’Aventureux, June 1

12 [1926] Les Belles Images, April 1

13 [1914] Le Rire, February 2

14 [1909] Le Journal Comique, No. 6

All images courtesy Gallica
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