Author: Frémaux, Léon J[oseph] (1821-1898) Title: New Orleans Characters Place: [New Orleans] Publisher: Peychaud & Garcia, 48 Camp Street Date: 1876 Item # : 172509 Description: With 16 hand-colored lithographed plates; plus hand-colored lithographed title with decorative border and oval portrait of Tignon a la Chinoise, by Frémaux. Each plate affixed to linen stub. (Folio) 13¾x9¾, original quarter black sheep and brown cloth, stamped and lettered in gilt, hinges reinforced with white linen. First Edition. Inscribed and signed by author / artist, Frémaux, in French, on the upper title page to Henri Grandjean Perrenoud (1821-1887). Incredible and striking images of working class people and New Orleans natives in nineteenth century Louisiana, each captioned with a mix of English and Cajun language. The artist, Léon Frémaux, was a Captain (and later an engineer / land surveyor) in the Louisiana Tigers (Company B, 8th Louisiana Regiment) during the 1860's. Captions include: A cotton classer; Sugar broker & Weigher; Bel Calas (Merchant of rice fritters); Chactaw Indian squaws; “Tam…tam tam…” the gemman that beats the drum for the man that sells (with auction sales sign in background); an apple vendor selling to an upper class white woman; “The merry Roustabouts” (two black men dancing); a traveling handyman calling out “Ting ta fixee, Madam! (Any thing to fix, Madam); three white men selling imaginary stock “at real prices”; “The flag covers the merchandise” wheelbarrow street vendor selling to kids; “Merchand latanier! (Merchant of Palmetto root); “O! O-yta, sallay! (Oysters, Salty!)” male vendor with young boy riding horse-drawn wagon; “Rrrrramonah! (Chimney Sweep)” black man calling out for his chimney sweep services; a man selling eggs out of a large basket over his head; a man selling ice cream; and a black woman named Rose selling coffee in the French market. Howes F362; Reese 93.

Provenance: Henri Perrenoud’s children moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1875, where he would later join them in 1884 moving from New Orleans. Hermann Hofer (whose bookplate is on the front pastedown) married Perrenoud’s daughter, Pauline-Mélina (an artist-painter herself) in Oakland in 1882.

Condition: Scuffs to leather, small chips to spine, splitting along front joint, scattered minor stains to cloth; occasional small foxing spots; contents fine, in a very good original binding. A rare color plate book providing an early visual look at everyday life in New Orleans in the 1870’s. An important piece of Americana.

Sale Number 332 Lot Number 59 Sale Name Americana - Travel - Exploration - Maritime; Maps & Atlases Sale Date 05/25/2006 Price realized $ 10925