Pincez-moi a la campagne!! by CHAM [Pseudonym of Charles Amédée de Noé]

Paris: Maison Martinet, 1860. Pinch Me, I'm In the Country!!<br/>Now, Get Me Out of Here<br/>The Scarcest Cham of All?<br/><br/>CHAM (pseud. of Amédée de Noé). Pincez-moi a la campagne!! Paris: Maison Martinet, n.d. [c. 1860]. <br/><br/>First (only) edition. Folio (13 3/8 x 10 in; 339 x 254 mm). Hand-colored lithographed title and twenty hand-colored lithographed plates containing eighty-six humorous scenes with captions. Lithography by Ch. Fernique. <br/><br/>Original quarter green pebble-cloth over green grained-paper boards with blindstamped decoration and gilt lettering. <br/><br/>Of Amédée de Noé, "known as Cham (that is, Ham, the son of Noah)...it was said that he had 'an idea a day' for Le charivari. A good proportion of his thousands of lithographs were gathered into albums. His contributions to the Album du siège (173), in which Daumier was his collaborator, are typical of his work" (Ray, The Art of the French Illustrated Book, pp. 155-156).<br/><br/>In the ninety-three years (since 1923) that ABPC has been recording auction results not a single copy of this work has fallen under the hammer. All albums by Cham are scarce; the volume under notice is extremely so. Only eight copies survive in institutional holdings worldwide.<br/><br/>The gently amusing trials of an urban gentleman preparing for a vacation in the French countryside and the hilarious tribulations once he arrives. In essence, Woody Allen leaves Manhattan for the Catskills and copes with nature and rural life.