It is time that we returned to the Paris etchings themselves, of which only one, Le Petit Pont (plate 7), has hitherto been mentioned in our survey of the progress of Meryon's work. The complete series as he published them himself, in three parts, between 1852 and 1854, consists of twenty-two etchings,[1] preceded by a portrait of Meryon etched by Bracquemond; not the half-length portrait, seated, with the hand resting on the back of a chair (plate 1),[2] which was etched in 1853 (Beraldi 77), but the head in profile to the left (Beraldi 78), in imitation of an antique sculpture in relief, with the legend, composed and etched by Meryon himself, in 1854:
Messire Bracquemond
A peint en cette image
Le sombre Meryon
Au grotesque visage.
Of the "cahiers" which were issued of the Paris set, containing this portrait, probably not one remains to-day intact. The twenty-two etchings by Meryon himself consisted of an etched title (plate 2) printed on grey, brown, blue or green paper (in which, it should be noticed, as well as in the address etched at the foot of each plate, the etcher calls himself Meryon, not Méryon), four small preliminary etchings, twelve important subjects, which bear numbers in the final state, which was not printed till 1861 and then in an edition of thirty only, and five more plates which were never numbered, and which, as regards size at least, must be counted as "minor" works, though
- ↑ A list of the contents of the set, "Eaux-Fortes sur Paris," may be found useful; it is as follows :—
A. Meryon's portrait by Bracquemond.
1. The title.
2. Dedication to R. Zeeman.
3. Porte du Palais de Justice (frontispiece).
4. Verses, "Qu'âme pure gémisse."
5. Arms of the City of Paris.
6. Le Stryge (numbered 1).
7. Le Petit Pont (numbered 2).
8. L'Arche du Pont Notre-Dame (numbered 3).
9. La Galerie Notre-Dame (numbered 4).
10. La Rue des Mauvais Garçons.
11. La Tour de l'Horloge (numbered 5).
12. Tourelle de la rue de la Tixéranderie (numbered 6).
13. St. Etienne-du-Mont (numbered 7).
14. La Pompe Notre-Dame (numbered 8).
15. La Petite Pompe.
16. Le Pont-Neuf (numbered 9).
17. Le Pont-au-Change (numbered 10).
18. Verses, "L'Espérance."
19. La Morgue (numbered 11).
20. Verses, "L'Hôtellerie de la Mort."
21. L'Abside de Notre-Dame (numbered 12).
22. Tombeau de Molière. - ↑ This portrait is extremely rare, as only ten impressions were taken; it has been reproduced by heliogravure. The impression reproduced in this book is in the collection of the author.
