Parisiana - Jeudi 20 Avril 1933. Art Deco/Nouveau, Pin-up; cover art by Rene Giffey

Paris: Parisiana, 1933. First Edition . Illustrated Wraps. Very Good. Folio - over 12 - 15" tall. Rene Giffey. Paris: Parisiana, 1933. The April 20, 1933 issue (19e annee, No. 398) of Parisiana, the somewhat less expensively produced, and somewhat smaller, cousin of the famed La Vie Parisienne - both being, well, soft erotica and humor weeklies for the gentleman; this Parisiana claimed Jeudi (Thursday) as its publication dates, while La Vie Parisienne was strictly Samedi (Saturday). Parisiana had all of the enticements, to a slightly lesser degree, that its larger relative had: pleasingly executed soft erotic art, cartoons, humor, and fiction; and it generally had an inside front cover black and white photo, which LVP did not. Parisiana illustrators were perhaps less famous at the time, and went uncredited - or credited with just initials or a single name - more often than in LVP. But the appeal is identical. Text in French. Larger than quarto at Folio size (as was LVP, but LVP was a notably larger folio size), illustrated stapled newsprint wraps (whereas LVP had some glossy paper pages), 20 pp. including covers, as numbered. Very Good or better, a bit short of Near Fine, with just a modest amount of the inevitable toning to the newsprint and one slit & crease at spine bottom (see scans). Extraordinarily nice condition for this thin, fragile weekly. Quite thoroughly illustrated in Nouveau/Deco, and every page would make a delightful scan if I had the time. Rene Giffey executed the cover for this issue, as well as a bit of interior work; other artists in these issues, to the degree they are credited, include Jack Abeille, Pierre Huberty, Louis Forton, Moziss, Lindel, "JAC", Haye, H. Ligneul, G. Le Belair, and A. Perre. There are others. Cute sense of humor, from the same mood as mutoscope cards, or perhaps a bit (only a bit) more refined, inspires the cover captions (which see) and much of the interior cartoon wit. There is plenty of advertising to tempt the...gentleman as well, offering a plethora of services (see scans). Much here is eminently frame-able, newsprint notwithstanding. The art is mostly of that unique sensibility of the time, midway-evolved between arts nouveau and deco. Scarce. l-g2