Parisiana - Jeudi 16 Mars 1933. Art Deco/Nouveau. Pin-up; light erotica; cover art by Marcel Bloch; rear cover art by Rene Giffey

Paris: Parisiana, 1933. First Edition . Illustrated Wraps. Good. Folio - over 12 - 15" tall. Rene Giffey. Paris: Parisiana, 1933. The March 16, 1933 issue (19e annee, No. 393) 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 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. This example is in Good condition only, primarily because both its covers are detached and it has experienced a modest amount of small peripheral chipping; complete, however, and bright (see scans). Brave 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. Marcel Bloch produced the cover for this issue, and frequent contributor Rene Giffey executed the rear cover; other artists in these issues, to the degree they are credited, include Rene Giffey, Jack Abeille, Pierre Huberty, Louis Forton, Moziss, Lindel, "JAC", Haye, H. Ligneul, G. Le Belair, Clerice Fr., G. Conrad 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