Paris Avant l’Histoire (page 1/2)

Some sample images

The Archdruid, or chief druid, is depicted in this engraving standing near a stone monolith and holding herbs and a curved knife for harvesting plants. He is bearded and has perhaps a wreath of oak leaves on [...] [more...] [$]

Foliated chapterhead with dragons

This fleuron or chapterhead is at the start of part III of the novel. It has four dragon’s heads with barbed tongues in a symmetrical pattern, surrounded by leaves perhaps like clover. [more...] [$]

Front Cover

My copy of Paris avant l’Historire is bound in quarter-leather with marbled boards. [$]

Pied Léger

An illustration of prehistoric Paris; a man sits on the edge of a roughly-made wooden pier, presumably over the River Seine, dangling his bare legs over the edge. He wears only an animal skin formed into breeches with a belt and looped over one shuolder, and [...] [more...] [$]

Frontispiece: A Dream: Tertiary Man.

A naked man sits in a tree hugging his knees, his bare feet dangling. Behind him is a lake or river with elephants grazing. A bird wades through a marsh in the foreground. The man has short hair and appears beardless, perhaps a boy, although one has to wonder about priorities in a world with barbers but no clothing. The youth is sitting in a nest, perhaps [...] [more...] [$]

Images from Paris avant l’Historire, (Paris before history) by Élie Berthet, illustrated by F.Bourdin, with engravings by C. Bellinger, E. Chevallier, E. Dargent, Farlet, A. Léveillé and Puyplat, 1885.

I bought this book in Paris in September 2013 in a small bookshop not far from the Bastille monument, down past the Opera.

The book was first published in 1884 as Romans préhistoriques: le monde inconnu.

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Paris Avant l’Histoire (page 1/2)

Some sample images

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