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<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Comparison of Töpffer's Vieuxbois, the pirate edition and Obadia Oldbuck</TITLE>
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<BODY bgcolor="#000033" text="#CCFFFF" link="#CCFFFF" vlink="#CCFFFF" alink="#CCFFFF" ><basefont size="3">
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<a href="index.html"><img src="logo.andys.early.comics.archive.jpg"border="0"></a>
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<FONT SIZE="4">Comparison of key sequence in Vieuxbois (second version, 1839) and the Aubert pirate version (1839) and the Obadia Oldbuck US version (1842)</FONT>
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<CENTER><A HREF="earlycomics.html#toepffer"><IMG SRC="toepffer.original1839.gif"></CENTER>
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<CENTER><A HREF="earlycomics.html#toepffer"><IMG SRC="toepffer-pirate-aubert.jpg"border="0"></a></CENTER>
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These enlightening comments were sent to the Platinumcomics discussion group (Message 6980) by <B>Leonardo di S´</B>;
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<BR>
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Chronologically we have:
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<BR>
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<BR>
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1837: first Swiss Rodolphe Töpffer edition of his "Histoire de Mr. Vieux Bois".
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<BR>
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1839: early this year were published the first Aubert versions of three Töpffer
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albums, including "Vieux Bois".
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<BR>
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1839: in April, in Geneva, Töpffer released the second improved edition of his
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"Vieux Bois" in reaction to the bootlegs.
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<BR>
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1839: by the end of the year Töpffer's protests against the bad quality of the
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fakes had apparently Aubert do second editions of the three stories, now closer
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to the originals.
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<BR>
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1841: late this year "The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck" was published in
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Great Britain by Tilt & Bogue, in London.
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<BR>
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1842: the British edition was reprinted in the USA in another format by Wilson
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and Company, New York, dated September 14, 1842, as a supplement to "Brother
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Jonathan" Extra no. IX.
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<BR>
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<BR>
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One should note that a mid-nineteenth century reprint or copy is not
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photographically the *same* as the original printing. We have talked about this
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before and this Töpffer case is exemplary. A manual copy redrawn by some
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artisan is just that: A COPY. The result can be one of three things:
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<BR>
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<BR>
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- the almost exact duplication of the original, which is not very likely or
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common;
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<BR>
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<BR>
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- the simplified version of the drawings as compared to the original, which is
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what happens in most instances;
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<BR>
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<BR>
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- and finally, the copy can add some sort of detail as compared to the
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original, which just goes to show that engravers had a fair amount of liberty.
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<BR>
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<BR>
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Now, what we first have here is a somewhat crude (simplified) Parisian copy of
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the Töpffer originals. Then we have another Brit / American copy which
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apparently adds some flourishing to the drawings. As far as it goes, this
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doesn't seem at all impossible.
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<BR>
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<BR>
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From the comparison of Töpffer's 1839 version of "Vieux Bois", the known Aubert
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bootleg and the Brit / American editions I would say that was exactly what
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happened.
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<BR>
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<BR>
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And this is what Andy has plainly shown us.
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<BR>
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<BR>
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We know that Töpffer had a private distribution *network* that allowed for
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copies of his albums to be sold by book-dealers abroad: Cherbuliez in Paris,
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Jules Gerster in Neuchâtel, in Tübingen (Germany), in London, etc. But we also
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know that there weren't really enough Swiss copies to go around. Even Paris,
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sharing the same language, didn't get an adequate amount of copies - and this
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permitted the appearance of the Parisian counterfeits. Most probably very few
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original Töpffer editions made it to England.
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<BR>
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<BR>
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On the other hand we know that Aubert had it's authorized agent in London,
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Delaporte's in the Burlington Arcade (remember we are talking about the first
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half of the nineteenth century, when any educated Englishman had at least some
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knowledge of French...) and the Parisian publisher was in contact with Tilt &
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Bogue. We also have George Cruikshank's assertion that the frontispiece for the
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British edition was "copied from a French book by my Brother."
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<BR>
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<BR>
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BUT...
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<BR>
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<BR>
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The problem is that I at least do not know the Töppfer 1837 published version
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which was the direct original for the Parisian bootleg. Nor do I know anyone
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who has that edition, which was also NEVER reprinted.
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<BR>
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<BR>
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To further complicate matters, there were the different Aubert versions of the
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three albums. Reportedly, the first versions published in early 1939 deviated
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from the originals (inverted drawings et al) whereas the second editions had
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corrections introduced. Andy's copy is surely a second bootleg edition, not a
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first. For one it does not have any inverted drawings and besides the
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publisher's catalog has two of Cham's comic strip albums which also came out in
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1839 but only AFTER the first Töpffer counterfeits ("Mr. Lamélasse" and
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"Histoire de Mr. Lajaunisse").
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<BR>
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<BR>
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It *could* well be that Obadiah is CLOSER in detail to the 1837 Töpffer version
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than to the 1839 Aubert edition, but this can only be deduced if we can compare
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all versions.
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<BR>
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<BR>
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In conclusion: in all likelihood, the British Tilt & Bogue edition (and hence
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the American) was indeed taken from the Parisian Aubert. But we will not know
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absolutely for sure until we have seen the missing versions.
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<BR>
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<BR>
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I have discussed this problem some months ago with Michel Kempeneers and
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Thierry Smo., namely the possibly of having copies made from some library in
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Switzerland. Unfortunately nothing has yet surfaced.
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<BR>
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<BR>
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Leo
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<BR>
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<BR>
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