Petit théâtre animal (Little Theatre of Animals), a very rare erotic portfolio first published clandestinely during a period of strict censorship, was reprinted in 1970 by the well-known Paris publisher Jean-Jacques Pauvert in a limited edition of 500 copies ‘pour la distraction de quelques-uns de ses amis français et étrangers’ (for the entertainment of some of his French and foreign friends).

The relative crudeness of the illustrations have led some to believe that this is a nineteenth-century Grandville spoof, especially since nothing else quite so explicit of Grandville’s is known. Still, an old joke (‘I am a famaus [sic] cock’) can still be a good joke, and there are several classics here.