“At six o’clock in the morning, on the 19th of August, 1780 was born Pierre-Jean de Béranger, the greatest lyric poet of all ages,” is how one anonymous translator begins his bio of the poet. Now I don’t know if that’s true or not—Heinrich Heine was a pretty prolific songwriter, for example—but what I have read of these is rather enjoyable. (My plan is to digitize these translations of his poems by William Young and pair them with these illustrations of his poems by Tony Johannot and J.J. Grandville, but for now you can enjoy the illustrations!)
These illustrations are in the public domain and are from this 1869 French edition digitized by HathiTrust.
Le Roi D’Yvetot (The King of Yvetot)
La Pauvre Femme (The Poor Woman)
Le Ménétrier de Meudon (The Meudon Fiddler)
Jacques
Le Vieux Vagabond (The Old Tramp)
Les Feux Follets (The Will-o’-Wisps)
Gotton
Les Contrebandiers (The Smugglers)
Jeanne-La-Rousse, La Femme du Braconnier (Red-headed Jane, or the Poacher’s Wife)
Le Juif Errant (The Wandering Jew)
Les Souvenirs du Peuple (The Reminiscences of the People)
Les Bohémiens (The Bohemians)
Le Petit Homme Rouge (The Little Man in Red)
Les Deux Grenadiers (The Two Grenadiers)
Le Chasseur et la Laitière (The Hunter and the Milkmaid)
Les Infiniment Petits
Les Pauvres Amours (The Poor Loves)
La Métempsycose (Metempsychosis)
Le Grenier (The Attic)
Le Fils Du Pape (The Son of the Pope)
Le Vieux Sergent (The Old Sergeant)
Les Hirondelles (The Swallows)
Le Chant du Cosaque (The Song of the Cossack)
Le Violon Brisé (The Broken Violin)
La Couronne de Bluets (The Blue-Bottle Crown)
La Cantharide (The Spanish Fly)
L’Orage (The Storm)
L’Hiver (Winter)
L’Orphéon (The Orphéon)
Le Cinq Mai (The Fifth of May)
Les Vendanges (The Vintage)
Louis XI
La Vieux Drapeau (The Old Flag)
Les Étoiles Qui Filent (The Stars That Spin)
La Sainte-Alliance des Peuples (The Holy Alliance of Nations)
L’Aveugle de Bagnolet (The Blind Man of Bagnolet)
Si J’étais Petit Oiseau (Were I a Little Bird)
Ma Nacelle (My Little Boat)
La Vivandière (The Sutler)
La Bonne Vieille (The Good Old Woman)
Mon âme (My Soul)
Pailiasse (Clown)
Ce N’est Plus Lisette
Les Deux Sœurs de Charité Les Deux Sœurs de Charité (The Two Sisters of Charity)
L’Habit de Cour (The Court Dress; Or, a Visit to His Highness)
La Prisonnière et le Chevalier (The Captive Dame and the Cavalier)
Mon Curé (My cure)
Denys, le Maître D’école (Denys the Schoolmaster)
La Descente Aux Enfers (The Descent into Hell)
Roger Bontempts
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