Amazon.com description: Product Description: [From the dustcover] "it has been said that if it weren't for Grandville there would have been no John Tenniel and no Edward Lear. Grandville's The Metamorphosis of the Day was first published in 1829, and was followed by Scenes from the Private and Public Life of Animals in 1842. Fables had often been illustrated with animals in human guise, but nothing like these drawings had ever been seen vefore. Grandville satirized the follies of politics and society through birds, cats, dogs, elephants, tortoises, rhinoceroses and even beetles, dressed and speaking like human beings, and yet observed with the sympathetic eye of a naturalist. Soon these brilliant and provocative images were the rage of Paris. " "This collection, with 23 of Grandville's illustrations in full color, draws on his two major works to provide a delightful view of one of the most dazzling talents in the history of illustration."