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Diableries - Stereoscopic Adventures In Hell, The COMPLETE Edition

Diableries - Stereoscopic Adventures In Hell, The COMPLETE Edition
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Tableaux depicting life in hell, better known as Diableries, were all the rage in nineteenth century France but over the years the stereo images made after those clay tableaux were scattered and their hidden meaning lost. 

When first published in 2013, this book featured all but two of the 182 scenes in the series. Remarkably, the two lost remaining views have now been found! This 2018 Complete Edition features the full compliment, to be enjoyed just as their creators intended in magnificent 3-D.

Uncover the stories behind the Diableries and follow their journey through the underworld using the full size OWL stereoscopic viewer, neatly housed in a storage envelope and inserted alongside the book in a protective slipcase.

Hardcover
Pages: 280 featuring 500 photographs
Size [mm]: 325 x 240
Publication date: 31st October 2019
ISBN: 978-1-9996674-3-6


The Complete Edition

In France, around 1860, from the loins of a traditional national fascination with all things diabolical, was born a new sensation – a series of visionary dioramas depicting life in a strange parallel universe called ENFER – Hell – communicated to an eager audience by means of stereoscopic cards, to be viewed in the stereoscopes which had already become popular in the 1850s. This 3-D phenomenon, which fascinated a nation for 40 years, is yours to share. 

This book, the fruit of half a lifetime’s study by three impassioned authors, brings every single one of the published Diableries into the 21st Century for the very first time. Some of them are so rare that at the time of writing there is no known full collection of the originals of these masterpieces.   

In the first edition of this book, published in 2013, there were two stereo cards missing from the Diableries series! In 2018, after a worldwide search, finally the last card was found, and is published for the very first time in this new edition of Diableries, along with the story of its discovery. 

The final dimension in this unique study is the original research, which unearths the hidden meanings in these tableaux. Never before have these secrets been revealed – clues to the conflicts in France in a period of great unrest, suffering, shame and suppression – a period which, even in French schools is seldom part of the curriculum. The Diableries are impudent, funny, sad, riotously inventive, satirical and dangerously seditious. Their wickedness awaits you.

 


Mail on Sunday's "Fantasy" book of the year. 

"The monster hardback tome collects together a series of diableries (‘devilments’) – photographs of ghoulish ‘stereo’ cards featuring devils, skeletons and satyrs, originally printed in France in the 1860s. These stereo cards are best viewed in 3D. As a consequence, May, who has held a lifelong passion for stereoscopic imagery, has set about designing his own 3D viewer – a pair of plastic spectacles known as the OWL – a pair are given away with the book" – Esquire 

"Colourful and infernally detailed three-dimensional images that provide fascinating insight into the imagination of the past...The black-clad volume is alive with tableaux that range from the grotesque to the ghoulish, from the cruelly satirical to the plainly insane. Every picture tells several stories."– Daily Telegraph

"Gothic Victorian underworld of temptation, seduction, retribu- tion and devilish fun brought alive in colour and 3D" – Amateur Photographer 

"Full of stunning pictures of 19th century studies in devilment." – Huffington Post 


 

Average Rating (3 Reviews):  
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Rating:  
Amazing trip through gothic history
08 April 2021  | 

I got this book and have now read it several times. The reproduction of the stereos is fantastic and the skeletons really pop off the page! Also amazing to read how they were made and the history of the series.
Highly recommended.

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2 of 2 people found this review helpful.


Rating:  
Outstanding!
26 May 2020  | 

If you've been thinking of getting, pull the handle! You won't be disappointed. The packaging is beautiful and the contents are fascinating! Hundreds of stereos for your viewing pleasure. Very well put together!

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3 of 3 people found this review helpful.


Rating:  
Great fun!
25 March 2020  | 

I recently purchased this book and was amazed by the quality. I had seen these stereoscope images in a nickelodeon at House on the Rock (a very crazy place!) in Wisconsin USA. I loved seeing the skeletons flash by with their red eyes and loving stereoscope pictures as I do, wished I could own some of the cards. Now I own a complete set in this book! Thank you Brian and all who made this book possible. It really is a classic!!!

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3 of 3 people found this review helpful.


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