What do you think?
Rate this book
Diableries: The Complete Edition: Stereoscopic Adventures in Hell
Revised to include every card in the rare series, this 3-D cult classic provides a unique satirical look at an 1860s view of Hell -- the French state under the tyrannical rule of Napoleon III.
Thanks to Dr. Brian May's imagination and his determination to share the wonders of these strange cards, thousands of readers have escaped the boundary of Earthly tedium! Diableries transports them to a nightmarish netherworld inhabited by devils and skeletons in the nicest possible way, of course! The amazing 3-D cards show scenes of torture, fire, and every variety of licentious behavior, with scantily clad ladies of the demi-monde and the devil himself encouraging the participants' worst intentions. After five years of searching, Dr. Brian May and his coauthors were able to find the one card, entitled La Cuve or The Barrel, missing from the initial publication of the book. These remarkable scenes were initially sculpted in clay, mostly by two leading French sculptors, Pierre Hennetier and Louis Habert, who daringly satirized Napoleon and his cohorts at great personal risk. These extremely detailed scenes, that allegorically critiqued daily events in a France where news was censored, were created and then photographed with a stereo camera to be viewed with a stereoscope. Their unique construction causes the demons' eyes to glow when held to the light.
Thanks to Dr. Brian May's imagination and his determination to share the wonders of these strange cards, thousands of readers have escaped the boundary of Earthly tedium! Diableries transports them to a nightmarish netherworld inhabited by devils and skeletons in the nicest possible way, of course! The amazing 3-D cards show scenes of torture, fire, and every variety of licentious behavior, with scantily clad ladies of the demi-monde and the devil himself encouraging the participants' worst intentions. After five years of searching, Dr. Brian May and his coauthors were able to find the one card, entitled La Cuve or The Barrel, missing from the initial publication of the book. These remarkable scenes were initially sculpted in clay, mostly by two leading French sculptors, Pierre Hennetier and Louis Habert, who daringly satirized Napoleon and his cohorts at great personal risk. These extremely detailed scenes, that allegorically critiqued daily events in a France where news was censored, were created and then photographed with a stereo camera to be viewed with a stereoscope. Their unique construction causes the demons' eyes to glow when held to the light.
280 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2013
4 people are currently reading
388 people want to read
About the author
Brian May
84 books124 followersBrian Harold May, CBE (born 19 July 1947) is a British musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen.
As a guitarist he uses his home built guitar, "Red Special", and has composed hits such as "Now I'm Here", "Tie Your Mother Down", "We Will Rock You", "Who Wants to Live Forever", "Hammer to Fall", "Save Me", "Fat Bottomed Girls", "I Want It All" and "Too Much Love Will Kill You".
May earned a PhD in astrophysics in 2007 and is currently the chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University.
He was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005 for "services to the music industry".
In 2005, a Planet Rock poll saw May voted the 7th greatest guitarist of all time. He was ranked 39th in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time", reflecting the magazine's editorial opinion.
As a guitarist he uses his home built guitar, "Red Special", and has composed hits such as "Now I'm Here", "Tie Your Mother Down", "We Will Rock You", "Who Wants to Live Forever", "Hammer to Fall", "Save Me", "Fat Bottomed Girls", "I Want It All" and "Too Much Love Will Kill You".
May earned a PhD in astrophysics in 2007 and is currently the chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University.
He was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005 for "services to the music industry".
In 2005, a Planet Rock poll saw May voted the 7th greatest guitarist of all time. He was ranked 39th in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time", reflecting the magazine's editorial opinion.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 2, 2015
Let's get the obligatory cataloging information out of the way first, shall we?
Diableries: Stereoscopic Adventures in Hell comes as slip-cased book, with a hologram of Satan and his minions going to war on the cover. It was compiled by Brian May (yes, THAT Brian May), Denis Pellerin, and Paula Fleming (No, not that Paula Fleming, whoever she is). Included is an "OWL" stereoscope for viewing the dozens of 3D stereoscopic photographs reproduced throughout. Contents include an introductory preface written by May, a section revealing "The Magic of Stereo Photography," detail pages including Diableries (dioramas taking place in hell, usually, and featuring Satan and his minions), a timeline, a section on "Peripheral Diableries," which don't quite fit into the formally-recognized diableries, a section giving instructions on how to take stereo photographs with your cell phone(!), a segment on the historical background of the diableries, which helps to contextualize them, and biographies of the men who sponsored and created the sculptures and photographs themselves.
What did I think of the book?
This book will be a family heirloom that will hopefully be passed down for generations long after I have joined the choir eternal. Yes, it's that good. Not just because of the content (which I will briefly discuss in a moment) but because it is an amazing artifact. A shrine, really, or an immersive space dedicated to the artists that created these scenes and the time in which they were produced.
The main character, as one would expect, is Satan aka Lucifer aka Old Scratch aka Mr. Nick (incidentally, my favorite portrayal of the devil is that of "Mr. Nick" by Tom Waits in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus). The setting, as one would also expect, is Hell.
What is unexpected is the whimsical ways in which the devil and his minions are portrayed. The vignettes portrayed in the diableries are as varied as life itself. We see Satan on his wedding day, at supper, in his laboratory, in a gaming room, walking in the park with Misses Satan, in a bicycle race, leading his legions to war, at the lottery, at the stock exchange (I found these last two particularly appropriate), at a regatta, at the wheat harvest, and on and on and on. These scenes are typically light-hearted, even zany (see, for example, "A Lecture by Miss Satan - Satan's daughter educates an audience of men - er, male skeletons - on the merits of the new feminism by standing on a stage, dressed in a man's suit, lifting a glass of champagne while kicking her leg up in a Can Can dance to the cheers of the . . . er, men . . . uh, skeletons . . . minions . . . whatever).
But let's not lose sight of the fact that this is a book about Satan. Remember? The Deceiver? The Father of Lies?
All is not as it seems . . .
Behind the thin veneer of raucous entertainment is a social commentary. When one understands the symbols used and some of the situations represented, the book takes on a more . . . sinister tone. The authors point out some points that hint at underlying messages about and in opposition to France's Second Empire (1852-1870), a period about which I knew almost nothing. Apparently, I am not alone. We are told, in the historical section at the back of the book, that most French schools skip right over this period when teaching French history. Thankfully, this section provides a great survey of the period, which I will not repeat here, so as to not spoil the fun.
It is in the biographies of the artists (there were several, with two, Louis Alfred Habert and Pierre Adolphe Hennetier being the most prominent) and the primary producers of the diableries, Francois Benjamin Lamiche and Adolphe Block, that we come to realize the impetus for referencing and disparaging the French Emperor, Napoleon III.
Napoleon was a notorious womanizer who admitted remaining faithful to his wife for only six months after their marriage. The many portrayals of Satan's dalliances with "Ladies of easy virtue" are really representations of Napoleon III. In one scene, a castle is represented which, to those who know the place, is modeled after a chateau gifted by the Emperor to one of his many mistresses. Satan leads his skeletal soldiers against some un-named enemy, the armies of whom wear the Prussian Picklehaube - a clear reference to the siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War and Napoleon III's defense of Paris. One of the more damning diableries is "Satan the Journalist" in which the devil is portrayed as a two-faced being, one face looking cruelly on, whip in hand, as a demon made from a pair of scissors (a reference to the extreme government censorship of the Second Empire) cooks up scandalous news beneath a bank of drawers containing "Lies," "New Mistakes" (per the label on one drawer), and absurd pieces of made-up news. The other side of his face looks approvingly on those journalists who write and disseminate trivial, vacuous news about celebrities and social happenings that will keep the masses distracted from any real problems in the Empire (the early equivalent of People magazine). Behind these purveyors of schlock, the allegorical figure of Truth is locked up, half clothed (i.e., not naked) in a cage.
As I said, in the biographies, one finds the reason behind these scathing, if carefully veiled (they made it past the censors, after all!) accusations: Francois Benjamin Lamiche, who owned the copyright to the earliest diableries and who must have hired Hennetier and, later, Habert, was a bitter opponent of the regime. His son, Alphonse Benjamin, had died of typhus while en route to the Crimean War, and the government, it seems, did not notify the family in a timely manner. Or, at least, it is unclear when they were notified. Also, Lamiche was arrested, fined, and imprisoned for possessing and distributing obscene pictures and for having conspired with other Parisian photographers, to write a petition to the Emperor asking for an appeal on their collective cases. This backfired when the police used the petition to track down, investigate, and further condemn those who were already out of favor with the law. These experiences seem to have informed, to some extent, the negative, if obfuscated, lampooning of Napoleon III throughout the diableries.
Knowing all of this (and more - there is more, but I shall forbear . . .), the book still works on the level of pure enjoyment. The 3D images are spectacular (though headache-inducing if you look for too long), and the portrayals are mostly quite fun, with a wry, dark sense of humor throughout. For those of us who are trained historians, however, the book takes on deeper social meaning in light of the fantastic historical overview and bibliographies presented at the end. This book is a keeper - one of my "chained" books that I hope to never see leave my library (NO! You can't borrow it! Rawr!) except as I share the delight I've found in this artifact with friends and family who come to visit.
Before i go inviting everyone over, however, I should put a sign above the doorway into my house:
Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'entrate
Come on over . . . if you dare!
Diableries: Stereoscopic Adventures in Hell comes as slip-cased book, with a hologram of Satan and his minions going to war on the cover. It was compiled by Brian May (yes, THAT Brian May), Denis Pellerin, and Paula Fleming (No, not that Paula Fleming, whoever she is). Included is an "OWL" stereoscope for viewing the dozens of 3D stereoscopic photographs reproduced throughout. Contents include an introductory preface written by May, a section revealing "The Magic of Stereo Photography," detail pages including Diableries (dioramas taking place in hell, usually, and featuring Satan and his minions), a timeline, a section on "Peripheral Diableries," which don't quite fit into the formally-recognized diableries, a section giving instructions on how to take stereo photographs with your cell phone(!), a segment on the historical background of the diableries, which helps to contextualize them, and biographies of the men who sponsored and created the sculptures and photographs themselves.
What did I think of the book?
This book will be a family heirloom that will hopefully be passed down for generations long after I have joined the choir eternal. Yes, it's that good. Not just because of the content (which I will briefly discuss in a moment) but because it is an amazing artifact. A shrine, really, or an immersive space dedicated to the artists that created these scenes and the time in which they were produced.
The main character, as one would expect, is Satan aka Lucifer aka Old Scratch aka Mr. Nick (incidentally, my favorite portrayal of the devil is that of "Mr. Nick" by Tom Waits in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus). The setting, as one would also expect, is Hell.
What is unexpected is the whimsical ways in which the devil and his minions are portrayed. The vignettes portrayed in the diableries are as varied as life itself. We see Satan on his wedding day, at supper, in his laboratory, in a gaming room, walking in the park with Misses Satan, in a bicycle race, leading his legions to war, at the lottery, at the stock exchange (I found these last two particularly appropriate), at a regatta, at the wheat harvest, and on and on and on. These scenes are typically light-hearted, even zany (see, for example, "A Lecture by Miss Satan - Satan's daughter educates an audience of men - er, male skeletons - on the merits of the new feminism by standing on a stage, dressed in a man's suit, lifting a glass of champagne while kicking her leg up in a Can Can dance to the cheers of the . . . er, men . . . uh, skeletons . . . minions . . . whatever).
But let's not lose sight of the fact that this is a book about Satan. Remember? The Deceiver? The Father of Lies?
All is not as it seems . . .
Behind the thin veneer of raucous entertainment is a social commentary. When one understands the symbols used and some of the situations represented, the book takes on a more . . . sinister tone. The authors point out some points that hint at underlying messages about and in opposition to France's Second Empire (1852-1870), a period about which I knew almost nothing. Apparently, I am not alone. We are told, in the historical section at the back of the book, that most French schools skip right over this period when teaching French history. Thankfully, this section provides a great survey of the period, which I will not repeat here, so as to not spoil the fun.
It is in the biographies of the artists (there were several, with two, Louis Alfred Habert and Pierre Adolphe Hennetier being the most prominent) and the primary producers of the diableries, Francois Benjamin Lamiche and Adolphe Block, that we come to realize the impetus for referencing and disparaging the French Emperor, Napoleon III.
Napoleon was a notorious womanizer who admitted remaining faithful to his wife for only six months after their marriage. The many portrayals of Satan's dalliances with "Ladies of easy virtue" are really representations of Napoleon III. In one scene, a castle is represented which, to those who know the place, is modeled after a chateau gifted by the Emperor to one of his many mistresses. Satan leads his skeletal soldiers against some un-named enemy, the armies of whom wear the Prussian Picklehaube - a clear reference to the siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War and Napoleon III's defense of Paris. One of the more damning diableries is "Satan the Journalist" in which the devil is portrayed as a two-faced being, one face looking cruelly on, whip in hand, as a demon made from a pair of scissors (a reference to the extreme government censorship of the Second Empire) cooks up scandalous news beneath a bank of drawers containing "Lies," "New Mistakes" (per the label on one drawer), and absurd pieces of made-up news. The other side of his face looks approvingly on those journalists who write and disseminate trivial, vacuous news about celebrities and social happenings that will keep the masses distracted from any real problems in the Empire (the early equivalent of People magazine). Behind these purveyors of schlock, the allegorical figure of Truth is locked up, half clothed (i.e., not naked) in a cage.
As I said, in the biographies, one finds the reason behind these scathing, if carefully veiled (they made it past the censors, after all!) accusations: Francois Benjamin Lamiche, who owned the copyright to the earliest diableries and who must have hired Hennetier and, later, Habert, was a bitter opponent of the regime. His son, Alphonse Benjamin, had died of typhus while en route to the Crimean War, and the government, it seems, did not notify the family in a timely manner. Or, at least, it is unclear when they were notified. Also, Lamiche was arrested, fined, and imprisoned for possessing and distributing obscene pictures and for having conspired with other Parisian photographers, to write a petition to the Emperor asking for an appeal on their collective cases. This backfired when the police used the petition to track down, investigate, and further condemn those who were already out of favor with the law. These experiences seem to have informed, to some extent, the negative, if obfuscated, lampooning of Napoleon III throughout the diableries.
Knowing all of this (and more - there is more, but I shall forbear . . .), the book still works on the level of pure enjoyment. The 3D images are spectacular (though headache-inducing if you look for too long), and the portrayals are mostly quite fun, with a wry, dark sense of humor throughout. For those of us who are trained historians, however, the book takes on deeper social meaning in light of the fantastic historical overview and bibliographies presented at the end. This book is a keeper - one of my "chained" books that I hope to never see leave my library (NO! You can't borrow it! Rawr!) except as I share the delight I've found in this artifact with friends and family who come to visit.
Before i go inviting everyone over, however, I should put a sign above the doorway into my house:
Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'entrate
Come on over . . . if you dare!
September 12, 2014
Those of us over a certain age (fear not - your secret is safe with me!) will almost certainly remember the View Master:
Yes! I can see the very corners of your mouth beginning to curl with the mild amusement of faint recollection -- oh, that’s actually bemused bewilderment?
Ah. Sorry. My mistake.
That was all a bit awkward, wasn’t it?
Well anyway, for those not familiar with this marvellous device, you would insert cardboard discs into a slot at the top and, by carefully holding your ugly lump of red plastic up to the light and peering into the viewing holes, could see various pictures - even licensed scenes from your favourite cartoons - in three dimensions. For a child living in the pre-digital age, it was like magic.
Ah, simpler times.
About now (if you’re actually still reading this) you’re probably wondering what my point is, or indeed, what this has to do with this book, in particular. These are very good questions!
The View Master, in all its primary-coloured glory, was a very successful attempt at turning a popular form of Victorian entertainment - known as Stereoscopy - into a children’s toy. So, if you’ve ever peered through those little round eyeholes at a scene from Disney’s Fantasia or The Empire Strikes Back and thought ”That’s pretty darn cool!”, then you’ve shared in a pleasure that’s been enjoyed popularly since the mid-19th Century. Virtual reality, Victorian style.
Stereoscopy is a process that involves using two images of a subject taken from slightly different angles, and placing them side-by-side. These images are then viewed with a device (known as a “stereoscope”) with lenses angled in such a manner that our eyes are tricked into combining the two images, thus mimicking our own depth perception. Of course, this is the basis for all modern 3-D techniques, but the fact that the Victorians went to such meticulous efforts to create such stunning pictures makes Stereoscopy its own very distinctive art-form.
Okay, lesson over. Onwards to the book!
The Diableries were a collection of Stereoscopic cards produced in France - made by photographing a tableaux created from sculpted miniatures - which became hugely popular during the latter-half of the 19th Century. The cards depict scenes from Heaven, Hell and Purgatory, but are filled with sardonic wit and topical humour that poke a lot of fun at the social and political climate of the era.
Exmple 1: A Lecture by Miss Satan.
Example 2: The same image as above but in stereoscopic format.
This book not only catalogues every single one of the 180-plus Diableries stereo cards (with as much specific information that the authors could find), but almost all of the cards have been reproduced in stereoscopic form, in both black and white and full colour. A specially-designed stereoscope is provided with the book so that you can view all of the cards as they were meant to be seen. And really; they look absolutely incredible. This has obviously been a real labour of love for the three Stereoscopy enthusiasts (including Dr. Brian May - yes, that Brian May: he of the bouffant hairdo and guitar skills to pay not only his own bills but probably everybody else on Goodreads bills, as well) who collected, compiled and remastered the images for publication.
Diableries with the supplied stereoscope. Awesomely awesome awesomeness? You bet.
I adore the more unusual aspects of Victoriana, and I absolutely love this book. I only wish I had a coffee table, because this book would be sat on it permanently.
Yes! I can see the very corners of your mouth beginning to curl with the mild amusement of faint recollection -- oh, that’s actually bemused bewilderment?
Ah. Sorry. My mistake.
That was all a bit awkward, wasn’t it?
Well anyway, for those not familiar with this marvellous device, you would insert cardboard discs into a slot at the top and, by carefully holding your ugly lump of red plastic up to the light and peering into the viewing holes, could see various pictures - even licensed scenes from your favourite cartoons - in three dimensions. For a child living in the pre-digital age, it was like magic.
Ah, simpler times.
About now (if you’re actually still reading this) you’re probably wondering what my point is, or indeed, what this has to do with this book, in particular. These are very good questions!
The View Master, in all its primary-coloured glory, was a very successful attempt at turning a popular form of Victorian entertainment - known as Stereoscopy - into a children’s toy. So, if you’ve ever peered through those little round eyeholes at a scene from Disney’s Fantasia or The Empire Strikes Back and thought ”That’s pretty darn cool!”, then you’ve shared in a pleasure that’s been enjoyed popularly since the mid-19th Century. Virtual reality, Victorian style.
Stereoscopy is a process that involves using two images of a subject taken from slightly different angles, and placing them side-by-side. These images are then viewed with a device (known as a “stereoscope”) with lenses angled in such a manner that our eyes are tricked into combining the two images, thus mimicking our own depth perception. Of course, this is the basis for all modern 3-D techniques, but the fact that the Victorians went to such meticulous efforts to create such stunning pictures makes Stereoscopy its own very distinctive art-form.
Okay, lesson over. Onwards to the book!
The Diableries were a collection of Stereoscopic cards produced in France - made by photographing a tableaux created from sculpted miniatures - which became hugely popular during the latter-half of the 19th Century. The cards depict scenes from Heaven, Hell and Purgatory, but are filled with sardonic wit and topical humour that poke a lot of fun at the social and political climate of the era.
Exmple 1: A Lecture by Miss Satan.
Example 2: The same image as above but in stereoscopic format.
This book not only catalogues every single one of the 180-plus Diableries stereo cards (with as much specific information that the authors could find), but almost all of the cards have been reproduced in stereoscopic form, in both black and white and full colour. A specially-designed stereoscope is provided with the book so that you can view all of the cards as they were meant to be seen. And really; they look absolutely incredible. This has obviously been a real labour of love for the three Stereoscopy enthusiasts (including Dr. Brian May - yes, that Brian May: he of the bouffant hairdo and guitar skills to pay not only his own bills but probably everybody else on Goodreads bills, as well) who collected, compiled and remastered the images for publication.
Diableries with the supplied stereoscope. Awesomely awesome awesomeness? You bet.
I adore the more unusual aspects of Victoriana, and I absolutely love this book. I only wish I had a coffee table, because this book would be sat on it permanently.
February 29, 2016
Excellent book. The writing, the interpretation of the satire, the work these French artists took (mainly two) in creating what could be called diorama's, all dating from the Second Empire of Napolean the Third. A visual feast yet the writing is simply top notch and delightful.
Much more over the top than the A Village Lost and Found, which I also possess.
A Village...is a bit more quiet, but for the view into the past, its horizon on the dawn of photography, is a realization of a project, in a way, of Virtual History that I am currently working on, proselytizing this as future....but these books, and Dr. Mays continued pursuit of re publishing refurbished versions suggests Virtual History is actually a very old vision first conceived of in mid Century Europe.
Much more over the top than the A Village Lost and Found, which I also possess.
A Village...is a bit more quiet, but for the view into the past, its horizon on the dawn of photography, is a realization of a project, in a way, of Virtual History that I am currently working on, proselytizing this as future....but these books, and Dr. Mays continued pursuit of re publishing refurbished versions suggests Virtual History is actually a very old vision first conceived of in mid Century Europe.
December 31, 2021
Another wonderful book from the LSC - fascinating academic analysis of this early form of political satire - Spitting Image 1860s style! Wonderful reproductions of these hellish views with the devil and red-eyed skeletons. Brian May is doing a great job promoting his passion for these amazing antique photographic images. Well done.
February 8, 2022
A fantastic book providing a detailed exploration of fascinating artworks and hidden meanings. The underlying story about death and the afterlife is gripping and this is a fantastic book for fans of a gothic nature.
December 15, 2022
Great fun, I really enjoyed exploring this book and found the images intriguing and viewed all of them more than once. I am very pleased with my purchase and highly recommend this to others who enjoy Stereoscopic imaging.
A prized addition to my own modest collection.
A prized addition to my own modest collection.
May 6, 2023
Wow! Let me first say that experiencing this book (yes, it is an experience) without reading the text would be like studying for a college exam by only looking at pictures. You must read the text along with looking at the pictures or you will miss SO MUCH. And the work that went into these images! From the original French creators of the little scenes, to the original photographers, to the people who made them so popular, to the modern day authors of this book and the research they did! How did you guys find some of this information, let alone all of the series of photos? There are simple little items from history mentioned that I know the authors researched. What I don't know is how they knew to research them in the first place. Hats off to the researchers (if I ever wore a hat). I knew by page 82 that I was going to have to do the whole book over again. And possibly a third time. I repeat, "Wow!"
Read
June 20, 2014Coll.
July 14, 2014
This is so cool. I had no idea these existed and really enjoyed viewing the images with the viewer. The art and detail is amazing. Check it out even if you think it's not for you!
June 29, 2014
Fantastic art!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews