JJ Grandville - Les Etoiles - Astronomie des Dames

These lovely images are from The Stars, The Last Fairies by the French artist JJ Grandville (1803-1847).

Les étoiles : dernière féerie / par J.-J. Grandville; texte par Méry; Astronomie des dames par le Cte. Foelix.

Grandville told his wife on the day he began these 12 designs: "For too long I have kept my eyes lowered to the earth; now I want to lift them to the heavens."

Nearly every plate depicts celestial stars personified as women in mid-19. Most are signed by Grandville, who designed them, and Charles Geoffroy, who engraved them.