Diableries: The Complete Edition: Stereoscopic Adventures in Hell, (Hardcover)

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.