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The painter, etcher, and wood engraver Gaston Nick was born in Ajaccio, Corsica, around 1885. He went to Paris to study art, but his career does not appear to have taken off until the 1920s, when he emerges as an important book artist, illustrating works by writers such as Verlaine, Maupassant, and M�rim�e with original etchings. Prosper M�rim�e was Gaston Nick�s great-uncle. Among the most important of these books are Nick�s editions of the semi-autobiographical novel Jours de famine et de d�tresse by the Dutch/Belgian author N�el Doff (the source of my first batch of images), of M�rim�e's Colomba, and of 5 Contes de Guy de Maupassant (the source of second batch). All three of these works appeared in 1927-1928, the high-water mark of Gaston Nick's artistic career. Gaston Nick, The Family Etching, 1927 Gaston Nick, Mother and children Etching, 1927 Gaston Nick, Child with a kite Etching, 1927 Gaston Nick, Children at a shop window Etching, 1927 Gaston Nick, Canalside Etching, 1