First edition (cf. Pritzel 6493; Vicaire, Bibliographie gastronomique, 610.)
Some foxing.
Contemporary half green sheep, the spine darkened and decorated with quadruple gilt fillets, red shagreen lettering-piece, joints rubbed, a gilt name at foot of spine, marbled boards, a few small defects to the edges, mottled edges.
An interesting study listing more than a thousand edible plants, including several little-known species that could, to advantage, be more widely used.
An alphabetical index provides the French names with cross-references to their Latin equivalents.
Some ten pages are devoted to coffee and more than twenty to tea; one also notes entries on the opium poppy, banana, avocado, cacao, the West Indian cherry, cassava, mango, Japanese medlar, the Saint-Domingue hazel, “pain de cassave”, pigeon pea, saffron, New Zealand pine, tamarind, the Chinese vampi, etc.
Provenance: "A. Chevalier" lettered in gilt at the foot of the spine.
Very scarce first edition, issued in a small printing, of this offprint from the Annales des Sciences naturelles for September 1828 (cf. Engelmann I, 315).
This paper is preceded by "Extrait du rapport fait à l’Académie royale des sciences sur le mémoire présenté par MM. Audouin et Milne-Edwards, par MM. Cuvier et Duméril".
The CCF records only two copies, in Paris (Muséum) and Montpellier.
The author of several entomological papers published from 1821 onwards, Victor Audouin also took an interest in marine biology: in 1826, 1828 and 1829 he undertook, together with Henri Milne-Edwards, three field trips to Brittany and Normandy.
The present article summarises the observations made by the two young naturalists on Ascidians, Flustra, Pennatulidae, Alcyonaria, Sponges, Polyps, etc.
The preliminary report by Cuvier and Duméril expresses a highly favourable opinion of their research.
A handsome copy, bearing on the upper wrapper a presentation inscription in the hand of Henri Milne-Edwards: « Monsieur Dutrochet, de la part des auteurs ».
A physician, botanist and physiologist, Henri Dutrochet (1776–1847) is remembered for his discovery of osmotic phenomena: his « Nouvelles recherches sur l’endosmose et l’exosmose » appeared in 1828.
First edition.
Head of the plain back restored; a few light spots of foxing and a faint waterstain.
The lawyer François Beslay (1835–1883) soon left the bar to devote himself to Catholic journalism. He was a contributor to the Revue contemporaine; to the Correspondant; to the Revue d’économie chrétienne; to the Français; to the Journal des villes et des campagnes; and to L’Ami de la religion.
Autograph presentation inscription by François Beslay at the head of the upper wrapper to the former minister Odilon Barrot (1791–1873), who had retired from political life in 1851.
Second edition (cf. Quérard I, 529: records “Broussonnet”. Colas 457.)
Reflections on fashion and elegant dress in antiquity; the first edition, published in 1799, appeared under the name of one of the author’s pupils.
Rare copy preserved in the original wrappers.
First edition, illustrated with three folding tables in the text.
Our copy is preserved sewn, as issued, in plain contemporary waiting wrappers of pink marbled paper.
The plain spine is browned and detached, with some losses.
First edition of this collection of anecdotes and allegories drawn from Turkish, Arabic and Persian manuscripts held at the Royal Library (cf. Quérard, II, 50. Brunet, 19466. Cioranescu, 15566. Graesse, p. 46. Goedeke, 651.)
Contemporary half calf with corners, the flat spine gilt with decorative garlands, the spine rubbed and crazed, cherry-coloured calf lettering-piece, green paper-covered boards, yellow edges, small nicks to the extremities.
Denis-Dominique Cardonne (1721-1783) lived in Constantinople for twenty years, from 1730 to 1750, where he learned Turkish, Arabic and Persian.
On his return to France he was appointed the King’s secretary-interpreter for oriental languages, royal censor, inspector of the book trade, and professor of Turkish and Persian at the Collège de France.
Rare first edition issued as an offprint from the Journal asiatique, no. 7.
Contemporary half aubergine calf binding with corners, smooth spine gilt with Romantic arabesque tools, minor rubbing to the spine, gilt garland frame to the marbled paper boards, orange paper endleaves and pastedowns, rubbed corners; a period binding.
Dampstaining affecting the first half of the volume, some foxing.
Concise manual of the Hanafi rite, one of the four Sunni schools of jurisprudence, the oldest and notably the one recognised as official within the Ottoman Empire.
Antoine-Joseph Du Caurroy (1775–1853) served as an interpreter at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
First edition.
Minor losses at head and foot of the spine, which is slightly sunned; a few small spots of foxing.
Alongside a distinguished career in the colonial troops, in Senegal and Indochina, General Henri Frey (1847–1932) also cultivated literary and scholarly ambitions. This unusual thesis was, of course, neither substantiated nor taken up subsequently …
On the upper margin of the half-title, an autograph inscription by Henri Frey to Commandant Étienne Lunet de Lajonquières [here spelled Jonquières] (1861–1933), of the Marine Infantry, archaeologist and ethnographer, and also a key figure in the organisation of the preservation of Historical Monuments in Indochina.
First edition.
A comprehensive work setting out in detail the legislation and regulations governing silversmiths, jewellers and watchmakers in the mid-nineteenth century.
Spine cracked with small losses; corners chipped to the boards; some light foxing.
Rare first edition, illustrated with a large folding plate containing a hand-coloured map.
Cf. Ferguson I, 814 ("Section 12 deals with Australia and New Zealand"). Not recorded by Sabin and by most other bibliographers.
Bradel case binding in paper-covered boards, beige wrappers, smooth spine with some rubbing, blind title to the spine, original plain wrappers preserved; modern binding.
Small marginal losses to the corners of the first few leaves, not affecting the text.
The plate outside the text offers a world map in which the Protestant areas are shown in pink, together with a detailed list of the various missionary societies by region or city.
Numerous regions are covered: West Africa (especially Sierra Leone), Southern and Eastern Africa (with references to Madagascar and Mauritius), the Black Sea (Constantinople, Odessa and the Edinburgh Society for the Jews), Tibet, China, India, Ceylon; a whole chapter is devoted to Australasia (New Holland (Australia) and New Zealand), and another to Polynesia, with "les 4 grandes îles de George [Otahiti (Tahiti), Eiméo, Tetaroa, et Tapuamanu]; les 5 grandes îles de la Société [Huaheine, Raiatea, Teha, Borabora, et Marua] ; les 11 grandes îles Sandwich, dont la principale est Owhihée", British and Dutch Guiana, the West Indies (Tobago, Grenada, Saint Vincent, Barbados, Dominica, Antigua, Saint-Barthélemy, Haiti, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Bermuda), the tribes of North America, Greenland, Siberia, etc.
The names of the missionaries in the field are given, together with fascinating details on local conditions around 1820.
The author of this work may be the Swiss pastor and theologian François Samuel Robert Louis Gaussen (1790–1863), born in Geneva to a family originally from Languedoc.
Manuscript ex-libris "Dr Karl J. Lüthi, Bern" on a pastedown.
First edition, issued in a very small number as an offprint from the Bulletins de la Société d'encouragement pour l'industrie nationale, t. CXCI et CXCII.
Not recorded by Quérard.
The pamphlet is illustrated with three folding technical plates, engraved by Normand fils.
Bradel binding in paper-covered boards entirely clad in blue paper, with a black vertical spine label showing minor losses; a modern binding.
The work describes the apparatus devised by the chocolatier Auger, which made it possible to reduce any animal, vegetable or mineral substance to "poussières impalpables, aériformes ou éthérées".
Héricart de Thury, Chief Engineer in the Royal Corps of Mines, also sets out the various applications of this machine in medicine, pharmacy, chemistry, painting, dyeing, and related fields.
Second edition, partly original, as it was revised, corrected and enlarged with a handbook for the cultivation of mulberry trees, setting out the principles by which the fullest advantage may be drawn from this tree, together with the presentation of a new method of cultivation designed to prevent its mortality.
Light dampstaining to the upper outer margin of the first leaves, small losses to the head- and tail-cap of the spine, a few scattered spots.
The work was reissued in 1837 and 1848.
Charles Fraissinet (1798–1856) was a pastor of the Reformed Church at Sauve (Gard).
Although closely involved in the theological controversies of his day, he is best remembered for his commitment to sericulture and for publishing several pamphlets on the subject, notably the present Guide du magnanier.
A silkworm breeder himself, he devised a method for obtaining “les œufs de vers à soie à leur plus haut point de perfection”.
This activity even appears to have tempered the mutual belligerence of the pastor and the parish priest of Sauve, since, in the prospectus for this method, Curé Bernard—his sworn enemy—nonetheless made it “un devoir d’engager tous les sériciculteurs à se procurer sans retard la méthode de M. Fraissinet”.
First edition.
"Voulons & Nous plaist, qu'à commencer au premier Mars prochain, aucuns de nos Sujets de quelque estat, condition & sexe qu'ils soient, à l'Exception de ceux qui en auront obtenu nostre permission par Ecrit, ne puissent porter des Diamans, Perles et Pierres precieuses, à peine de confiscation & de Dix mille livres d'amende : Faisons deffenses sous la mesme peine, à compter du premier Avril prochain d'en faire entrer dans le Royaume ; N'entendons néantmoins comprendre dans la presente prohibition les Bagues Episcopales & les Pierreries employées aux Ornemens des Eglises".
First edition (see Cioranescu, XVIII, 13 365).
Contemporary full speckled fawn calf, spine with five raised bands, compartments decorated with gilt fleurons, faded gilt roll tooling to the headcaps, a scratch at the head of the spine, gilt fillets to the edges partially faded, corners rubbed, speckled edges; binding of the period.
The sole edition of the author’s only work, written by the prior of Saint-Didier-en-Bourbonnais [Saint-Didier-la-Forêt], about whom little else is known.
A very concise overview of the events of each ecumenical council, from Nicaea I onwards.
First edition illustrated with 1 large folding map: "Carte de la côte occidentale d'Afrique depuis le Cap Barbas jusqu'au Cap Tagrin par Lapie, Ingénieur Géographe (et) gravée par P.F. Tardieu" (cf. Gay 2905.)
Our copy in original stitched wrappers with interim covers lined with marbled paper.
Light dampstaining to the right margin of the final leaves.
Important details on the slave trade in connection with the Gorée Island stopover at the end of the volume.
Pierre Labarthe (Dax 1760 - Paris 1824) was appointed head of the Bureau of Eastern Colonies and African Coasts in 1794, a position he held until 1808.
He had gathered numerous authentic documents and important observations which he recorded in works still consulted with profit. (Cf. Hoefer.)
New edition of the French translation of this work, originally published in 1731 in two quarto volumes (see Brunet IV, 456).
This edition is illustrated with 8 folding plates, comprising 3 maps and 5 views.
Contemporary full marbled tan calf bindings, smooth spines richly decorated with gilt floral panels, bronze calf lettering- and volume-pieces, small wormholes to the spines, gilt rolls to the caps, single blind fillet framing the boards, marbled endpapers, gilt fillets to the board edges, red edges, bindings of the period.
Repairs to the joints, a few occasional spots of foxing.
The translator of this French version, written "en un style aisé, clair, même élégant", was Abbé Nicolas Gédoyn [Oréans, 1667 near Beaugency, 1744], known both for his translations and his scholarly works.
Born into an old and distinguished family of the Orléanais, he studied at the Jesuit college and entered the Society of Jesus as a novice in 1684.
He subsequently taught humanities and rhetoric at the college of Blois
Owing to ill health he left the order and entered the secular clergy. He settled in Paris, where in 1701 he was appointed canon of the Sainte-Chapelle.
Through his elderly kinswoman Ninon de Lenclos he became friendly with M. Arouet, the father of Voltaire, and discovered the future great writer in his earliest attempts. Appointed Abbé of Sainte-Sauve de Montreuil (diocese of Amiens), he resigned this benefice in favour of the abbey of Notre-Dame de Beaugency.
Rare first edition, illustrated with an engraved frontispiece, two copper-engraved plates, and twenty-five woodcut figures in the text (cf. Rosenthal, Bibliotheca Magica et Pneumatica, 8648, which records only an edition of 1788).
A few light spots of foxing; two dampstains affecting some leaves.
Contemporary half tan calf, the smooth spine faded and decorated with gilt rolls, fillets and floral tools, gilt initials at the foot; some rubbing and two small black stains to the spine; marbled boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges.
First edition.
Copy in its original wrappers with printed title labels at head of spines.
Some discreet restorations to spines and wrappers' edges.
Occasional foxing.
First edition of the French translation, one of only 34 numbered copies printed on pure vellum paper, the sole deluxe paper issue.
A fine and rare copy.
Counterfeit edition published only one year after the octavo and duodecimo first editions. This copy in the same format as the octavo first edition that was corrected by Rousseau.
Contemporary full calf, smooth spine decorated with five gilt fleuron tools, red morocco lettering-piece, single fillet ruled in blind to boards, gilt fillet to board edges, red edges, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.
Head of spine missing, usual wear to joints with slight splitting in four places, minor rubbing to boards, corners bumped.
Minute stain to p. 157.
Complete copy comprising two translations by Nicolas Perrot d'Ablancourt, whose works are commonly known as "belles infidèles" (beautiful but unfaithful translations). Between 1662 and 1795, no other translation of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War was published. The privilege granted to the bookseller Clousier in 1712 was shared among several booksellers, including Michel-Étienne David, Nicolas Gosselin, and Jean-Geoffroy Nyon.
Contemporary full brown calf, gilt spines with five raised bands and four compartments decorated with plain and dotted fillets enclosing fleuron tools, tan morocco lettering-pieces, numbering-pieces within gilt borders, gilt rolls to board edges, red speckled edges, marbled pastedowns and endpapers.
Light scratches and rubbing, corners worn.
Volume I: marginal worm trail to lower right corner from front endpaper to p. 189, small stains to pp. 61 and 161, light browning to some leaves, short brown ink annotation to rear endpaper.
Volume II: tiny wormhole to foot of upper board, text slightly faded at foot of p. 7, pagination error from p. 312, old label mark to front pastedown.
Volume III: very slight chipping to lower board, spine and upper joints, small stain to p. 71, final leaf misnumbered 575 instead of 375, small wormhole to rear pastedown not affecting binding.
Very rare first edition of this substantial memorandum on the "Pierre Calvet Affair", which unsettled Canada in the aftermath of the American War of Independence.
Sabin 21044. In the CCF, copies only at the BnF and Rouen.
A few light spots of foxing; a faint marginal dampstain to the fore-edge of the front endpaper.
Half green sheep with corners, smooth spine slightly darkened and ruled in gilt, gilt fillet border to the marbled paper boards, a central gilt cartouche bearing a crowned cipher to each cover. Corners rubbed, a few scuffs to the edges, bookplate pasted to one pastedown, lemon-coloured edges; nineteenth-century binding.
Parallel to the work The Case of Peter Du Calvet (784), addressed to the English courts, this volume presents the case for a Canadian readership.
The merchant Pierre Du Calvet (1735–1786), a French Protestant, settled in New France in 1758; he remained there after the British annexation and pursued a persistent political campaign on behalf of the inhabitants of the Province of Quebec, both to obtain a constitution and to secure fair justice for the former French subjects.
The present text concentrates on his disputes with Governor Frederick Haldimand (1718–1791) and on his brief imprisonment.
A forerunner of the long struggle waged by the citizens of the Province of Quebec for recognition of their political rights within the British Empire,
Du Calvet nevertheless remained largely forgotten in Quebec’s historical memory.
His actions, and even his name, were widely overlooked by posterity until the republication of his memorandum in 2002.
Original edition of one of the three instructional booklets for learning Cantonese published by Cowles, this one intended for the Chinese instructor.
No copy recorded in the CCFr.
A scarce and handsome copy, sewn in the Oriental manner.
Very rare first edition, illustrated with an inserted copper-engraved plate by Plée after Turpin (cf. Pritzel 2823).
The CCFr records copies only at the Institut, Rouen, and Montpellier.
Our copy is preserved in its original sewn state with temporary pink paper covers.
Faujas de Saint-Fond (1741–1819) is of course best known as a geologist and vulcanologist, yet his work extended to every other branch of natural history.
First edition of the French translation (cf. Sabin 26375).
A defence of Catholic principles addressed to a Protestant minister (…) preceded by a notice on the author’s life and virtues. Translated from the English by Prince Augustin Galitzin. Paris, Ch. Douniol [printed by Simon Raçon et Comp.], 1856, 12mo.
Contemporary half navy blue shagreen, spine with four raised bands ruled and panelled in gilt, slight unobtrusive rubbing to the spine, marbled boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.
Scattered foxing.
A work of religious controversy; the preface offers interesting information regarding Prince Galitzin’s activities in the United States.
Bound after it: Alexandre Pushkin, "Le faux Pierre III", printed in Paris by Plon in 1858 (2 ff.n.ch. and 192 pp.), being the first edition of the French translation by Prince Augustin Galitzin.
Rare first edition of this curious work recalling the voluntary exile to Jersey of the man of letters Auguste Luchet (1806–1872).
Only two copies recorded in the Catalogue collectif de France (BnF and Avranches).
From 1842 to 1847 the author chose to leave France rather than serve the two-year prison sentence to which he had been condemned: his novel "Le Nom de famille" had led him to appear, together with his publisher Hippolyte Souverain, before the Assize Court jury on 10 March 1842 for "excitation à la haine et au mépris du gouvernement et provocation à la haine de classes".
Slight corner losses to spine and boards, without consequence; faint water-stain on the opening leaves.
Second edition (the dedication to Pierre Laffitte is dated 1879).
A study of madness from a positivist perspective, based on the work of Auguste Comte.
The dedicatee, Pierre Laffitte, was the editor of the review "Le Positivisme".
Spine cracked with small losses, occasional foxing, and a horizontal crease at the foot of the upper cover, small marginal tears on the cover, firts cover reattached.
With a fine signed presentation inscription from Emile François Eugène Sémérie to Émile Zola on the half-title: "A Mr. Émile Zola. Sémérie, d'Aix" (the final word underlined).
The close connections between positivism and naturalism, the literary doctrine developed in the 1860s–1880s, are well known: positivist philosophy (the observation of reality and the primacy of experience) influenced naturalist writers in their concern to depict reality with strict objectivity.
Zola made an essential contribution to the movement with his study "Roman expérimental" (1880).
Rare first edition of the doctoral thesis by Alexandre Marié (only two copies recorded in the CCFr: Montpellier and the BIUM).
A small nick to the left margin of the upper wrapper, which also bears a small stain; slight marginal tears to the wrappers without seriousness; occasional light foxing.
Presentation inscription signed by Alexandre Marié to Louis Alfred Becquerel at the head of the upper wrapper.
Provenance: copy of Louis Alfred Becquerel (1814–1862), eldest son of Antoine Becquerel and a physician, with the author’s signed presentation inscription. He published in 1853 Des applications de l'électricité à la thérapeutique médicale.
First edition, illustrated with a folding map and 469 engravings in the text.
Contemporary half black shagreen, the spine with four raised bands ruled in gilt and decorated with triple blind-tooled panels, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns; a few small scuffs to the edges, corners slightly rubbed. A period binding.
Contents include: history; construction and manufacture of telegraph cables; laying and repair of submarine cables; electrical testing; fault detection; signal transmission; and the operation of submarine lines.
The author, Jules Hippolyte Eugène Wünschendorff (1840–1901), was an engineer with the telegraph service and director of military telegraphy.
A pleasing copy.
First edition describing 554 entries (this list was later revised in 1935 and again in 1943).
Spine and covers slightly and marginally faded, a tear to the head of the spine.
A copy complete with the inserted two-leaf addenda.
From 1893 to 1953, the year preceding his death, Auguste Lumière published no fewer than 62 major works and 784 scientific articles, particularly in the fields of medicine and biology.
First edition, illustrated with full-page 65 plates.
Occasional light foxing.
Blue morocco half-binding, spine with five raised bands ruled and decorated in gilt with gilt floral tools, marbled boards, marbled endpapers, original wrappers preserved, top edge gilt; bookplate on front pastedown.
A handsome copy in an attractive binding.
First public edition of this text written under the pseudonym François la Colère, one of 50 numbered copies on Madagascar paper, the deluxe issue.
Rare and fine copy.
Scarce sammelband comprising six treatises on dental surgery, some of which are present here in the first edition.
Half blue sheep, the smooth spine decorated with gilt romantic ornaments, marbled paper boards lightly darkened and faded at the margins, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges.
A faint dampstain to the lower margin of the initial leaves of the first work, a few occasional light spots.
Bound together are:
First edition.
The CCF records only the minutes of the sessions of December 1787 and January 1788, published at Narbonne (Veuve Besset).
A very rare report of the first sitting of the provincial assembly of Roussillon, held in three sessions (20, 21 & 22 October 1787), preliminary to the sessions of the following December and January, but apparently overlooked by most historians.
Rare first edition of this fervent—indeed visionary—appeal to bring the Orient under the sway of the combined powers of the State and the Christian religion, informed by such an overtly Eurocentric outlook that the work is almost unreadable today, yet remains an eloquent record of the illusions prevailing in the West in the mid-nineteenth century.
Corners restored at the outer tips of the boards, some scattered foxing, and a stain to the right margin of the upper cover.
In an admirably prophetic vein, the author exclaims: "La civilisation chrétienne, qui ne cesse d'agrandir son cercle, ne s'arrêtera pas devant le Coran, et ce n'est pas la loi de Mahomet qui présidera au réveil de l'Orient".
At the head of the upper wrapper, a signed presentation inscription from Louis de Juvigny to the mystical polemicist Ernest Hello (1828–1885), then the darling of the most uncompromising and exalted Catholic circles (Léon Bloy owed his conversion to him, which says it all…).
First edition.
Small losses to the head and tail of the spine, tears to one joint and to the spine neatly restored, a stain at the foot of the upper cover, slight corner losses to the boards; a clean and attractive copy internally.
At the head of the upper cover, an autograph presentation inscription by Édouard Maurel to a colleague.
First edition of the French translation (cf. Gay 3146).
Our copy is preserved in the original wrappers, with yellow and black marbled covers and a title label pasted at the head of the spine.
Occasional light foxing; a numbering in black ink facing the half-title.
Rare first edition.
Our copy is preserved disbound.
The sole edition of this uncommon pamphlet issued in the context of the Russian Campaign: "Ce Précis historique sur les Cosaques ne pouvait paraître dans une circonstance plus favorable que dans le moment où la Russie est devenue le théâtre de la guerre".
The son of the Paris bookseller Noël-Jacques Pissot (1724–1804), Noël-Laurent Pissot (1748–1815) at first followed in his father’s footsteps: admitted to the booksellers’ guild on 19 April 1768, he worked chiefly in partnership with him and specialised in the publication and sale of works in English or translated from the English. From July 1797 he was, together with his father, employed at the Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, and from 1802 onwards he published numerous historical works and essays, novels, melodramas, and political pamphlets, notably of an anti-Bonapartist nature.
First edition, illustrated with two plates, including an engraved portrait frontispiece by S. Desmaretz and Couché after Scheibler, together with an engraved headpiece by De Launay (cf. Quérard, VII, 240; Polak, 7650).
Account of the career of Jean Bart, squadron leader in the French Navy and Knight of the Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis, forming part of the collection devoted to the nineteen engagements of this celebrated seaman, engraved by M. Le Gouaz; followed by historical, biographical and topographical notes on the origins of Dunkirk and the political importance of its port (...). With engraved plates and vignettes. Dedicated to H.E. the Minister of the Navy and the Colonies. Paris, Arthus Bertrand [printed by P. Didot the Elder], 1807, 8vo.
Contemporary half cherry calf, smooth spine very slightly cocked and tooled in gilt with fillets, garlands and fan tools, marbled paper sides, marbled edges, corners a little rubbed; mid-19th-century binding.
Paper repairs to the lower outer corners of pp. 125–126 and 127–128.
The only edition of this very rare short monograph, published as much in praise of Dunkirk as of Jean Bart. The second part bears its own title: Coup-d'oeil sur Dunkerque, sa population progressive depuis 1685 jusqu'en 1789, et le grand nombre de ses célèbres marins qui ont précédé et suivi Jean-Bart. A lawyer from Dunkirk, Louis-Eugène Poirier (1753–1818) came to notice after the fall of Robespierre for his vehement denunciation of the actions of Joseph Lebon at Arras.
First edition (cf. Sabin, 64,876).
Spine cracked with small losses; slight marginal tears and losses to the wrappers.
The subject of this dissertation does not, of course, concern the State of the same name (a member of the Confederacy during the Civil War), but the vessel, the CSS Alabama, a sloop of war with combined steam and sail propulsion, built in Great Britain in 1862. It served in the Confederate States Navy until it was sunk on 19 June 1864 following a naval engagement with the Union sloop of war USS Kearsarge off the port of Cherbourg, France.
In the aftermath of the war arose the Alabama Claims, demands for damages brought by the Federal Government of the United States against the Government of the United Kingdom for the latter’s clandestine assistance to the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War.
The dispute was resolved only by recourse to an international court of arbitration which sat at Geneva in 1872 and was composed of representatives of the United Kingdom (Alexander Cockburn), the United States (Charles Francis Adams, Sr.), the Kingdom of Italy (Federigo Sclopis), the Swiss Confederation (Jakob Stämpfli), and the Empire of Brazil (Marcos Antônio de Araújo).
The Alabama Claims case marked the first submission of an inter-state dispute to supra-national arbitration, and the tribunal convened for this purpose laid the foundations of modern public international law. The lawyer Paul-Ernest Pradier-Fodéré (1827–1904) was a specialist in international law, which he had been teaching since 1857.
First edition of one of the many productions of an odontological charlatan (cf. David, p. 245).
Illustrated with a portrait of the author as frontispiece.
Spine clumsily restored with an adhesive repair and showing small losses; corner losses to the boards; foxing.
Born into a Dutch Jewish family, Benjamin Cohen (1818–1852) adopted an Anglicised pseudonym in order to facilitate his business dealings, passing himself off as a London practitioner holding a degree from the University of Edinburgh, where he claimed to have been "admitted" in 1833. In reality, he had undertaken no formal studies.
Nevertheless, he set himself up as a dentist in Paris in 1836. Lacking any recognised qualification, he was convicted at first instance (December 1845) and on appeal (February 1846) for the illegal practice of medicine, following a complaint brought against him by Joseph Audibran and several other members of the Société de chirurgie dentaire de Paris. This judgment was, however, quashed in May 1846, the Court of Cassation ruling that the practice of dentistry did not constitute medicine so long as it did not extend to the treatment of diseases of the mouth.
First edition.
Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers beneath a plain cover, the spine split with losses to the paper and the title label also with defects.
Pleasing condition internally, with only occasional foxing.
Among the finest works relating to naval medicine; a substantial section (pp. 90–212) is devoted to scurvy.
The author, a physician in the Dutch navy, composed this work entirely from his own firsthand observations.
A substantial section (pp. 90–212) is devoted to scurvy.
Rare first edition, illustrated with four plates hors-texte at the end of the volume (cf. Polak 8728).
This practical treatise was reissued repeatedly until the end of the Ancien Régime.
Our copy is offered in its original state, stitched in the temporary blue paper wrappers.
A waterstain in the right margin of the first fifty leaves, with another affecting the lower margins of the subsequent leaves; title page detached.
Gilles-François Segondat (1724–1791), deputy commissioner of the navy, was to conclude his career as an ordinary commissioner of the ports.
Each part a first edition. Copy in parts, unbound.
According to the CCFr, the Lunéville media library holds the first text in manuscript copy form. On May 28, 1777, France renewed in Solothurn (Switzerland), for fifty years, its long-standing treaties of alliance with the thirteen cantons. The privileges specified in the second text are chiefly commercial and financial in nature; they derive, to varying degrees, from the Treaty of Perpetual Peace of 1516 (Treaty of Fribourg).
First edition in book form, issued for the centenary of the birth of Pierre Jean Jouve; one of 33 numbered copies on pure wove vellum, the deluxe issue.
A fine copy.
First edition, illustrated with a large title vignette with the coat of arms of Louis XIII, as well as numerous fine woodcut head-and tailpieces as well as initials. Preceded by an epistle to Marie de' Medici. Printed entirely in italic in 2 columns per page, each canto has divisional half-title page. At the end of the privilege one reads: "Achevé d'imprimer pour la première fois en italien le 24 avril 1623."
Modern full vellum binding, spine with five raised bands, manuscript title label, boards with some brown stains; leaves 501 and 503 have been mistakenly placed after leaf 495. Numerous pagination errors at the end of the volume, some leaves browned. Note that leaf A1 is a blank.
In 1615, Marie de' Medici and Concini summoned Marino to France, where Louis XIII retained the poet with a pension of 2,000 écus. He composed his most celebrated work, L'Adone, in Paris over a period spanning more than twenty years. This Baroque poem is made up of 40,000 verses and 5,183 octaves. The Cavalier Marino recounts the story of Venus and Adonis in a unique mixture of registers - epic, mythological, satirical and romantic - tinged with unbridled imagination. He blends Christian and Greco-Roman mythology, eroticism and mysticism, creating a text both innovative and close to the style of Ariosto and Tasso. The publication immediately met with immense success in France, but also in Italy where it influenced the creation of the "Marinist style" and revived scholarly disputes. The poem was later placed on the Papal Index.
Chapelain's letter, written in French and found in the preliminary leaves, praises L'Adone, "bon poëme, conduit et tissu dans sa nouveauté selon les regles generales de l'épopée et le meilleur en son genre qui puisse jamais sortir en public" [a good poem, conducted and woven in its novelty according to the general rules of the epic and the best of its kind that could ever appear in public].
Provenance: manuscript ex-libris "[G.D. ?] Gaillard" on the title page, similar to one recorded on a copy of Compendium logicae, 1666 (Université Toulouse 1, Resp Mn 13004).
New compilation of the celebrated songs by the troubadour from Sète, including "La mauvaise réputation", "Le parapluie", "Le petit cheval", "Le fossoyeur", "Le gorille", "Corne d'auroch", "La chasse aux papillons" and "Hécatombe".
Inevitable creasing and light rubbing along the margins of the record sleeve.
A small ballpoint pen doodle in blue ink on the lower cover.
Autograph signature of Georges Brassens in the lower right margin of the upper cover.
Charming example of shellwork binding on a devotional book from 1858.
Publisher's binding, with exceptionnally added contemporary shellwork panel including more than 200 miniature shell to each board, blue cloth spine elaborately decorated with gilt pink and blue gauffered motifs, all edges gilt, inner gilt dentelle; a few shells lost, a little rubbed at corners and spine-ends.
Second edition, partly original, as enlarged (cf. Barbier II, 241: gives "Deslandes". Polak 1130. INED 737. See Sabin 19744 for the first English edition published the same year.)
Full brown sheep binding, smooth spine gilt-ruled and decorated with gilt compartments and floral tools, rubbing to the joints, gilt rolls on the head- and tailcaps partly dulled, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets on the board edges faint in places, red edges, a period binding.
Some repairs to the spine.
Pages 191 to 252 contain the "Mémoire historique sur les Indes Braves, et les Forbans François du Golfe de Darien".
This edition appeared in the same year as the original; the historical memoir on the "Indes Braves" and the French buccaneers of the Gulf of Darien (Caribbean), which is not by Boureau-Deslandes, is published here for the first time.
"Contains many interesting notices relating to America, particularly the design of Cromwell to become possessor of that country, the expedition of Thomas Gage, etc." (cf. Sabin).
The Gulf of Darien lies in the Caribbean Sea between the Panamanian and Colombian coasts. "Place tenue par la marine chez les peuples de l'antiquité et en France depuis le commencement de la monarchie (...) Critique du luxe, éloge des manufactures : l'une des plus graves conséquences de la révolution de l'Edit de Nantes fut le départ d'ouvriers ; il faudrait imiter Edouard IV qui fit venir en Angleterre des ouvriers spécialisés" Cf. INED.
Second edition (cf. Quérard IX, 429.).
Our copy remains in the original stitching, in temporary wrappers showing numerous losses and a cracked backstrip; the margins of some leaves are browned and bear small chips.
The work deals exclusively with the canonical prohibition on clergy wearing wigs; one section is devoted to liturgical and extra-liturgical headgear: birettas, mitres, almuces, hoods, camails, amices, caps, and skullcaps.
Abbot Jean-Baptiste Thiers (1636–1703) was among the most original and learned theologians of the seventeenth century; throughout his life he opposed superstition and the misuse of religious practices.
First edition (cf. Neu 838.)
Light foxing.
Contemporary full tan sheep, the spine with five raised bands ruled in gilt and decorated with gilt panels and gilt floral tools; some rubbing and small defects to the spine, gilt rolls to the head- and tailcaps, surface wear to the boards, red edges, gilt fillets to the board edges, corners a little softened; a period binding.
First edition (only three copies recorded in the CCFr: BnF, Lyon and Montpellier).
Blank spine split with small losses, a few instances of foxing.
The sole edition of this small, learned and appealing dissertation.
Paul Saint-Olive (1799–1879), engraver and contributor to the Revue du Lyonnais, was a tireless seeker of curiosities (cf. Vingtrinier (Aimé): Paul Saint-Olive, archéologue lyonnais, Lyon, 1877).
Signed autograph inscription by Paul Saint-Olive to Doctor Girard on the inside of the upper cover.
Very scarce first edition of David’s first work, dedicated to Léonville l’Homme and Edgar Janson (cf. Toussaint & Adolphe A. 1411).
Spine lacking; copy cockled.
Edition illustrated with 16 original copper engravings by Jean-Emile Laboureur, one of 25 numbered copies on vieux Japon à la forme, deluxe issue.
Full green box calf binding, smooth spine decorated with inlaid pieces of brown and red box calf forming a pattern of alternating diagonal lines extending onto the boards, a gilt fillet and a palladium fillet on the covers, black watered silk endpapers and doublures framed with a wide strip of green box calf and a geometric composition of red box calf framed in gilt on the doublures, original wrappers and spine preserved, all edges gilt, elegant Art Deco binding dated and signed by Geneviève de Léotard, 1931.
A precious copy housed in an elegant box calf binding with watered silk doublures, an original Art Deco creation by Geneviève de Léotard, pupil of Pierre Legrain: "At the height of Art Deco, Geneviève de Léotard […] was the only binder to rival Rose Adler in elegance. […] Her originality and inventiveness clearly distinguish her." (Yves Peyré, Histoire de la reliure de création, 2015, p. 184). As Fléty notes, "her well-constructed bindings, with very pure decoration and harmonious tonalities, display a reasoned originality which enabled [her] […] to always rank among the top entries at the exhibitions in which she participated. (Julien Fléty. Dictionnaire des relieurs français ayant exercé de 1800 à nos jours. Technorama, 1988. p. 111).
Bookplate pasted onto the front free endpaper.
Our copy, like the copies of the deluxe issue on Japon, is complete with the suite of original engravings.
Edition illustrated with 12 original colour watercolours by Gerda Wegener, printed hors texte, one of 400 numbered copies on Arches laid paper.
Spine and boards faintly sunned at the margins, otherwise a pleasing copy.
First edition.
Bradel binding in modern paper-covered boards of grey-blue stock, smooth spine lettered in black, original wrappers preserved; binding signed Laurenchet.
Label of the fishing library of M. Albert Petit pasted to the upper cover, no. 100.
The species are described in French, with their Latin and Greek names.
Stamp of the Société d'Acclimatation on the title-page.
First edition, one of 330 numbered copies on Arches wove paper.
Minor tears to the head and tail of the spine; a pleasing copy.
With wood-engraved illustrations by François de Marliave, printed in several colours by E. Gasperini.
First edition (cf. En français dans le texte, 288. Horblit, 11b. Printing and the mind of man, 353.)
Full black cloth binding, smooth spine, headcaps slightly softened, corners slightly frayed, contemporary binding,
Printed stamps on the title page and on the final page of the table of contents, which bears, on the facing page, a numerical annotation in black ink.
First separate edition, printed in a small number of copies, taken from the Annales des sciences naturelles; the work was later republished by Baillière in 1876 (cf. O'Reilly, Nouvelle-Calédonie, 608, which records only the periodical publication).
Bradel case-binding in full green paper-covered boards, brown morocco lettering-piece lettered vertically; the original provisional upper wrapper preserved; modern binding.
The issue is illustrated at the end of the volume with an engraved plate.
A clear waterstain in the outer margins of the leaves.
Émile Bescherelle (1828–1903), president of the Société botanique de France, was a leading specialist in mosses, which he also studied in New Caledonia (1878) and in Mexico.
At the head of the blank upper wrapper, presentation inscription signed by Émile Bescherelle to Count Hippolyte-François Jaubert (1798–1874), a noted botanist and the son of a hero of Aboukir.
First edition of the French translation (cf. Sabin 8048; Quérard I, 521, who gives the date 1825).
Contemporary half roan with an aubergine hue, the flat spines lightly sunned and ruled with gilt fillets and dotted tooling, some rubbing to the backs, marbled paper sides, yellow mottled edges.
A few very light, insignificant spots.
John Bristed, born in the county of Dorset in 1778, died in the United States in 1855.
After studying medicine and law, he entered the Church. "Before leaving England he began writing and seems to have held ideas considered radical at the time (...) In 1806 Bristed came to New York City and there practised law, lectured, and wrote books and magazine articles (...) His writings show diligent and exhaustive study ; interest in history, economic questions, and religion ; a strong personal point of view, frequently amounting to prejudice ; and a rather ornate style" (Dict. of American Biography).
First edition (cf. Cordier, Sinica, 1643).
Small tear and minor loss at the head of the spine; covers slightly soiled.
A highly interesting trilingual lexicon, presenting Chinese ideograms alongside their phonetic transcription, published in the immediate aftermath of the French expedition of 1858.
It includes, for example, practical phrases such as how to ask "Quelle est la nature de la rade ?" or how to reply that a general is "très brave ; il ne recule devant rien".
Claude-Philibert Dabry de Thiersant (1826–1898) began his career as a naval officer before turning to diplomacy, a path that led him to hold several consular posts in the Far East. Unsurprisingly, the greater part of his scholarly work is devoted to China and Tonkin.
First edition of the treatise "qui comprend la structure et les fonctions de la bouche, l'histoire de ses maladies, les moyens d'en conserver la santé et la beauté, et les opérations particulières à l'art du dentiste" (cf. Crowley 846. David p. 125. Poletti p. 49.)
Half brown calf binding, the smooth spine decorated with double gilt fillets and gilt panels; rubbing to the spine and joints; marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns; late 19th-century binding.
A few minor spots of foxing.
Illustrated with an engraved title-page, an allegorical frontispiece, and 13 copper-engraved plates printed hors texte.
First edition, for which no copies were issued on deluxe paper.
Spine lightly wrinkled, a small loss at the foot of the lower board; otherwise a pleasing copy.
Signed autograph inscription by Maurice Genevoix.
First edition (cf. Crowley 931. David 132. Poletti 92: "Rara").
Contemporary half tan sheep, smooth spine tooled in gilt with floral motifs and gilt fillets, red morocco lettering-piece with a small loss and a scuff, lower headcap lacking, marbled paper boards, marbled edges, period binding.
This celebrated "Manuel du Dentiste permit d'acquérir les indispensables connaissances théoriques…" (Besombes, Hist. de l'Art Dentaire, 282)."
New edition.
A handsome copy.
Fine inscribed copy, signed by Anaïs Nin to the writer Christiane Baroche: "Christiane Baroche my last novel before I began to edit the diaries and be drowned in them. Perharps because I had arrived at humor and could bear to make the journey backwards. Anaïs Nin."
Vezry rare first edition.
Jesuit library stamp to the half-title, a few minor spots of foxing, slight tears to the head and tail of the spine.
Second edition: the work had in fact already been published in 1741 at Halle under the more concise title Syriasmus.
Contemporary half vellum with vellum corners, the flat spine gilt ruled and decorated with gilt Greek-key rolls and floral tools, bronze sheep lettering-piece, a gilt cross stamped at the centre of the upper cover, sprinkled edges; corners a little rubbed. A binding of the period.
Numbering in blue ink at the head of the front endpaper.
The Lutheran theologian Christian Benedikt Michaelis (1680–1764) specialised in Oriental languages (Arabic, Geʽez, Syriac, etc.), as did many of his contemporaries during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. A member of the Collegium Orientale founded by Francke in 1702, he had a son, Johann David Michaelis (1717–1791), who followed in his footsteps—and indeed far surpassed him in the scope of his scholarship—and likewise composed a Syriac grammar which should not be confused with the present work.
First edition, illustrated with five engraved plates (see Crowley 894; David 258; Poletti 182).
Scattered foxing, otherwise a clean and attractive copy.
Contemporary half sheep, the flat spine gilt with decorative rolls and small tools, black morocco lettering-piece, headcap worn, some rubbing to spine and joints, marbled paper boards; a period binding.
"… Serres did research into the development of the bones and teeth…" (D.S.B., XII, 315).
First edition, one of 50 numbered copies printed on Edogawa Japan paper, the deluxe issue.
A handsome copy, complete—as with all copies on Japan paper—with the author’s portrait frontispiece by Armand Rassenfosse.
Pirate edition from the same year as the first edition of this bible of chess strategy, published by Philidor at the age of twenty-two.
Full olive morocco binding, dentelle boards framed by a gilt roulette motif, central gilt decoration in mandorla shape composed of a quatrefoil formed by basket-handle motifs richly decorated in gilt inside the lobes, gilt edges, top spine-end slightly rubbed, corners bumped, some rare spots of foxing, binding attributable to René-François Fétil, pupil of the great Padeloup, based on numerous tools found on bindings bearing Fétil's ticket and listed in Giles Barber, The James A. de Rothschild Bequest at Waddesdon Manor. Printed Books and Bookbindings, 2013 (DCT 38 "Long, cornet-shaped ornament with a floral top", FR 16 "pair of fronds with a large double-sided base leaf and two smaller leaves above; plain curl end").
The greatest chess treatise, in an elegant dentelle binding, from the library of the famous chess player Lothar Schmid, chess grandmaster and arbiter of the century, holder of the largest and most prestigious private chess book collection in the world (according to Allan Savage, Caissa's Legacy: The Great Chess Libraries).
First edition printed on regular stock.
Small tears to the head and foot of the spine.
Fine presentation inscription, signed by Henri de Montherlant to Georges Bataille.
First collected edition, one of 13 numbered copies on pur fil paper, our copy being one of 3 hors commerce, the only copies on deluxe paper.
A fine copy.
First public edition of this text by Jean Cassou, written under the pseudonym Jean Noir, one of 50 numbered copies on Madagascar paper, from the deluxe issue.
A fine copy.
First edition, one of 200 numbered copies on “light green paper,” the only deluxe paper issue announced.
Turquoise half morocco binding, smooth spine, date in gilt at foot, marbled paper boards, endpapers, and pastedowns, original wrappers and spine preserved, top edge gilt; an elegant contemporary binding signed by G. Gauché.
A very handsome copy, finely bound by Georges Gauché and complete with its publisher's prospectus.
Signed presentation inscription by René Crevel: "My dear Georges, here, in its finest form: Diderot’s Harpsichord, if you can help him play his music? With all my affection. René" (our own translation)
Rare first edition of the French translation prepared by Pingeron, who enriched it with notes (cf. Attabey, 1127. Not in Chadenat, Hage Chahine or Blackmer. Monglond, I, 466. Brunet, V, 317. Quérard, IX, 98). Only one copy recorded in Italian public collections (Ravenna).
Our copy is preserved in its original blue-grey wrappers, the spine plain with contemporary manuscript titling, entirely uncut.
First French edition of this uncommon work: other writings by Sestini are encountered more frequently (perhaps owing to its date of publication?).
With a dedicatory epistle to the comte de La Billardrie d'Angivillier.
Abbot Domenico Sestini (1750–1832) was a numismatist, archaeologist, and extensive traveller. He was the first, in 1780, to mention the Sicilian citron in his description of the "à l'éponge" method for extracting essential lemon oil.
A pleasing, as-issued copy.
First edition of this major classification, arranged according to the Linnaean system, describing a thousand plants with remarkable precision (cf. Pritzel 9806.)
Full green vellum bindings, smooth spines tooled with double gilt fillets and gilt rolls, brown calf lettering- and volume-pieces, slight rubbing to the spines, yellow mottled edges, some corners a little softened; contemporary bindings.
The author, Abbé Fulgenzio Vitman (1728–1806), a Florentine botanist, founded the Milan botanical garden after directing that of Pavia.
First edition of the French translation, illustrated with a plate showing the alphabet and a large folding map at the end of the first volume (cf. Quérard V, 561).
Contemporary full marbled tan calf bindings, smooth spines decorated with gilt friezes (partly rubbed), some wear to joints and boards, a few bumped corners, spines restored, gilt rolls on board edges, red edges.
Small ink stain on the map, otherwise a clean and appealing copy.
The most comprehensive work of its time devoted to the largest island of Indonesia.
Augmented and revised edition originally published by a Belgian friar in Cologne in 1634.
Full roan binding, spine with four raised bands, gilt tooling in compartments, red morocco title label, spine-ends, joints and corners restored.
A handsome copy of this innovative confessional manual, which "encouraged self-reflection on several hundred sins, ranging from embracing heresy to cheating at games. Categorized according to the Ten Commandments, brief definitions of the sins were printed on pre-cut paper. This allowed the user to pull the slips up individually so that they extended over the superimposed paper margin, thereby serving as topical reminders for reflection and confession, to be tucked under the margin again after the confession. The ability to select, manipulate, and categorize particular textual units introduced in this book can be seen as a precursor to modern information management systems. (Bridwell Library, Southern Methodist University)
Edition partly original, one of 90 numbered copies on Dutch paper, the only issue following 10 on Japan, 2 on Chapelle and 2 not-for-sale copies.
Volume illustrated with 8 wood engravings by Manolo, four of which are full-page.
Manuscript signatures of Manolo and Pierre Reverdy on the colophon.
A rare and handsome copy of the only work illustrated by Manolo.
First edition, one of 100 copies numbered on Arches wove paper, the only deluxe issue.
This exhibition catalogue devoted to the painter’s work at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York, marking his sixtieth birthday, is illustrated with three original lithographs (two double-page and one single-page) together with numerous black-and-white and colour reproductions.
Offsetting from the lithographs visible on the facing text leaves.
Autograph signature by Joan Miró, dated at the colophon number.
As stated in the limitation, this copy indeed includes its original lithograph, dated and signed by Joan Miró.
First edition of the French translation, with false statement of second edition.
Full green cloth Bradel binding, flat spine decorated with a central gilt ornament, beige sheepskin title label, original wrappers preserved, contemporary binding signed in blind by Pierson. Some light foxing.
Very rare presentation copy dated and signed by Ivan Turgenev to Anatole France: "Monsieur Anatole France / hommage de l'auteur / 1876".
First edition.
The veterinarian Henri-Mamert-Onésime Delafond (1805–1861) devoted particular attention to contagious diseases of livestock, focusing especially on anthrax and contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, and published several successive monographs on these subjects throughout his career; he became director of the École d’Alfort in 1860, shortly before his death.
Light foxing; a dampstain affecting the index leaves; minor losses at the corners of the boards.
Provenance: from the library of the veterinarian Jean-Henry Magne, with his manuscript ex-libris at the head of the upper cover.
First edition illustrated with 24 colour figures mounted within the text.
No copy recorded in the CCFr.
Occasional light foxing.
Publisher’s original full lemon-yellow percaline, smooth spine, upper cover decorated in red, minor spotting to the boards.
Pleasing album devoted to the monuments of ancient China, then undergoing rapid transformation at the beginning of the twentieth century.
The text was set before the Chinese Revolution of 1911 and the Great War.
On the half-title, this copy is enriched with a long dated autograph inscription by the American singer and society figure Tryphosa Bates-Batcheller (1876–1952) to Henry de Galard de Brassac, Prince of Béarn and of Chalais (1874–1947), including an English translation of a Chinese poem by Ssu-K'ung T'u (834–908).
First French edition, complete with its engraved plate at the end of the volume: "Air mauresque" (see Gay 1352).
Bookseller’s resale label from the antiquarian bookseller Challamel affixed to the foot of the title page.
Bound in contemporary half brown calf, smooth spine with gilt and blind tooling, black morocco title and date labels, some rubbing to the spine, marbled paper boards, handmade laid paper endleaves and pastedowns, speckled edges, corners slightly worn, upper corner missing on one, binding slightly later.
Some foxing, dampstaining affecting the lower margin of the first 70 leaves.
The work was first published in London in 1811 under the title: "An account of Tunis, of its government, customs and antiquities, especially of its productions, manufactures and commerce".
On the verso of the half-title is a manuscript note signed by Henri Fournel: "The original of this work was published in 1811. It had been written by a common man, and the translation is superior to the original." Henri Fournel (1799–1876), a mining engineer, was long associated with the Saint-Simonian movement before holding senior positions at the Compagnie des Chemins de fer du Nord.
The same hand has inscribed the translator’s name on the title page.
Marcel Dunan’s bookplate mounted on a pastedown.
