Louis ARAGON

Rare double first edition of this masterpiece of the literature of the Resistance, probably published simultaneously in the northern and southern zone by the two most important underground publishers of the Resistance.

The six-page fold-out cupboard produced in the Parisian cellar of Editions de Minuit is echoed by the equally modest brochure printed on the active resistant presses of Saint-Flour by René Amarger under a yellow cover “falling from wallpaper”. It will be the first creation of the publishing house founded by Aragon and then directed by Paul Eluard, La Bibliothèque Française.

It is moreover around this joint work of combatant publishing that the friendship between the two poets, separated by surrealist quarrels, is renewed. Eluard's first gesture will thus be a literary contribution: Seven poems of Love at war. Published the same year at the “French Library” under the pseudonym of Jean du Haut, this poem will mark the entry into the underground of Eluard.
Although after the war, some considered the pseudonyms of the poets to be transparent, our copy of the “French Library” testifies to the contrary, as shown by its faulty attribution to Eluard by a double handwritten mention at the top of the cover and last poem page. But this confusion also underlines the aesthetic and political proximity of the two greatest poets of the Resistance.
For his part, Louis Aragon opted for the pseudonym of François La Colère, François for humiliated France and Anger against the Vichy regime.

The “Musée Grévin” considered from its publication as “The punishments of 1943”, will remain with Liberty by Paul Eluard, “one of the masterpieces of clandestine literature”. In L'Intelligence en guerre published in 1945, Louis Parrot, wrote about him: “this poem, crossed by dazzling images, is at the same time a condemnation without appeal from traitors, a prayer, an act of time towards their unhappy victims. he paints in avenging terms, the miserable who delivered them to the executioners and evokes the face of so many tortured French women. “
This capital poem is indeed one of the very first public evocations, and the first literary, of the Auschwitz camp: “On the borders of Poland, there is a Gehenna whose name whistles and blows a terrible song. Ausschwitz! Ausschwitz! Ausschwitz! bloody syllables! Here we live, here we die slowly. We call it slow execution. A part of our hearts is slowly dying there. “
One can moreover date with precision the composition of this poem according to this reference to Auschwitz and to the “one hundred women of our country” that Aragon evokes. There was indeed a first mention of the camp in May 1943 in the resistant newspaper La Vérité , but it will only be mentioned “slow execution” in the August 1943 issue of “Etoiles” which evokes for the first time the presence in the camp of the hundred women hostages who have disappeared since their deportation from the Romainville camp in January and whose fate is finally known thanks to the testimony of an escapee just passed on to De Gaulle by the committee of the National Front. A detail also confirms that Aragon becomes aware of these elements by reading this newspaper, since it reproduces the shell of the article to “Ausschwitz”, (which was still correctly spelled “Auschwitz” in the article in The Truth in January).
This poem published just after the publication of the newspaper was therefore urgently composed and inspired by the violent immediate news. Because Aragon, like Eluard, fights with words by creating what Louis Parrot calls “occasional poetry” in the noble sense: “For [Aragon], there is no other poetry than militant poetry. A successful poem is, for him, a fact of war (...), a fight from which the poet can never be absent, since it challenges his freedom, that is to say his very life. “
Very beautiful and precious copies of this major poem of the Resistance published by the two largest French publishers born under oppression.

First edition, one of 17 numbered copies on Holland paper, deluxe copies ("tirage de tête").
Beautiful copy.

Les éditions de minuit | Paris 1943 | 13.5 x 19 cm | original wrappers

The Musée Grévin is one of the first literary references, in 1943, to the camp at Auschwitz: «On the outskirts of Poland, there is a Gehenna whose name whistles and blows an atrocious song. Auschwitz! Auschwitz! O bloody syllables! Here we live, here we die a slow death. We call this slow execution. Part of our hearts slowly perishes there.» Louis Aragon opted for the pseudonym François La Colère, François after a humiliated France and Colère (Anger) against the Vichy regime.

Rare first edition in volume form of this masterpiece of Resistance literature, one of the 100 copies on coated paper, the only grand papier (deluxe) copies.
Statement of second edition, since it was printed after the poster version.
Very beautiful and precious copy.

Les éditions de minuit | Paris 1946 | 12 x17.5 cm | original wrappers

The Musée Grévin is one of the first literary references, in 1943, to the camp at Auschwitz: «On the outskirts of Poland, there is a Gehenna whose name whistles and blows an atrocious song. Auschwitz! Auschwitz! O bloody syllables! Here we live, here we die a slow death. We call this slow execution. Part of our hearts slowly perishes there.» Louis Aragon opted for the pseudonym François La Colère, François after a humiliated France and Colère (Anger) against the Vichy regime.

Partly original edition of this masterpiece of Resistance literature.
Pleasant copy.

Moving handwritten inscription signed by Louis Aragon to Jacques Charpentier: «ce livre contre l'oubli.» («This book against forgetting.»)

first edition on current paper.
Sun back.
Autograph dedication signed by Louis Aragon: "To Paul Vienney, his faithful friend".

[éditions de la revue Variété] | [Brussels 1929] | 21.5 x 20 cm | original wrappers

First edition, one of 160 numbered copies on Montval, only print after 7 Japan and 48 Holland.
he work is presented in a half grey morocco chemise, slipcase lined in grey morocco, all signed by Thomas Boichot,
Famous erotic book illustrated with 4 photolithographs of a pornographic nature by Man Ray putting on a performance with Kiki, the inescapable Montparnasse muse of the Roaring Twenties.
Each of these photographs is accompanied with erotic poems by Benjamin Péret for the first semester and Louis Aragon for the second.
Very rare copy of this scandalous pornographic-poetic booklet produced by the Belgian magazine Variété by Paul-Gustave Van Hecke and almost the entire print of which was seized and destroyed by French customs. Indeed, this libertine «almanac» divided into two semesters and four seasons, remains today one of the most licentious surrealist productions. Even more than the Bourgeois society, it is the surrealist aesthetic itself that is mangled here. The four photographs taken by Man Ray at the request of Aragon and Péret to illustrate their crude poems are indeed very «far from the veiled eroticism dear to Breton» (cf. L'Enfer de la Bibliothèque. Eros au secret, Bibliothèque Nationale de France).
On one of the photographs, «the woman is clearly identifiable: it is Kiki from Montparnasse, Man Ray's occasional lover and muse. Her lips, with make-up to form the shape of Cupid's bow, tightly grip a penis that, judging by the angle of the shot, is probably that of the photographer. [...] Many books by surrealist artists are the product of a pornographic imagination, but never in such a scandalous and crude manner as in this publication. (Parr and Badger, he Photobook: A History Volume II, p. 138).
Light, minor foxing on the boards.
Very rare copy.

First edition for which it was not drawn from great papers.
Binding in half hazelnut hazelnuts, back slightly cleared with four nerves, marbled paper plates, guards and contreplats of handmade paper, ex-ibris glued on a contreplat.
Illustrated book of photographic reproductions of works by Gustave Courbet.
Signed autograph of Louis Aragon Jacques Rech.

First edition, one of 535 numbered copies on vellum, the only deluxe copies.
Spine and boards lightly sunned as usual, bookplate pasted with glue offset on the facing page where it was placed, handsome interior condition.
A full-margined copy.

[Dada Poster] Soirée Dada à la Galerie Montaigne le vendredi 10 juin 1921 à la Galerie Montaigne [Dada Evening on Friday
10 June 1921 at the Galerie Montaigne]First edition of this rare leaflet announcing the Dada evening on Friday 10 June 1921 at the Galerie Montaigne.
Two small, minor signs of folding.
Precious invitation to this evening organised as part of the “Salon Dada,” installed at the Galerie Montaigne during the month of June 1921. Tristan Tzara, for the first time, performed his play Le Cœur à gaz and most of the movement's protagonists joined in, with the notable exception of Picabia and Duchamp who refused to be part of it.
Participation from Madame E. Bujaud, Philippe Soupault, Louis Aragon, Valentin Parnak, Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes, Paul Eluard, Benjamin Péret and Tristan Tzara.
We have only been able to find three copies in libraries: at Yale University Library, at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Kunsthaus Zürich Bibliothek.
One of the rarest Dada leaflets.

Dada poster-program – Salon des Indépendants, Grand Palais des Champs-élysées, 5 February [1920]

Paris 1920 | 18.8 x 26.6 cm | single sheet

First edition of this poster-program announcing the Salon des Indépendants at the Grand Palais on Thursday 5 February 1920, second Dada demonstration, with interventions by Picabia, Breton, Dermée, Éluard, Aragon and Tzara.
Some signs of minor folding, two small brown stains in the upper and lower margins of the document.
We have not been able to find any copies in libraries.
Extremely rare.

First edition on current paper.
Two small tears without gravity in the head and foot of the back.
Autograph signed by Louis Aragon to Guy Doucet on the fake title page.
Our copy is enriched by the handwritten signatures of the actor and tragedian Gérard Philippe, the cyclist Antoine Magne and a third communist sympathizer whose name we could not identify.

André BRETON & Philippe SOUPAULT
& Guillaume APOLLINAIRE & Blaise CENDRARS & Tristan TZARA & Raymond RADIGUET
& Louis ARAGON & Max JACOB
Littérature N° 9
Littérature | Paris Novembre 1919 | 14 x 23 cm | stapled
First edition of the ninth issue of this magazine founded by Louis Aragon, André Breton and Philippe Soupault.
Issue starting to unstitch, a tear at the foot of the spine.
Contributions from André Breton & Philippe Soupault Les Champs magnétiques (suite), Guillaume Apollinaire Quelconqueries, Louis Aragon Sommeil de plomb, Max Jacob Poèmes en prose, Blaise Cendrars M. 43.57. Z, détenu (mémoires), Raymond Radiguet Côte d'azur, Tristan Tzara Atrocités d'Arthur et Trompette et Scaphandrier...

Leaflet: "Ne visitez pas l'Exposition Coloniale” “Do not visit the Colonial Exhibition”

Rare first edition of this famous leaflet, published by the group of “Surréalistes,” directed against colonialism and, more precisely, the chief of police Jean Chiappe, guilty of having recently deported a Communist Indochinese student.
Rare and beautiful copy despite signs of frequent folding inherent in this type of document.
Text by André Breton, Paul Eluard, Benjamin Péret, Georges Sadoul, Pierre Unik, André Thirion, René Crevel, Louis Aragon, René Char, Maxime Alexandre, Yves Tanguy and Georges Malkine.
This leaflet is an opportunity for the “Surréalistes” to not only denounce the French police, but also the “brigandage” initiative that is colonialism, whose 1931 exhibition glorifies civilizing virtues.

Dada Poster – Dada Festival at the Salle Gaveau, Wednesday 26 May 1920

Paris Wednesday 26 May 1920 | 27.2 x 37 cm | single sheet

First edition of this program leaflet announcing the festival of the Paris dadaist group at the Salle Gaveau on Wednesday 26 May 1920. The first draft of this poster was designed by Tzara and Picabia.
Superimposed mechanical illustration by Picabia.
Catalogue of Sans pareil publications on the verso.
Contributions by Breton, Draule (anagram of Éluard), Picabia, Tzara, etc.
Very beautiful copy of great quality and having preserved its fragile green color.

Le Con d'Irène [Irene's cunt]

René Bonnel | Paris 1928 | 19.5 x 24.5 cm | loose leaves with chemise and slipcase

First edition published anonymously and secretly, one of 140 numbered copies on Arches laid paper, only print after 1 China and 9 Japan.
Signs of wear and small tears on the slipcase.
Blank spine lightly faded, endpapers partially discolored, otherwise beautiful copy.
Rare preserved publisher's chemise and slipcase, signs of wear and small tears on the slipcase. All presented in a half red morocco box, pink paper boards, pink paper doublures, box signed by Thomas Boichot.
Illustrated with 5 original etchings in black by André Masson.
Very rare copy of this masterpiece of erotic literature considered by Jean-Jacques Pauvert as «one of the four or five most beautiful poetic texts produced by Surrealism.»

Dada Leaflet – Soirée Dada à la Galerie Montaigne le vendredi 10 juin 1921 First edition of this rare flyer invitation to a “Dada Soirée” held at the Galerie Montaigne on June 10, 1921.
Two small traces of folding and a small tear to head.
Rare invitation to an evening organized by Tristan Tzara above the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées as part of the “Salon Dada” of June 1921. Tzara performed his provocative play Le Cœur à Gaz and presented dadaist visual art works along with all the major dada protagonists, except for Marcel Duchamp and Francis Picabia who had already broken away from the movement.
With the participation of Mrs. E. Bujaud, Philippe Soupault, Louis Aragon, Valentin Parnak, Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes, Paul éluard, Benjamin Péret and Tristan Tzara.
One of the rarest dada prospectus.

First edition of this leaflet announcing the first public event organized for the "Season Dada 1921".
Some very slight discolorations without serious creases.
Very nice copy of a great freshness and having preserved its fragile green color.
Precious flyer dada of the visit of the church St-Julien-le-Pauvre, realized within the framework of a series of excursions and visits through Paris, in places voluntarily derisory. Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes served as a guide, improvising readings in front of a column or sculpture of articles taken at random from a big Larousse dictionary. The visit, which took place in the rain, counted only about fifty participants and was considered a failure sealing the end of these happenings Dadaists.
Participation of Gabrielle Buffet, Louis Aragon, Hans Arp, André Breton, Paul Éluard, Théodore Fraenkel, Jean Hussar, Benjamin Péret, Francis Picabia, Georges Ribemont-Desssaignes, Jacques Rigaut, Philippe Soupault, Tristan Tzara.
Precious dada leaflet, extremely rare in this condition.

First edition of which it was not drawn of great papers.
Back slightly insolated as generally.
Signed autograph of Louis Aragon to Jean Palot.

Collective first edition for which it was not drawn great papers, one of the review copies service.
A clear circular shadow at the top of the first leaflets.
Preface by Louis Aragon, complete copy of his insertion prayer and erratum.
Signed autograph of Louis Aragon to Daniel Pichon.

Exceptional collection of eleven autograph poems by Louis Aragon, written in the first half of 1945, with a handwritten table of contents by the author. This is a personal selection by Aragon for publication in his first and famous poetic anthology, part of the « Poètes d'Aujourd'hui » Collection (Aragon, published by Pierre Seghers in Paris, No. 2, July 20, 1945). This selection of manuscript poems was sent by the author to the publication director, Claude Roy, and enriched with a table of contents page listing the poems and the chronology of the collections for his friend's attention.
Our collection includes the manuscripts of « Fugue », « Pour demain », and « Casino des lumières crues » (from Feu de Joie, 1920), « Un air embaumé », « Persiennes », « Poème de cape et d'épée » (from Le Mouvement perpétuel, 1924), « Portrait », « Ancien combattant », « Litanies de [trois étoiles] » (from La Grande Gaîté, 1929), « Tant pis pour moi » (from Persécuté persécuteur, 1931), « Couplets du beau monde » (from Les Communistes ont raison, 1933), and « Magnitogorsk 1932 » as well as the « Ballade des vingt-sept suppliciés de Nadiejdinsk » (from Hourra l'Oural, 1934).
The manuscript poems are bound in half black morocco, with stylized paper boards, inner covers lined with black lambskin, and a case edged with the same morocco, the ensemble signed Leroux.

 

First edition on current paper.
Plates and guards marginally and slightly shaded, complete copy of his errata sheet.
Handwritten signature of Louis Aragon on the fake title page.

First edition, one of 40 numbered copies on Alfa paper, only leading copies.
Back very slightly insolated without gravity.
Autograph dedication signed by Jacques Boulenger to Henriette de Martel: "... this crime - it's not the book I'm talking about! - ..."

New edition.
Back slightly insolated.
Autograph dedication of Louis Aragon to Andrée Carle.

First edition, one of 1050 numbered copies on châtaignier, the only grand papier (deluxe) copies with 13 Hollande paper and 88 pur fil paper.
Publisher's binding over flexible paper boards with an original design by Paul Bonet.
Spine slightly browned as usual, otherwise nice copy.

A four page handwritten poem of 102 lines, written in black ink on two leaves of school paper, Seyes ruling, written recto-verso. In the upper margin of the first page there is an inscription in red pencil, probably written later: “19 Lyons-la-Forêt.” Part of this note is erased, but we can assume that it would read: “19. In Lyons-la-Forêt, it goes very very badly.”
Exceptional original manuscript complete of this important and rare poem, composed in the automatic writing style of the pre-Surrealist years of Aragon's youth.
This superb and abundant poem, which was, for a long time, thought to be lost, was only found in 1974, and was published for the first time by Aragon in the fourth volume of his Œuvres poétiques published between 1974 and 1981.
In an introductory note, Jean Ristat reveals the circumstances of its rediscovery: in the 70s Aragon received, from a collector, a duplicate of this poem of youth that he thought had been definitely lost. On this copy, the poet replaced the title Lyons-la-Forêt, written in red on the upper margin, with Dans la forêt and added the supposed date: “early 1927.” There is also a duplicate of this first duplicate with the text retraced and corrected by the author in blue ink in order to facilitate the transcription for the printers. For publication, Aragon added a title page to the proofs, modifying the dating slightly: “text lost and re-found (presumably summer 1927).”
These two corrected facsimiles are preserved in the Fonds Triolet-Aragon (Triolet-Aragon Collection) with all of Louis Aragon and Elsa Triolet's manuscripts that the poet returned “to the French Nation” in 1976 under the direction of the CNRS.
The original manuscript of this poem, preceding the poet's violent breakup with Surrealists and written on a fragile paper extract taken from a school exercise book, is one of the rare documents of such significance that survived the historical and ideological uproar of the 20th century and which is still in private ownership.
If this long text in free verse with no punctuation evokes the writing games of emerging Surrealism, Aragon himself confers yet a very different status. Indeed, in the great compilation of his Œuvres Poétiques between 1974 and 1981, Aragon does not include this poem in the chapter of the first attempts at automatic writings, introduced by Breton's Les Champs magnétiques and generally dated between 1919 and 1921.
By dedicating an exclusive chapter to this lost and re-found poem, and by dating it 1927, the poet clearly distinguishes it from the Surrealist beginnings and places it in a period of stylistic maturity. The few but interesting modifications that he brings to the initial text testify to the quality of the text as much as to the poet's desire to offer the reader, not only a simple vestige of youth, but an accomplished and fully assumed poem.
Thus, in 1974, his transformations are more semiotic than stylistic: “Are you not the Semiramis against a city where the gardens chase their dream without chlorophyll in cellars” from the original version, in 1974 becomes “Are you not the picture rail against...”; “and ask the glow of light for his papers because he is not sure that she is not skinny because of her disregard for the harvests from walking with her radium feet on the uncleared fields” changes to “fields without fear”; “the movement of her bosom disturbs the order of the planets [...] the shooting stars are afraid [...] of being less bright and less desperate than her” is abandoned in favour of “fear of being less blazing,” etc. The end is itself shortened by one verse: “their cow tigress horns,” thus slightly erasing the first reference to Asia that appeared in the original poem.
The only significant modification is more likely to be attributable to an editorial mix-up than to deliberate decision. Indeed, the front and back of the second leaf of the manuscript have been reversed and the version published in 1974 (and used in La Pléiade) is, evidently, dismantled. Although the poetic and automatic writing lends itself to several free interpretations, the text's internal coherence, as much as the manuscript sheets, clearly reveal the order of the pages.

First edition on current paper.
Signed autograph of Louis Aragon to Jacques Doucet.

First edition on current paper.
Back slightly cracked without gravity and having a small angular lack in the foot.
Signed autograph of Louis Aragon to Jean-Edouard Bloch.

First edition, an advance (service de presse) copy.
Spots on the spine.
Handsome autograph inscription signed by Louis Aragon to Colette : « A Colette indignement. Aragon."

First edition of which it was not drawn of great papers.
Iconography, beautiful copy.
Signed autograph of Louis Aragon to Julian Garavito.

First edition on current paper.
A little lack in the middle of the back, tears margins pages 8 to 12 without the text because of the poor quality paper.
Signed autograph of Louis Aragon to Julian Garavito.

First edition on current paper.
Back slightly insolated.
Autograph of Louis Aragon to Julian Garavito.

First edition on current paper.
Ex-dono in Spanish as a present on the first guard, back very slightly insolated without gravity ..
Handwritten signatures of Louis Aragon and Madeleine Renaud on the fake title page.

First edition on current paper.
Two small gaps in the head and foot of the back, a few small bites on the guards, a piece of the tape "Choosing is the clean of the man" was pasted at the foot of a guard.
Signed autograph of Louis Aragon to Adrien Maurat.

New edition.
Two clear wettings at the top of the first board, upper edges slightly soiled.
Signed autograph of Louis Aragon to Marie-Berthe Jehl: "... the eyes that I no longer have ..."

First edition, one of the review copies service.
A tiny tear without gravity in the foot of the back.
Autograph signed by Louis Aragon Maurice Nadeau.

First edition on current paper.
Precious autograph dedication signed by Louis Aragon to his friend Charles Dobzynski, with whom he was, with Elsa Triolet, his wedding witness: "To Dob, with my affection, Louis."
Two small traces of sunstroke at the head and foot of the back, a slight vertical bend on the entire first board, otherwise nice copy.

First edition for which it was not drawn from great papers, one of the review copies service.
Precious autograph dedication signed by Louis Aragon to his friends Eliane and Charles Dobzynski with whom he was, with Elsa Triolet, the wedding witness: "To Eliane, to Charles Dob, our double affection, that's four. enriched with the handwritten signature of Elsa Triolet.
Two small tears in the head and foot of the back, a slight bend at the head of the first board.
Provenance: from the library of Charles Dobzynski with his ex-libris manuscript at the head of the last guard.