Louis-Ferdinand CÉLINE

First edition, one of 150 numbered copies on Marais wove paper, the only deluxe-paper copies.
Illustrated by Edith Destouches.
A fine copy.

New edition and the first printing of Jacques Tardi’s illustrations.
Publisher’s white boards, smooth spine.
A handsome copy.
Presentation inscription, dated and signed by Jacques Tardi to Joëlle Passani, with an original black-felt drawing depicting a sorrowful-faced Bardamu in a small vignette.
 

First edition on ordinary paper.

Half black long-grain morocco binding, smooth spine tooled in palladium with author, title, and date, anthracite-grey paper boards, original wrappers and spine preserved (the latter with two small stains at head and foot), endpapers and pastedowns of anthracite-grey paper, binding signed Thomas Boichot.

Precious and exceptional signed presentation inscription by Louis-Ferdinand Céline: "A Mac Orlan son admirateur et ami fidèle. LFerd"

First edition, with no deluxe paper copies issued (except for No. 7) for each volume.
Our complete set comprises:
Céline Notebooks 1: Céline and the Literary Scene 1932–1957.
Céline Notebooks 2: Céline and the Literary Scene 1957–1961.
Céline Notebooks 3: Semmelweis and Other Medical Writings.
Céline Notebooks 4: Letters and Early Writings from Africa 1916–1917.
Céline Notebooks 5: Letters to Female Friends.
Céline Notebooks 6: Letters to Albert Paraz 1947–1957.
Céline Notebooks 7: Céline and Current Events 1933–1961.
Céline Notebooks 8: Progress followed by Works for Stage and Screen.
Illustrations.
Rare complete set.

First edition with all first printing  features, one of the press copies.

Exceptional presentation copy inscribed by the author to the famous singer Yvette Guilbert, to whom Céline himself sang and offered one of his scandalous compositions, “Katika la putain,” [Katika the Whore] later renamed “À Nœud coulant” [With a Slipknot"] "A madame Yvette Guilbert en témoignage de ma profonde admiration. LFCéline.” 

Beneath Céline's inscription, the actor Fabrice Luchini added: “A Yvette Guilbert in memoriam. FLuchini” ; and on the half-title, actor Jean-François Balmer wrote in turn: “Merci en bon...

First edition, one of 158 copies printed on pur fil paper, following only 45 on Hollande.

A fine copy.

Bibliothèque de La Pléiade edition printed on Bible paper.
Rhodoïd slightly yellowed as sometimes occurs.
Rich iconography.
Publisher's full brown grained sheepskin binding, orange top edge, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets.
Fine copy complete with its rhodoïd, dust jacket and soft slipcase.

First Gallimard edition, one of 1050 numbered copies on alfama du marais paper.

Publisher's boards executed after the original design by Paul Bonet.

Spine slightly faded, as often encountered, two neatly repaired splits at the head and foot of one joint, 

First edition, one of 925 copies numbered on Artois wove paper, the only issue including 1 copy on butcher’s paper in honour of General de Gaulle, 20 hors commerce copies and 75 on Marais paper.

Illustrated with headpieces and tailpieces.
Spine and boards slightly sunned, as often.

First edition, one of the numbered copies on wove paper from the Papeteries de Savoie.
Illustrated with original artwork by Pierre-Marie Renet, also known as Frédéric Monnier.
Spine and boards marginally sunned, as often.

First edition, one of the press service copies.
Two small tears at the foot of the spine, two traces of adhesive tape having caused two small losses of paper to the versos of the boards.



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First edition, one of the deluxe copies on alfa, this one an unnumbered hors commerce, only deluxe issue after 10 copies on Arches.

Full blue-gray morocco binding, spine with five raised bands, gilt date at foot, yellow box calf doublure, watered silk free endpapers, original wrappers including spine bound in, all edges gilt, half morocco chemise in panels, wood motif paper boards, slipcase edged in morocco, wood motif paper boards lined with blue felt, outstanding binding signed Hélène Alix.

Unrecorded...

First edition, one of 50 numbered copies on Arches wove paper, the only deluxe paper issue.
A fine copy despite a few spots of foxing in the right margin of the first free endpaper.

First Gallimard edition, one of 1,050 numbered copies printed on Alfama du Marais paper.

Publisher’s boards bound after the original design by Paul Bonet.

A very fine copy.

First edition on ordinary paper with all the features of the first printing. Includes its publisher’s band expertly restored and the publisher’s catalogue at rear.

An exceptionally fresh copy, preserved with its rare red publisher’s band quoting Molly’s phrase “C’est le voyageur solitaire qui va le plus loin” (“he travels farthest who travels alone”, translation by John H. P. Marks) followed by this text on the verso:

 

“One...

First edition, one of 925 numbered copies on Artois vellum, the only issue including a sheet of butcher’s paper in tribute to General de Gaulle, together with 20 hors commerce copies and 75 on Marais paper.

Illustrated with headpieces and tailpieces.
Attractive copy.

First edition, one of 41 numbered copies on Hollande paper, from the deluxe issue.

Contemporary half black morocco binding, smooth spine, wood-effect paper boards, marbled paper endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers and spine preserved, top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed, binding signed L. Bergeron. 

A fine copy.

First edition printed in 36 copies with a frontispiece portrait of the author, one of 30 numbered copies on vellum, the only issue after 1 Japan and 5 Holland paper copies.

Admirably printed, this extremely rare bibliophilic object is particularly precious for its complementarity with the first edition of Voyage au bout de la nuit.

Handsome copy presented in a full beige cloth chemise (with light dampstaining at foot) which appears to be the publisher's slipcase.

Bookplate affixed to verso of front cover.

Autograph manuscript signed by Louis-Ferdinand Céline written in blue ballpoint pen on a sheet of white paper numbered 565 in the left corner. One transverse fold. Some pin holes in the upper margin, evidence of the organization of Céline manuscripts in "bundles".
« torrents de phosphore jaillir des brèches ! ... et les avions foncer, charger, fendre ces flots ! les "forteresses" ! aller et retour ! et que c'est le Jules le crime » ["torrents of phosphorus gushing from the breaches! ... and the planes rushing, charging, cleaving these waves! the "fortresses"! back and forth! and that it's Jules who's the crime"]
The passage on our sheet...

Autograph manuscript signed by Louis-Ferdinand Céline written in blue ballpoint pen on a sheet of white paper numbered 237 in the left corner. Some stains as well as a central fold of no consequence. Some pinholes in the upper margin, evidence of the organization of Céline's manuscripts in "bundles".
"Y'en a un charlatant là-haut ! et terrible ! et vous le connaissez !... donc de dessous, là ! de dessous la table, je regarde le moulin... pas loin... peut-être deux cents mètres... et dans quel air éblouissant !... eh bien je vous dis comme je l'ai vu..." ["There's a charlatan up there! and terrible! and you know him!... so from underneath, there! from under...

Autograph manuscript signed by Louis-Ferdinand Céline written in blue ballpoint pen on a sheet of white paper numbered 243 in the left corner. Some stains as well as a central fold of no consequence. A tiny lack of paper at the lower right margin of the sheet. Some pinholes in the upper margin, evidence of the organization of Céline's manuscripts in "bundles".
"pour aller traverser les lignes, des barrages, quelque chose !... au galop ! et je me suis bien fait sonner ! ça arrivera pas à Lauriac ! ni à Tartron ! ni Larengue !... Ils ont pris le bon versant de la vie : le flan !... pour ma concerne je regrette rien ... c'est fait ! c'est fait ! la preuve ma...

Manuscript pages from ‘Conversations with Professor Y', n.p. [Meudon] n.d. [1954], various sizes (from 10x21 cm to 27x21 cm), 34 sheets.
Autograph manuscript by Louis-Ferdinand Céline, 34 sheets of various sizes, written in blue and sometimes pink ballpoint pen. Some of the pages are numbered by Céline at top left. The last folio numbered 159 is signed by the writer at the bottom.
Two leaves contain previously unpublished passages: the first, a few lines long, refers to the Professeur. The second leaf numbered 136 features another full-page text on the verso which we did not find in the ‘Professeur Y' or in any of the published works of Céline...

Two unpublished autograph manuscripts signed by Louis-Ferdinand Céline in blue and red ballpoint pen: the first contains 9 pages numbered in the left-hand corner from 1480 to 1488; the second contains 7 pages numbered from 1498 to 1504. Each text is signed by Céline in red ink at the bottom margin, with the words "Meudon 54" also in his hand (ff. 1485 and 1505). There are numerous variants, lines and words crossed out, modified and repeated.
Traces of pinholes in the upper left-hand margin of every sheet, as Céline organized his manuscripts in "bundles".
Normance was published in 1954 as a sequel to 'Fable for Another Time' published two years earlier. Both parts were written during...

First edition, one of the numbered copies on vellum from the Savoie paper mills.
Work illustrated with original illustrations by Pierre-Marie Renet alias Frédéric Monnier.
Handsome copy.

First edition, one of 41 numbered copies on Holland paper, the deluxe issue.
Bound in full jansenist dark green morocco, smooth spine very lightly sunned, grey suede endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers and spine preserved, all edges gilt, housed in a slipcase trimmed with dark green morocco, paper-covered boards with a wood-grain effect, grey paper lining; a superb full morocco binding signed by A. Bourdet.
A pleasant copy, finely bound and preserved.
Provenance: from the library of the distinguished bibliophile François Ragazzoni, with his bookplate mounted on an endpaper.

First edition, one of 41 numbered copies on Hollande paper, deluxe issue.

Binding in half black morocco-grained shagreen with bands, smooth spine, gilt date at tail, gilt fillet frame on mouse-grey paper boards, guards and pastedowns of black paper, original wrappers and spine preserved, top edge gilt, others uncut, full black morocco-grained shagreen slipcase with black paper interior, binding signed Montécot.

A fine copy.

Autograph letter signed, partly unpublished, by Louis-Ferdinand Céline, addressed to his lawyer, Maître Thorvald Mikkelsen. Two pages written in blue ink on a large sheet of white paper; numbered “575” in Céline’s hand in red pencil at the top left corner.
Fold marks from mailing.
This letter was only partially transcribed in Année Céline 2005, p. 64.
 
A moving and bitter letter by Céline, who had just lost his aunt Amélie (the “Aunt Hélène” of Death on Credit), and witnesses the slow disappearance of the world he once knew. The writer finds solace in the memoirs of Élisabeth de Gramont, another...

Photographic portrait of Charles Destouches, uncle of Louis-Ferdinand Céline, pictured with his wife and their young daughter Charlotte Destouches—Céline’s cousin known as “Lolotte”—on albumen paper mounted on a card from the Parisian studio A. Lauga.
 
Small loss to lower right corner. Some glue residue along the edges. Handwritten caption on verso.

Rare photographic portrait of Amélie Destouches, aunt of Louis-Ferdinand Céline, in cabinet card format on albumen print mounted on cardboard from Studio Louis.
Manuscript captions "Suzannica 3 ans, Bucarest ce 14 juin 1877" ["Suzannica 3 years old, Bucharest this 14th June 1877"] and "Zenon Zawirski" in another hand, on verso.
The portrait was taken by Studio Louis, at 127 Calea Mosilor in Bucharest.
 
At twenty-four, Amélie married the wealthy Romanian Zenon Zawirski, who poses beside her with their daughter Zenone Zawirska, then three years old. Céline devoted an unflattering portrait to her in Death on the Installment Plan, borrowing her features...

Original photograph mounted on rigid cardboard, showing Fernand Destouches, father of writer Louis-Ferdinand Céline (top right) posing alongside his brothers René, Georges and Charles - from top to bottom and left to right.
Edges of the rigid cardboard slightly bumped.
 
This portrait of the four Destouches brothers in uniform with laurel collar, dates from their happy schoolboy years at the Le Havre lyceum. The photograph, a true incarnation of a carefree and bygone past, must undoubtedly have held importance in the eyes of the four brothers, who would reproduce as adults the exact pose of this childhood portrait for a second, family portrait, preserved in the collection of...