Jules de GONCOURT

First edition on ordinary paper for each of the volumes.
Bradel bindings in full cherry percaline, smooth spines decorated with a central gilt floral motif, dates and double gilt fillets at the tails, navy blue shagreen title pieces, covers preserved, contemporary bindings signed by Durvand.
Precious autograph presentation inscription signed by Edmond de Goncourt, in each volume, to the Napoleonic historian Frédéric Masson, cousin by marriage of the Goncourt brothers. A republican fascinated by the Revolution in his youth, he became a staunch Bonapartist after the defeat of 1870. In 1874, Edmond de Goncourt witnessed his marriage to Marguerite Cottin, daughter of Auguste Cottin, who opened to him the archives of the imperial family. A historian and collector, he was elected to the Académie française on 18 June 1903. Their correspondence, published in the Cahiers Jules et Edmond de Goncourt, sheds light on the nature of their relationship. Edmond guided the young man and directed him toward literature. Frédéric Masson, an erudite bibliophile, informed Edmond about his library, responded to the Goncourt brothers’ requests for information, and contributed both to the preparation of Edmond’s historical works and to the enrichment of his re-editions. In 1870, in volume IV of the Journal, Goncourt described the young Frédéric Masson, then aged 23: "Ce soir, je rencontre le jeune Frédéric Masson, enterré dans sa capote de mobile. Lui, qui datait les lettres qu'il m'écrivait du collège, des brumaire et des messidor du calendrier républicain, je le trouve fort dégrisé de la république, des républicains, des soldats démocrates. Il se plaint que, lorsqu'il marchait avec Goubie en avant, ses frères n'emboîtaient point le pas. Et de sa mauvaise humeur contre le présent, un peu remonte à 89, et amène une baisse sensible de son lyrique enthousiasme d'autrefois pour la première république. Il est un symptôme. Je suis persuadé que beaucoup de jeunes gens ayant en eux-mêmes semblablement à Masson un grain d'exaltation révolutionnaire, sont en train de devenir des réactionnaires."
Rare and very handsome set, uniformly bound at the time, complete in 9 volumes and enriched with significant autograph inscriptions by Edmond de Goncourt in each volume.

Laudatory autograph letter signed by Jules de Goncourt, signed E&J de Goncourt, addressed to Jules Vallès who had just published his polemical work "Les réfractaires" in which he notably exalts the proletariat, 51 lines in black ink, two pages on a double sheet.
Fold marks inherent to postal handling.
Jules de Goncourt does not hide his enthusiasm and admiration for the work of the sulfurous and terrible Jules Vallès: "We have often had, recently, the urge to put our sympathies for you at the tip of our pen, to write to you how much pleasure we had in catching an article, a page, twenty lines signed with your name, your artist's mark; a foolish modesty, the embarrassment of throwing our handshake in your face, has held us back...[...] you will not doubt the profound and keen interest we have taken in this poignant, severe and warm study, merciless and vibrant..." which has marvelously depicted the turmoil of the common people: "There passes through all your pages, this generous and melancholic bitterness that the spectacle of social miseries gives to tender and noble souls. You show corners of martyrs in the grotesques of Bohemia... You have the breath and fever of this time..."
The Goncourt brothers would very much like to write something on this subject: "... unfortunately many things are lacking to us at this moment to write about Les Réfractaires, an article worthy of them, of you. time first, then the journal, then again the habit of reading a book to judge it... a book especially which takes us like this one by the entrails, which touches us deeply through all sorts of secret affinities..." and Jules extends an invitation to Jules Vallès for the premiere of their play Henriette (which would be created on December 5, 1865): "We will be happy to have you at the premiere of Henriette... you will kindly be free that evening..."
Manuscript letters by Jules de Goncourt, who died at 40, are rare.

First edition.
Bradel binding in half grey cloth, smooth spine decorated with gilt floral motif, gilt initials and double fillet at foot, brown shagreen title-label showing traces of rubbing and lacks, bookplate pasted on pastedown, top edge gilt.
Numerous contributions including those by Paul Verlaine "Le Parnasse contemporain" "Notes jetées en chemin de fer" "La Pendule" "Mon Hameau", Joris-Karl Huysmans "L'Emblème" "Le nouvel album d'Odilon Redon", Stéphane Mallarmé "Prose pour des Esseintes" "Sonnets", André Lefèvre "L'Intelligence" "Le fond des Religions", "Lettres inédites de Jules Vallès à M. Emile Gautier", Jules and Edmond de Goncourt "Un Daumier", "Documents sur la marquis de Sade", Emile Hennequin "M. Victor Hugo", Charles Morice "La Mort des Papillons"...
Handsome copy despite light foxing affecting mainly the endpapers.

Illustrated edition with 10 hors-texte etchings (including a frontispiece) by painter and engraver James Tissot, stamped with the artist's red seal, one of 450 numbered copies on Holland paper.
Half chocolate brown shagreen binding, spine with four raised bands adorned with gilt garlands and decorated with gilt motifs enriched with two red mosaic morocco pieces depicting petals, marbled paper boards, endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers and spine preserved, top edge gilt.
Handsome copy attractively bound.

New edition, carefully revised and expanded by Dujardin and illustrated with 58 copperplate reproductions including 10 in color and 6 double-page (the title page erroneously announces 64, the table of contents correctly accounting for 58 plates). Limited edition of 100 copies on Velin paper. Normally the 100 copies are nominative and numbered, this one marked only "Réservé" in pencil.
Bound in contemporary half navy morocco with mosaic corners signed Champs at the top of the first endpaper. Spine richly decorated with 5 ornaments featuring 2 birds with laurel leaves in red mosaic compartments with ornaments and succession of fillets. Roll tooling at head and foot. Top edge gilt. Full-margined copy, uncut. Light traces of rubbing, particularly to the 2 upper corners. Title page yellowed by the tissue guard opposite, as well as the few pages which are also in contact with the tissue guards where the captions of the engravings are inscribed.
Superb copy.

Rare original lithograph, executed by Théophile Alexandre Steinlen for L'Estampe Moderne, series number 14 published in June 1898.
One of 50 deluxe copies printed on Japan paper with wide margins, artist's signature and date in the plate, publisher's dry stamp depicting a child's profile in the lower margin, with the numbered stamp of the deluxe issue on verso, some foxing.
Lithograph inspired by an extract from Germinie Lacerteux by the Goncourts.
A magnificent French monthly publication edited between May 1897 and April 1899, L'Estampe moderne consists of previously unpublished chromolithographs which, unlike other magazines such as Les Maîtres de l'Affiche and as stipulated on the tissue guards, were created specially by each artist for the magazine. Thus 100 prints appeared in total, covering the major artistic movements of the late 19th century: Symbolism, Art Nouveau, Pre-Raphaelites, Orientalists and Belle Epoque. Each delivery of four prints was issued in 2000 copies sold at 3.50F and 100 on Japan paper offered at 10F. Henri Piazza also planned a confidential deluxe issue: 50 copies on Japan paper with wide margins and 50 in black on China paper at the considerable price of 30F.
This print of handsome format is superbly printed on one of the most prestigious papers: China paper. "Despite all its qualities, China paper, too inconsistent, owes its reputation, not to its own beauty, but to its particular affinities with printing ink. Its texture, smooth and soft together, is more apt than any other to receive a beautiful impression. This property makes China paper sought after for printing engravings..." (Anatole France).
French collectors' interest in artistic posters intensified at the beginning of the 1890s. Octave Uzanne, to describe this fever, invented the term "affichomania." The poster, originally popular and posted in the streets of the capital, then became an art object and its ephemeral medium became precious and devoted to preservation.
Piazza decided to remove the poster from its advertising purpose and elevate it to the rank of a work of art in its own right, on the same level as the luxury illustrated book. He thus composed a prestigious collection of entirely original works by the most prominent European artists of the moment: Georges de Feure, Eugène Grasset, Henri Detouche, Emile Berchmans, Louis Rhead, Gaston de Latenay, Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer, Gustave-Max Stevens, Charles Doudelet, Hans Christiansen, Henri Fantin-Latour, Steinlen, Ibels, Engels, Willette, Henri Meunier, Evenepoël, Bellery-Desfontaines, Charles Léandre, etc.
A handsome copy.

Rare original lithograph, executed by Théophile Alexandre Steinlen for L'Estampe Moderne, series number 14 published in June 1898.
One of 50 deluxe proofs printed on China paper with wide margins, artist's signature and date in the plate, publisher's dry stamp depicting a child's profile in the lower margin, mounted on a sheet of laid paper with the numbered stamp of the deluxe printing on the verso, some foxing.
Lithograph inspired by an excerpt from Germinie Lacerteux by the Goncourts.
Magnificent French monthly publication edited between May 1897 and April 1899, L'Estampe moderne consists of unpublished chromolithographs which, unlike other magazines such as Les Maîtres de l'Affiche and as stipulated on the tissue guards, were created specially by each artist for the magazine. Thus 100 prints appear in total, covering the major artistic movements of the late nineteenth century: Symbolism, Art Nouveau, Pre-Raphaelites, Orientalists and Belle Epoque. Each delivery of four prints is published in 2000 copies sold for 3.50F and 100 on Japan paper offered at 10F. Henri Piazza also provides a confidential printing of very high luxury: 50 copies on Japan paper with wide margins and 50 in black on China paper at the considerable price of 30F.
This print of handsome format is superbly printed on one of the most prestigious papers: China paper. "Despite all its qualities, China paper, too inconsistent, owes its reputation, not to its own beauty, but indeed to its particular affinities with printing ink. Its texture, smooth and soft together, is more apt than any other to receive a fine printing. This property makes China paper sought after for printing engravings..." (Anatole France).
The interest of French collectors in artistic posters amplifies at the beginning of the 1890s. Octave Uzanne, to qualify this fever, invents the term "affichomanie". The poster, originally popular and posted in the streets of the capital, then becomes an art object and its ephemeral support becomes precious and devoted to conservation.
Piazza decides to remove the poster from its advertising vocation and to elevate it to the rank of a complete work of art on the same level as the luxury illustrated book. He thus composes a prestigious collection of entirely original works, by the most prominent European artists of the moment: Georges de Feure, Eugène Grasset, Henri Detouche, Emile Berchmans, Louis Rhead, Gaston de Latenay, Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer, Gustave-Max Stevens, Charles Doudelet, Hans Christiansen, Henri Fantin-Latour, Steinlen, Ibels, Engels, Willette, Henri Meunier, Evenepoël, Bellery-Desfontaines, Charles Léandre, etc.
Handsome copy.

Rare original lithograph printed in the manner of three crayons, executed by René-Xavier Prinet for L'Estampe Moderne, series number 10 published in February 1898.
One of 50 deluxe proofs printed on Japan paper with wide margins, laid paper mounted on Japan paper, signed by the artist and dated in the plate, publisher's dry stamp representing a child's profile in the lower margin, numbered luxury edition stamp on the verso; engraving preceded by a tissue guard captioned with the artist's name, the title and an extract from a work; blank tissue guard.
Lithograph inspired by a text by Edmond & Jules de Goncourt, La Femme au XVIIIe siècle, an extract of which is reproduced on the print's tissue guard.
Magnificent French monthly publication edited between May 1897 and April 1899, L'Estampe moderne consists of original chromolithographs which, unlike other magazines such as Les Maîtres de l'Affiche and as stipulated on the tissue guards, were created specifically by each artist for the magazine. Thus 100 prints appeared in total, covering the major artistic movements of the late 19th century: Symbolism, Art Nouveau, Pre-Raphaelites, Orientalists and Belle Epoque. Each delivery of four prints was issued in 2000 copies sold for 3.50F and 100 on Japan paper offered at 10F. Henri Piazza also planned a confidential deluxe printing: 50 copies on Japan paper with wide margins and 50 in black on China paper at the considerable price of 30F.
This print of handsome format is superbly printed on the most prestigious of papers: Japan paper. Thick, silky, satiny and pearlescent, it contributes to making each page a work in its own right. Its quality of ink absorption and its affinity with colors also make it the ideal medium for these very beautiful lithographs.
French collectors' interest in artistic posters intensified at the beginning of the 1890s. Octave Uzanne, to describe this fever, invented the term "affichomanie". The poster, originally popular and posted in the streets of the capital, then became an art object and its ephemeral medium became precious and destined for preservation.
Piazza decided to remove the poster from its advertising purpose and elevate it to the rank of a complete work of art on the same level as the deluxe illustrated book. He thus composed a prestigious collection of entirely original works by the most prominent European artists of the moment: Georges de Feure, Eugène Grasset, Henri Detouche, Emile Berchmans, Louis Rhead, Gaston de Latenay, Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer, Gustave-Max Stevens, Charles Doudelet, Hans Christiansen, Henri Fantin-Latour, Steinlen, Ibels, Engels, Willette, Henri Meunier, Evenepoël, Bellery-Desfontaines, Charles Léandre, etc.
Handsome copy.

Rare original lithograph, executed by René-Xavier Prinet for L'Estampe Moderne, series number 10 published in February 1898.
One of 50 deluxe proofs printed on China paper with wide margins, signed by the artist and dated in the plate, publisher's dry stamp representing a child's profile in the lower margin, mounted on a laid paper sheet with the numbered luxury edition stamp on the verso, slight marginal foxing.
Lithograph inspired by a text by Edmond & Jules de Goncourt, La Femme au XVIIIe siècle.
Magnificent French monthly publication edited between May 1897 and April 1899, L'Estampe moderne consists of original chromolithographs which, unlike other magazines such as Les Maîtres de l'Affiche and as stipulated on the tissue guards, were created specifically by each artist for the magazine. Thus 100 prints appeared in total, covering the major artistic movements of the late 19th century: Symbolism, Art Nouveau, Pre-Raphaelites, Orientalists and Belle Epoque. Each delivery of four prints was issued in 2000 copies sold for 3.50F and 100 on Japan paper offered at 10F. Henri Piazza also planned a confidential deluxe printing: 50 copies on Japan paper with wide margins and 50 in black on China paper at the considerable price of 30F.
This print of handsome format is superbly printed on one of the most prestigious papers: China paper. "Despite all its qualities, China paper, too insubstantial, owes its reputation not to its own beauty, but rather to its particular affinities with printing ink. Its texture, smooth and soft together, is more apt than any other to receive fine printing. This property makes China paper sought after for printing engravings..." (Anatole France).
French collectors' interest in artistic posters intensified at the beginning of the 1890s. Octave Uzanne, to describe this fever, invented the term "affichomanie". The poster, originally popular and posted in the streets of the capital, then became an art object and its ephemeral medium became precious and destined for preservation.
Piazza decided to remove the poster from its advertising purpose and elevate it to the rank of a complete work of art on the same level as the deluxe illustrated book. He thus composed a prestigious collection of entirely original works by the most prominent European artists of the moment: Georges de Feure, Eugène Grasset, Henri Detouche, Emile Berchmans, Louis Rhead, Gaston de Latenay, Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer, Gustave-Max Stevens, Charles Doudelet, Hans Christiansen, Henri Fantin-Latour, Steinlen, Ibels, Engels, Willette, Henri Meunier, Evenepoël, Bellery-Desfontaines, Charles Léandre, etc.
Handsome copy.

First edition.
Half navy blue morocco-grained shagreen binding with corners, spine with four raised bands, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, original covers lined and restored, preserved.
Occasional foxing, two printed bibliophile's stamps, the first at head of title page.

First edition.
Handsome copy almost entirely free of foxing, with printed bibliophile's stamp serving as bookplate at head of front free endpaper.
Bradel binding in half orange cloth, smooth spine decorated with gilt fleuron, date and double gilt fillet at foot, brown cloth title-label, marbled paper boards, one upper corner slightly bumped, original wrappers preserved.

First edition.
Some minor foxing, bibliophile's printed stamp serving as bookplate at head of title page.
Contemporary half bottle-green sheep binding, smooth spine decorated with blind-stamped fleurons and gilt fillets, slight scratches to spine, marbled paper boards, speckled edges.

First edition, one of 10 numbered copies and justified on laid by Edmond de Goncourt, deluxe edition.
Binding half shagreen chocolate brown back with four nerves, marbled paper plates, guards and contreplats of handmade paper, red head, contemporary binding.
Signed autograph of Edmond de Goncourt to his friend the painter and enameller Claudius Popelin.
Two light snagging minor on the cuts, nice copy.

New edition.
Half red shagreen binding, spine with five raised bands enhanced with gilt fillets, decorated with double gilt fillets, marbled paper endpapers and pastedowns, binding signed by Petit at foot of spine.
Some scattered foxing.

New edition
Half dark green shagreen binding, spine with five raised bands decorated with black fillets, gilt name at foot, red shagreen title-label with a lack, red shagreen author label with a small marginal lack, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, speckled edges, contemporary binding.
Provenance: from the library of the great tragedienne Gabrielle Réjane with her name gilt at foot of spine.

First edition.
Bound in half dark green morocco with corners, spine with five raised bands, black fillets framing the marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, upper corners slightly bumped, original wrappers preserved, top edge gilt, binding signed by Durvand.
Our copy is enhanced with a fine etching printed on China paper bound between the backed half-title and the first page of text.
A rare copy established in a charming binding signed by Durvand.

Second edition.
"Bradel" green cloth bindings, smooth spine, date and place lettered in gilt at foot, title labels in cherry red shagreen, original grey wrappers preserved, slightly later bindings.
Some minor foxing.

First illustrated edition, with some parts in first edition as it was revised and expanded with unpublished letters and documents.
Half morocco binding with red corners, spine with five raised bands set with gilt dots decorated with double gilt compartments enhanced with gilt decorative motifs, double gilt fillets framing the marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, light scuffs to corners, top edge gilt, binding signed by the publisher.
Work illustrated with 55 copperplate reproductions by Dujardin and 2 color plates by Quinsac.
A handsome copy elegantly bound.

First separate edition decorated with 11 original etchings by Louis Morin, one of 130 numbered copies in soleil octavo format on Arches laid paper.
Half navy blue morocco binding with corners, spine with five raised bands, gilt date at foot, frames of gilt fillets on marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, covers and spine preserved, top edge gilt, binding signed by L. Bernard.
Our copy, as stipulated in the justification page, contains the triple state of the etchings.
Some minor foxing.
Handsome copy despite the sunned spine.

The first edition of each of the volumes, each one of 50 numbered copies on Hollande, the only large paper copies.
Half green morocco over marbled paper boards by David, spine in six compartments, wrappers preserved, top edge gilt.
A rare and very handsome large paper set on Hollande in perfectly matched uniform bindings.

First edition on ordinary paper, with only 20 deluxe copies printed on vellum.
Illustrated cover, iconography.
Handsome copy.

First edition of this auction catalogue for the sale held at Hôtel Drouot on April 8, 9 and 10, 1897.
Spine sunned with a lack at head and a tear at foot, three marginal lacks on the front board, pale dampstain at foot of back board, handsome interior condition.

First edition, one of 50 numbered copies on Holland paper, the only deluxe copies.
Some foxing, endpapers lightly browned and a small marginal tear on both covers, retaining its deckled edges, copy as issued.