Latest Acquisitions

Autograph poem by Louis Aragon, signed and dated 31 March 1915. Fourteen lines written in pencil on a single leaf, with unpublished autograph calculations on the verso. Published in 2008 by Michel Apel-Muller in Le Continent Aragon, special issue of L’Humanité, 2008, p. 17, and reissued under the title “Poème” in Le Rayonnement international d’Aragon, Strasbourg, coll. “Recherches croisées Aragon / Elsa Triolet”, no. 16, 2018, p. 251. Numerous traces of handling, with vertical and horizontal folds that have caused minor paper losses, without affecting the text. 

A precious fragment of literary history...

First edition.

Beige half half contemporary bindings, flat spines, elaborate gilt tooling beneath the black calf title labels, volume numbering stamped at foot, upper joint worn on vol. I, rubbing to edges, corners and boards, headband loose on vol. I, combed paper pastedowns with small loss to lower board of vol. I, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, all edges marbled.

First edition of the debut novel by English feminist and abolitionist Harriet Martineau, a pioneering work in raising public awareness of gender equality and public health.

This handsomely bound copy once formed part of the library of her contemporary Lady Tyrconnel at...

First edition on ordinary paper.

A very good copy.

Signed presentation copy from Jorge Semprun to Sylvie Genevoix.

First edition, illustrated with twenty plates, including one folding plate. Three vignettes and several ornamental initials.

Full basane binding, triple gilt fillet framing the boards, spine with six raised bands decorated with gilt compartments, fleurons and rolls, green morocco title-piece, gilt fillet on the board edges, gilt inner dentelle, stone paper boards. Binding rubbed and scuffed, with abrasions and losses, upper joint split and lower joint partially split at the foot, old traces of mould staining in the margins of several leaves at the beginning of the volume.

Manuscript inscription "Sansac" on the title page.

First edition, with no large-paper copies issued.

Preface by Francis Jeanson.

The inevitably small losses to the corners of the spine and wrappers, owing to the fragility of the poor-quality paper; three faint traces of rubbing at the foot of the rear wrapper.

Album of postcards depicting the châteaux of the Loire, probably dating from the late 1930s. 

A precious and moving inscription by General de Gaulle, on the verso of the album's title page, containing seventeen views of châteaux in the Loire valley: "Offered by my dear niece Geneviève", signed with his initials. It is with these very words that he presented her his war memoirs: "To my dear niece Geneviève, who was, at once, to the very end, on the brink of death, a soldier of Free France, and whose example has served me."

First edition on ordinary paper, with the colophon dated 7 October 1959.

Spine very slightly yellowed, of no consequence.
A pleasant copy of this work, superbly adapted for the screen in 1962 by Henri Verneuil, starring Jean Gabin, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Suzanne Flon, Paul Frankeur and Noël Roquevert, with dialogue by Michel Audiard.

The majority of the text in in first edition. One of 45 numbered copies on hollande, the most limited deluxe issue.

Full black morocco binding, flat spine, covers decorated with some hundred inlays of red, orange-red and orange morocco evoking the chromatic variations of a setting sun, white morocco frame on the red suede endleaves and doublures, monogram blind-stamped on one doublure, original wrappers and spine bound in, all edges gilt; matching chemise in half black morocco with flaps, flat spine, date gilt at the foot, marbled paper sides, beige suede lining, matching slipcase edged in black morocco, marbled paper sides, white felt lining, a splendid binding signed and...

First edition, with no large-paper copies issued, of this landmark text in the history of feminism, the campaign for abortion rights, and the sociology of the second half of the twentieth century.

Dampstaining to the lower edge, extending into the volume on the final leaves and affecting the lower right-hand corner of the rear cover; a small hole at the foot of the first free endpaper.

Rare signed presentation inscription from Gisèle Halimi: "Pour Claire Clerita, la cause des femmes , une cause qui a besoin de son talent... avec ma fidèle affection. Gisèle."

First edition, one of 105 numbered copies on wove paper, the only large-paper copies after 35 on Holland paper.

Press clippings laid in, having left a slight offset on the colophon page at the end of the volume.

A pleasing copy.

Signed presentation inscription from Louis Aragon to Jean-Pierre Lecointre, further enhanced by Elsa Triolet's autograph signature.

First edition, one of 35 numbered copies on imperial Japan paper, this copy no. 1, from the deluxe issue.

A fine copy.

First edition on ordinary paper.

A pleasant copy despite two small areas of sunning at the head and foot of the spine.

Signed presentation copy inscribed by Louis Aragon to Jean-Pierre Lecointre.

New edition.

A very good copy.

Signed presentation copy, inscribed by Louis Aragon to his friends Marie-Noëlle and Jean-Pierre (Lecointre).

First edition (cf. Quérard, Sup., II, 1252).

Modern tan half calf by Laurenchet, smooth spine lettered gilt lengthwise, marbled paper boards, red edges.

A loss to the title-page professionally made good, a few small spots of foxing.

Among the subjects discussed are: newspapers in Russia in 1838; military education in Russia; fishing in Russia; a survey of Russian literature in 1838; the work of the St Petersburg Academy of Sciences; deportation to Siberia; scientific expeditions commissioned by the Imperial Academy of Sciences in St Petersburg; the form of government of the Russian Empire (imperial authority); the political constitution of the Russian Empire (the Council...

New edition, with parallel English and Chinese text printed in two columns.

Publisher's half burgundy cloth, plain spine with scuffing and areas of fading, title stamped in red on the front board, faded red edges. 

Second edition of this Cantonese version, first published in 1911. 

It subsequently served as the basis for other Protestant editions published in southern China.

First edition of the Gospels in the translation by Pierre Dassance, illustrated with a chromolithographed frontispiece after a drawing by Langlois, engraved by Cyprien Jacquemin, an engraved title-page for each Gospel by Brevière, twelve steel-engraved plates after drawings by Tony Johannot, two hand-coloured maps, and ten engravings after drawings by Charles Marville on chine. Numerous ornamental borders, tailpieces, headpiece vignettes and initials. The frontispiece and the vignette with the initial letter on page IX of the first volume are gilt and hand-coloured.

Publisher's bindings in full long-grain midnight-blue morocco, covers blind-stamped, gilt central plaques on each...

Rare first edition of this early biography of Agustín Arturo Prat Chacón (1848-1879), Chilean naval officer and national hero, who was killed at the Battle of Iquique shortly after boarding the Peruvian warship Huáscar during the War of the Pacific (1879-1884).

Cf. Palau 110 041. No copy recorded in the CCF.

This pamphlet is illustrated with a lithographed portrait frontispiece.

Some minor foxing, chiefly affecting the wrappers.

Third edition, the second issued by Simon de Colines (cf. Renouard, Bibliogr. de Finé, 357-358. Brun, 189. Mortimer, French, 228 (not this ed.). Schreiber, 188. Not in Fairfax Murray.)

This edition constitutes a revised and improved reissue of the 1535 edition, with a newly cut woodcut architectural border to the title ("Quadrivium II").

Full vellum binding, smooth spine, manuscript title at the head of the spine, modern binding in the style of early vellum bindings,

A small tear to the title-page restored, a date inscribed in ink beside the printed date of publication.

A pleasing copy of one of Simon de Colines’ typographical masterpieces.

Rare edition, partly first, as it contains for the first time a letter by Louis Blanc, following the edition published by Bry aîné in 1847.

Corner creases to the wrappers, small tears to the spine.

Second edition of Barbès's text, partly first edition as it is here augmented by a letter from Louis Blanc, published a few weeks after Barbès and Louis Blanc were sentenced to deportation by the High Court of Bourges for their role in the events of 15 May 1848. The first edition of Barbès's text had been published in Paris by Bry aîné.

Corner creases to the wrappers, small tears to the spine.

First collective edition, for which no deluxe paper copies were issued, one of the press service copies.
Preface by Louis Aragon.
Precious autograph inscription signed by Louis Aragon to his friend Charles Dobzynski, whose wedding witness he was, along with Elsa Triolet: "A Dob, Louis."

 

First collected edition, one of 260 numbered copies on tinted wove paper, the only large-paper issue after 45 copies on white Dutch wove paper.
Introduction and critical study by Jean Bloch-Michel.
Spine and covers slightly and marginally sunned, with a faint offset mark from a bookseller's description label to the margin of one endpaper.

First edition of these travel recollections, written in the form of letters in prose and verse addressed to Saintine, friend and collaborator of the playwright Jacques Ancelot (1794-1854), who had accompanied Marshal Marmont to the festivities marking the coronation of Tsar Nicholas I.

Contemporary quarter blond calf with small green corners, smooth spine decorated with blind fillets and ornaments and gilt decorative rolls at head and foot, green calf lettering-piece, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges; binding signed Thouvenin at foot of spine.

Lower joint split with a small loss, upper joint split and subsequently reglued, some foxing...

First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the November 1881 issue of the Revue archéologique, illustrated with a photogravure plate.

Gustave-Charles-Ernest Chocquin, known as "de Sarzec" (1832-1901), discovered the site of Lagash while serving as vice-consul in Basra (1877-1899), and financed the excavations there at his own expense.

As a curator at the Louvre, Léon Heuzey was kept informed of the objects unearthed during the excavations.

An attractive copy despite slight marginal losses to the wrappers.

First edition, one of the review copies.

Dampstaining and a restoration to the spine, scuffing to the upper edge of the front wrapper, paper browned.

Our copy is enriched with two autograph letters signed by Hélène Bessette to a literary critic at Le Figaro, probably Claude Mauriac, concerning her recently published novel "La tour".

In the first letter, dated 30 April 1959, Hélène Bessette asks her correspondent to write a review of La Tour.

In the second, dated 13 May, the author expresses her pleasant surprise at having read in Le Figaro that her novel had attracted her correspondent's attention, while taking issue...

First edition, with no deluxe copies issued; one of the review copies.

Spine and covers lightly and marginally sunned, a crease mark to the lower right corner of the rear cover, complete with the publisher's review slip.

Signed presentation copy from Jehan Laurent Gheerbrandt to the writer Jean Henri Guillaumet.

First edition of this monograph devoted to the Czech poet and painter Ladislav Novak, one of 500 numbered copies, this copy unnumbered, the only issue after 50 copies on Mat Sup.

Texts by Edouard Jaguer, Ladislav Novak, Henri Chopin, and Frantisek Smejkal.

Our copy, like the 30 copies on Mat Sup from the deluxe issue, is exceptionally enriched with the two original lithographs, each numbered and signed in pencil by Ladislav Novak, but does not include the signed original alchimage.

First edition.

Contemporary full tree-grained sheepskin, spine with five raised bands, gilt compartments and fleurons between the bands, blond leather lettering-pieces, gilt fillet to the board edges, shell-paper pastedowns, red edges. Some rubbing and losses, corners lightly bumped, upper corner of the rear board damaged, a manufacturing flaw to the pastedowns, minor foxing and soiling.

The fundamental work of sensualist philosophy, in a strictly contemporary binding.

First bilingual English-French edition, illustrated with three engraved title pages and one hundred and thirty-two steel-engraved plates after drawings by Samuel Prout and James Duffield Harding, with tissue guards.

Publisher's brown half-chagrin bindings, boards in blind-stamped percaline, a gilt trophy at the centre of each board, a small gilt coat of arms at the head of the upper board of each volume, spines richly gilt with ornamental tooling, bilingual title and volume number gilt-lettered on the spines, yellow paper endpapers, gilt edges. Spines and corners lightly rubbed, some scuffing, one joint of the third volume split at the foot, occasional foxing.

...

First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Annales d'Hygiène publique et de médecine Légale, 1849, vol. XLII.

Modern Bradel binding in marbled-paper-covered boards, smooth spine without lettering.

Only three copies recorded in the CCF.

This memoir offers a detailed study of the physical characteristics associated with various occupations: laundresses, hairdressers, writers, prostitutes, bookbinders, dyers, etc.

Son of the draughtsman and cartographer Ambroise Tardieu, Auguste-Ambroise Tardieu (1818-1879) was one of the founders of forensic medicine; he published numerous monographs on medical questions relating to...

First edition (cf. Wellcome, II, 340).

Our copy is preserved in its original sewn state, in provisional cream paper wrappers.

Signed presentation inscription from Charles-Irénée Jacquin to his colleague Dr Long, physician at Die.

Accompanied by a dated autograph letter signed by Charles-Irénée Jacquin, one page written on both sides, discussing his work and thanking his correspondent for the advice he had given him in the preparation of the present volume.

Very rare first edition (cf. Hage Chahine, 4007.)

The CCF records copies only at the BnF and the Saulchoir.

Bradel-style binding in brick-red half cloth, smooth spine with longitudinal black morocco lettering-piece, marbled paper boards.

An archaeologist and Orientalist, Baron Emmanuel Guillaume-Rey (1837-1916) was the author of several works on the history of the Near East, notably on Crusader military architecture in Syria and Latin rule in the East.

An attractive copy.

First editions of two works by Baron Jean-Baptiste de Cloots, known as Anacharsis Cloots.

Contemporary half green basane bindings, green paper boards, smooth spines decorated with gilt fillets and dotted rolls, red basane title-labels, yellow edges. Bindings rubbed, some scuffing and losses, a few light corner creases. The "Lettres d'un jeune philosophe à un jeune théologien," a text intended to close La Certitude des preuves du Mahométisme, is bound in the first volume after the first part of the work. It is followed by the "Supplément à la certitude des preuves du mahométisme," and, also in the first volume, by another work by Cloots, the Lettre sur...

Le Barbier de Séville and Le Mariage de Figaro bound in one volume.

Modern half brown chagrin binding, sides in yellow and black marbled paper, spine with five raised bands, author, titles and dates gilt, one gilt fleuron, stone paper doublures. Corners lightly rubbed, leaves lightly browned, a few scattered spots of foxing and soiling, a tear to the title page, a modern repair to the upper margin of the first leaves.

Rare piracies bearing the date of the first edition and issued by the same publisher.

First edition, one of 70 numbered copies on Japan paper, comprising the deluxe issue.

A few spots of foxing to the boards, spines and some deckle edges.

Rare untrimmed copy, preserving the full margins, of the Tiger's philosophical testament.

First edition, one of 200 numbered copies on Lafuma pur fil paper, the only deluxe issue after 125 copies on alfa paper and 25 on Hollande.

A few minor rubs to the slightly sunned spine.

Important signed presentation inscription from Lise Lamarre to the eminent Resistance figure Jacques Debû-Bridel: "Puisse ce livre vous aider à conserver le souvenir de Lise Lamarre, française de bonne souche, dont le coeur et l'esprit surent dans la pire adversité dominer les évènements..."

This presentation inscription alludes to the ordeal endured by Lise Lamarre and her husband, who were accused of collaboration and imprisoned despite having themselves...

First edition. A few head-piece vignettes, ornamental bandeaux, decorated initials, and tailpieces.

Contemporary full mottled sheep, spine with five raised bands, gilt panels and fleurons between the bands, gilt-lettered tan leather label, doublures of French curl paper, red edges. Upper corners lightly bumped, a few rubbed patches and small losses, a dampstain to the first leaves, a few minor paper losses to some leaves.

Published several decades before the results of Edward Jenner's research on vaccination, this collection brings together the principal texts on inoculation, the procedure that constitutes its direct forerunner.

Autograph manuscripts, signed, comprising two humorous tales and three poems, written in blue ballpoint pen and violet ink, on both sides of a single sheet of ruled paper.

A few cancellations and ink smudges; minor soiling.

A counterfeit edition of Rousseau's celebrated essay, bearing the date of the true first edition.

Illustrated with a title vignette, one initial, and two head-pieces.
Contemporary full brown roan, spine with five raised bands, beige calf lettering-piece, small pomegranate gilt tools and fillets, gilt rolls to the board edges partly rubbed, all edges red. Corners bumped and rubbed, a tear with loss of leather to the front board, surface rubbing and white staining to the back board, loss of leather to the lower edge of the back board.

A pleasing copy of this masterpiece, a superb portrait of humankind that gave Voltaire "the longing to go on all fours" (letter to...

Autograph letter from Donatien Alphonse François de Sade, written in a tall, narrow hand on one page, addressed to his wife Renée-Pélagie.
Undated, this letter was written in early July 1779 at the Vincennes prison. It is published in Marquis de Sade. Lettres à sa femme, Marc Buffat, 1997 (p. 112).

Marginal dampstaining, a few creases, and a small marginal loss from the letter's unsealing. Address to Madame de Sade in Paris on the verso.

The first edition for large parts of the text, printed in 550 copies with the correct date of 1891 on the title.

Contemporary paper boards with blindstamped floral motifs, spine very slightly browned, brown shagreen title-piece, gilt date to foot of spine, covers preserved.
Biographical press clippings bound in at end, bookseller's description laid down on head of one endpaper, leaving a mark on the opposite page.
This copy is complete with the original preface by Rodolphe Darzens, removed from most copies of this printing.
A good copy in a contemporary binding, which is rare, according to Clouzot.

Autograph postcard, signed "Alain", addressed to Lucien Daniaux in Papeete, Tahiti, written on the reverse of a photographic portrait of a smiling young Polynesian woman. Stamp of Australian Papua, postal marks, English censorship stamp ("passed by censor").

Sent a few months before his death, this postcard documents the final journey of the French traveller, undertaken amid the hostile climate of the Second World War.

New Elzevirian edition of these two works brought together in a single volume.

Two title-pages printed in red and black with the printer’s mark, five headpieces, five initials and three ornamental tailpieces.

Contemporary full vellum binding with small flaps, flat spine with manuscript author, titles and year of publication, traces of ties.

Binding slightly warped and soiled, the second title on the spine rubbed away, occasional very light spotting to the leaves.

First edition, illustrated with several reproductions, including a photograph of Genss's library as frontispiece. One of two hundred numbered copies, signed by Julius Genss on the limitation leaf. Only three copies on WorldCat (UCL, Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Bremen and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin).

Grey laid paper wrappers, title label mounted to the front cover. Weak stitching, minor soiling to the covers, light corner creasing to the covers and leaves.

A rare copy printed in small numbers of the autobiography of an esteemed Estonian book collector. The provenance of his vast collection, first pillaged by the Nazis, is being actively...

Edition presented by Jean-Louis Barrault, director and performer of the role of Trofimov, and by Georges Neveux, translator, illustrated with photographic reproductions.

Printed wrapper slightly creased and browned, with a few traces of blue ballpoint pen, weak stitching. Jean-Louis Barrault's signature on the front wrapper and on the half-title page, the latter bearing the inscription "Brochure de travail" in red ink. Numerous passages highlighted with arrows, underlined, circled and struck through in red ink, with a few dog-eared corners marking pages.

A rare working copy of the great actor and stage director, signed and extensively marked in his...

Pamphlet published in Hong Kong 15 days after the proclamation of the People's Republic of China, reproducing the essay written by Mao Zedong in 1940. The city, long under British colonial rule, constituted at the time a space where the left-wing press enjoyed a degree of tolerance, allowing the distribution of works close to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Complete with its printed cover in red and black and its title page adorned with an engraving depicting Mao Zedong in bust, wearing a cap.

Small tears to the spine, a minor fold slightly affecting the lower left corner.

Marginal browning.

First illustrated edition with fifty-one engravings drawn by Édouard Riou and Henri de Montaut, and engraved by Hildibrand, Dumont, Fournier, Delaville, Pannemaker and Coste. "Bibliothèque d'éducation et de récréation" collection, a thirty-two page publisher's catalogue at the end of the volume.

Binding in brown half-shagreen, boards in red-brown percaline cloth, blind-stamped, spine with four raised bands, gilt compartments and fillets, gilt author and title, pastedowns of moiré-effect paper, gilt edges. Binding very slightly rubbed, a small tear to the vertical edge of the lower board, a few traces of mould to the pastedowns, some foxing to the leaves.

Autograph letter signed "Luzio," by Luc-Julien-Joseph Casabianca. Two and a half pages in black ink on a bifolium, with autograph date (8 Prairial - 28 May 1798) and address. A few minor marginal tears affecting two letters with no loss of text, and a small corner loss to the address leaf without loss of text.

A precious letter written by Luce de Casabianca "aboard the Orient" to his brother-in-law, André Colonna Ceccaldi who led a Corsican uprising for independance the following year. 

Casabianca speaks...

 Autograph letter signed by Eugène Delacroix, with autograh date "29 December 1856", one and a half pages on a bifolium, with usual folds. 

A precious letter by Delacroix to his celebrated colleague, who laid out the squares, avenues, and gardens of the capital while the painter adorned its ceilings.

Delacroix here addresses the architect responsible for the embellishment of the Champs-Élysées, the Place de la Concorde, and the Avenue de l'Étoile. As architect to the City of Paris and to the Government, he who drew up the plans for the vast renovations in the Bois de Boulogne and its two lakes. He moved within the painter's circle (his name...

First edition of this poem by Paul Eluard, lithographed after his manuscript, accompanying the seven gouaches by Jean Hugo reproduced in pochoir. One of 948 numbered copies on vélin pur fil.

Wrappers with turned-in flaps, in loose gatherings. Wrappers slightly soiled with a few instances of foxing, shallow wormholes to the front cover.

Autograph presentation inscription signed by the author to Jacques Coutant: "à Jacques Coutant dans Paris délivré mais encore convalescent" ["To Jacques Coutant, in Paris - liberated, yet still convalescent"].

First edition, no deluxe copies issued.

A few minor black specks to the boards, one stain to the lower edge, otherwise a pleasing copy.

Illustrated.

Presentation copy inscribed by Martin Gray: "A Astoria la vie sans amour n'est rien..." [In Astoria life without love amounts to nothing...]

Autograph letter signed by Jean Dubuffet to the painter Louis Favre, autograph date "Wednesday the 19th", probably 1950s, with a few traces of folds.

An interesting letter from Dubuffet relating to a little-documented episode: his meeting with the painter Louis Favre, probably around 1953, at a pivotal moment when Limbour had just published the first substantial work on Dubuffet's paintings, Tableau bon levain, à vous de cuire la pâte. L'Art Brut de Jean Dubuffet.

"My dear Louis Paul Favre,

I wonder whether you have received Limbour's book on my paintings; allow me to offer it to you as a small token of...

First illustrated edition with twelve full-page plates by Gérard Vulliamy, one of a thousand numbered copies on cream laid paper.

Original wrappers with flaps. Wrapper very slightly creased, otherwise a fine copy. Ex-dono inscription on the half-title.

First edition, no deluxe copies were issued.

A handsome copy.

Signed presentation copy, inscribed by Mohammed Khaïr-Eddine to the political scientist and essayist Evelyne Pisier: "... en remerciement de son aide..."

In 1989, she was appointed Director of Books and Reading at the French Ministry of Culture by Jack Lang.

First edition of the French translation established by Georges Guiffrey.

Beige half roan binding, spine with four raised bands framed by black fillets, slight rubbing to the bands, boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.

"In 1855, if my memory serves, Georges Guiffrey set about translating Vanity Fair with Thackeray's blessing: the perfection of this version makes it very nearly a masterpiece of nineteenth-century French literature. A critic nevertheless found occasion to take issue with its recent reissue, on the grounds that it had been given no more than a discreet dusting-off. Guiffrey's French strikes him as...

Rare first edition, printed in small numbers of this offprint from the Annales de philosophie chrétienne.

Minor marginal tears to the wrappers, a small loss at the foot of the spine, occasional foxing.

New edition.

A handsome copy, covers very lightly browned, discreet restorations to the joints.

Rare presentation copy, signed and inscribed by Albert Camus: "to Madame Jean Labattut whom I thank three times, in respectful homage, Albert Camus."

Inscribed copies of Camus' masterpiece are exceedingly scarce.

The recipient could be Streline Mercedes Terradell, who served as a nurse in France during WW1. In 1929 she married Jean Labatut (also spelled Labattut), architect and teacher, who a primary force behind the development of Princeton University's School of Architecture, 1928-1967 and designed architectural projects around the...

First French edition, with a colour frontispiece, two engraved title pages from the English edition, and sixty-one full-page plates under tissue guards, two volumes bound in one.

Full green glazed calf, covers blind-stamped with gilt-tooled borders, spine with four raised bands decorated with gilt fillets, blind-stamped motifs between the bands, gilt fillets on the headcaps, title and gilt-stamped ex-dono inscription ("offert à Madame Ramaeckers") on the spine, gilt-tooled board edges, blind-stamped border on the pastedowns, pink paper pastedowns, gilt edges, a fine Romantic binding attributable to Thouvenin jeune. Binding sunned and lightly rubbed with...

First edition.

Copy in loose leaves as issued, complete with its illustrated wrappers, its engraved title-page adorned with a colour vignette, its black-and-white vignette at the head of the text, and its twelve colour plates by Barbier. Spine very slightly sunned.

A superb copy of this almanac illustrated with 12 pochoir plates by George Barbier, who also designed the wrappers, depicting an Art Deco Venus emerging on a shell borne by two tritons highlighted in silver.

Suite of eleven original woodcuts by Albert Gleizes, printed in red on Japon paper, created to accompany the deluxe issue limited to thirty copies on Japon of Au pays du mufle by Tailhade.

First complete edition.

It is illustrated with two frontispieces, twenty-four full-page engravings, and a folding map of Telemachus's travels. The portrait of Fénelon serving as frontispiece to the first volume is signed Baillieul and Duflos; the second frontispiece, together with the plates, is signed Bonnart fils and Giffart, while the map is drawn by Rousset and engraved by Berey. A few head-pieces, bandeaux, and ornamental initials. 

Bindings in full red morocco signed Chambolle-Duru, richly decorated covers, spine with five raised bands ruled in gilt, gilt panels and fleurons between the bands, author, title, volume number, place and date lettered in gilt on...

Sixth issue of the year 1947, richly illustrated with photographic reproductions, including numerous works by Henri Cartier-Bresson. Illustrated cover by Jean Lurçat. Contributions by Albert Camus, Alexandre Astruc, Darius Milhaud, Iain Lang, Robert Sabin, Nancy Newhall, Newton Arvin, Jacques Delamain, Beaumont Newhall, Jean Vermandoy, and Woody Guthrie.

Cover slightly rubbed and soiled, a loss to the spine, leaves slightly browned.

Ex-libris of Pierre Mercier.

First edition, one of the press copies.

Work illustrated with 57 reproductions of collages by Jacques Prévert.

A precious copy belonging to the actor Pierre Brasseur, Prévert's friend and collaborator, containing: 

• an autograph inscription signed by Jacques Prévert on the half-title page: "Pour Pierre Jacques", embellished with two small charms,
• an original collage depicting a bat dressed as a nun with outstretched wings below the justification of the print run, 
• facing the justification page, an autograph inscription signed by Jacques Prévert to Pierre Brasseur and Catherine Sauvage...

First edition printed in 45 numbered copies, signed in pencil by Ania Staritsky, ours is number 29. Original collage accompanied by the manuscript initials GW on the wrapper, 5 original engravings, and text presentation by Ania Staritsky.

Wrapper composed of two cardboard boards joined by cords, five kraft paper booklets containing bifolia of thick white paper. The year "1964" is inscribed in pencil on the first booklet. One of the three cords is missing, otherwise a fine copy.

Laid in are Gerhard Weber's autograph visiting card, a clipped page from the bilingual French-German newspaper Pariser Kurier, and a postcard reproducing a work by Ania...

Illustrated edition with twenty-two copper-engraved vignettes, including one used as frontispiece. A few engraved tailpieces.

Plain wrappers in blue-grey, with manuscript title and date written lengthwise on the spine in ink. Wrappers slightly soiled, with a few creases and tears; scattered foxing and soiling to the leaves.

Original edition illustrated with reproductions of works by Ania Staritsky.
A handsome copy.

First edition.

Half green chagrin binding, flat spine with color restoration ruled in black and gilt, gilt frieze and date at foot, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers preserved with restorations, binding of the period.

Presentation copy inscribed to Léon Richer.

Born into modest circumstances and having lost his father at an early age, Léon Richer founded in 1869 the weekly Droit des femmes, aimed at reforming women's legal rights, which enjoyed the renewed support of Victor Hugo: "I wholheartedly join in your useful endeavour. For forty years I have been pleading for the great social cause you devote...

First edition on ordinary paper, with the correct imprint date of 25 September 1951, false "fifth thousand" statement of edition on the title page.
A small restored tear to the margin of the front cover, joints skilfully restored.

Presentation copy, signed and inscribed by Julien Gracq to Madame Renaudon: "...in memory of her smiling kindness amid the work of disasters..."

First edition.

Marbled paper wrappers, marbled edges. Wrappers slightly creased, a few ink spots, a dampstain to the upper part of the title page that fades progressively on the following pages.

First edition, adorned with a portrait frontispiece, drawn in ink and signed Dalex. The polychrome drawing is set within a frame traced in brown ink and accompanied by the Latin motto "gratia in me vacua non fuit" as well as the legend "Messire Jean d'Aranthon". An engraved head-piece depicting Christ and angels, with a few further head- and tail-pieces.

Contemporary brown calf, spine with five raised bands, gilt title, gilt compartments and fleurons between the bands, inner gilt dentelle. Binding lightly rubbed, with some abrasions and losses, the joint of the upper board slightly split at the head, a few light foxing marks to the leaves, some marginal dampstaining, blank...

New edition, augmented with an introductory study and notes. Engraved portrait of William Shakespeare as frontispiece.

Green calf binding, gilt and blind-tooled border on the covers, spine with five raised bands, gilt ornaments on the bands, gilt caissons and fleurons between the bands, gilt edges, blind-tooled decorative border on the doublures, French Curl paper doublures, French Curl edges. Binding rubbed and scuffed, some surface wear, the spine and part of the rear board sunned.

Manuscript ex-libris of the celebrated medium Julie de Güldenstubbe on a front free endpaper.

The Shakespearean theater populated by ghosts and...

Autograph note signed by Victor Hugo in ink on a newspaper cutting:

"Par le Ph.[are] de la L[oire] d'aujourd'hui j'apprends que je suis un traître j'en prends acte"

This modest yet powerful note is emblematic of the mythic Hugolian tradition of the "copeaux", or little "shavings" of paper. As an outlet, a catharsis for this overflow of thoughts and agitation, the writer accumulated ill-fated fragments: "Hugo's writing also has its wild, untamed side. Hugo was a graphomaniac: for him, writing was an imperious gesture, bound to no place or hour. Words, phrases...

New edition of this ancient pastoral romance, illustrated with a frontispiece and eight full-page engravings. With several headpieces, decorated initials and tailpieces.

Dark yellow morocco, spine with five raised bands, author, title and date lettered in gilt, gilt fillets to board edges and headcaps, gilt inner dentelle, all edges gilt; tan morocco case by Riviere & Son, spine with five raised bands, author, title and date lettered in gilt, blind-tooled fillets. Raised bands lightly rubbed, with a few scuffs to the slipcase, otherwise a handsome copy.

Mortimer L. Schiff's guilt red morocco bookplate on the front pastedown.

First true edition as an earlier, truncated and inaccurate edition of this book had already appeared the same year in Brussels.
Copy in the original wrappers, as issued. Trace of a crease to the lower right corner of the front wrapper.

One of Hugo's masterpieces, containing some of the most powerful and sarcastic poems of the century. The emperor so reviled is treated here more mercilessly, if that is possible, than in Napoléon le Petit.

First edition, illustrated with three reproductions of works by Victor Brauner, Jacques Hérold and Yves Tanguy. One of 450 numbered copies on satin-finish paper.

Illustrated wrappers. A fine copy.

Revised and enhanced edition, illustrated with a frontispiece, an allegorical composition on the title page, and four full-page engravings by Bernard Picart. An allegorical figure within the text, several headpieces and tailpieces.

Contemporary mottled brown sheepskin binding, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt motifs, red morocco title label, gilt roulette to the board edges, marbled paper pastedowns, red edges. Corners and headcap rubbed, some scuffing and losses at the joints, trifling soiling to a few leaves. Manuscript ex-libris "Messieurs Falconet et Lancelot" and ink date "8bre [October] 1785" on the title page. Manuscript note in ink on a front...

First edition of Cendrars's second book, printed in 150 copies on handmade Hollande paper and offered to subscribers.

According to Sonia Delaunay, Séquences, Pâques à New York and theTranssibérien were published at the author's expense, thanks to a small inheritance. The address given - Éditions Hommes nouveaux - 4, rue de Savoie, was in fact the small attic room that Blaise Cendrars occupied at that time.

A precious copy of Blaise Cendrars's early poems, exceptionally rare and in remarkable condition.

French first edition, translated by Louis Champion de Cicé, of this treatise by Longobardo, bound with Lettre d'Eusèbe romain by Mabillon (Grenoble, Etienne Bon, 1698, 88 pp.); and Lettre à Madame de Lionne by Bernardino della Chiesa (n.p., n.d., 84 pp.)

A rare copy of one of the principal Western sources on Chinese philosophy, written by the Jesuit missionary Longobardo, who succeeded Ricci as superior of the Jesuit China mission. Also with an uncommon Grenoble edition of Mabillon's pamphlet, which opened the debate on the validity of the cult of the catacomb saints. At the end of the volume, in echo of...

Fifth edition of this spiritual guide for young readers, published in the Bibliothèque instructive et amusante series.

Publisher's Bradel-style boards, smooth spine decorated with two fleurons, gilt title lettered along the spine, gilt motifs within borders signed Loiseau on both covers, front cover printed with the series title, place of publication, publishers, address, and year of publication. Headcaps and edges lightly rubbed, occasional foxing to the leaves.

First edition, printed in Russian by the London-based Stenvalley Press.

Publisher's red cloth binding, author, title and publisher lettered in gilt on the spine, complete with its two-colour printed dust jacket showing light wear.

A few ballpoint pen annotations on some pages, presumably by the recipient.

Autograph presentation inscription, signed and dated by the author, to Michel Garder: "Дорогому Мишелю Гарде - с глубокой признательностью. На добрую память. 29.I.1975." [To dear Michel Garder - with profound gratitude. In fond remembrance. 29.I.1975.]

Edition published in the same year as the first edition.

Minor traces of creasing to the margins of the wrappers.

A pleasant copy.

First edition, illustrated with 10 compositions by Jean-Jacques Sempé, one of the numbered copies.

Publisher's full wood-grain style marbled boards, plain flat spine.

An attractive copy of this fable recounting the sudden disappearance of every form of paper, bringing modern society to a standstill.

New edition of Alfred Franklin's French translation, one of 300 copies on hollande paper, the only issue aside from 6 copies on Whatman paper.

Contemporary red half morocco, spine with five raised bands ruled in black, date gilt at foot, marbled paper boards, combed-paper endpapers and pastedowns, top edge gilt.

An attractive copy, handsomely bound.

First edition.

Rare copy of this esoteric work by Lazare Meyssonnier, physician and "professor of the science of spirit", on demonology and diabolic possession, the theology of the names of God and Hebrew Kabbalah, the various types of magic, operative alchemy, anatomy, angelology..

Full calf, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt fillets and fleurons, faded gilt-lettered title, new endpapers added, speckled edges. Joints split, a few scuffs to the leather, gilt partly faded, first three leaves browned, a few tears, dampstaining to a majority of the leaves, and wormholes without loss to the...

First edition, one of 32 numbered copies on Alfama paper.

A rare and fine copy.

First edition, one of 15 numbered copies on Arches wove paper, the only deluxe-paper copies.
A rare and fine copy.

First edition of this song for voice and piano, with a colour-illustrated front cover in a geometric Art Deco style by Roger de Milos. A very fine copy.

First edition, with all the first issue features, including the misprint "Sénart" on the dedication leaf.
Elegant half hazel morocco bindings with corners by Blanchetière, spines with five raised bands, very slightly faded, dates gilt at foot, marbled paper sides, combed paper endleaves and pastedowns, original wrappers bound in, with the original spine preserved for the first volume, top edges gilt.
Complete with the publisher's catalogue at the end of the first volume.

Occasional light foxing.
A handsome and desirable copy, retaining its rare original wrappers and finely bound by Henri Blanchetière.