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19179 results
  4. Les malheurs de Fernande
    Alméry LOBEL-RICHE, Francis CARCO
    Les malheurs de Fernande
    A l'édition|Paris 1918|11.50 x 18.50 cm|relié
    First edition, one of 15 numbered copies on Arches paper, the deluxe issue after 6 on Japan paper.
    Half anthracite morocco binding with bands, smooth spine enhanced at the head with a mosaic piece of red and brown morocco, covers and spine preserved, top edge gilt, bookplate pasted on the front pastedown, elegant binding signed by Devauchelle.
    Attractive cover illustrated by Lobel-Riche.
    A handsome copy perfectly executed of this sequel to Jésus-la-Caille.
    €750
  5. Les mémorables
    Maurice MARTIN DU GARD
    Les mémorables
    Flammarion • Grasset|Paris 1957-1978|16.50 x 21.50 cm|3 volumes brochés
    First edition, one of 30 numbered copies on chiffon de Lana paper for the first two volumes and one of 64 numbered copies on vergé de Voiron for the last, the tirage de tête for the first two volumes and the only large paper copies for the last.
    Trace of a transverse fold to upper cover of second volume, upper cover of third volume slightly sunned at foot, with transparent traces of adhesive paper to endpapers of same volume.
    A very good and rare set that one rarely finds complete with the third volume, which appeared later.
    €1,500
  11. La cigalo narbouneso. Années 1928 et 1930 complètes
    COLLECTIF
    La cigalo narbouneso. Années 1928 et 1930 complètes
    La cigalo narbouneso|Narbonne 1928 & 1930|16 x 24.50 cm|24 fascicules reliés en 1 volume
    First edition, one of 13 copies numbered on Hollande B.F.K. de Rives paper for each of the 24 fascicles (with the exception of the May 1928 issue which is on ordinary paper), the only deluxe copies.
    Half caramel brown shagreen binding, smooth spine, mouse-colored cloth boards, one stain at the foot of the first cover, binding signed by Marsilhac.
    Magazine illustrated with 11 black engravings on linoleum or wood as well as 10 plates.
    A portrait of Frédéric Mistral after Pirou pasted on an endpaper.
    Rare gathering in volume and on deluxe paper of this Narbonne magazine of the Félibrige.
    Handsome copy.
    €300
  13. Projet de taille tarifée
    Charles - Irénée CASTEL
    Projet de taille tarifée
    Chez Jean Daniel Beman|à Rotterdam 1737|9.50 x 15.50 cm|relié

    Second edition partly in first edition, rare. The original was published in Paris in 1723, the author being unsatisfied with his work proposed this second edition revised and expanded with a second part, Suplémant au projet de taille tarifée, in which he responds to the objections of his detractors.


    Contemporary full speckled brown sheep binding. Spine with five raised bands richly decorated with gilt compartments and fleurons, blonde morocco title label. Gilt rolls on the leading edges and headcaps. All edges speckled red. Head slightly worn, first band very slightly visible at the joint, a small amount of bookworm damage affecting the last compartment as well as the tail joint of the lower board.

    €1,500
  17. Essai sur Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly
    Pierre de CRISENOY
    Essai sur Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly
    Bibliothèque des entretiens idéalistes|Paris 1908|14 x 23 cm|broché

    First edition printed in 250 copies.
    Fine autograph inscription signed by Pierre de Crisenoy on a full page in red ink in the manner of Barbey d'Aurevilly to Monsieur H. Barthélémy: "... au réalisateur de tant de beaux livres et en remerciement de la magnifique édition des "Membra", ce humble essai de mes vingt ans, en attendant mieux. / 18 Septembre 1944." ["... to the creator of so many beautiful books and in gratitude for the magnificent edition of "Membra", this humble attempt from my twenties, awaiting better. / 18 September 1944."]
    Worming to boards, handsome interior condition.
    Rare.

    €80
  19. Le berceau sous le beffroi
    Nicolas BOURGEOIS
    Le berceau sous le beffroi
    Plon|Paris 1934|11.50 x 18.50 cm|relié
    First edition on ordinary paper.
    Half chocolate sheep binding, faded spine with two raised bands decorated with a central gilt fleuron, gilt date and double fillet at foot, cherry red shagreen title-label, some rubbing traces on spine, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, covers and spine preserved, top edge gilt, contemporary binding.
    Signed autograph inscription from Nicolas Bourgeois to poet Jean Ott.
    €50
  20. L'esprit allemand. Etude d'après la langue et les proverbes avec la traduction de plus de 1200 proverbes allemands
    Pierre PEUGEOT
    L'esprit allemand. Etude d'après la langue et les proverbes avec la traduction de plus de 1200 proverbes allemands
    E. Giraud & Cie|Paris 1886|12.50 x 19.50 cm|relié
    Second edition, with some parts in first edition as expanded with a supplement on public education in Germany and Russia, one of 25 numbered copies on Holland paper, the only deluxe copies with 25 Japan.
    Bradel binding in half fir green cloth with corners, smooth spine decorated with a central gilt fleuron, gilt date and double fillet at foot, chocolate shagreen title-label with some scratches, marbled paper boards, original wrappers preserved, top edge gilt, binding signed by A. Mertens.
    Precious signed autograph inscription from Pierre Peugeot to Léon Cladel.
    Printed stamps of the Université populaire du Faubourg Saint-Antoine in margins of several pages of our volume, pen numbering for library classification also in margins of certain pages.
    Rare and handsome copy.
    €350
  21. Bibliographie des marionnettes
    Eugène LEFEBVRE, Paul JEANNE
    Bibliographie des marionnettes
    La soupente de Guignol • Les éditions de la très illustre compagnie des Petits comédiens de bois|Paris 1926|16.50 x 25 cm|relié
    First edition, one of 250 numbered copies on alfa paper, the only issue with 2 Holland copies.
    Half fir-green shagreen binding, faded spine with five raised bands showing traces of rubbing, gilt date at foot, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers preserved, top edge gilt, contemporary binding.
    Work illustrated by Eugène Lefebvre.
    Handsome interior condition without foxing.
    Rare.
    Fine autograph inscription dated and signed by the author to poet Jean Ott: "... en souvenir des premiers rapports officiels de Guignol avec Lafleur et en remerciement sincère pour avoir écouter mon appel pour la rénovation des théâtres..." ["... in memory of the first official relations between Guignol and Lafleur and in sincere thanks for having listened to my call for the renovation of theaters..."]
    €300
  22. Grammaire de la langue serbo-croate traduite avec de nombreuses modifications de la grammaire slave de Parcic
    FEUVRIER
    Grammaire de la langue serbo-croate traduite avec de nombreuses modifications de la grammaire slave de Parcic
    Imprimerie Nationale|Paris 1904|16 x 24.50 cm|relié
    Second edition, partly in first edition as revised and corrected.
    Half marbled sheep binding, spine with two raised bands decorated with central gilt fleuron, gilt date and double fillet at foot, spine rubbed, black shagreen title-label, small lack to upper headcap, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers preserved, top edge gilt.
    Handsome interior condition.
    €80
  23. Florilège des conteurs galants du XVIIIème siècle
    Adrien BAGARRY, COLLECTIF
    Florilège des conteurs galants du XVIIIème siècle
    Librairie de France|Paris 1932|22.50 x 28.50 cm|2 volumes en reliures de l'éditeur
    Collected edition, one of 2,500 numbered copies on alfa paper.
    Publisher's binding in red half-shagreen with bands, spines slightly faded with five raised bands decorated with gilt ornamental motifs, vellum-style boards, some small marginal surface wear to heads of boards, illustrated covers and spine preserved, top edges gilt, bindings signed by Lise L. Bataille.
    Work illustrated with 32 plates, 12 in color by Adrien Bagarry as well as tailpieces by Boris Grosser, cover illustrated by Jean Boisseau.
    Literary contributions by Rétif de la Bretonne, Claude Godard d'Aucour, the comte de Caylus...
    Handsome set.
    €250
  25. Les mouches
    Jean-Paul SARTRE
    Les mouches
    [The Flies]
    Gallimard|Paris 1943|12 x 19 cm|relié sous chemise et étui
    Gallimard | Paris 1943 | 12 x 19 cm | bound in morocco with custom slipcase and chemise
    First edition, one of 18 numbered copies on pur fil paper, the tirage de tête (deluxe copy).

    Jansenist red morocco, spine in six compartments, gilt date to foot of spine, pastedowns and endpapers in black morocco, covers and spine preserved, all edges gilt; half red morocco chemise, spine in six compartments, date in gilt at foot of spine, lined in black felt; slipcase edged in red morocco, lined in ochre felt, binding signed by Duhayon.

    A superb copy handsomely bound in a triple binding by Duhayon.
    €15,000
  26. La lampe dans l'horloge
    André BRETON
    La lampe dans l'horloge
    The Lamp in the Clock
    Robert Marin|Paris 1948|11 x 17 cm|broché sous chemise et étui

    BRETON André. La Lampe dans l'horloge [The Lamp in the Clock]
    Robert Marin, Paris 1948, 11 x 17 cm, original wrappers with custom slipcase
    First edition, one of the numbered copies on alfa mousse paper, this one not justified.
    Wrappers in chemise and case.
    With an exceptional and important presentation inscription from André Breton to Jean-Paul Sartre.
    Case with almond-colored paper boards and chemise, red morocco title-piece and label with “exemplaire de J. P. Sartre [J.P. Sartre's copy]”.
    This inscription from the Pope of Surrealism to the master of Existentialism – of whose rare meetings, most notably in New York, there remain barely any traces in their biographies – is all the more surprising since Sartre had just published a vitriolic article on Breton in Qu'est-ce que la littérature? [What is literature?]:
    “The theoretical accord between Surrealism and the Communist Party against the bourgeoisie does not in fact go beyond the formal; it is the formal idea of negativity that unites them…Negativity subsists, no matter what anyone says, outside of history: it is, at the same time, of the instant and everlasting – it is the ultimate end of both literature and art. Somewhere, Breton approves of the… ‘sacred mission' of the proletariat. But in the end, this class – imagined as a legion of exterminating angels – is in reality nothing more for authors than a religious myth that plays a role (for the salving of their consciences) analogous to that played by the myth of ‘the People' in 1848 for well-intentioned writers.”
    André Breton did not reply to Sartre's criticisms, nor even the ones formulated a year later by Simone de Beauvoir in The Second Sex.
    This little work, as much political as it is poetical, is nonetheless a part of the common cause of these two intellectuals within the extremely ephemeral Rassemblement Démocratique Révolutionnaire. Founded in 1947 by Sartre, it very quickly floundered despite the active engagement of Breton.
    1948 was therefore the only intellectual meeting of these two great “Masters of Thought” of the second half of the 20th century, whose personalities – intransigent and exclusionary – did not allow for a lasting philosophical union.
    €8,000
  27. Le fileur du cygne
    Christian BONNEFOI, Marc PIERRET
    Le fileur du cygne
    Monique Goldschmidt|Paris 1978|28 x 36 cm|reliure de l'éditeur sous étui
    First edition, one of 26 numbered copies on Rives vellum, deluxe copy.
    Publisher's binding with cream cloth spine, plexiglas boards, full mouse-colored cloth slipcase.
    Work illustrated with 6 original drawings by Christian Bonnefoi on polystyrene tracing paper and tarlatane.
    Signed by the author and illustrator on the justification page.
    Slipcase very slightly and marginally discolored at head and foot of boards.
    Rare and handsome copy.
    €350
  36. Le pavillon des amourettes ou Gaspard et les bourgeois d'Ambert
    Henri POURRAT
    Le pavillon des amourettes ou Gaspard et les bourgeois d'Ambert
    Albin Michel|Paris 1930|12 x 19 cm|relié
    First edition, a Service de Presse (advance) copy.
    Half caramel sheep binding, spine with two raised bands showing traces of rubbing, date and double gilt fillet at foot, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, top edge gilt, original wrappers preserved, contemporary binding.
    Autograph inscription signed by Henri Pourrat, in Spanish, to the Bacchic poet Jean Ott.
    €80
  38. Opuscules
    Alexandre JACOB
    Opuscules
    Imprimerie de Georges Jacob|Orléans 1860|12.50 x 20.50 cm|relié
    The first edition printed in a small number of copies on laid paper.
    Half tan sheep binding, spine with five raised bands set with gilt fillets, traces of rubbing to spine, olive morocco title-label, marbled paper boards, a pale dampstain to head margin of front board, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, an angular stain to foot of rear endpapers, contemporary binding.
    Some minor foxing of no consequence.
    A rare and handsome copy.
    €80
  43. La danse de Sophocle
    Jean COCTEAU
    La danse de Sophocle
    [The Dance of Sophocles] His Mother's Copy
    Mercure de France|Paris 1912|15 x 19 cm|relié

    First edition, one of 7 numbered copies on Hollande paper, the only large paper copies, this one no. 1, specially printed for Jean Cocteau's mother.
    Contemporary vellum Bradel binding by Dupré, gilt date to foot of spine, brown shagreen title label, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, covers and spine preserved. Light worming, principally affecting the margins of some leaves.
    A moving and exceptional autograph inscription signed and dated by Jean Cocteau to his mother, in Latin, quoting a verse of Virgils Bucolics: “Incipe, parve puer : cui non risere parentes, nec deus hunc mensa, dea nec dignita cubili est. / Virgile. / Jean”, which in English is: “Realise this, child: the boy at whom his parents never smiled is fit neither to approach the table of the Gods, nor the couch of a Goddess.”
    A unique copy.

    With the publication of this third collection of poetry Cocteau, a young prodigy then aged 23, was feted by artistic and literary circles. An intimate of Proust's, a friend of Jacques-Emile Blanche, a follower of Nijinski and Diaghilev and a disciple of Anna de Noailles, his ambition was to unite in his own person all the talents that surrounded him.
    The Danse de Sophocle [Dance of Sophocles], a reference to the nude dance that “the young and divine Sophocles” did in Athens after the naval victory at Salamis, reflects the ambition and the exaltation of the young Cocteau: novelist, painter, dancer, poet, he felt truly “fit to approach the table of the Gods.”
    “As with all the best artists, he was a link between God and Earth.” In his biography, Claude Arnaud dedicates a chapter (“The Living God”) to the psychology of the poet in this period: “He was a piece torn from God, one of the terrestrial organs through which this Being, constantly evolving, thought about and finally acted to improve his creation.”
    Thus, Cocteau broke free of his illustrious models and assumed his full artistic divinity, which unfolded in this ecstatic collection, witnessed by the eponymous poem:

    Thanks to you, dear pride, I wore the halo
    Given by the charming god of words…
    Thanks to you, I knew the frenetic struggles
    in which pen and paper, the dreary pot of ink
    Are the ties of verses you want to shout
    You want to scream, sing, sigh, laugh…
    And which we must – since they are in us and we feel them –
    Let flow like beautiful blood.

    The inscription to his mother, on the first of seven rare large paper copies, is a witness to Cocteau's only real great influence: Eugénie Cocteau. A mother idolized by her son, she was a profound influence on both the poet's life and his work, marked by the omnipresence of the Oedipal figure. Claude Arnaud describes at length this “filial outpouring coupled with an almost amorous attention...: ‘only my love for you is rooted in something real, the rest seems to be a bad dream'.”

    One can hardly miss in this quotation from Virgil the incestuous ambiguity that bound Cocteau to his mother.

    One of the most desirable provenances for this extremely rare copy.

    €8,000
  45. Oeuvres meslées
    Charles de Marguetel de Saint-Denis SAINT-ÉVREMOND
    Oeuvres meslées
    par La Compagnie des libraires|à Paris 1697|8.50 x 16.20 cm|5 volumes reliés
    New edition. The privilege being dated 1697, it is not known whether this new edition differs from the one published by Barbin in 1693, Barbin himself being part of the Compagnie des libraires.
    Contemporary full glazed brown sheep binding. Richly decorated spine with raised bands. Beige morocco title and volume labels. Head of volume I slightly worn, that of volume V split. Tail caps of volumes I and IV partly lacking. Wormholes on the spines of volumes IV and V. Some gatherings yellowed. Despite the mentioned defects, a copy with an attractive appearance.
    Charles Marguetel de Saint-Denis, seigneur de Saint-Évremond (1614-1703), was a moralist and libertine critic, whose rigor and critical independence announced the Enlightenment philosophers, and was perhaps the first author to make criticism a profession. He paid little attention to his writings which circulated mainly in manuscript during his lifetime. This edition, which collects various pieces by the author, including numerous letters, critiques, historical research and poetry, is due to the abbé de Raguenet, who completed the collection with maxims by La Rochefoucauld (pp. 297-326 Vol. IV), a piece by La Fontaine, a letter by Corneille... The literary success of Saint-Évremond led writers to attribute numerous works to him, such as these maxims by La Rochefoucauld, substantially different from recent editions by the same author.
    €550
  48. Féerie pour une autre fois II - Normance
    Louis-Ferdinand CÉLINE
    Féerie pour une autre fois II - Normance
    Gallimard|Paris 1954|14 x 21 cm|relié sous chemise et étui
    First edition, one of 45 numbered copies on Hollande paper, the tirage de tête
    Autograph inscription from Louis-Ferdinand Céline to his friend Pierre Duverger, the only photographer to have taken color photographs of Céline
    Quality blueish paper covers, sunned (as is often the case)
    Ex libris pasted onto foot of half-title
    This copy has a half black morocco chemise, spine in six compartments, date to foot, and a slipcase edged in black morocco, both by Goy & Vilaine.
    €10,000
  49. Jocorum atque seriorum, tum novorum, tum selectorum, atque imprimis memorabilium
    Otto MELANDER
    Jocorum atque seriorum, tum novorum, tum selectorum, atque imprimis memorabilium
    Hartmanni Palthenii|Francofurti [Frankfurt am Main] • (Francfort) [Frankfurt am Main] 1617|7 x 16 cm|relié
    A fairly rare new edition, following the original published in 1603 by Dyonisius Melander and considerably expanded by his son Otto Melander. Printer's device on title page.

    Half black shagreen binding ca 1850. Spine with raised bands decorated with rolls on the bands and fillets. Date at foot. Title page yellowed.

    Collection of anecdotes and amusing stories with 1749 entries; one will encounter many famous figures. This type of collection, originally derived from serious compilations of maxims and sentences from the Ancients, was very popular at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th century, some are frankly ribald and bawdy, others more serious and historical like that of Melander, but always oriented toward the amusement and entertainment of the reader.

    Bookseller's label: Joseph Boudot Lamothe. 84, rue Bonaparte. 75006 Paris.
    €400
  51. Mémoires historiques et politiques sur les Pays-Bas autrichiens, et sur la constitution tant interne qu'externe des Provinces qui les composent
    Comte de NENY
    Mémoires historiques et politiques sur les Pays-Bas autrichiens, et sur la constitution tant interne qu'externe des Provinces qui les composent
    Chez B. Le Francq|Bruxelles [Brussels] 1786|9.50 x 16 cm|relié
    Fourth illustrated edition, with frontispiece portrait of the author engraved by Delarue.
    Contemporary full speckled blonde sheep binding. Spine with five raised bands decorated with red morocco title and volume labels as well as gilt compartments, fillets and fleurons. Double blind fillet framing the boards. Headcap of the second volume damaged with loss. One corner of the second volume very bumped with loss to the second board. Minimal wormholes on the first three leaves of the first volume, not touching the text. The Count of Ney became one of the most influential statesmen within the Austrian Netherlands. He successively occupied several important positions, including that of state counsellor and treasurer general of the finance council. In the service of the Austrian monarchy, he launched numerous reforms and applied a centralizing policy desired by Austria. His memoirs constitute a first-rate testimony regarding the political and diplomatic history of this period.

    €280
  52. Dans le sillage des drakkars
    Louis BERGEN LE PLAY, Pierre MAC ORLAN
    Dans le sillage des drakkars
    Les Editions du Scorpion|Paris 1963|14 x 19 cm|broché
    First edition on ordinary paper.
    Autograph inscription dated and signed by the author to Lucien Mettai: "... ces histoires de nos turbulents ancêtres les vikings. / Hommage d'un gars de la côte salée." ["... these stories of our turbulent ancestors the Vikings. / Tribute from a guy from the salt coast."]
    Preface by Pierre Mac Orlan. Illustrated cover after a vignette by Gustave Alaux. A fold mark along the entire length of the front cover.
    €40
  56. Les atrocités allemandes en France. Reproduction intégrale des rapports officiels des 17 Décembre 1914 et 8 Mars 1915
    Maurice LEROY, COLLECTIF
    Les atrocités allemandes en France. Reproduction intégrale des rapports officiels des 17 Décembre 1914 et 8 Mars 1915
    D.A. Longuet|Paris s. d. [1915]|24 x 25.50 cm|reliure de l'éditeur
    First edition printed on laid paper.
    Publisher's oblong format binding in full raspberry and sand cloth, smooth spine, top edge red.
    Autograph inscription signed by the publisher to Marcel Dentu of the S.P.A.
    Work illustrated with original compositions by Maurice Leroy as well as photographic views.
    Boards marginally sunned at head, otherwise handsome copy.
    €150
  57. Histoire d'Angleterre, contenant la maison de Plantagenet ; contenant la maison de Tudor ; contenant la maison de Stuart
    David HUME
    Histoire d'Angleterre, contenant la maison de Plantagenet ; contenant la maison de Tudor ; contenant la maison de Stuart
    S. n.|à Amsterdam 1769|19 x 25.50 cm|relié
    New edition, and undoubtedly the first quarto to bring together the three histories published between 1760 and 1765. Translation by Mme Belot, approved by the author himself.
    Contemporary full marbled sheep binding. Spine with raised bands decorated with fillets. Blue morocco title label and brown morocco volume label. Surface wear to headcaps of all six volumes. Some lacks to boards due to worming and to the last raised band of volume I. Edge of lower board half stripped over one cm. Nevertheless a good copy, very fresh.
    This History of England is unquestionably the most popular work, and which had great success, of philosopher David Hume, father of philosophical empiricism and whose importance in the history of philosophy equals that of Descartes in France. History could indeed only interest the philosopher since it is an unequalled sum of experience; as such, it is essential to anyone seeking knowledge; the historian is an empiricist, since being unable simply to perceive the causal links between facts and events, he is constrained in his vision to conceive them in movement. However for Hume, it is by no means a matter of conceptualizing history and his work classically follows the chronology of facts; it is a substantial and detailed history of England, which extends from the arrival of the Romans to the Revolution of 1688; it is divided into three historical and dynastic periods: the house of Plantagenet, that of Stuart, and that of Tudor.
    €1,000
  58. Fêtes galantes
    Paul VERLAINE
    Fêtes galantes
    Léon Vanier|Paris 1891|12.50 x 19 cm|broché sous chemise et étui
    Later edition on Hollande paper
    Chemise backed in dark green morocco over marbled paper boards, marbled pastedowns and endpapers, slipcase edged with same morocco and with boards of the same paper, lined with apple-green paper
    Rare inscription from Paul Verlaine to Achille Segard
    A small marginal lack to pages 15 & 16 due to paper fault, manuscript note “1866” in ink below the date featuring on the upper cover
    A rare, unsophisticated and uncut copy.
    €5,800
  69. La pitié suprême
    Victor HUGO
    La pitié suprême
    The Supreme Compassion
    Calmann Lévy|Paris 1879|15 x 24 cm|relié
    HUGO Victor
    La Pitié suprême [The Supreme Compassion] Calmann Lévy, Paris 1879, 150 x 240 mm (5 15/16 x 9 7/16 ”), half shagreen
    First edition.
    Elegant half dark blue shagreen over marbled paper boards by René Aussourd, spine in four compartments with gilt dots and double gilt compartments containing horizontal arabesques and gilt stars, date and “ex. de J. Drouet” in gilt to foot, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, covers and spine preserved (marginal repairs to covers), top edge gilt, ex-libris of Pierre Duché on one endpaper.
    An exceptional autograph inscription from Victor Hugo to Juliette Drouet, the love of his life: “The first copy for you, my lady. V.”
    Written in 1857, this long philosophical poem on the Revolution was originally meant to conclude the Légende des Siècles. Victor Hugo eventually published it in 1879 when he took a stand on behalf of the Communards.
    Pleading for the abolition of the death penalty, La Pitié suprême highlights one of the first and most heartfelt of Hugo's political struggles, which he carried on till the very end of his 80s: “if my name stands for anything in these deadly times in which we live, it stands for Amnesty” (Letter to the citizens of Lyon, 1873).
    Comparing Hugo and Machiavelli, J. C. Fizaine underlines the intellectual rigor of the poet who put himself at the service of a humanism elevated into a universal principle: “Machiavelli writes for those who wanted to become princes. Hugo writes, first and foremost, for the people, who have known tyranny. It is La Pitié suprême that defines what will remain immutably sacrosanct, human life, without hate, resentment and the memory of past suffering being justifications for the transgression of its sanctity; and the danger of such transgression is the impossibility of establishing any kind of political system and falling back into a pre-civilized state.” (Victor Hugo penseur de la laïcité – Le clerc, le prêtre et le citoyen)
    It was together with Juliette Drouet that he waged this final struggle. Published in February 1879, not long after they had settled in the avenue d'Eylau, La Pitié suprême seems to be a political echo of the newfound legitimacy of the two old lovers after fifty years of clandestine relations. Hugo's last fight for amnesty and pardon reverberated in his emotional life, like with the poem he wrote on the death of Juliette in 1883:
    “On my grave they'll write, as a great victory,
    The cherished, deep, embattled memory
    of a love that was not sanctioned but grew virtuous...”
    A fine copy in a handsome binding and with an extraordinary provenance, the most desirable one could wish for.
    €20,000
  73. Julie philosophe ou le bon patriote
    Guillaume APOLLINAIRE, ANONYME
    Julie philosophe ou le bon patriote
    Bibliothèque des Curieux|Paris 1910|9 x 15 cm|2 volumes reliés
    First edition of the introduction as well as the bibliographical essay by Guillaume Apollinaire, one of 500 numbered copies on Arches paper, this copy not justified, the only printing after 5 copies on Japan.
    Contemporary half grey cloth Bradel bindings over marbled paper boards, spine with gilt floral motif (slightly sunned), double gilt fillets to foot, black sheep title-pieces, upper corners slightly bumped, the fragile parchment-effect covers preserved, two small snags to upper edges, top edge gilt.
    Handsome autograph inscription signed by Guillaume Apollinaire to his publisher P.V. Stock at head of endpaper of first volume.
    Paper lack to lower cover of second volume, the parchment-effect covers slightly wormed.
    €2,300
  74. Portrait de Madame X...
    Charles LANDELLE
    Portrait de Madame X...
    S. n.|s. l. 1849|60 x 80 cm|autre
    Created by Charles Landelle, one of the most famous and sought-after academic artists of the Second Empire, this handsome portrait of a woman seated in an armchair adopts all the codes of the genre and shows the strong influence of Ingres, the great master of portraiture in his time, who was nevertheless not his teacher. The detail of the hands in particular makes direct reference to the style of the painter of the Odalisque and the Turkish Bath. The work, which is signed and dated 1849 in the lower right, also recalls another famous painting: The portrait of the Widow Clicquot painted by Léon Cogniet two years later. That year the painter exhibited two portraits of women at the salon and we believe that due to the often public anonymity of the models (simply titled with the initial of their name) and the important format of this painting that it could be one of them.

    Born in 1821 in Laval, Charles Landelle moved to Paris at the age of four, then entered the École Royale des Beaux-Arts in 1837 as a student of Paul Delaroche and Ary Scheffer. At the beginning of his career, Landelle painted several portraits to make ends meet. Very influenced by Italian painting after travels in the South of France and Italy, he copied some canvases by the great masters of the Renaissance at the Louvre. Awarded at the Salon from his first exhibitions for Fra Angelo recevant les inspirations de Dieu (1842) or Sainte Cécile (1848), he distinguished himself through religious and historical subjects that allowed him to gain recognition from the high society of his time. His critical successes at the Salon quickly assured him numerous State commissions, notably Le Repos de la Vierge in 1854 which earned him decoration with the cross of Knight of the Legion of Honor. That same year he created in pastel the portrait of Alfred de Musset, today preserved at the Louvre Museum. The artist thus embraced a career as an official painter between State commissions and portraits of members of high society. Capable of adapting to the taste and fashions of his time, Landelle quickly gained a notoriety that he knew how to maintain, never forgetting to offer a portrait or a canvas to his benefactors. In the second part of his career, after the official part of it had somewhat run out of steam, the artist made numerous trips to Morocco, Egypt, Algeria and devoted himself to Orientalism which would occupy a large part of his production until his death in 1908.




    Today a certain number of his works is preserved in museums. An important collection was bequeathed to his native city, Laval, but we also find some of his works at the Louvre Museum, the Ingres Museum in Montauban, the Museum of Fine Arts in Grenoble, Pau, Rouen or at the Palace of Versailles.




    Warning: We do not ensure transport of this work.

    €2,500
  76. Almanach des Dames pour l'an 1809.
    COLLECTIF
    Almanach des Dames pour l'an 1809.
    Chez J. G. Cotta librairie|à Tubingue [Tübingen] s. d. [1809]|8 x 11.50 cm|relié
    First edition with seven out-of-text plates printed on heavy paper, drawn by Poufsin and executed by Lambert.
    Contemporary full red morocco binding, smooth spine decorated with compartments, geometric and floral gilt motifs, dotted and Greek fret gilt frame to boards, fine gilt roll surrounding marbled paper pastedowns, gilt roll on leading edges and headcaps, all edges gilt. Three corners slightly bumped and very minor and marginal worming to a few leaves, otherwise a handsome copy.
    €200
  77. De domanio Franciae. Libri III
    René CHOPPIN
    De domanio Franciae. Libri III
    Apud Michaëlem Sonnium|Lutetiae Parisiorum [Paris] • (Paris) 1621|21.50 x 34.50 cm|relié
    Last edition, after the first published in 1574. Title page in red and black. Large printer's device on title page.
    Contemporary full brown sheep binding. Raised band spine richly decorated. Brown morocco title label. Double fillet frame to boards. Light dampstain, dry and clear to upper center of the work over 8 cm, without any severity, but darker in the final index. Good copy.
    Essay on the legitimacy of the French monarchy and its laws. Choppin defends the idea of a centralized royalty by studying not only Roman law, but also feudal and royal law among the Goths, in Byzantium, the Persians, the Egyptians, the Macedonians... In his third book, Choppin studies the characteristics of Salic law in France (which excludes women from reigning) by comparing it to law among other nations. The first version of the Salic code (penal and civil law) dates back to the 5th century and regulated succession rights. Following Bodin, a native of Anjou like himself and whom he would accuse of having stolen his ideas, the jurist Choppin is a sovereigntist thinker, he bases the solidity of the state on the notion of sovereignty; he is one of the first thinkers of the concept of state. Three indexes at the end of the work, notably allowing one to find the historical specificities of each nation (Scotland, Denmark...)
    €900
  78. Opus Merlini Cocaii poetae Mantuani Macaronicorum
    [Teofilo FOLENGO as] Merlin COCAÏE
    Opus Merlini Cocaii poetae Mantuani Macaronicorum
    Apud Horatium de Gobbis|Venetiis [Venice] • (Venise) [Venice] 1581|8 x 15 cm|relié
    New edition, after the first collected edition published in Venice in 1564. Illustrated with 27 woodcut title vignettes. It contains Zanitolla, the 25 books of Baldus, the Moscheide (on the battle of flies against ants), epistolarum.

    Contemporary full limp vellum binding. Smooth spine. Later title label. One hole at tail. Title page and p.7 restored in margin with antique paper. Three wormholes, from title page to p.70.

    The macaronic genre created by the author himself is a burlesque and fantastical poetry written not in Latin, but in low Latin, a slang Latin mixing the dialect of Mantua and Italian. The author's pseudonym means Merlin the cook, and the macaronicorum is a dish of macaroni. This defrocked monk tells us the story of Baldus and his nomadic adventures. The episode of the giant Fracasse and the rogue Cingar probably served as a source of inspiration for François Rabelais, who was notably inspired by the life of the monk Folengo and his burlesque style, practicing excessive enumeration and generalized mockery. Folengo died in 1544. Folengo's works form one of the most original creations of Italian Renaissance literature.
    €1,200
  79. Ploutarhou tou Haironeos Ethika suggrammata, en 'ois muria sfalmata katorthotai. Plutarchi chaeronei moralia opuscula, multis mendarum milibus expurgata
    PLUTARQUE
    Ploutarhou tou Haironeos Ethika suggrammata, en 'ois muria sfalmata katorthotai. Plutarchi chaeronei moralia opuscula, multis mendarum milibus expurgata
    Per Hier. Frobenium • et Nic. Episcopium|Basilae [Basel] • (Bâle) [Basel] 1542|20 x 30 cm|relié
    Rare Greek edition of the Moralia (moral and miscellaneous works) published by editor Hieronymus Froben and his brother-in-law Nicolaus Episcopius who continued the work of their father Johann Froben, making Basel an important center of printing. Fine publisher's device on title page and a woodcut headpiece at the beginning of the first treatise. Text entirely in Greek on 47 lines. Seventeenth-century manuscript annotations on the title page.
    Modern speckled paper boards binding, smooth spine, printed label; joint slightly cracked at head, very solid binding. Corner dampstain and tiny lack on title page, several other more extensive but faint dampstains on the last ten leaves of the volume. Lacking 3 pages at the end, after the complete text, with the printer's device. A copy with fine margins.
    €1,100
  80. "Laissez circuler la monnaie d'argent et de billon utile à notre commerce". Affiche originale composée par les enfants de France
    "Laissez circuler la monnaie d'argent et de billon utile à notre commerce". Affiche originale composée par les enfants de France
    Comité national de prévoyance et d'économies pour la guerre|Paris s. d. [circa 1917]|36 x 78 cm|une feuille
    First edition of this color lithographed poster signed "Béatrice Grognuz, élève Bd Péreire 221".
    This poster was published during the First World War, it is part of a series drawn by children from Paris schools, to encourage the French to participate in the war effort.
    Rare copy in fine condition of these propaganda posters, most of which have been destroyed.
    €300
  81. Oeuvres
    Jean-Baptiste-Louis GRESSET
    Oeuvres
    Chez Edouard Kermaleck|à Londres [London] 1772|9.50 x 16.50 cm|relié
    New edition.
    Full brown marbled and glazed sheep binding. Spine with raised bands, decorated. Red morocco title and volume labels. One lack at head of volume II. Good copy.
    This edition contains the letters of Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, Vert-Vert, the Eclogues, the Odes and various pieces, the Discourse on harmony, a tragedy and two comedies, as well as the speech delivered at the Académie française. Poet and playwright, his career began with light and playful poetry which had great success, notably Vert-Vert, his career continued after the 1740s in a more religious and serious register.
    €250
  82. Voyage pittoresque sur les bords du Rhin
    Edmond Auguste TEXIER
    Voyage pittoresque sur les bords du Rhin
    Mrizot|Paris 1858|17.50 x 27 cm|relié
    First edition, illustrated with 24 steel engravings by the Rouargue brothers, including 2 hand-colored woodcuts.
    Contemporary half navy blue shagreen binding. Spine with false raised bands decorated with gilt compartments. Shagreen-textured cloth boards with blind fillets. Gilt edges. White moiré endpapers.
    Fine copy, in perfect condition, free from foxing and retaining its tissue guards.
    This book which visits all the cities along the Rhine was published during the golden age of tourism there; the spa towns of the Rhine were then fashionable, as were the Swiss and German cities. The work consists of descriptions, contemporary and historical anecdotes and notes on customs.
    €500
  83. Oeuvres
    Nicolas BOILEAU DESPREAUX
    Oeuvres
    Chez Les libraires associés|à Paris 1772|12 x 21 cm|5 volumes reliés
    New edition, illustrated with a frontispiece by Picart engraved by Winkeles, 2 allegorical figures by van der Meer (the Epistle and the Poetic Art), and 6 figures after Picart re-engraved by Vinkeles for Le lutrin, 4 title vignettes by van der Meer and one by F. de Bakker. This edition also appeared in Amsterdam, published by Changuion. Picart's figures were taken from the 1718 edition, they are printed on thick paper.
    Contemporary full scaled calf binding. Richly decorated spine with raised bands, head and tail rolls. Green morocco title and volume labels. Triple fillet frame on covers. Green painted edges. One tear with lack at head of volume I; headcap of volume II worn down; lack at head of volume III. Several corners bumped. Lower right corner worn. Despite the noted defects, handsome binding, with very decorative appearance. Fresh copy, with wide margins.
    After the great edition of Boileau's works published in 1718 in folio format, and given the success, fine editions of this author followed one after another in 1722, 1729, 1745, with variants. This last edition, well printed, whose subtle typographical variations suggest the reduction of a folio, has been revised, and the spelling has been modernized; the pamphlet Boileau aux prises avec les jésuites has been restored, and a life of the author has been added. Finally, one cannot emphasize enough the critical quality of this edition, which takes up the abundant and judicious remarks and commentaries of Saint-Marc from the 1745 edition.
    €800
  84. Causeries du lundi
    Charles-Augustin SAINTE-BEUVE
    Causeries du lundi
    Garnier frères|Paris 1857|11.50 x 18.50 cm|15 volumes reliés
    Third edition, first in parts.
    Contemporary half caramel-colored calf over marbled paper boards, spine in six compartments with gilt dots and double gilt compartments richly gilt with decorative motifs, dark red morocco title pieces and dark green volume labels, some headpieces slightly rubbed, headpiece of volume four repaired, some joints cracked and repaired, gilt fillet frame to covers, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, some corners bumped, top edge gilt.
    Handsome autograph inscription signed by Charles Augustin Saint-Beuve to Madame Paul Huet, the wife of the noted Romantic painter and friend of Victor Hugo.
    Manuscript ex donos of Pierre Jean David d'Angers' grandson to start of each volume.
    A little spotting, sometimes heavy, to some leaves.
    €1,500
  85. Commentarius in sphaeram procli diadochi. Cui adiunctus est Computus Ecclesiasticus, cum Calendario triplici, et prognosatico tempestatum ex ortu et occasu stellarum
    PROCLUS, Georg HENISCH
    Commentarius in sphaeram procli diadochi. Cui adiunctus est Computus Ecclesiasticus, cum Calendario triplici, et prognosatico tempestatum ex ortu et occasu stellarum
    Typis Davidis Franci|Augustae Vindelicorum [Augsburg] • (Augsburg) 1609|15 x 20 cm|relié

    The rare first edition. Printed in two columns. Vignette of a sphere on the title page. 14 in-text figures and diagrams and numerous tables, notably a calendar of the position of the stars and zodiac figures, tables of latitudes and longitudes.



    Contemporary limp vellum binding with flaps. Smooth spine unlettered. Traces of ties. Split to upper joint at head over two centimeters. Various stains. Lacking the first endleaf before the title. Lower right corner of title page missing. Brown stain to lower right corner from leaf 14 to leaf 32.



    Commentary by Georg Henisch on the treatise of the sphere by Proclus, the celebrated Neo-Platonic philosopher of the 5th century. The first part is a Latin translation, with the Greek text on the left, of the treatise of the sphere. This astronomical treatise follows Ptolemy's system and studies the theory of the five climatic zones, seeking to clearly explain astronomical phenomena.

    €1,600
  87. Oeuvres
    Louis-Ferdinand CÉLINE
    Oeuvres
    Club de l'honnête homme|Paris 1981-1983|18 x 26.50 cm|9 volumes en reliures de l'éditeur sous étuis
    Edition illustrated with original artwork by Raymond Moretti, one of the numbered copies on laid paper, the only printing along with 300 copies on Rives vellum.
    Publisher's Bradel bindings in full chocolate imitation morocco, smooth spines, covers decorated with gilt interlacing, mustard paper endpapers and pastedowns, top edges gilt, mustard cardboard slipcases bordered with chocolate imitation morocco.
    Introduction by Frédéric Vitoux.
    Set illustrated with numerous original color compositions by Raymond Moretti.
    Handsome complete set in 9 volumes.
    €600
  89. De la louange à la souveraineté. Manuscrit autographe et tapuscrit complets
    Maurice BLANCHOT
    De la louange à la souveraineté. Manuscrit autographe et tapuscrit complets
    S. n. • [ Journal des débats]|s. l. • [Paris] s. d. [1943]|13.50 x 21 cm|4 1/2 pages in-8
    Autograph manuscript by the author, 4 and a half octavo pages, published in the June 2, 1943 issue of the Journal des Débats.
    Complete manuscript in very dense handwriting, with numerous deletions, corrections and additions.
    Literary chronicle published on the occasion of the publication of Servius et la fortune by Georges Dumézil. The complete typescript is included.

    By devoting his study to Dumézil's work on Servius, Blanchot established a crucial milestone in the evolution of his own thought, the passage from political conviction to literary engagement.
    This reflection on sovereignty indeed led the former Maurrassian to reorient his value system, subjecting the prince's power to the people's benevolence: "La louange des hommes est une divinité sous le patronage de laquelle se place le souverain choisi par la voix publique" ["The praise of men is a divinity under whose patronage the sovereign chosen by public voice places himself"].
    Starting from this legitimation of the sovereign by the poet's word and his alienation by the "puissance du blâme" ["power of blame"], Blanchot evolved toward a magical power of speech, first for the sovereign's use: "son pouvoir royal (...) n'est réel que par la maîtrise qu'il a sur les mots" ["his royal power (...) is real only through his mastery over words"]; then "dépassant toute forme d'échange. [La poésie] est par excellence ce qui est donné, ce qui manifeste le don des dieux en assurant le crédit des hommes." ["surpassing all forms of exchange. [Poetry] is par excellence what is given, what manifests the gift of the gods while ensuring the credit of men."]
    Maurice Blanchot's position was now perfectly established: he did not sacrifice Politics for Letters, he affirmed the predominance of the literary over the political and henceforth devoted his entire life "to literature and to the silence that belongs to it".


    Between April 1941 and August 1944, Maurice Blanchot published 173 articles on recently published books in the "Chronicle of intellectual life" of the Journal des Débats. In half a newspaper page (approximately seven octavo pages), the young author of "Thomas l'obscur" took his first steps in the field of literary criticism and thus inaugurated a theoretical work that he would later develop in his numerous essays, from "La Part du feu" to "L'Entretien infini" and "L'Écriture du désastre". From the first articles, Blanchot demonstrated an analytical acuity far exceeding the literary current events that motivated their writing. Oscillating between classics and moderns, first-rate writers and minor novelists, he established in his chronicles the foundations of critical thinking that would mark the second half of the 20th century. Transformed by writing and by war, Blanchot broke, through a thought exercised "in the name of the other", with the violent Maurrassian certainties of his youth. Not without paradox, he then transformed literary criticism into a philosophical act of intellectual resistance to barbarism at the very heart of an "openly Maréchaliste" newspaper: "Burning a book, writing one, are the two acts between which culture inscribes its contrary oscillations" (Le Livre, In Journal des Débats, January 20, 1943). In 2007, the Cahiers de la NRF brought together under the direction of Christophe Bident all the literary chronicles not yet published in volumes with this pertinent analysis of Blanchot's critical work: "novels, poems, essays give rise to a singular reflection, ever more confident in its own rhetoric, delivered more to the echo of the impossible or to the sirens of disappearance. (...) Not without contradictions or sidesteps, and in the feverish certainty of a work that begins (...) these articles reveal the genealogy of a critic who transformed the occasion of the chronicle into the necessity of thought." (C. Bident). Autograph manuscripts by Maurice Blanchot are extremely rare.
    €1,500
  90. Le mythe de Giraudoux. Manuscrit autographe et tapuscrit complets.
    Maurice BLANCHOT (Jean GIRAUDOUX)
    Le mythe de Giraudoux. Manuscrit autographe et tapuscrit complets.
    S. n. • [ Paysage dimanche]|s. l. • [Paris] s. d. [1945]|11.50 x 22 cm|3 pages in-4
    Autograph manuscript by the author, 3 quarto pages, published in issue 17 of October 7, 1945 of the newspaper Le Paysage Dimanche. Complete manuscript in very dense handwriting, with numerous deletions, corrections and additions.
    Chronicle published on the occasion of the numerous studies on Giraudoux's work that appeared since his death in January 1944.
    The complete typescript is included.
    While the numerous references to his work in the articles of the Journal des Débats reveal Giraudoux's ascendancy over Blanchot, the latter nevertheless manifests a clear desire to free himself from this paternity. Thus he removes from Faux-Pas numerous references to Giraudoux's work (cf C. Bident, M. B. De la chronique à la théorisation). This article published in 1945 is a unique testimony to the ambivalence of feelings toward an admired master who could no longer serve as a model for his disciple, transformed by writing and war.
    "Certes, un auteur, comme celui de Judith ne peut pas être un auteur de tout repos mais ce qu'il a créé est beau et ce beau n'est pas "ce qui nous désespère". Il est trop facile de voir que, quoi qu'il veuille, il ne va jamais jusqu'à compromettre en son art, l'harmonie la compréhension, la mesure. Comme une malédiction jetée sur la réalité inaccessible, il formerait un monde entièrement faux? Mais pas si faux: nous n'y perdons pas pied, nous ne cessons de nous y reconnaitre et au contraire, pour certains comme Sartre, c'est celui de la banalité même des concepts de chaque jour." ["Certainly, an author like the one who wrote Judith cannot be a restful author, but what he has created is beautiful and this beauty is not 'what drives us to despair'. It is too easy to see that, whatever he may wish, he never goes so far as to compromise in his art, harmony, understanding, measure. Like a curse cast upon inaccessible reality, would he form an entirely false world? But not so false: we do not lose our footing there, we never cease to recognize ourselves in it and on the contrary, for some like Sartre, it is that of the very banality of everyday concepts."]


    Between April 1941 and August 1944, Maurice Blanchot published 173 articles on recently published books in the "Chronicle of intellectual life" of the Journal des Débats. In half a newspaper page (approximately seven octavo pages), the young author of "Thomas l'obscur" took his first steps in the field of literary criticism and thus inaugurated a theoretical work that he would later develop in his numerous essays, from "La Part du feu" to "L'Entretien infini" and "L'Écriture du désastre". From the first articles, Blanchot demonstrated an analytical acuity far exceeding the literary current events that motivated their writing. Oscillating between classics and moderns, first-rate writers and minor novelists, he established in his chronicles the foundations of critical thinking that would mark the second half of the 20th century. Transformed by writing and by war, Blanchot broke, through a thought exercised "in the name of the other", with the violent Maurrassian certainties of his youth. Not without paradox, he then transformed literary criticism into a philosophical act of intellectual resistance to barbarism at the very heart of an "openly Maréchaliste" newspaper: "Burning a book, writing one, are the two acts between which culture inscribes its contrary oscillations" (Le Livre, In Journal des Débats, January 20, 1943). In 2007, the Cahiers de la NRF brought together under the direction of Christophe Bident all the literary chronicles not yet published in volumes with this pertinent analysis of Blanchot's critical work: "novels, poems, essays give rise to a singular reflection, ever more confident in its own rhetoric, delivered more to the echo of the impossible or to the sirens of disappearance. (...) Not without contradictions or sidesteps, and in the feverish certainty of a work that begins (...) these articles reveal the genealogy of a critic who transformed the occasion of the chronicle into the necessity of thought." (C. Bident). Autograph manuscripts by Maurice Blanchot are extremely rare.
    €1,500
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