A unique combination of French translations of the first two philosophical works on the Sublime, marking the beginning of the most important reflection on aesthetics in Western history.
Extremely rare first edition of the first French translation of a philosophical work by Immanuel Kant, and the second ever translation of a Kantian text. The others were only translated during the 19th century. Illustrated with a portrait of the author by Benezy. The first edition in German was published in 1764 in Königsberg under the title "Beobachtungen über das Gefühl des Schönen und Erhabenen".
Contemporary half brown roan binding with vellum corners, smooth spine ruled in gilt, blue paper boards, white paper pastedowns and endpapers, yellow red-speckled edges. Some marks on the endpapers, scattered foxing more noticeable on a few leaves.
This essay contains Kant's first observations on aesthetics - he had previously only published scientific texts - and more specifically on the sublime, a concept that would come into its own in Critique of Judgment (1790) left untranslated until the 19th century as it is the case with almost all of Kant's oeuvre.
"Certainly even before 1781 Kant's name was not completely unknown at the University of Strasbourg, where some students and professors had cited him in their research or lectures. The works of the Berlin Academy which included memoirs by staunch opponents of Kantianism were not completely ignored in France. However, it was not until the French Revolution and even the end of the Convention and the beginning of the Directoire, i.e. almost fifteen years after the publication of the Critique of Pure Reason that people in France began to talk about Kant and his work" (Jean Ferrari, "L'œuvre de Kant en France dans les dernières années du XVIIIè siècle" Les Études philosophiques No. 4, Kant (oct-dec 1981), pp. 399-411).
Bound at rear: Second French translation of Burke's text by E. Lagentie de Lavaïsse considered superior to the first 1765 translation by Abbé Des François. Illustrated with a portrait of the author by Mariage. The very first work on aesthetics, published in 1757 and translated into English the same year under the title A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful.
Burke regarded the sublime as that which has the power to compel and destroy us (a "delightful terror"). As an ardent admirer of his philosophy, Kant went beyond this consideration in Critique of Judgment (1790), concluding that the sublime is "that which is absolutely great", something in the face of which man feels inferior and feels respect.
The first two modern definitions of the sublime - one as realization of human reason, the other as reason's confrontation with that which surpasses it - aptly bound together by a scholar aware of the philosophical debates of his time.
First edition, one of 150 numbered copies, the only copies on deluxe paper.
Inscribed and signed by Jean-Pierre Abel to Paul Devivat.
Rare and handsome copy with full margins.
First edition published under the pseudonym Cévennes and completed under oppression in Paris on August 1, 1944.
Pleasant copy.
Illustrated edition with 57 wood engravings drawn and engraved by Frans Masereel, one of the numbered copies on English paper.
Minor tears without consequence at the head and foot of the spine, a pleasing copy exceptionally enriched with a second state (on Japan or China paper) of 9 of the engravings.
First edition in book form; the rare original edition was issued in parts between 1845 and 1856 (Brunet, I, 1707. Garrison and Morton reference three works by Cazenave on skin diseases).
Illustrated with 60 large and striking hand-colored plates.
Contemporary half red shagreen binding, spine with five raised bands adorned with double gilt and black fillets, sides covered in marbled “cat’s eye” paper, some rubbing to the upper portion of the front board, endpapers and pastedowns in combed marbled paper, corners a bit worn; later binding.
Minor foxing, a pleasing copy overall.
Edition adorned with original color illustrations by Alain Tercinet.
Publisher's full brick cloth binding, smooth spine, copy complete with its illustrated dust jacket showing minor marginal tears and a sunned spine.
Slightly warped copy, internally in pleasant condition.
Inscribed and signed by Alain Tercinet to Robert Sabatier.
First edition.
Illustrated with 16 drawings by Georges Adam.
A superb copy of this rare booklet by Louis Aragon, a true "anti-clerical, anti-capitalist, anti-colonialist, anti-patriotic" (Pierre Juquin) catechism for the children of the exploited working masses.
"On June 25, 1932, the Imprimerie centrale completed printing for the Bureau des éditions et de diffusion, 132, Faubourg Saint-Denis, Paris, a beautiful pamphlet, now a bibliophilic rarity [...] On the cover, a large red star - an important and recurrent image in Aragon's work - appears imprinted on children's brains. Sixteen quatrains, droll and didactic, punctuated for ease of reading, alternate with drawings by Georges Adam, whose nearly expressionist mockery, reminiscent of Rouault's paintings, overturns taboos and myths." (Aragon. Un destin français 1897-1939)
After breaking with the Surrealists, Aragon threw himself wholeheartedly into the Journal de la lutte antireligieuse. He wrote this pamphlet from Moscow and published it on the Party's presses, to ignite the fervor of proletarian youth. French poet Jacques Prévert would later follow a similar path with his play Émasculée conception. Anticlerical activism within French Communist associations was in full swing at the time: every symbol and events of religious life were reinterpreted through the lens of class struggle. "Red baptisms" were organised, forming a community of "Godless" children (drawing their name from the Association of Godless Workers) who corresponded with their Soviet counterparts.
Aragon contributed to these new rituals with this particularly radical children's book, deemed excessively antipatriotic by Maurice Thorez, which he would later disavow at the end of his life.
First edition, not issued for sale (cf. Sabin 30913).
Some defects with losses along the spine, minor corner creases to the boards, endpapers browned, otherwise a clean and attractive copy internally.
Published in the very year of Maximilian's coronation. The Austrian author supports the acceptance of the crown by the archduke prince, an opinion not shared by many of his compatriots. Contains reflections on the Mexican nation, the two Americas, United States politics, etc.
First edition, an advance (service de presse) copy.
Covers and spine very skillfully repaired.
Handsome autograph inscription from Pierre Drieu La Rochelle to Henri Béraud.
First edition, one of the review copies.
Bradel binding in full wood-patterned boards, smooth spine, red morocco title-piece, covers and spine preserved, binding signed by Thomas Boichot.
A fine copy, handsomely bound.
Precious autograph presentation signed by Jacques Chardonne to Henri Béraud.
Head of collection of this important medical periodical, whose significance needs no further demonstration. It was published until 1914 (volume XLII) and included most of the essential contributions to the advancement of medical science in the 19th century.
The set is illustrated with 61 plates hors-texte, some lithographed and/or folding.
Half cherry calf bindings, smooth spines decorated with gilt fillets, romantic arabesques and blind-stamped fleurons, a few small rubs to some headcaps or joints, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, some corners slightly bumped, marbled edges, period bindings.
Beautiful set in a contemporary romantic binding signed by Bunetier.
First edition.
Elegant half navy blue morocco over marbled paper boards by Pierre-Lucien Martin, spine in six compartments with gilt fillets to bands and geometric decoration of red morocco onlays, date gilt at foot of spine, gilt fillet to boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt dentelle frame to pastedowns, covers and spine preserved, top edge gilt.
A very good copy in a handsome binding.
Exceptional autograph inscription from Claude Farrère : "A Pierre Louÿs son très petit disciple [To Pierre Louÿs, his very humble disciple]", along with Chinese ideograms.
First edition, one of 1,200 numbered copies on alfa paper, the only large paper copies after 50 on Marais.
Spine very slightly faded as usual.
Handsome autograph inscription signed by Henri Michaux to Raymond Queneau.
Rare and genuine posthumous first edition of the first six books of the Confessions, the remaining volumes not appearing until 1789. Several other editions were issued shortly thereafter, but the evidence provided by the commentary published in the June 1782 issue of the Journal Helvétique clearly establishes that this separately printed edition, known as the "large type" issue, is indeed the very first (F. Michaux, "L'Édition originale de la première partie des 'Confessions' de J.-J. Rousseau" in Revue d'Histoire littéraire de la France, 35th Year, No. 2 (1928), pp. 250-253).
Contemporary half calf bindings, flat spines tooled with gilt fillets and decorated with havana morocco title and volume labels, marbled paper boards, all edges blue.
A handsome copy of this seminal text of the autobiographical genre, preserved in a contemporary binding.
First edition of the French translation, one of 51 numbered copies on pure wove paper, the only copies printed on deluxe paper.
Spine and boards slightly and marginally sunned, as often.
Rare and handsome copy of this work, splendidly adapted for the screen in 1967 by Richard Brooks, with Robert Blake, Scott Wilson, John Forsythe, and John MacLiam in the leading roles.
Richard Brooks even went so far as to film in the actual house where the crime took place, as well as in the same courthouse, where 7 of the 12 jurors played their own roles.
Subscription prospectus issued in the format of the work, with 2 black-and-white reproductions in the text and 2 colour plates hors texte.
A fine copy.
First edition, illustrated with a frontispiece, in-text illustrations and maps, and a double-page map at the end.
Literary collaboration by Joseph Sachot.
Drawings, cover design and maps by André Millot.
Contemporary binding in green half shagreen with corners, smooth spine without title, marbled paper boards, illustrated wrappers bound in on tabs and preserved.
A compelling account of the life and conditions of Inuit populations: Father Roger Buliard (1909–1978), an Oblate of Mary Immaculate, served for fifteen years as a missionary in the Arctic before joining the Canadian military chaplaincy.
The book was a great success upon publication and inspired many future explorers.
Our copy includes an autograph note signed by Roger Buliard to a friend nicknamed Titi, written on thin paper and dated March 19, 1950.
Also included:
I. Two handwritten postcards addressed to the recipient of the note, along with newspaper clippings.
II. A small oblong 12mo green cloth album with eyelets and ties, containing 29 original silver print photographs, small in format (from 12 x 7 cm to 4 x 4 cm), mounted on heavy paper, depicting the author and various moments from his 1947 expedition.
A delightful ensemble.
Extremely rare first edition of the French translation prepared by Désiré Mouren.
There appears to have been no Portuguese edition of this pioneering work in the field of oceanography.
Losses to the spine, upper cover starting to detach, small marginal losses to the boards.
Francisco Calheiros da Graça (1849-1906), a Brazilian naval lieutenant, took part in the operations against Paraguay and conducted several scientific studies and hydrographic surveys.
Extremely rare.
Manuscript ex-libris on the upper cover.
Illustrated edition with a frontispiece and 60 in-text engravings.
No copy listed in the CCF.
Publisher's brown cloth binding, flat spine, spine and covers decorated with gilt African-inspired motifs, blind-stamped border on covers, marbled edges, minor bumping to lower corners.
A pleasing copy.
This work is a popular biography of David Livingstone, focused solely on his African expeditions, intended for a German-speaking readership.
Exhibition catalogue of paintings by Tony Curtis, presented at the Center Art Galleries in Hawaii.
Catalogue illustrated with reproductions of works by Tony Curtis.
A very good copy. The original mailing envelope for the catalogue is included.
Signed by Tony Curtis in blue felt-tip pen on the front cover of the catalogue.
Provenance: from the collection of the distinguished autograph collector Claude Armand.
Later print of a black and white photograph of Joan Crawford, taken in the 1950s.
A fine copy.
Inscribed and signed by Joan Crawford to the renowned autograph collector Claude Armand: "Dear Claude thnak you for your warming letter. Bless you Joan Crawford."
Original colour photograph depicting a smiling Jacques Chirac.
Attractive ensemble held together by a paperclip, which has left a discreet mark in the upper left margin of the photograph.
Enclosed are an official letter, its envelope, and a card on which Jacques Chirac, then Prime Minister, wrote in black felt-tip pen the following words: "vous remercie de votre aimable message de félicitations et vous adresse ses sentiments les meilleurs."
Signed by Jacques Chirac in blue ink at the foot of the photograph.
Newspaper clipping from the Tribune de Genève featuring a photograph of Uri Geller, highlighting his skills as a magician and metal bender.
Rare autograph by Uri Geller in black felt-tip pen on his photograph.
Illustrated edition with 192 color plates of military uniforms, chiefly from the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras, after watercolors by Job (see Colas I, 1549).
Texts by various members of La Sabretache.
Contemporary bindings in cherry red morocco-grain half shagreen, spines with five raised bands framed by black fillets, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt top edges, original wrappers preserved.
The illustrated plates are distributed as follows: in the first volume, 48 hand-colored plates numbered and captioned on their tissue guards; in the second, 48 unnumbered color plates; in the third, 48 unnumbered color plates; and in the fourth, 48 unnumbered color plates.
Complete set of all that appeared in La Sabretache, consisting of 48 issues each containing 4 color plates.
Themes of military life, patriotism, and even nationalism were the hallmark of Jacques Onfroy de Bréville (1858-1931), an illustrator whose vocation was initially thwarted.
A handsome set uniformly bound in contemporary bindings.
A collection of four extremely rare first editions:
- Thuileur des trente-trois degrés de l'écossisme (1813), “a rare and sought-after work and one of the best thuileurs in existence...” (Caillet, I, 2910). With a frontispiece and 14 plates (one folding) as well as a large folding table at end;
- Récapitulation de toute la maçonnerie ou Description et explication de l'hiéroglyphe universel du maître des maîtres (1812) with two plate;
- l'Explication de la croix philosophique (1806) with a folding plate showing the eponymous cross;
- l'Explication de la pierre cubique (1806) with a folding plate describing the stone.
This copy is further enriched with a small insert (8 x 10.5cm) entitled “Couplets d'obligations”, bound at page 30; these songs “to be sung at the end of every Masonic banquet.”
Contemporary half brown calf over green paper boards, spine with numerous gilt dentelles and fleurons, red russia title label.
A very good copy.
Crossed out pen and ink ex-libris to title.
Almost entirely unpublished handwritten letter from the painter Eugène Delacroix to the love of his youth, the mysterious “Julie”, now identified as being Madame de Pron, by her maiden name Louise du Bois des Cours de La Maisonfort, wife of Louis-Jules Baron Rossignol de Pron and daughter of the Marquis de La Maisonfort, Minister of France in Tuscany, patron of Lamartine and friend of Chateaubriand.
90 lines, 6 pages on two folded leaves. A few deletions and two bibliographical annotations in pencil on the upper part of the first page (“no114”).
This letter is one of the last to his lover in private ownership, all of Delacroix's correspondence to Madame de Pron being kept at the Getty Research Institute (Los Angeles).
Only nine of the ninety lines of this unpublished letter were transcribed in the Burlington Magazine in September 2009, alongside the long article by Michèle Hanoosh, Bertrand and Lorraine Servois, whose research finally revealed the identity of the famous recipient.
Sublime love letter from twenty-four-year-old Eugène Delacroix, addressed to his lover Madame de Pron, twelve years his senior, who unleashed the liveliest passion in him. This episode of the painter's youth, then considered the rising star of Romanticism, for a long time remained a mystery in the biography of Delacroix, who was careful to preserve the anonymity of his lover thanks to various pseudonyms: “Cara”, “the Lady of the Italians”, and even “Julie”, as in this letter, in reference to the famous epistolary novel Julie ou la Nouvelle Héloïse by Rousseau. For obvious reasons, Delacroix did not sign his name on any of the letters in correspondence with the lady.
A great figure of the legitimate aristocracy, the recipient of this feverish letter is Madame de Pron, daughter of the Marquis de La Maisonfort, Minister of France in Tuscany, patron of Lamartine, friend of Chateaubriand. Her beauty was immortalized in 1818 by Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, who painted her portrait in pastel, with an oriental hairstyle.
Delacroix and Madame de Pron met in April 1822 when the portrait of the latter's son, Adrien, was commissioned, a pupil at the Lycée Impérial (now Lycée Louis-le-Grand). Delacroix had been commissioned for the portrait by his close friend Charles Soulier, Madame de Pron's lover, who despite himself, served as an intermediary for Delacroix. In the absence of Soulier, who had gone to Italy, the painter and the young women established an intense romantic relationship. The portrait commission became a pretext for their tender meetings in his studio on rue de Grès, while no trace of the child's painting has been found to this day.
Their adventure lasted a little over a year, but it was one of the most intense passions of the artist's life.
Our letter undoubtedly corresponds to the last throes of their relationship, in the month of November 1823. After one of their visits at the end of a hiatus of several months, Delacroix writes to her again under the influence of emotion: “I come home with a shaken heart, what a wonderful evening! [...] Sometimes I say to myself: why did I see her again? In the calm sanctuary where I lived, even in the middle of the invisible places that I had formed [...] I managed to silence my heart”. Madame de Pron had indeed decided to bring an end to their intimate relationship (see her letter from 10 November 1823: “I want sweet friendship [...] I do not want to torment you”, (Getty Research Institute). Losing all discernment and with blind devotion, Delacroix attempts to revive their affair: “Make me lie, prove to me that your soul is indeed that of the Julie that I once knew, since mine has regained its charming emotions and its worries”.
But the painter runs into Soulier and General de Coëtlosquet, also lovers of Madame de Pron. Delacroix had narrowly avoided a final disagreement with Soulier, who had almost seen a letter from Madame de Pron in his apartments: “I pretend to have lost my key [...] I hope that my wrong towards him will not affect his relations with... God grant that he always ignores it!” (Journal, 27 October 1822, ed. Michèle Hanoosh, vol. 1, p. 94).
A prisoner of this love square, Delacroix resigns himself to sharing his lover's affection, but he bitterly reproaches her for it: “I fear that you cannot love perfectly. There has been a gap in your feelings which has been fatal to you [...] tell me no, tell me anyway, fool me if you want, I'll believe you, I want to believe you so much and I need it”.
Formalities and familiar invectives merge in the tormented mind of the painter. Ironically, Delacroix frequently stayed with Madame de Pron's other lover, her cousin Empire Général Charles Yves César Cyr du Coëtlosquet, with whom she stayed in rue Saint-Dominique. Delacroix will take his revenge on this rival in 1826 by painting for him the famous Nature morte aux homards (Louvre museum), taking care to slip in facetious references to the ultra-royalism of his sponsor: "I have completed the General's painting of animals [...] He has already seduced a provision of amateurs and I believe that will be funny at the Salon (1827-1828)” he writes in a letter to Charles Soulier.
A memory of Delacroix's affair with Madame de Pron remains in his ongoing painting, the Scènes du Massacre de Scio, a revelation of the 1824 Salon, which will place Delacroix as the leader of Romanticism and will revolutionise the history of painting. Indeed, through his lover, he obtained Mamluk weapons, of which there remains a study (J72) and which appear on the sides of the Spahi charging the women in the final composition. Also, a watercolor album at the hand of his friend Soulier shows him in the process of decorating the room of his former lover with Pompeian decorations in the château de Beffes, where he will briefly stay in June 1826.
The ardor of his passion for Madame de Pron is finally revealed by this letter which does not appear in any bibliographical essay or correspondence of the painter. Later, Delacroix will remember his lover fondly: “You will tell Madame de Pron that French women have no equal for grace” (letter to Soulier, 6 June 1825).
First edition of the exhibition catalogue presenting 37 works by Claude Monet at the Galerie Durand-Ruel from 9 May to 4 June 1904.
During the exhibition, most of the paintings were immediately purchased by American collectors.
Binding in vellum-effect paper boards, names of the catalogue preface writer and the painter inscribed in ink, water-effect paper endpapers, covers and spine preserved, curious ex-libris drawn by H. P. Gassier glued to a pastedown endpaper, binding signed Gonon.
Preface by Octave Mirbeau.
A rare and pleasant copy.
First edition, one of 150 numbered copies on offset, only print after 20 numbered copies.
Title vignette glued on the first board.
Text in French, English and German.
Illustrated with 14 photographs of the author performing different kinds of suicides.
First edition of this program of events organized by the Centre National d'Art Contemporain from 16 October to 23 December 1974, presenting the works of Christian Boltanski and Jacques Monory.
The December date has been modified in green felt pen at the foot of the program.
Presentation of photographic, cinematographic and book-based works by Christian Boltanski and pictorial works by Jacques Monory.
A very rare document.
First roneo edition of the prospectus for the exhibition organized by the A.R.C. (Animation Recherche Confrontation) cinema section at the instigation of Christian Boltanski.
Signs of folding due to having been placed in an envelope.
The event was attended by Edmund Alleyn, Gianni Bertini, Christian Boltanski, Guðmundur Guðmundsson said Erró, Gérard Fromanger, Ipousteguy, Jean Le Gac, Tamas Zanko, Bruce Nauman, Pesce, Martial Raysse, Peter Stämpfli.
A rare document.
First edition illustrated with wood engravings in the text by Gavarni, Daumier, D'Aubigny...
Bradel binding in full beige percaline, smooth spine with a black paper label, front cover decorated with an oil painting after the frontispiece, signed lower right "A. Dangleterre d'après document d'époque". Headcaps and joints skillfully restored.
A rare publication on Paris under Louis-Philippe. The work proceeds by subjects and articles: the wet-nurses’ office, flower sellers, baths, streetlamps, pavements, theatre outings, beards and moustaches, the Luxembourg Gardens, the Opera Ball, the auctioneers’ hall, lorettes and courtesans (Alexandre Dumas), restaurants and cheap eateries, the pawnshop, Monographie de la presse parisienne (Balzac), Jockey Club, etc.
"A very important work, remarkable for the fine gathering of writers and artists of the Romantic period who contributed to it." Carteret (Le trésor du bibliophile romantique et moderne).
Autograph letter signed by George Sand, addressed to her friend Stéphanie Bourjot, daughter of Étienne Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire. Four pages written in blue ink on a folded bifolium bearing George Sand’s monogram. Fold marks as usual.
This letter was partially published in Correspondance, vol. XIV, no. 7846.
A beautiful and partly unpublished letter in which George Sand discusses Marie Pape-Carpantier’s book and the education of her young maid, Marie Caillaud : « It is an excellent book, which I use to teach my young maid to read. She is extraordinarily intelligent, and this book opens her mind to all sorts of sound ideas. Educating this 18-year-old child—who, six months ago, was only two in terms of knowledge—has been a unique experience. She now seems her age, yet retains all the innocence of childhood. So every evening, we read Marie Carpentier’s little stories, and I enjoy them just as much as my pupil does. »
Marie Caillaud was only eleven years old when George Sand hired her to wash dishes and tend to the chicken coop, a task that earned her the nickname “Marie des poules.” But the writer soon recognized the young peasant girl’s intelligence, appointed her as housekeeper, and by 1856 included her in the performances of the Nohant theatre. Her education is first mentioned in early 1858, notably in a letter from George Sand to her friend Charles Duvernet: « During my winter evenings, I took on the education of little Marie, the one who acted with us. From a dish washer, I immediately raised her to the rank of housekeeper, a role for which her excellent mind makes her perfectly suited. The greatest obstacle was that she couldn't read. That obstacle no longer exists. In thirty half-hour lessons—fifteen hours in a month—she mastered all the difficulties of the language slowly but perfectly. This miracle is due to the admirable Laffore method, which I applied with the utmost gentleness to a perfectly lucid mind. » (16 February 1858)
Marie Caillaud would go on to become a notable actress at Nohant and move in the circles of George Sand’s illustrious guests: Delacroix, Gautier, Dumas, Prince Jérôme Bonaparte…
But Marie was not George Sand’s first pupil. All her life, Sand was deeply interested in pedagogy and taught not only her children and grandchildren, but also members of her household staff and local peasants.
This letter is a remarkable testament to her hands-on approach as a teacher, always seeking new and effective ways to impart knowledge : « What is lacking—or at least what I haven’t found—is a true reading method. I’ve devised one for my own use (never written down), based on Laffore’s and adapted to my own ideas. But what I haven’t found in primers for children or public school manuals is a well-crafted exercise book that teaches reading logically while also making sense of spelling. Does such a book exist? » Far from a casual activity, education was central to George Sand’s worldview. As Georges Lubin noted, her aim was not merely to teach literacy. Taught to write by her own mother at the age of five, Sand understood from an early age that the only path to equality lay through intellectual emancipation: « She understood very early on that the only road to equality was intellectual emancipation. The ignorance imposed upon women was the root of their servitude. The ignorance imposed upon the working classes underpinned class inequality. Education was the key to opening locked doors. » (« George Sand et l'éducation » in Nineteenth-Century French Studies, 1976)
A beautiful and important testimony to George Sand’s tireless struggle for the emancipation of women through education.
First edition published in the author’s collected works.
Some occasional foxing.
Half black morocco shagreen binding, smooth spine decorated with triple blind fillets and gilt fleurons, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, contemporary binding.
Signed autograph inscription by George Sand : "to my friend Charles Fournier."
Handwritten note by George Sand beneath the title on the title page: "suite de Flamarande" published the same year and by the same publisher as "Les deux Frères".
First edition on ordinary paper, with the correct colophon dated 26 February 1926.
A pleasant copy.
First edition, one of 10 numbered copies on imperial japon, ours one of 3 hors commerce lettered copies, a deluxe issue following 6 on chine.
Bound in full sienna morocco, flat spine, gilt date at foot, moiré-effect endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillet border on pastedowns, original wrappers and spine preserved (spine restored and backed), gilt edges, chemise edged in sienna morocco, slipcase in wood-effect board with white felt lining, contemporary binding signed by Roger Arnoult.
Our copy is enriched with a one-page signed autograph letter by Jean Cocteau, mounted on a guard, written from La Roche-Posay in Vienne, probably addressed to Pierre Benoit, in which he humorously evokes Charlie Chaplin, his fragile health, and his boredom: "... Me voilà dans ce film de Charlot : \"Charlot fait une cure\" - parmi les clowns et clowneries du mercurochrome... Le docteur H. arrive à éteindre mon fer de travail avec ses pelotes d'épingles aquatiques. Mon ventre gargouille. Si tu venais ce serait une très bonne cure. Que penses-tu de cette publicité pour La Roche : La Roche source d'ennuis."
A handsome copy, finely bound by Roger Arnoult, a graduate of the École Estienne, active until 1980, who collaborated with and worked for the foremost binders of his time such as René Aussourd, Anthoine-Legrain, Paul Bonet, Georges Cretté, Pierre-Lucien Martin...
"Tu me dis : Aime l'art, il vaut mieux que l'amour
[...]
Et moi. je te réponds : La langue du poête
Ne rend du sentiment que l'image incomplète" ["You tell me: Love art, it is better than love [...] And I answer you: The poet's language renders only an incomplete image of feeling"].
"Des maîtres les plus grands les œuvres les plus belles,
Auprès du beau vivant, compare, que sont-elles ?" ["The most beautiful works of the greatest masters, compared to living beauty, what are they?"]
Tu me dis : Aime l'art, il vaut mieux que l'amour ;
Tout sentiment s'altère et doit périr un jour !
Pour que le cœur devienne une immortelle chose,
Il faut qu'en poésie il se métamorphose,
Et que chaque pensée en sorte incessamment,
En parant sa beauté d'un divin vêtement.
Sentir, c'est aspirer!... c'est encor la souffrance ;
Mais créer, c'est jouir, ! c'est prouver sa puissance ;
C'est faire triompher de la mort, de l'oubli,
Toutes les passions dont l'âme a tressailli!
Et moi. je te réponds : La langue du poête
Ne rend du sentiment que l'image incomplète ;
Concevoir le désir, goûter la passion,
Nous fait dédaigner l'art et sa création ;
Formuler les pensers dont notre esprit s'enivre,
Ce n'est que simuler la vie : aimer, c'est vivre ; !
C'est incarner le rêve, et sentir les transports
Dont l'art ne peut donner que des emblèmes morts !
Des maîtres les plus grands les œuvres les plus belles,
Auprès du beau vivant, compare, que sont-elles?
Corrége et le Poussin, Titien et Raphaël,
Rubens, dont la palette est prise à l'arc-en-ciel,
Éblouissant nos yeux, ont groupé sur leurs toiles
Des visages divins et de beaux corps sans voiles !
Mais hier, quand soudain à nos regards charmés
Ces tableaux immortels se trouvaient animés,
Lorsqu'au lieu de la chair que la couleur imite,
Nous avons admiré cette chair qui palpite,
Où le sang, à travers l'épiderme soyeux,
Circule en répandant des reflets lumineux ;
Lorsque nous avons vu d'exquises créatures,
Dont les beaux torses nus, les bras aux lignes pures,
Le sein ferme et mouvant, le visage inspiré,
Faisaient vivre à nos yeux quelque groupe sacré,
Oh ! n'as-tu pas senti quelle impuissante envie
C'est de vouloir dans l'art inoculer la vie
Et ne t'es-tu pas dit, du réel t'enivrant :
La beauté seule est belle, et l'amour seul est grand !
First edition, one of 25 numbered copies on bouffant vellum paper from the Salzer mills, ours being No. 1, the only deluxe paper issue.
Handsome copy of this work awarded the Grand Prix du Roman of the Académie française.
First edition.
Each booklet is richly illustrated with in-text and full-page figures or photographs.
Expeditions in the Mediterranean (1952–1964), including the study of the islet of Grand Congloué, campaigns in the northeastern Mediterranean, along the coast of Provence, and in the Gulf of Genoa.
Campaigns in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean (1951–1954), and in the tropical Atlantic (1956–1962), including missions in the Gulf of Guinea, the Cape Verde Islands, and off the Atlantic coasts of South America. General index for volumes I to XI.
Back cover of the first volume soiled; small tear at the top of the front cover of the third booklet.
A rare and appealing complete set in 11 volumes.
First edition, one of 500 numbered copies on pure wove paper.
Bound in full sienna morocco, flat spine with a slight snag at head, date gilt at foot, moiré endpapers and pastedowns, single gilt fillet framing the pastedowns, original wrappers and spine preserved, gilt edges, chemise edged in sienna morocco, slipcase of wood-grained boards lined with white felt, contemporary binding signed by Roger Arnoult.
Our copy is enriched with a signed autograph letter, one page, by Jean Cocteau mounted on a tab, dated April 1959, probably addressed to Pierre Benoit: "Nôtre Pierre fantôme... c'est autour de votre souvenir qu'on se réunit. C'est une chaîne bien étonnante que celle de cette affreuse et délicieuse cabane. Pensez moi. Je pense à vous. Je vous aime et je me résigne à vous aimer en rêve."
A fine copy, handsomely bound by Roger Arnoult, a graduate of the École Estienne, active until 1980, who worked with and for the greatest binders of his time such as René Aussourd, Anthoine-Legrain, Paul Bonet, Georges Cretté, Pierre-Lucien Martin...
Illustrated edition with 2 folding maps and 10 engraved plates outside the text (see Garrison & Morton 71; DSB 613-614).
Contemporary full marbled calf binding, spine with six raised bands decorated with double black panels stamped with blind typographic motifs, burgundy shagreen title label, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, red edges.
Some restoration to the binding, spine rebacked; evidence of waterstaining to the upper margins of the leaves in the second volume.
Giovanni Maria Lancisi (1654–1720), an Italian physician trained at the University of Rome, produced significant work on mosquitoes and malaria (he introduced the term), as well as on cardiovascular diseases and aneurysms. These contributions are gathered in the present work, illustrated with ten anatomical plates of the heart. "Lancisi, great Italian clinician, was the first to describe cardiac syphilis; he was also notable as an epidemiologist, with a clear insight into the theory of contagion. He was physician to Pope Clement XI, who turned over to him the forgotten copper plates executed by Eustachius in 1552. Lancisi published these with his own notes in 1714. [...] Lancisi's posthumous De aneurysmatibus published in 1728 appears only in later collected editions" (Garrison & Morton).
First edition (cf. Polak, 9297. Only two copies listed in the CCF, at the BnF and Marseille).
Small loss at foot of spine, covers slightly soiled at the margins, contemporary ownership inscription at head of the front wrapper, some foxing.
Unique edition of this very bleak portrait of the state of the French navy at the end of the July Monarchy ("Tout est à refaire dans la marine, c'est un échaffaudage craquant de tous côtés, il faut y faire une révolution radicale, si l'on veut obtenir un résultat digne de la France ; tous les palliatifs employés jusqu'à présent, pour masquer la décrépitude de l'édifice, ne tendent qu'à inspirer une dangereuse confiance à ceux qui ne voient que la surface des choses"). The attribution comes from a handwritten note on the front cover, and is consistent: the future Admiral Louis-Adolphe Bonard (1805-1867) had just been appointed captain in 1847, and had spent much of his career in Oceania (cf. his chapter VII on the colonies).
First edition, with a frontispiece photograph depicting Gustave Eiffel in his laboratory, and 28 plates outside the text, some folding (an additional copy of plate 26 is included).
Publisher’s binding in white cloth-backed boards with corners, flat spine showing some soiling and small tears at head and foot, printed paper label mounted on spine, printed title on upper board, corners slightly rubbed.
Pleasant internal condition.
A light water stain in the left margin of the frontispiece and at the foot of the lower cover, some soiling to the bottom of the upper cover, and a few pencil annotations in the margins.
The author presents the results of experiments carried out at the Champ-de-Mars near the Eiffel Tower: 1. Installation of the laboratory and methods used (velocity measurement, aerodynamic balance, centres of pressure, pressure distribution on a plate surface, etc.). – 2. General results (square, rectangular and curved plates, parallel surfaces, cylindrical bodies, pressure distribution). – 3. Aeroplane wings (Esnault-Pelterie and Nieuport monoplanes; Wright, Maurice Farman and Bréguet biplanes). The volume is illustrated with 28 plates including diagrams, photographs, graphs, and technical schematics relating to these studies. A particularly interesting copy, annotated by a scientist named René Arnout, author of a paper published in 1910 in the Comptes rendus de l’Académie des sciences ("L’équilibre longitudinal et la courbure des surfaces portantes des aéroplanes"; see his handwritten note on p. 20 of the present volume).
First edition of the French translation of the only portion translated (and adapted) from the monumental Geographie der Griechen und Römer, comprising 14 volumes published between 1788 and 1825 in Nuremberg, which at the time constituted the finest synthesis of the Ancients’ geographical understanding of the known world (cf. Brunet 23 388).
First gatherings loosened, angular losses to the spine and boards, a few minor spots of foxing.
Konrad Mannert (1756–1834) was among the foremost Bavarian historians of his time.
Second editions, partially original, of the French and Dutch translations; the text is bilingual (Dutch and French), and includes numerous passages printed in Malay (cf. Cordier, "Indosinica", 1385. Not mentioned by Quérard).
Bound in chocolate-brown half shagreen, spine with four small raised bands decorated with gilt fillets and dots, joints split then restored, marbled paper boards showing some scratches, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, small tears to edges; 19th-century binding.
Waterstains affecting the first and last few leaves of the volume.
The translator’s lengthy preface (47 pp.) appears here for the first time. Pages 235 to 344 contain exercises (original texts and their translations). "The first proof sheet of my Dictionary of the Malayan language was received from the printer on the 21st March, and the last on 11th October 1811. On the 24th of that month I corrected the first sheet of the Grammar, and both works were published in the early part of the following year. The impression was large, and, unfortunately for my labours, the extensive possessions conquered from the Dutch, where the Malayan is spoken, were gratuitously restored to them, and my sale contracted. Within these few years the Government of the Netherlands has done me the honour of causing translations of my Grammar and Dictionary, which has been hably executed by M. Elout fils, and to the politeness of M. Elout, minister for the colonies, I am indebted for copies of them." Cf. Marsden, Memoirs, pp. 143–144, cited by Cordier. The English orientalist William Marsden (Dublin, 1754–1836) was also director of the East India Company and secretary to the Admiralty. He had travelled to Sumatra in 1771 following his brother, an agent of the Company, and devoted his time there to learning the local language. "After spending eight well-used years in Sumatra, he returned to England in 1779 in hopes of securing a more lucrative position. Initially unsuccessful, he dedicated his retirement to a geographical and historical study of the island. Around this time, he became acquainted with Sir Joseph Banks, who introduced him to several eminent figures such as Dalrymple, Rennell, Maskelyne, Solander, and Herschel. He was soon elected a member of the Royal Society. His History of Sumatra, published in 1782, earned him that distinction (...) The principal fruits of his studious retirement were a Grammar and a Dictionary of the Malay language, an excellent translation of the Travels of Marco Polo (1817), with a highly valuable commentary, a catalogue of his rich collection of Oriental coins, and three Essays, the most important of which concerns the languages of Polynesia" [Hoefer].
