Latest Acquisitions

First edition printed in a small number of copies on laid paper.
This work offers the particularity of being in a bilingual edition: in Breton and, below, the French translation.
Rare and handsome copy.

First edition, one of 312 numbered copies on alfa paper, the only deluxe copies after 28 on laid paper.
Handsome copy.
Iconography.

Illustrated edition with 75 wood-engraved plates for volume 1, 66 for volume 2, 74 for volume 3, 94 for volume 4, and 85 for volume 5, all designed by Alphonse de Neuville, Philipoteaux... The fifth volume was written by Madame de Witt, the author's daughter, based on notes left by him. Several colored maps.
Publisher's binding signed at foot Charles Magnier, red and gold. Half red shagreen with cloth boards. Spine with false raised bands decorated with four emblems of French royalty: the salamander, the sun, the dolphins and a crescent moon. Boards decorated with a large red and gold plate bearing in medallions the ciphers of several kings, on a background of red foliage. White watered silk endpapers. Some light rubbing to headcaps and joints, otherwise a very handsome copy in superb condition, despite some scattered foxing on very white paper, heavy on the endpapers (of different paper). One bump to head of volume 3.
Minister of public instruction, Guizot played a key role in the history of education and this work is the fruit of his reflections.

First edition, one of 120 numbered copies on Lana pure rag vellum for each volume, the only deluxe copies.
Very fine complete copy in two volumes of this third part of "Leçons de Ténèbres".

First edition, one of 30 numbered copies on pure rag Arches paper, deluxe copy.
Light foxing to first cover, otherwise a handsome copy.

First edition, of which there were no deluxe copies.
Photographic cover, iconography.
Handsome copy.
Autograph inscription signed by Hubert de Leusse to Roland Manescau.

First edition on ordinary paper.
Handsome copy.
Fine autograph inscription signed by Bertrand Poirot-Delpech: "A Claude Mauriac avec la joie de lui redire (p.296) mon estime. Amicalement." ["To Claude Mauriac with the joy of telling him again (p.296) my esteem. With friendship."]

Second edition, the most sought-after. The first was published by Emery in 1722 in 2 folio volumes, to which 2 supplement volumes were added in 1728. 1 frontispiece and 204 hors-texte plates of which approximately half are double-page corresponding, according to the publisher's count, to more than 300 figures. Repeated title vignette and vignettes at chapter heads. The double plates have all been mounted on tabs. Title pages in red and black. Copy on fine paper, the half-titles, titles and plates on thick rag paper, the text on laid paper. Wide margins.
Volume I: 6 maps, 1 plan, 47 hors-texte plates (single and double, as well as one triple). Volume II: 59 hors-texte plates (the majority double-page). Volume III: 84 hors-texte plates (approximately half double-page). Volume IV: 7 hors-texte plates. Rich iconography composed of views, battle scenes, architectural plates, tortures, costumes, ceremonies...
Armorial copy of Guillaume Pavée, baron de Vendeuvre (1779-1870). Or a peacock proper, on a chief azure charged with a crosslet or between two stars of the same, surmounted by a baron's crown.
Contemporary full glazed Lavallière calf binding. Spine with 6 raised bands, compartments richly decorated with small gilt tools, dark green morocco title and volume labels, gilt armorial stamps at center of boards and blind fillet border, gilt roll on edges, marbled paper doublures and endpapers, red edges. Upper joint of volume I split at head for 7 cm and small chip at foot of lower joint; upper joint of volume II split at tail for 7.5 cm; surface scratches, scrapes on boards of volume III, discreet repaired damage at tail; headcap of volume IV damaged, small wormhole trace at foot of upper joint and some surface scratches at tail of front board (some browning as well); wear to corners, some restored; some small wormholes, particularly on joints. Some leaves or gatherings slightly yellowed as always. Tear with small loss of text to leaf K (see photograph) of volume I; sound angular stain on some leaves of volume II; in volume III, harmless wormhole through foot margin to page 272 (becomes a small trace of about 1.5 cm on only a few leaves); small tear in paper of last leaf of volume IV. Other very minor usual defects of no consequence whatsoever. Fresh set overall.
Handsome copy of this monument of exegetical literature.

First edition and first issue, illustrated with 16 hors-texte engravings by Paul Gavarni engraved on steel by Charles Geoffroy and heightened in colors. Each plate features lace-cut decorative borders standing out against a pink paper background.
Publisher's full pictorial boards, original yellow paper endpapers and pastedowns somewhat soiled at margins as usual. Some corners slightly rubbed, as well as the headcaps; rear joint very slightly opened. Scattered foxing more pronounced on certain leaves.
Very handsome publication preserved in its romantic pictorial boards.

Autograph postcard signed by Maurice Béjart addressed to André-Philippe Hersin, written in blue ballpoint pen on the verso of a color photographic reproduction of the citadel of Methoni (Greece).
"Ma nouvelle compagnie me suit dans mon voyage solitaire. Oui il y a encore des lieux ici que le tourisme n'a pas touché. Je vous embrasse - Maurice" ["My new company follows me in my solitary journey. Yes there are still places here that tourism has not touched. I embrace you - Maurice"]
Journalist, dance critic and editor-in-chief of Les Saisons de la danse, Hersin was a great defender of Béjart's choreographic style and devoted laudatory articles to him in his magazine as well as monographic fascicles of his work.

Autograph postcard signed by Maurice Béjart addressed to André-Philippe Hersin, written in black ink pen on the verso of a color photographic reproduction of the Viale alla Chiesa in Venice on which two monks reading appear.
"Brother Maurice and brother A. Philippe walk while reading the latest issue of Les Saisons de la Croix...! 24 hours in Venice to meet Boulez. Tomorrow Milan. I think of you very much - M."
Journalist, dance critic and editor-in-chief of Les Saisons de la danse, Hersin was a great defender of Béjart's choreographic style and devoted laudatory articles to him in his review as well as monographic fascicles on his work.

Autograph postcard signed by Maurice Béjart addressed to André-Philippe Hersin, written in blue ballpoint pen on the verso of a photographic reproduction of Vermeer's painting titled A Lady Standing at a Virginal.
"Before leaving London I think of you. Impossible to reach Paris by telephone at normal hours. I leave tomorrow for Venice. Here the summer season has been a great success. Kiss - Maurice"
Journalist, dance critic and editor-in-chief of Les Saisons de la danse, Hersin was a great defender of Béjart's choreographic style and devoted laudatory articles to him in his review as well as monographic fascicles on his work.

Autograph postcard signed by Maurice Béjart addressed to André-Philippe Hersin, written in black felt-tip pen on the verso of the photographic reproduction of a black and white photograph by H. Manuel.
"Votre visite m'a fait tant de plaisir. Je pense à vous - Maurice" ["Your visit gave me such pleasure. I think of you - Maurice"]
Journalist, dance critic and editor-in-chief of Les Saisons de la danse, Hersin was a great defender of Béjart's choreographic style and devoted laudatory articles to him in his magazine as well as monographic fascicles of his work.

First edition, one of 10 numbered copies on Japan paper, deluxe copies.
Handsome copy despite the spine and boards slightly and marginally discolored as usual.

First edition, one of 25 numbered copies on pure Lana rag vellum, ours one of 7 hors commerce copies, the only deluxe copies
A handsome copy.

First edition on ordinary paper.
Spine lightly sunned, otherwise handsome copy.
Work illustrated with 174 drawings by Steinlen.
Rare signed autograph inscription by Théophile Alexandre Steinlen.

First edition, very rare, like all first editions by the author.
Half morocco binding with black long-grain corners from the late 19th century signed by Pouillet. Smooth spine decorated with mirror tooling. Author, title and date gilt. Double fillet on boards. Lack to lower corner of half-title and title. P.7 small lack to upper right corner. Paper perfectly fresh.
Romantic drama set in Madrid, where Gautier expresses his passion for bullfighting.

Signed autograph letter by Emile Zola - apparently unpublished - addressed to an unknown correspondent, written in black ink on a double sheet. Folds inherent to mailing.
Interesting letter relating the translation of Emile Zola's works and the legal disputes inherent to their clandestine distribution.
This missive is visibly addressed to a correspondent considered for the German translation of La Joie de vivre: "I would ask you to give me the promptest possible response regarding the translation of La Joie de vivre; for I am already receiving proposals from Germany, and I would like to know where I stand." In this autumn of 1883, Zola - though vacationing in Brittany - is very occupied with managing the translation of his works which he handles directly with publishers. We see here the determination with which he conducts negotiations: "I repeat that I will only accept a fixed sum paid in advance. It is simpler, and without possible surprises."
But things are not simple and Zola, whose works already enjoy great success, must fight against the clandestine publication of his novels. Completely overlooked by biographers, the disputes with Hungarian publisher Gustav Grimm are nonetheless a leitmotif of Zolian correspondence: "Monsieur Grimm of Budapest is a simple thief, who has my novels translated as they are published in French newspapers, without any authorization. Already the Neue Freie Presse of Vienna has sued him in my name. But it appears we have no treaty with Hungary. I await the signing of a treaty, which they say is imminent." Indeed, Grimm had already published without Zola's authorization German translations of two novels: Nana (1881) and Pot-Bouille (Der häusliche Herd, 1882). These illegal publications discouraged German publishers Curt Busch and George Kuhr who, very interested in distributing the novel to German-speaking readers, declared forfeit. Gustav Grimm, who finally agreed to respect commercial treaties, won the battle and published the very first German translation of La Joie de vivre in 1889 under the title Die Lebensfreude. The man whom Zola here calls a "simple thief" would finally obtain authorization to distribute the German translation of the entirety of the twenty volumes of the Rougon-Macquart between 1892 and 1899.
Interesting letter revealing the editorial mechanisms of the Rougon-Macquart and testifying to the ardor with which Zola conducted negotiations inherent to the translation of his great hereditary fresco.

Autograph letter signed by Emile Zola - apparently unpublished - addressed to Léon Carbonnaux, written in black ink on a double sheet. Folds inherent to mailing. Envelope included.
Important testimony to the colossal documentation work and the capital role of Emile Zola's informants in depicting his immense natural and social fresco.
This letter was sent to Léon Carbonnaux, department head at Bon Marché who transmitted precious information to Emile Zola for the creation of the eleventh volume of the Rougon-Macquart series: Au Bonheur des Dames.
Only two letters from Léon Carbonnaux to Emile Zola are known: they can be consulted in the digitization of the preparatory file for Bonheur des Dames made available online by the Bibliothèque nationale de France. However, we know thanks to this same file, which contains a long section entitled "Notes Carbonnaux," that this department head at Bon Marché provided a significant amount of information to Zola, particularly about employee customs and their remuneration. The two men undoubtedly met when Emile Zola, eager for information about the functioning of department stores, conducted field research in February and March 1882. This response would therefore be the very first that the writer addressed to the department head, in reply to his letter of June 19, 1882. Far from imagining the keen success that this new novel would achieve, Zola even seems to take it lightly: "Je désire simplement toucher au sujet dans mon livre, pour le besoin du petit drame commercial qui me sert de fable. Vos notes sont excellentes. [...] Enfin, me voilà au travail. Le sujet est à la fois bien vaste - et bien ingrat pour un roman. On devra me tolérer un peu de fiction, car il faut bien que je passionne la matière. Mais je tâche de m'en tenir le plus strictement possible à mes notes." ["I simply wish to touch on the subject in my book, for the needs of the little commercial drama that serves as my fable. Your notes are excellent. [...] Finally, here I am at work. The subject is both very vast - and very thankless for a novel. One will have to tolerate a bit of fiction from me, for I must make the material passionate. But I try to stick as strictly as possible to my notes."]
It must be said that Carbonnaux takes his role as informant very much to heart and, having no doubt about the book's success, he writes: "Dans le bâtiment chez nous d'ailleurs, partout on attend votre livre. Les lecteurs ne vous manqueront pas. Soyez-en sûr. Vous n'en êtes plus à compter les succès celui-là s'annonce comme devant dépasser les autres." (letter of June 19, 1882) For another work, on the same subject, has just appeared: "J'ai lu le volume de Pierre Giffard. Il me paraît comme vous injuste et même faux dans plusieurs parties. C'est bâclé. Il aurait fallu, pour un pareil ouvrage de documents purs, une entière exactitude. Moi qui écris une œuvre d'imagination, je ne me permettrai pas de tels écarts." ["I have read Pierre Giffard's volume. It seems to me, like you, unjust and even false in several parts. It is hastily done. For such a work of pure documents, complete accuracy would have been necessary. I, who write a work of imagination, would not allow myself such deviations."]It was Carbonnaux who had pointed out the work to Zola: "Pierre Giffard du Figaro vient de faire paraître chez Havard un vol de 300 pages intitulé « Les Grands bazars de Paris ». [...] On sait que le Figaro est inféodé au Louvre [magasin concurrent au Bon Marché] & on peut assurer que ce livre a été commandé et bâclé dès que votre intention de traiter le même sujet a été connue. [...] Il fallait déguiser un peu la réclame pour le Louvre." (letter of June 19, 1882)
We can clearly see here how much department stores fascinate and we understand the immense success that this novel by Zola describing their advent and supremacy would achieve.

Autograph letter signed by Emile Zola - apparently unpublished - addressed to Léon Carbonnaux, written in black ink on a double sheet. Folds inherent to mailing. Envelope included.
Important testimony to the colossal documentation work and the capital role of Emile Zola's informants in depicting his immense natural and social fresco.
This letter was sent to Léon Carbonnaux, department head at Bon Marché who transmitted precious information to Emile Zola for the creation of the eleventh volume of the Rougon-Macquart series: Au Bonheur des Dames.
Only two letters from Léon Carbonnaux to Emile Zola are known: they can be consulted in the digitization of the preparatory file for Bonheur des Dames made available online by the Bibliothèque nationale de France. However, we know thanks to this same file, which contains a long section entitled "Notes Carbonnaux," that this department head at Bon Marché provided a significant amount of information to Zola, particularly about employee customs and their remuneration. The two men undoubtedly met when Emile Zola, eager for information about the functioning of department stores, conducted field research in February and March 1882.
"J'ai pris l'inventaire comme cadre à un de mes chapitres. D'ailleurs je n'ai spécialement besoin que du travail dans le rayon des confections et dans le rayon des soieries. Il est inutile de me renseigner sur les autres rayons." ["I have taken the inventory as the framework for one of my chapters. Moreover, I specifically only need the work in the ready-to-wear department and in the silk department. It is unnecessary to inform me about the other departments."]
Thanks to this important letter we understand that it was Léon Carbonnaux who provided the essential information to Emile Zola for writing his very beautiful eleventh chapter devoted to the inventory: "Vous avez eu l'obligeance de me donner certains détails sur l'inventaire. Vous m'avez dit qu'on choisissait le premier dimanche d'août, qu'on fermait les portes et que tous les employés s'y mettaient. On vide toutes les cases, n'est-ce pas ? on jette les marchandises sur les comptoirs ou à terre, et l'inventaire n'est terminé que lorsqu'il n'y a plus absolument rien en place." ["You were kind enough to give me certain details about the inventory. You told me that the first Sunday in August was chosen, that the doors were closed and all the employees set to work. All the compartments are emptied, aren't they? The merchandise is thrown onto the counters or on the ground, and the inventory is only finished when there is absolutely nothing left in place."]The final version of Bonheur des Dames contains all the precious information provided by the department head of Bon Marché: "Le premier dimanche d'août, on faisait l'inventaire, qui devait être terminé le soir même. Dès le matin, comme un jour de semaine, tous les employés étaient à leur poste, et la besogne avait commencé, les portes closes, dans les magasins vides de clientes. [...] Neuf heures sonnaient. [...] Dans le magasin, inondé de soleil par les grandes baies ouvertes, le personnel enfermé venait de commencer l'inventaire. On avait retiré les boutons des portes, des gens s'arrêtaient sur le trottoir, regardant par les glaces, étonnés de cette fermeture, lorsqu'on distinguait à l'intérieur une activité extraordinaire. C'était, d'un bout à l'autre des galeries, du haut en bas des étages, un piétinement d'employés, des bras en l'air, des paquets volant par-dessus les têtes ; et cela au milieu d'une tempête de cris, de chiffres lancés, dont la confusion montait et se brisait en un tapage assourdissant. Chacun des trente-neuf rayons faisait sa besogne à part, sans s'inquiéter des rayons voisins. D'ailleurs, on attaquait à peine les casiers, il n'y avait encore par terre que quelques pièces d'étoffe. La machine devait s'échauffer, si l'on voulait finir le soir même." (Au bonheur des Dames, chapitre XI)
Concerned with giving this chapter - like all the rest of his work - great veracity, the naturalist questions his correspondent about very specific elements: "Mais il me faudrait maintenant des détails sur les écritures. D'abord le premier et le second ont-ils des rôles spéciaux dans l'inventaire ? Quel (sic) est leur part de besogne ? Et ensuite que font les commis qui écrivent ? Dresse-t-on des listes, pointe-t-on sur des registres ? Y a-t-il un travail préparatoire ? Enfin quelle est exactement la nature et la marche de la besogne, ce jour-là ?" ["But I would now need details about the paperwork. First, do the first and second assistants have special roles in the inventory? What is their share of the work? And then what do the clerks who write do? Are lists drawn up, are ledgers checked? Is there preparatory work? Finally, what exactly is the nature and progress of the work that day?"]On November 30, 1882, Léon Carbonnaux would respond precisely to these requests: "Le samedi soir toute la marchandise est sortie des casiers et mise en pile s'il s'agit d'étoffes en tas ou ballots si ce sont des confections - ce sont à terre ou sur les comptoirs - chaque sorte ou genre espacés afin de rendre la besogne de vérification intelligible à première vue. La marchandise ainsi classée est inscrite sur des notes de papier distribué par le bureau de comptabilité générale et numérotées de 1 à ... par comptoir. Le dimanche - grand appel. C'est là le jour d'inventaire. Un patron les note à la main vérifie - une pile par ci - une pile par là - suivant qu'un gros chiffre, prix ou quantité l'a frappé. Si la quantité est reconnue exacte - il paraphe la note - S'il y a erreur on rectifie. Cela arrive quelquefois mais c'est rare. Ce travail de vérification a été fait plusieurs fois par le premier ou les seconds. Quand le patron a terminé les commis remettent tout en place pour la vente du lendemain. Alors quelqu'un d'autorisé, premier ou second, appelle ces notes numérotées et paraphées - non plus les sommes ou totaux mais le détail à un caissier présent pour la circonstance. Derrière le caissier est un commis qui surveille si l'écrit est conforme à l'appel. C'est cet écrit qui reste pièce officielle dans les archives de la maison. Chaque rayon mis en ordre, les vendeurs s'en vont. Après eux chefs et sous-chefs de comptoir dès que l'appel est terminé - et ensuite les caissiers après que les tirages et additions sont faits. Quelques jours après le patron vient dire au chef de rayon le résultat de l'inventaire. Le chiffre de bénéfice donné inférieur ou supérieur au chiffre demandé par instructions générales - éloge ou blâme."
We note that these abundant explanations exceed Zola's requests and will allow him to further specify the description of the annual inventory, as evidenced by the chapter that will finally be published.
Very important letter tracing the elaboration of one of the most beautiful chapters of Au bonheur des Dames.

Autograph letter signed by Emile Zola - apparently unpublished - written in black ink on a double sheet and addressed to Léon Carbonnaux, department head at Bon Marché. Folds inherent to mailing. Envelope included.
Only two letters from Léon Carbonnaux to Emile Zola are known: they can be consulted in the digitized preparatory file for Au bonheur des dames made available online by the Bibliothèque nationale de France. However, we know from this same file, which contains a long section entitled "Notes Carbonnaux," that this department head at Bon Marché provided Zola with a significant amount of information, particularly about employee customs, their remuneration, and especially inventory techniques. The two men probably met when Emile Zola, eager for information about the workings of department stores, conducted field research in February and March 1882.
Very important unpublished letter shedding new light on the pre-original publication of Au bonheur des dames.
In his biography of Emile Zola, Henri Mitterrand writes: "Even before the novel was completed, Zola gave an extract to Panurge in November; and on November 23, 1882, Gil Blas announced its imminent publication in its columns." Our letter, discussing precisely this alleged pre-publication in Panurge, attests that it was simply a joke and thus contradicts Henri Mitterrand: "But your letter surprises and saddens me somewhat. How could you have been taken in by Panurge's stupid joke? Did you not notice that the entire issue is a 'farce'? Not one of the articles is authentic, they are parodies, and very poorly done ones at that." Indeed, reading the said extract cannot fool the assiduous reader of Zola, despite the introduction that the journalists wrote: "After Nana and Pot-Bouille, those epics of elegant vice and bourgeois vice, M. Emile Zola wanted to create one of honesty: Au bonheur des Dames, which will appear shortly, is a reassuring painting of innocence and virtue; the greatest success is assured for this new work whose characters move in the setting of a large novelty store; Parisian high commerce will not long await its observer and painter. We thank Emile Zola for having kindly cut out, especially for Panurge, a few pages from his still unpublished work, and we are proud to give the public first an extract from this work of such high morality and such powerful interest." (Panurge no. 4 of October 22, 1882)
The sentences of this false Zolian text are exaggeratedly long and Panurge took the liberty of endowing the novel with a male main character, Denis Mouret, an amalgam of Denise (the true heroine of the book to appear) and Octave Mouret. One can think that it is a text composed from elements of Pot-Bouille, the previous volume of Rougon Macquart where Octave - future owner of Bonheur des Dames - exercised the function of clerk before his meteoric social rise: "For already more than two months, he had been attached to the 'silks and furs' department; he arrived in the morning at seven o'clock to return home, his day finished, only at nine o'clock in the evening, when all of Paris buzzed strangely with a feverish animation of pleasure and enjoyment, and, on his way back, he followed gawking the great crowded boulevards, where blazed the cafés full of girls, and where, on the asphalt, at theater doors, the crowd jostled with, here and there, in the vague rumor of trampling and pressing, the roguish intonation of the cries of program vendors and ticket sellers." (Panurge) In his letter of November 30, 1882, Léon Carbonnaux - reading the extract from Panurge - had reproached Zola for his errors: "Nowhere except at the Fabriques de France near Les Halles does one arrive at 7 a.m. It's at the earliest 7:30 but more often 8 a.m. and even then. There is no silk and fur counter at the Louvre. [...] It is so easy for you to be accurate that errors of this kind, especially if they were repeated, would not be forgiven." The Master defends himself against these remonstrances in our letter: "The extract given is not mine, it is full of inaccuracies as you have noticed, not to mention that it is inept from a literary point of view. Disabuse those who may have attributed such a thing to me."
Fundamental letter for the restoration of truth and understanding of a detail in the announcement made in Panurge of the publication of the eleventh volume of Emile Zola's natural and social fresco.

First edition, illustrated with 32 color illustrations by Sureda and engraved by Aubert (full-page, headpieces and fine lettering), many of which are enhanced in gold or silver ink.

Limited edition of 400 copies. This one, marked H. C. V, is one of the rare first paper copies on the finest Japon (only 15 copies), containing every engraving in double state on Vieux Japon and Japon Impérial of all the woodcuts, covers and spine.

 
Signed and inscribed on the title page from the authors: "What a pleasure it is for you, O reader, if you enjoy La Fête arabe !" Jérôme and Jean Tharaud. December 1928."

Full morocco midnight blue binding with polychrome inlays depicting Orientalist compositions signed by Yseux, pupil of master bookbinder Simier. Gilt edges, illustrated covers and spine preserved. Blue paper slipcase lined with blue shagreen leather.
Spine slightly darkened. Brown trace over 3 cm on the blank reverse of one plate, moderate creasing/paper handling to the lower margin of another plate, slight paper defect appearing to be original in the inner margin of 1 or 2 other plates, minor light soiling on 2 white leaves. Wide margins, superb paper condition.

 

A wonderfully bound travel book of Arabia, one of the rarest copies of this edition with two sets of color illustrations

New and improved edition, largely expanded, corrected and revised from the Manuscripts of the Imperial Library, by M. Méon. Four frontispieces after E. H. Langlois. One of the rare copies on large and fine Holland paper.
Later half wine-red long-grain morocco with corners signed Thouvenin at foot of first volume. Spine with raised bands decorated with compartments with tools and fillets. Title and volume number gilt. Top edge gilt. Spines evenly faded to blonde. Traces of rubbing. Untrimmed copy, full-margined. Fresh overall, but some foxing on half-titles and first leaves.
Handsome copy on large paper.
Besides the tales and fabliaux, a glossary for each volume, a dissertation on the origin of the French language, a dissertation on the language of the Celts. Details of volumes: I. Dissertation on the origin of the French language. L'Ordene de Chevalerie (in verse, in prose). Du chevalier qui ooit la Messe, et Notre-Dame estoit pour lui au tournoiement. Du preudome qui rescolt son compere de noier. Le Sentier batu. Li congiés Adan d'Aras, Baude Fastoul d'Aras, Jehan Bodel. La Bataille des Vins. De Cortois d'Arras; c'est d'Aucassin et Nicolete, Etc. Volume II: Dissertation on the language of the Celts and Gauls. On the language of the Swiss. New observations on Etymologies. Le Castoiement d'un père à son fils. De la Male Dame. Les Rues de Paris. Les Crieries de Paris. Les Moustiers de Paris. Les Ordres de Paris, Etc. Volume III: Du Vilain Mire. Fabliau de la Merde. Dou Lou et de l'One. De L'Asne et du Chien. Dou pet au Vilain. Le Lay d'Aristote. Des Trois aveugles de Compiengne. Etc. Volume IV: Du Bouchier d'Abbeville. Le Lai de Graelent. De l'Escureul. De Audigier. De Berengier au lonc cul. De Piramus et de Tisbé. Florance et Blanche Flor. Le Credo au Ribaut.

First edition printed in 1000 copies on laid paper. No. 870. One frontispiece heightened in colors and 51 illustrations printed in sepia and various tints, of superb execution.
Deluxe publisher's binding in full olive green long-grain morocco signed Durvand at foot of upper cover. Smooth spine richly decorated with 2 compartments with grotesques and the Empress's monogram, and various roulettes. Covers stamped with the Empress's arms at center, with a wide framing frieze with foliage in the corners. Interior frieze composed of Empire motifs. Edges gilt. Spine evenly faded. Traces of rubbing. Narrow leather split along upper joint after headcap, for several cm. Fresh overall but some scattered foxing, particularly on first leaves.
Very handsome copy in its rare publisher's binding

First edition of this complete collection, each volume illustrated with a wood engraving frontispiece and some wood engravings in text.
All volumes as issued in the publisher's green wrappers. The first volume has been restored at head and foot with two paper strips.
Of the utmost rarity.

New edition, quite rare, of Bouchon Dubournial's translation, illustrated in first printing with an engraved portrait by Cazenave and 6 figures by Desenne engraved by Laugier, Leroux...
Contemporary half glazed wine-colored calf binding. Smooth spine decorated with 3 tools, fillets and roulettes at head and tail. Gilt title and volume number. Traces of rubbing. Scattered foxing.
Benjamin Pernelle bookplate.
Cervantes' last work completed 4 days before his death and published posthumously in 1617. In his epistle, Cervantes declares he had never written anything better. The novel is a sort of rewriting of Heliodorus's Latin novel: The Aethiopica, but Cervantes placed his heroes in the north and each trial of the separated couple takes place in a spiritual and Christian journey. This work would not have many editions over the centuries, overshadowed by the success of Don Quixote.

First edition illustrated with 200 plates and 120 vignettes by Grandville, engraved by Brévière. One plate missing from volume 2 ("Tous l'aimaient éperdument..." in the chapter entitled "Les peines de coeur d'une chatte française". In volume 1, the plates from pages 241 and 378 are incorrectly bound at pages 140 and 275. The frontispiece of the first volume is different in the first volume from most other copies, however the usual frontispiece has been placed further along.
Contemporary half red calf bindings, smooth spines decorated with large uniformly faded gilt tools, marbled paper boards with some minor rubbing as well as on the bindings overall, pebbled paper endpapers and pastedowns. A few very rare foxing spots.
Pleasant copy of this satire of society under the Second Empire.

First edition, admirably illustrated with 201 plates and 120 vignettes by Grandville. This first volume correctly has the first third of the work printed on tinted paper while the rest is on white paper, a characteristic of the first printing; most copies are from a second printing as the leaves are also white like the rest of the work. Moreover, Hetzel's publisher's preface, usually absent, is present here before the prologue. Most copies begin directly with the prologue. The frontispiece of volume 1 has been placed facing p. 32, the engraved half-title entitled Scène de moeurs serving as frontispiece; this half-title is often absent from most copies. The frontispiece and engraved title of volume 2, as well as an engraved half-title also entitled 2e partie have been preserved without the title page of the second volume which has not been bound in this copy. These 2 half-titles, in the first volume Scène de moeurs, in the second volume 2e partie are very often absent from copies.
Near-contemporary half red shagreen bindings with corners. Spines with raised bands with 3 decorated compartments, gilt title and volume number. Separation fillets on boards. Combed edges, echoing the pattern of the endpapers. Signs of rubbing. On the upper board of volume 1, a 2 cm area exposing the cardboard. Superb freshness of the paper, completely free from foxing.
Handsome copy.
This famous publication needs no introduction, a satire of contemporary Parisian society under the Second Empire, an enterprise due to Hetzel, who under the pseudonym Stahl signed several texts and commissioned texts from the most famous writers of the time: Balzac, Musset, Sand, La Bedollière... The last chapter recounts the imprisonment of the various writers who can be seen in enclosures at the Jardin des plantes, where we see Grandville from behind drawing them. One of Grandville's great works of imagination, full of verve and fantasy.

First edition of this map of Guadeloupe and its archipelago created by Rigobert Bonne, engraved on copper by André and heightened with watercolor.
This map served as illustration for Guillaume Raynal's Atlas de toutes les parties connues du globe terrestre.
A handsome copy.

First edition printed in 110 copies, ours bearing number 38 and specially printed for Gustave Rabiet.
The first volume is illustrated with wood engravings by Valentin de Campion. Full blue morocco binding, smooth spine, gilt title, geometric friezes in gold and palladium continuing on the covers, gilt fillets on the edges, moiré fabric endpapers and pastedowns, following endpapers of printed paper, pastedowns framed with blue morocco and double fillets in gold and palladium, top edge gilt with deckled edges. Binding signed Jean Lambert.
The second volume is illustrated with etchings by Geo Michel. Half morocco binding with bands, smooth spine identical to the first volume, endpapers and pastedowns of printed paper, covers of paper reproducing the printed paper from the interior of the work. Binding signed Jean Lambert.
A slipcase with some rubbing to the edges features the printed paper of the two volumes and houses these two volumes.
A very handsome copy.

New edition illustrated by François-Edouard Zier.
Contemporary binding in full sheep, smooth spine with title and floral motifs in blind, first cover with embossed leather forming the profile of a woman and title in Greek stamped in blind after an illustration by Lina Bill, second cover stamped in blind with a comb, necklace and mirror, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, illustrated wrappers preserved, top edge gilt on deckled edges. The binding shows scratches and rubbing. Some foxing, mainly on edges and second wrapper. A small marginal tear without loss to first blank endpaper.
Handsome copy in Art Nouveau binding.

First edition limited to 200 copies, ours one of 150 on laid paper, illustrated with two photographic portraits hors-texte and two full-page facsimiles of autographs.
Near-contemporary binding in half brown morocco with corners, smooth spine with mosaic brown morocco pieces, rubbing and small lack at foot, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, red wrappers preserved, top edge gilt on deckled edges. Some very occasional worming.
Our copy is enhanced with an autograph letter signed by Henri de Régnier as well as an autograph leaf bearing a signed dedication from the same to Jean Moréas.

First edition on ordinary paper, stated as fourth edition.
Numerous black and white photographic reproductions.
Handsome copy.

New edition.
Signed autograph inscription from the author: "Pour Yvette et André ce souvenir de leur vieux mafioso René" ["For Yvette and André this memory from their old mafioso René"].
Copy slightly warped.

Rare first edition of this physiology by Edmond Tixier published under the pseudonym Sylvius.
Numerous wood engravings in text by Honoré Daumier, not mentioned in the catalogue raisonné.
Spine entirely restored.

First edition.
Spine and boards slightly and marginally sunned, handsome copy.
Foreword by Christian Caujolle.
Work illustrated with photographs by Gisèle Freund.
Fine autograph inscription dated and signed by Gisèle Freund: "Für Enrike [sic], mit einem grossen Dank für ihre Hilfe bei des Überarbeitung (Übersetzung meiner "Erinnerungen") und ihre neue Übersetzung, die nun lesereich geworben ist. In Freundschaft, Gisèle F..." ["For Enrike [sic], with great thanks for her help with the revision (translation of my "Memories") and her new translation, which has now become widely read. In friendship, Gisèle F..."] adorned with three stylized seagulls.
Provenance: library of Ulrike Bergweiler.

The first edition, of which there were no deluxe copies.
Handsome copy complete with publisher's slip, press cutting included.
Autograph inscription signed by Claude Lévi-Strauss to Nadine Nimier: "Pour Nadine, en lui souhaitant que cette nouvelle année soit tout miel et rien cendres, amicalement Claude Lévi-Strauss." ["For Nadine, wishing her that this new year be all honey and no ashes, with friendship Claude Lévi-Strauss."]

First edition of the French translation, one of 68 numbered copies on pur fil paper, after only 13 Japan and 20 Holland.
Spine with two sun-faded areas at head and foot, endpapers lightly and partially shaded, a manuscript gift inscription at the head of the first endpaper.

First edition printed on ordinary paper.
Spine very lightly sunned without any gravity.
Handsome copy of this uncommon work.

New edition, of which there were no deluxe copies.
Handsome copy
Iconography.
Autograph inscription dated 1977 and signed by David Noakes to Nadine Nimier: "Pour la très chère Nadine en souvenir d'une journée ensoleillée par sa gentillesse. Très tendrement David. 4 Août 77." ["For very dear Nadine in memory of a day brightened by her kindness. Very tenderly David. August 4th 77."]
We include an affectionate autograph letter signed, one page, from David Noakes to his friend Nadine Nimier sent from Bayreuth and dated July 13th in which he attempts to comfort her after the burglary she recently suffered: "... figure-toi que de telles choses arrivent aussi à New-York : il paraît qu'on est entré par effraction à la Maison française le week-end après mon départ - serrures cassées, tout fouillé, mais rien de volé. Très mystérieux, inquiétant. Quel monde que le nôtre." ["... imagine that such things also happen in New York: it seems that someone broke into the Maison française the weekend after I left - locks broken, everything searched through, but nothing stolen. Very mysterious, worrying. What a world we live in."] while also narrating what the Wagner festival in Bayreuth has in store this year: "... je passe quelques jours ici, assiste à des répétitions du Ring avec Boulez et Chéreau..."
Envelope included addressed to: Madame Roger Nimier.
Provenance: from the library of Nadine Nimier, wife and widow of Roger Nimier. ["... I'm spending a few days here, attending Ring rehearsals with Boulez and Chéreau..."]

"Tépéva is my name". Handwritten postcard signed sent from Tahiti and addressed to Émile Mignard
Handwritten signed postcard from Victor Segalen, sent from Tahiti and addressed to émile Mignard. A few lines written in black ink around the black and white photographic reproduction of a view of Bora-Bora, correspondent's address handwritten on the verso. Some minor stains, a cut corner likely due to the removal of the stamp.
Doctor Segalen seems to have taken a wife: “A word from my wife to you: [written by the hand of said wife] iaorana fetii Tepeva te here neivou ia se no te mea e fetii no Tapeva Maraéa Vahine. [Written by Segalen again] Which means: I greet you friend of Tépéva [Tépéva is my name in Tahitian], and I love you because you are a friend of Tépéva. signed Maraéa-wife.”
Segalen's biography makes no mention of this exotic wife.

The rare first edition. 16 out-of-text engravings by Adrien Marie. Un hivernage dans les glaces is one of the first titles in Hetzel's famous white collection; the collection was launched with 9 titles including Un hivernage dans les glaces.
A primitive first version had previously appeared in the Musée des familles in 1855 spread over several issues of the magazine. This official version was rewritten by Verne, revised and modified, and is the same as found in the collective editions. The primitive version was naturally forgotten, until the Bulletin de la société Jules Verne republished the version in 2003, in a limited edition of 50 copies.
Publisher's binding type 1, "with oval vignette". This title features 5 different types of binding, but the first type is the only one corresponding to the typography of Hetzel bindings. Spine with stylized black and gold vegetal motif, a gilt cartouche for the title. Rich decoration on the upper board with angular red fleur-de-lis on black ground. Large oval vignette, illustrated scene printed on percaline. Second board with fleur-de-lis decoration. Plate signed Souze, binding by Lenègre.
Fine first plate. Corners good, barely turned for some. Spine good, headcaps rubbed. Second board good with slight shadowed areas. Some light brown stains on certain pages, but overall fresh, with paper remaining white.


A handsome copy.

First edition on ordinary paper.
Handsome copy.

Autograph letter signed by Emile Zola addressed to Louis-Edmond Duranty, written in black ink on a double leaf. Some deletions and corrections; folds inherent to postal transmission.
This letter has been transcribed in the complete correspondence of Emile Zola published by the CNRS and the Presses of the University of Montreal.
Long letter evoking the heat wave at L'Estaque, Une page d'amour and Edouard Manet.
"Il y a quatre mois que nous sommes ici, et je vous avais promis de vous écrire. Mais j'ai tant travaillé et j'ai eu si chaud, que vous m'excuserez de mon apparente paresse. Imaginez-vous que jusqu'au 15 août, la température a été très agréable ; il faisait beaucoup moins chaud qu'à Paris et nous respirions chaque soir une brise de mer délicieuse. Puis, voilà que, brusquement, lorsque je nous croyais hors de toutes mauvaises plaisanteries de la chaleur, le thermomètre est monté à 40 degrés et s'y est maintenu nuit et jour. Nous avons ainsi passé deux semaines intolérables. Aujourd'hui, la fraîcheur est revenue, et nous allons rester jusqu'aux premiers jours de novembre pour jouir des charmes d'un bel automne." ["We have been here for four months, and I had promised to write to you. But I have worked so much and have been so hot, that you will excuse my apparent laziness. Imagine that until August 15th, the temperature was very pleasant; it was much less hot than in Paris and we breathed each evening a delicious sea breeze. Then, suddenly, when I thought we were safe from all the nasty tricks of the heat, the thermometer rose to 40 degrees and stayed there night and day. We thus spent two unbearable weeks. Today, the coolness has returned, and we will stay until the first days of November to enjoy the charms of a beautiful autumn."]
In this summer of 1877, Zola left the tumultuous capital for a five-month stay at L'Estaque ("banlieue de Marseille" ["suburb of Marseille"]) in the company of his wife Alexandrine and his mother, Emilie Aubert. This long southern interlude reminded him of his youth in Aix: "Je suis d'ailleurs enchanté de mon été. Les pays est splendide et me rappelle toute ma jeunesse." ["I am moreover delighted with my summer. The country is splendid and reminds me of all my youth."]
"Pour finir avec moi, j'ajouterai que j'ai travaillé vigoureusement à mon roman, sans pourtant l'avancer autant que je l'aurais voulu. Ce roman doit paraître dans le Bien Public à partir du 14 novembre. J'en serai quitte pour donner encore un vigoureux coup de collier à Paris." ["To finish with myself, I will add that I have worked vigorously on my novel, without however advancing it as much as I would have liked. This novel must appear in the Bien Public starting November 14th. I will have to give another vigorous push in Paris."] The new novel in question here is Une page d'amour whose plot and style contrast completely with the previous volume of the Rougon-Macquart: "Je ne sais vraiment pas ce que vaut mon travail. J'ai voulu donner une note absolument opposée à celle de L'Assommoir, ce qui me déroute parfois et me fait trouver mon roman bien gris. Mais je vais tout de même bravement mon chemin. Il faudra voir." ["I really don't know what my work is worth. I wanted to give a note absolutely opposite to that of L'Assommoir, which sometimes disconcerts me and makes me find my novel quite gray. But I am nonetheless bravely going my way. We will have to see."] But this "page of love" conceals another and, during this stay in the Marseilles furnace, Emile Zola was already thinking about the following volume: "What is simmering in his southern pot is nothing less than a new bomb. Not Une page d'amour: 'it is a work too gentle to excite the public.' But Nana is already announced: 'I dream here of an extraordinary Nana. You will see that.' [letter to Marguerite Charpentier of August 21, 1877]" (Henri Mitterrand, Zola) Even though Une page d'amour did not achieve great success with the public, the critics were relatively enthusiastic. Thus Flaubert wrote to Zola: "Monday evening, I had finished the volume. It does not dishonor the collection. Have no fear. And I do not understand your doubts about its value. But I would not recommend reading it to my daughter if I were a mother!!! - For, despite my great age, this novel has troubled me. And excited me. One desires Hélène, in an immoderate way. And one understands your doctor very well." (around April 25, 1878)
Distance from the capital did not prevent Emile Zola from thinking of his friends who remained in Paris: "Je n'ai eu des nouvelles de Manet qu'indirectement, par Duret. Travaille-t-il, est-il dans un bon état d'esprit ? - On m'a dit que la déconfiture d'Hoschedé avait jeté la misère dans le camp impressionniste. Je prévoyais ce plongeon depuis l'année dernière." ["I have had news of Manet only indirectly, through Duret. Is he working, is he in a good state of mind? - I was told that Hoschedé's bankruptcy had thrown misery into the impressionist camp. I had foreseen this plunge since last year."] "Duret and Duranty send [to Zola] some echoes of the painters' lives. Duret spoke to him about Manet in detail, evoking the portraits he has begun, 'in a bold note and in movement,' but also of his persistent lack of success. [...] Zola learns on the other hand through Marguerite Charpentier, "la déconfiture" ["the bankruptcy"] of Ernest Hoschedé, sumptuous textile and clothing merchant, great art lover, and collector of the 'new painting,' who has once again thrown misery and anxiety among the impressionist painters. 'He owes two million, wrote Marguerite Charpentier; they sold everything at his place, even the dresses of his unfortunate wife who knew nothing, and she fled with her five children and gave birth on the train.' Not only do the impressionists lose a client and generous host, who received them royally in his château of Montgeron, but they easily foresee that the forced sale of his collections, at the Hôtel Drouot, will make their prices fall in humiliating proportions." (Henri Mitterrand, Ibid.) Ernest Hoschedé and this bankruptcy prefigure the character of Naudet in L'Œuvre that Emile Zola would publish in 1896.
Long and interesting letter evoking Zola's passions: Provence, writing and painting.

Autograph letter signed "Paul" and addressed to Natalie Clifford Barney, written in black ink on both sides. Silver monogram of the poetess in the upper left corner of the recto.
"Je ne vais pas à la campagne après tout, mon Tout-Petit. Ils sont partis de si bonne heure que j'ai pu trouver un prétexte pour ne pas les accompagner dans ma fatigue et l'heure trop matinale. Quand veux-tu que je vienne te chercher ? et où irons-nous ? Je serai prête à l'heure où tu voudras. J'aime tes jolies fleurs, elles sont charmantes, - j'ai porté une de tes roses hier au soir. A tout à l'heure, mignon Tout-Petit - Paul" ["I'm not going to the countryside after all, my Little One. They left so early that I was able to find an excuse not to accompany them in my fatigue and the too early hour. When do you want me to come get you? and where shall we go? I'll be ready whenever you want. I love your pretty flowers, they are charming, - I wore one of your roses last evening. See you soon, sweet Little One - Paul"]
It was at the end of 1899 and through Violette Shillito that Renée Vivien - then Pauline Tarn - made the acquaintance of Natalie Clifford Barney "this American more supple than a scarf, whose sparkling face shines with golden hair, sea-blue eyes, implacable teeth" (Colette, Claudine à Paris). Natalie, who had just experienced a summer idyll with the sulfurous Liane de Pougy who had initiated her into sapphism, paid only discreet attention to this new acquaintance. Renée, however, was completely captivated by the young American and would recount this coup de foudre in her autobiographical novel Une Femme m'apparut: "J'évoquai l'heure déjà lointaine où je la vis pour la première fois, et le frisson qui me parcourut lorsque mes yeux rencontrèrent ses yeux d'acier mortel, ses yeux aigus et bleus comme une lame. J'eus l'obscur prescience que cette femme m'intimait l'ordre du destin, que son visage était le visage redouté de mon avenir. Je sentis près d'elle les vertiges lumineux qui montent de l'abîme, et l'appel de l'eau très profonde. Le charme du péril émanait d'elle et m'attirait inexorablement. Je n'essayai point de la fuir, car j'aurais échappé plus aisément à la mort." ["I recalled the already distant hour when I saw her for the first time, and the shiver that ran through me when my eyes met her deadly steel eyes, her sharp and blue eyes like a blade. I had the dark prescience that this woman was commanding me to destiny, that her face was the dreaded face of my future. I felt near her the luminous vertigo that rises from the abyss, and the call of very deep water. The charm of peril emanated from her and attracted me inexorably. I did not try to flee from her, for I would have escaped death more easily."] "Winter 1899-1900. Beginning of the idyll. One evening, Vivien is invited by her new friend to the studio of Mrs. Barney [Natalie's mother], 153 avenue Victor-Hugo, at the corner of rue de Longchamp. Natalie ventures to read verses of her composition. When Vivien tells her she loves these verses, she replies that it is better to love the poet. An answer quite worthy of the Amazon." (J.-P. Goujon, Tes blessures sont plus douces que leurs caresses) There followed two years of unequal happiness, punctuated by Natalie's recurring infidelities and Renée's morbid jealousy, whose letters oscillated between impassioned declarations and painful mea culpas. "Renée Vivien is the daughter of Sappho and Baudelaire, she is the flower of evil 1900 with fevers, broken flights, sad voluptuousness." (Jean Chalon, Portrait d'une séductrice)
In 1901 came an important break that would last almost two years; Renée, despite Natalie's solicitations and the intermediaries she sent to win her back, resisted. "The two friends met again, and it was, in August 1905, the pilgrimage to Lesbos, which constituted a disappointment for Natalie Barney and remained without sequel. [...] The spring was definitively broken. The two former friends stopped seeing each other from 1907, and Vivien died without their having met again." (J.-P. Goujon, Ibid.)
Precious and very rare letter from Sappho 1900 to the Amazon.

Autograph letter by Renée Vivien addressed to Natalie Clifford Barney and written in violet ink on a double sheet bordered with violets. Transverse folds inherent to mailing.
Interesting letter of warning against the opportunist "Lottie": "Tout-Petit très cher, je t'envoie, te sachant insouciante autant qu'adorable (c'est tout dire) ce conseil amical : Méfie-toi de Lottie. Je crois t'avoir dit que la « scène de séduction » chez moi était très savamment préparée et combinée. Lottie a besoin d'argent. Elle en cherche avec âpreté. Elle me demande maintenant une « lettre d'introduction » pour Lugné-Poë... (et moi qui ne le connais pas !) Elle « t'embêtera » ... c'est le mot cru — le seul qui convient — Elle est exaspérée contre moi parce que je n'ai pas succombé et surtout parce que je ne lui donnerai pas d'argent. Si elle m'en avait demandé loyalement, franchement, au nom des jours d'autrefois, j'aurais cédé, mais cette comédie amoureuse me répugne — Je te le répète : Méfie-toi — Ne la vois point si cela t'est possible." ["Very dear Little One, I send you, knowing you to be as carefree as you are adorable (which says everything) this friendly advice: Beware of Lottie. I believe I told you that the 'seduction scene' at my place was very cleverly prepared and planned. Lottie needs money. She seeks it eagerly. She now asks me for a 'letter of introduction' to Lugné-Poë... (and I who don't know him!) She will 'bother you'... that's the crude word — the only one that fits — She is exasperated with me because I did not succumb and especially because I will not give her money. If she had asked me loyally, frankly, in the name of days gone by, I would have given in, but this amorous comedy disgusts me — I repeat: Beware — Do not see her if it is possible for you."]
Charlotte "Lottie" Stern, Countess Venturini was an actress also known by the name of Yorska and a close friend of Sarah Bernhardt. Alice Pike Barney, Natalie's mother, painted a very beautiful profile of her in pastel, entitled "Vamp of 1900" and today preserved at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington. The Jacques Doucet library holds eighteen autograph letters that she addressed to Natalie Clifford Barney.
It was at the end of 1899 and through the intermediary of Violette Shillito that Renée Vivien - then Pauline Tarn - made the acquaintance of Natalie Clifford Barney "cette Américaine plus souple qu'une écharpe, dont l'étincelant visage brille de cheveux d'or, de prunelles bleu de mer, de dents implacables" (Colette, Claudine à Paris). Natalie, who had just lived through a summer idyll with the scandalous Liane de Pougy who had initiated her into sapphism, paid only discreet attention to this new acquaintance. Renée, on the other hand, was completely captivated by the young American and would relate this love at first sight in her autobiographical novel Une Femme m'apparut: "J'évoquai l'heure déjà lointaine où je la vis pour la première fois, et le frisson qui me parcourut lorsque mes yeux rencontrèrent ses yeux d'acier mortel, ses yeux aigus et bleus comme une lame. J'eus l'obscur prescience que cette femme m'intimait l'ordre du destin, que son visage était le visage redouté de mon avenir. Je sentis près d'elle les vertiges lumineux qui montent de l'abîme, et l'appel de l'eau très profonde. Le charme du péril émanait d'elle et m'attirait inexorablement. Je n'essayai point de la fuir, car j'aurais échappé plus aisément à la mort." "Winter 1899-1900. Beginning of the idyll. One evening, Vivien is invited by her new friend to Mme Barney's studio [Natalie's mother], 153 avenue Victor-Hugo, at the corner of rue de Longchamp. Natalie ventures to read verses of her composition. When Vivien tells her she loves these verses, she replies that it is better to love the poet. A response quite worthy of the Amazon." (J.-P. Goujon, Tes blessures sont plus douces que leurs caresses) Two years of unequal happiness would follow, punctuated by Natalie's recurring infidelities and Renée's morbid jealousy, whose letters oscillated between inflamed declarations and painful mea culpa. "Renée Vivien, c'est la fille de Sappho et de Baudelaire, c'est la fleur du mal 1900 avec des fièvres, des envols brisés, des voluptés tristes." (Jean Chalon, Portrait d'une séductrice)
In 1901 an important break occurred that would last almost two years; Renée, despite Natalie's solicitations and the intermediaries she sends to reconquer her, resists. "Les deux amies se revirent, et se fut, en août 1905, le pèlerinage à Lesbos, qui constitua une déception pour Natalie Barney et demeura sans lendemain. [...] Le ressort était définitivement brisé. Les deux anciennes amies cessèrent de se voir dès 1907, et Vivien mourut sans qu'elles se soient revues." (J.-P. Goujon, Ibid.)
Precious and very rare letter from Sappho 1900 to the Amazon.

Autograph letter signed "Pauline" by Renée Vivien addressed to Natalie Clifford Barney and written in violet ink on a double sheet with violet letterhead, the Parisian address on the letterhead crossed out. Transverse folds inherent to mailing.
Fine letter evoking Renée Vivien's execration for Nice: "Ici, un soleil insolent — d'ignobles bâtisses — des gens — Je regrette Mytilène — [...] Mon Dieu, entre Nice et Paris, il n'y a pas de différence bien marquée, quelques oranges de plus ici — des palmiers d'opéra comique - une illusion de chaleur, c'est tout." ["Here, an insolent sun — ignoble buildings — people — I miss Mytilene — [...] My God, between Nice and Paris, there is no marked difference, a few more oranges here — comic opera palm trees — an illusion of warmth, that's all."] The evocation of Mytilene, where the two lovers had traveled the previous summer, continues in this missive: "Encore une lettre de ce vieux filou de Paradelli[s] — Je l'ai envoyé promener — Il est capable de faire main basse sur tout ce qu'il y a dans la maison —" ["Another letter from that old rogue Paradelli[s] — I sent him packing — He's capable of making off with everything in the house —"] It was Passagisti Paradellis who rented a villa on site, with a two-year lease, to Renée and Natalie. "The villa had been tastefully furnished. Collections of rare porcelain, mother-of-pearl inlaid furniture, a dining room with high-backed armchairs." (J.-P. Goujon, Tes blessures sont plus douces que leurs caresses)
In this letter, the Violet Muse also gives the key to one of the characters in Une femme m'apparut whose revised version had just appeared: "Dis à Madame Mardrus (pas de ma part, de la tienne !) que Doriane, c'est elle, telle qu'elle s'est révélée à moi un jour — dans l'ardeur et dans la tristesse." ["Tell Madame Mardrus (not from me, from you!) that Doriane is her, as she revealed herself to me one day — in ardor and in sadness."] The work, whose rewriting had nevertheless tried the poetess, is here devalued by the latter: "En somme — je n'aime pas ce volume ou plutôt il m'est indifférent (ce qui est plus triste encore ­—)" ["In sum — I don't like this volume or rather it is indifferent to me (which is even sadder —)"]

It was at the end of 1899 and through the intermediary of Violette Shillito that Renée Vivien - then Pauline Tarn - made the acquaintance of Natalie Clifford Barney "cette Américaine plus souple qu'une écharpe, dont l'étincelant visage brille de cheveux d'or, de prunelles bleu de mer, de dents implacables" (Colette, Claudine à Paris). Natalie, who had just lived through a summer idyll with the scandalous Liane de Pougy who had initiated her into sapphism, paid only discreet attention to this new acquaintance. Renée, on the other hand, was completely captivated by the young American and would relate this love at first sight in her autobiographical novel Une Femme m'apparut: "J'évoquai l'heure déjà lointaine où je la vis pour la première fois, et le frisson qui me parcourut lorsque mes yeux rencontrèrent ses yeux d'acier mortel, ses yeux aigus et bleus comme une lame. J'eus l'obscur prescience que cette femme m'intimait l'ordre du destin, que son visage était le visage redouté de mon avenir. Je sentis près d'elle les vertiges lumineux qui montent de l'abîme, et l'appel de l'eau très profonde. Le charme du péril émanait d'elle et m'attirait inexorablement. Je n'essayai point de la fuir, car j'aurais échappé plus aisément à la mort." "Winter 1899-1900. Beginning of the idyll. One evening, Vivien is invited by her new friend to Mme Barney's studio [Natalie's mother], 153 avenue Victor-Hugo, at the corner of rue de Longchamp. Natalie ventures to read verses of her composition. When Vivien tells her she loves these verses, she replies that it is better to love the poet. A response quite worthy of the Amazon." (J.-P. Goujon, op. cit.) Two years of unequal happiness would follow, punctuated by Natalie's recurring infidelities and Renée's morbid jealousy, whose letters oscillated between inflamed declarations and painful mea culpa. "Renée Vivien, c'est la fille de Sappho et de Baudelaire, c'est la fleur du mal 1900 avec des fièvres, des envols brisés, des voluptés tristes." (Jean Chalon, Portrait d'une séductrice)
In 1901 an important break occurred that would last almost two years; Renée, despite Natalie's solicitations and the intermediaries she sends to reconquer her, resists. "Les deux amies se revirent, et se fut, en août 1905, le pèlerinage à Lesbos, qui constitua une déception pour Natalie Barney et demeura sans lendemain. [...] Le ressort était définitivement brisé. Les deux anciennes amies cessèrent de se voir dès 1907, et Vivien mourut sans qu'elles se soient revues." (J.-P. Goujon, Ibid.)
Precious and very rare letter from Sappho 1900 to the Amazon.

First edition, a Service de Presse (advance) copy.
Spine and covers marginally yellowed, a shadow on the last endpaper left by a press clipping placed at the end of the volume.
Signed and inscribed by Michel Tournier to Ulrike Bergweiler who was Antoine Gallimard's secretary: "... en toute complicité de germanistes..." ["... in complete complicity as Germanists..."]

First edition, a Service de Presse (advance) copy.
Spine lightly yellowed.
Signed and inscribed by Michel Tournier to Ulrike Bergweiler who was Antoine Gallimard's secretary: "Pour Ulrike. Michel." ["For Ulrike. Michel."]

Autograph letter signed "Paul" from Renée Vivien addressed to Natalie Clifford Barney and written in black ink on a double sheet bordered with violets. Baroness Hélène de Zuylen has added a small manuscript message signed at the end of the letter: "Paule a raison vous êtes un être charmant et féerique !" ["Paule is right, you are a charming and fairy-like being!"] Transverse folds inherent to mailing.
"Cher Tout-Petit, Ton domestique est venu dire que tu nous rejoindrais au théâtre. Mais il n'y a pas de théâtre ! Peux-tu dîner avec nous jeudi ou vendredi ? — Si, dans la soirée de jeudi, tu n'es libre qu'après le dîner, viens nous rejoindre à n'importe quelle heure. Donne-moi un petit coup de téléphone pour me dire ce que tu feras — et si je dois te faire chercher et à quelle heure ? — Dis à tes cheveux que je les aime." ["Dear Little One, Your servant came to say that you would join us at the theater. But there is no theater! Can you dine with us Thursday or Friday? — If, on Thursday evening, you are only free after dinner, come join us at any hour. Give me a little telephone call to tell me what you will do — and if I should have you collected and at what time? — Tell your hair that I love it."]

It was at the end of 1899 and through Violette Shillito that Renée Vivien - then Pauline Tarn - made the acquaintance of Natalie Clifford Barney "cette Américaine plus souple qu'une écharpe, dont l'étincelant visage brille de cheveux d'or, de prunelles bleu de mer, de dents implacables" ["this American more supple than a scarf, whose sparkling face shines with golden hair, sea-blue eyes, implacable teeth"] (Colette, Claudine à Paris). Natalie, who had just experienced a summer idyll with the scandalous Liane de Pougy who initiated her into sapphism, paid only discreet attention to this new acquaintance. Renée on the other hand was totally captivated by the young American and would relate this coup de foudre in her autobiographical novel Une Femme m'apparut: « J'évoquai l'heure déjà lointaine où je la vis pour la première fois, et le frisson qui me parcourut lorsque mes yeux rencontrèrent ses yeux d'acier mortel, ses yeux aigus et bleus comme une lame. J'eus l'obscur prescience que cette femme m'intimait l'ordre du destin, que son visage était le visage redouté de mon avenir. Je sentis près d'elle les vertiges lumineux qui montent de l'abîme, et l'appel de l'eau très profonde. Le charme du péril émanait d'elle et m'attirait inexorablement. Je n'essayai point de la fuir, car j'aurais échappé plus aisément à la mort. » ["I evoked that already distant hour when I saw her for the first time, and the shiver that ran through me when my eyes met her deadly steel eyes, her sharp blue eyes like a blade. I had the obscure prescience that this woman was giving me destiny's order, that her face was the dreaded face of my future. I felt near her the luminous vertigo that rises from the abyss, and the call of very deep water. The charm of peril emanated from her and attracted me inexorably. I did not try to flee her, for I would have escaped death more easily."] « Hiver 1899-1900. Débuts de l'idylle. Un soir, Vivien est invitée par sa nouvelle amie dans l'atelier de Mme Barney [mère de Natalie], 153 avenue Victor-Hugo, à l'angle de la rue de Longchamp. Natalie s'enhardit à lire des vers de sa composition. Comme Vivien lui dit aimer ces vers, elle lui répond qu'il vaut mieux aimer le poète. Réponse bien digne de l'Amazone. » ["Winter 1899-1900. Beginning of the idyll. One evening, Vivien is invited by her new friend to the studio of Mme Barney [Natalie's mother], 153 avenue Victor-Hugo, at the corner of rue de Longchamp. Natalie grows bold enough to read verses of her own composition. When Vivien tells her she loves these verses, she replies that it is better to love the poet. A response quite worthy of the Amazon."] (J.-P. Goujon, Tes blessures sont plus douces que leurs caresses) There followed two years of unequal happiness, punctuated by Natalie's recurring infidelities and Renée's pathological jealousy whose letters oscillated between inflamed declarations and painful mea culpa. « Renée Vivien, c'est la fille de Sappho et de Baudelaire, c'est la fleur du mal 1900 avec des fièvres, des envols brisés, des voluptés tristes. » ["Renée Vivien is the daughter of Sappho and Baudelaire, she is the flower of evil 1900 with fevers, broken flights, sad voluptuousnesses."] (Jean Chalon, Portrait d'une séductrice)
In 1901 came an important rupture that would last almost two years; Renée, despite Natalie's entreaties and the intermediaries she sent to win her back, resisted. « Les deux amies se revirent, et se fut, en août 1905, le pèlerinage à Lesbos, qui constitua une déception pour Natalie Barney et demeura sans lendemain. [...] Le ressort était définitivement brisé. Les deux anciennes amies cessèrent de se voir dès 1907, et Vivien mourut sans qu'elles se soient revues. » ["The two friends saw each other again, and there was, in August 1905, the pilgrimage to Lesbos, which constituted a disappointment for Natalie Barney and remained without a tomorrow. [...] The spring was definitively broken. The two former friends ceased seeing each other from 1907, and Vivien died without their having met again."] (J.-P. Goujon, Ibid.)
Precious and very rare letter from Sappho 1900 to the Amazon.

New edition, strictly not for sale, for which no deluxe copies were printed.
Spine and covers marginally and lightly sunned.
Autograph inscription dated and signed by François Weyergans to his friend Ulrike Bergweiler, then secretary to Antoine Gallimard: "Exemplaire d'Ulrike B. offert par l'auteur. François. 27.2.98." ["Copy for Ulrike B. offered by the author. François. 27.2.98."]

Autograph letter signed "Paule" from Renée Vivien addressed to Natalie Clifford Barney and written in purple ink on a double sheet with violet letterhead and address of 23 avenue du Bois de Boulogne. Transverse folds inherent to posting.
Charming letter allowing hope for an appeasement in Renée Vivien's amorous ubiquity who seems to have finally chosen Hélène de Zuylen: "Je t'envoie des vers... Les aimes-tu ? — Ils ne me plaisent qu'à moitié — c'est déjà beaucoup ! — Tu as oublié que tu voulais te tuer pour moi... A part ce léger détail, tu as été parfaite — Mon amie t'aime — je t'adore — tout est parfaitement ordonné — [...] N'est-ce pas que mon amie est parfaitement bonne et charmante ? — Je l'aime tant, d'une façon si poignante, si simple et si bête... ce qui est, après tout, la meilleure façon d'aimer !" ["I am sending you verses... Do you love them? — They only half please me — that's already a lot! — You have forgotten that you wanted to kill yourself for me... Apart from this slight detail, you have been perfect — My friend loves you — I adore you — everything is perfectly ordered — [...] Is it not true that my friend is perfectly good and charming? — I love her so much, in such a poignant, simple and silly way... which is, after all, the best way to love!"] One senses here, however, a still very deep attachment of the Muse of violets to the Amazon: "Je baise tes mains d'autrefois — et tes mains d'aujourd'hui — Et je t'aime plus que je ne sais le dire." ["I kiss your hands of yesteryear — and your hands of today — And I love you more than I know how to say."]

It was at the end of 1899 and through the intermediary of Violette Shillito that Renée Vivien - then Pauline Tarn - made the acquaintance of Natalie Clifford Barney "cette Américaine plus souple qu'une écharpe, dont l'étincelant visage brille de cheveux d'or, de prunelles bleu de mer, de dents implacables" ["this American more supple than a scarf, whose sparkling face shines with golden hair, sea-blue pupils, implacable teeth"] (Colette, Claudine à Paris). Natalie, who had just lived a summer idyll with the scandalous Liane de Pougy who had initiated her into sapphism, paid only discrete attention to this new acquaintance. Renée, however, was totally captivated by the young American and would relate this thunderbolt in her autobiographical novel Une Femme m'apparut: "J'évoquai l'heure déjà lointaine où je la vis pour la première fois, et le frisson qui me parcourut lorsque mes yeux rencontrèrent ses yeux d'acier mortel, ses yeux aigus et bleus comme une lame. J'eus l'obscur prescience que cette femme m'intimait l'ordre du destin, que son visage était le visage redouté de mon avenir. Je sentis près d'elle les vertiges lumineux qui montent de l'abîme, et l'appel de l'eau très profonde. Le charme du péril émanait d'elle et m'attirait inexorablement. Je n'essayai point de la fuir, car j'aurais échappé plus aisément à la mort." ["I evoked the already distant hour when I saw her for the first time, and the shiver that ran through me when my eyes met her eyes of mortal steel, her sharp blue eyes like a blade. I had the obscure presentiment that this woman was giving me destiny's order, that her face was the dreaded face of my future. I felt near her the luminous vertigos that rise from the abyss, and the call of very deep water. The charm of peril emanated from her and attracted me inexorably. I did not try to flee from her, for I would have escaped death more easily."] "Hiver 1899-1900. Débuts de l'idylle. Un soir, Vivien est invitée par sa nouvelle amie dans l'atelier de Mme Barney [mère de Natalie], 153 avenue Victor-Hugo, à l'angle de la rue de Longchamp. Natalie s'enhardit à lire des vers de sa composition. Comme Vivien lui dit aimer ces vers, elle lui répond qu'il vaut mieux aimer le poète. Réponse bien digne de l'Amazone." ["Winter 1899-1900. Beginning of the idyll. One evening, Vivien is invited by her new friend to Mme Barney's [Natalie's mother] studio, 153 avenue Victor-Hugo, at the corner of rue de Longchamp. Natalie ventures to read verses of her composition. As Vivien tells her she loves these verses, she replies that it is better to love the poet. A response quite worthy of the Amazon."] (J.-P. Goujon, Tes blessures sont plus douces que leurs caresses) Two years of unequal happiness would follow, punctuated by Natalie's recurring infidelities and Renée's pathological jealousy, whose letters oscillate between inflamed declarations and painful mea culpa. "Renée Vivien, c'est la fille de Sappho et de Baudelaire, c'est la fleur du mal 1900 avec des fièvres, des envols brisés, des voluptés tristes." ["Renée Vivien is the daughter of Sappho and Baudelaire, she is the flower of evil 1900 with fevers, broken flights, sad voluptuousnesses."] (Jean Chalon, Portrait d'une séductrice)
In 1901 came an important breakup that would last almost two years; Renée, despite Natalie's entreaties and the intermediaries she sends to win her back, resists. "Les deux amies se revirent, et se fut, en août 1905, le pèlerinage à Lesbos, qui constitua une déception pour Natalie Barney et demeura sans lendemain. [...] Le ressort était définitivement brisé. Les deux anciennes amies cessèrent de se voir dès 1907, et Vivien mourut sans qu'elles se soient revues." ["The two friends saw each other again, and it was, in August 1905, the pilgrimage to Lesbos, which constituted a disappointment for Natalie Barney and remained without a tomorrow. [...] The spring was definitively broken. The two former friends ceased to see each other from 1907, and Vivien died without their having seen each other again."] (J.-P. Goujon, Ibid.)
Precious and very rare letter from Sappho 1900 to the Amazon.

Autograph letter signed "Pauline" from Renée Vivien addressed to Natalie Clifford Barney and written in purple ink on two double sheets with violet letterhead and address of 23 avenue du Bois de Boulogne. Transverse folds inherent to posting.
A very beautiful and lengthy breakup letter addressed to the Amazon after her impromptu summer 1904 visit to Bayreuth to attempt to win Renée back: "... Les heures passées à Bayreuth étaient de la douceur : et c'est pourquoi je suis revenue." ["The hours spent in Bayreuth were sweet: and that is why I returned."] The lexical field of death is omnipresent in this missive, as if to better emphasize the definitive character of her decision: "Pourquoi t'acharner à vouloir ranimer vainement les choses mortes, Natalie ? Tu ne l'as point compris : ce que je cherchais auprès de toi c'était le souvenir et rien d'autre. On ne revit point l'autrefois. Tu dois le sentir comme moi-même. [...] Je souriais à mon passé. Il est doux parce qu'il est mort. Et toi, tu veux galvaniser ce cadavre et le rendre odieux." ["Why persist in trying to vainly revive dead things, Natalie? You have not understood: what I sought with you was memory and nothing else. One cannot relive the past. You must feel it as I do myself. [...] I smiled at my past. It is sweet because it is dead. And you, you want to galvanize this corpse and make it odious."] The Muse of violets here reveals her suffering and disappointment, pleading with Natalie twice: "Laisse-moi ne plus revenir." ["Let me not return again."]
A veritable funeral oration for extinguished love, this letter is very illuminating as to each one's way of loving: "Nous nous sommes mal comprises. Je voulais un peu de rêve : tu m'offres la réalité." ["We have misunderstood each other. I wanted a little dream: you offer me reality."] For this is what separates Renée - the dreamy and quasi-platonic poetess - and Natalie - the carnal and fickle lover: "Ne sens-tu donc pas, ne comprends-tu donc pas que je n'ai plus aucun désir d'amour ? Je suis lasse infiniment ; je ne voulais qu'un peu de douceur. Et tu m'offres la vie et les frissons, que sais-je ? tout dont je ne me soucie point. Les joies charnelles ? Mais je les possède, mon amie me les donne, ma chair est satisfaite et au-delà. Je ne cherche point cela : je ne désire point cela. Ces choses m'excèdent, venant de toi. J'espérais que, assouvie de ton côté, tu ne me demanderais que ce que je te demande : un peu de rêve lassé ; un peu de compréhension, un peu de regret. Mais nous nous sommes trompées mutuellement. [...] Cherche un amour de chair chez une autre [...]" ["Do you not feel, do you not understand that I no longer have any desire for love? I am infinitely weary; I wanted only a little sweetness. And you offer me life and thrills, what do I know? everything I care nothing about. Carnal joys? But I possess them, my friend gives them to me, my flesh is satisfied and beyond. I do not seek that: I do not desire that. These things excess me, coming from you. I hoped that, satiated on your side, you would ask of me only what I ask of you: a little weary dream; a little understanding, a little regret. But we have deceived each other mutually. [...] Seek carnal love with another [...]"]

It was at the end of 1899 and through the intermediary of Violette Shillito that Renée Vivien - then Pauline Tarn - made the acquaintance of Natalie Clifford Barney "cette Américaine plus souple qu'une écharpe, dont l'étincelant visage brille de cheveux d'or, de prunelles bleu de mer, de dents implacables" ["this American more supple than a scarf, whose sparkling face shines with golden hair, sea-blue pupils, implacable teeth"] (Colette, Claudine à Paris). Natalie, who had just lived a summer idyll with the scandalous Liane de Pougy who had initiated her into sapphism, paid only discrete attention to this new acquaintance. Renée, however, was totally captivated by the young American and would relate this thunderbolt in her autobiographical novel Une Femme m'apparut: "J'évoquai l'heure déjà lointaine où je la vis pour la première fois, et le frisson qui me parcourut lorsque mes yeux rencontrèrent ses yeux d'acier mortel, ses yeux aigus et bleus comme une lame. J'eus l'obscur prescience que cette femme m'intimait l'ordre du destin, que son visage était le visage redouté de mon avenir. Je sentis près d'elle les vertiges lumineux qui montent de l'abîme, et l'appel de l'eau très profonde. Le charme du péril émanait d'elle et m'attirait inexorablement. Je n'essayai point de la fuir, car j'aurais échappé plus aisément à la mort." ["I evoked the already distant hour when I saw her for the first time, and the shiver that ran through me when my eyes met her eyes of mortal steel, her sharp blue eyes like a blade. I had the obscure presentiment that this woman was giving me destiny's order, that her face was the dreaded face of my future. I felt near her the luminous vertigos that rise from the abyss, and the call of very deep water. The charm of peril emanated from her and attracted me inexorably. I did not try to flee from her, for I would have escaped death more easily."] "Hiver 1899-1900. Débuts de l'idylle. Un soir, Vivien est invitée par sa nouvelle amie dans l'atelier de Mme Barney [mère de Natalie], 153 avenue Victor-Hugo, à l'angle de la rue de Longchamp. Natalie s'enhardit à lire des vers de sa composition. Comme Vivien lui dit aimer ces vers, elle lui répond qu'il vaut mieux aimer le poète. Réponse bien digne de l'Amazone." ["Winter 1899-1900. Beginning of the idyll. One evening, Vivien is invited by her new friend to Mme Barney's [Natalie's mother] studio, 153 avenue Victor-Hugo, at the corner of rue de Longchamp. Natalie ventures to read verses of her composition. As Vivien tells her she loves these verses, she replies that it is better to love the poet. A response quite worthy of the Amazon."] (J.-P. Goujon, Tes blessures sont plus douces que leurs caresses) Two years of unequal happiness would follow, punctuated by Natalie's recurring infidelities and Renée's pathological jealousy, whose letters oscillate between inflamed declarations and painful mea culpa. "Renée Vivien, c'est la fille de Sappho et de Baudelaire, c'est la fleur du mal 1900 avec des fièvres, des envols brisés, des voluptés tristes." ["Renée Vivien is the daughter of Sappho and Baudelaire, she is the flower of evil 1900 with fevers, broken flights, sad voluptuousnesses."] (Jean Chalon, Portrait d'une séductrice)
In 1901 came an important breakup that would last almost two years; Renée, despite Natalie's entreaties and the intermediaries she sends to win her back, resists. "Les deux amies se revirent, et se fut, en août 1905, le pèlerinage à Lesbos, qui constitua une déception pour Natalie Barney et demeura sans lendemain. [...] Le ressort était définitivement brisé. Les deux anciennes amies cessèrent de se voir dès 1907, et Vivien mourut sans qu'elles se soient revues." ["The two friends saw each other again, and it was, in August 1905, the pilgrimage to Lesbos, which constituted a disappointment for Natalie Barney and remained without a tomorrow. [...] The spring was definitively broken. The two former friends ceased to see each other from 1907, and Vivien died without their having seen each other again."] (J.-P. Goujon, Ibid.)
Precious and very rare letter from Sappho 1900 to the Amazon.

First edition of this catalogue presenting paintings and gouaches by Georges de Miré at the Percier gallery from May 17 to 29, 1926.
Catalogue illustrated with 4 reproductions of works by Georges de Miré.
Spine and covers marginally sunned, handsome interior condition.

Autograph letter signed "Pauline" by Renée Vivien, written in black ink on two double sheets of letterhead paper from 24 Hyde Park Street. Transverse folds inherent to posting.
A very beautiful and poetic letter written from London where the young Renée savors a sweet melancholy: "Today, there was no sun, a light fog, a dark and sad atmosphere. I was pleased by it, — I hate spring when you are no longer here, and the sun and soft air hurt me. I love the sadness of the sky and the moon which goes well with my thoughts." Despite a very busy schedule ("I am very tired this evening, — I return from the Alhambra, where mama took me to see the military ballet and hear the patriotic songs. [...] I went skating in the afternoon, in the morning, I went to see one of my friends here, who is very kind although having too much religion for my taste."), the young woman is bored in this city that she profoundly detests ("How can you be jealous, you whom I adore, of London, which I hate? — I have been unhappy since I entered this city. It is dark, it has a bad influence on my destiny. It brings me misfortune. It will end up killing me if I stay. I am afraid of it, I want to leave, to join you my darling, my spring, you, who are the being of light and beauty, my love, my happiness and my consolation.") and finds comfort in the memory of her beloved of whom she thinks every moment: "You are right to feel my thoughts around you, — I desperately throw my soul across space so that it finds you — Your memory is in all my actions, all my words, — it is you that I see through the things that surround me." Natalie is everywhere, even in her reading: "I will read 'Séraphita' to find you a little in those pages of Balzac. Everything that reminds me of you, everything that has some connection with you, even distant, is dear to me." As Jean Chalon shows in his biography of Natalie Clifford Barney (Portrait d'une séductrice), Séraphita is a founding novel of the Amazon's thought and one of the first books she bought upon her arrival in Europe: "Natalie had vainly sought this philosophical novel by Balzac in the bookstores of Washington. She would find this book in Europe and push refinement to the point of reading the angelic avatars of Séraphitus-Séraphita in that Norway which forms its setting." From this underlined passage in her copy, one notices that she retains more of its feminism than the concept of intersexuality: "Would this not be using your rights as a man? We must always please you, relax you, always be cheerful, and have only the whims that amuse you. What must I do, my friend? Do you want me to sing, to dance, when fatigue takes away the use of my voice and legs? Gentlemen, even if we were dying, we must still smile at you! You call this, I believe, reigning. Poor women! I pity them." As evidenced by a letter addressed to her previous lover Liane de Pougy, she had already introduced her to this Balzacian heroine: "You will come to me, I will go to you and we will marry our lives. That day you will read me Séraphîta. She will awaken our slumbering souls and you will lend to the sleeping words the beauty of your voice. It will be our litany of love."

It was at the end of 1899 and through Violette Shillito that Renée Vivien - then Pauline Tarn - made the acquaintance of Natalie Clifford Barney "this American more supple than a scarf, whose sparkling face shines with golden hair, sea-blue pupils, and implacable teeth" (Colette, Claudine à Paris). Natalie, who had just lived a summer idyll with the sulfurous Liane de Pougy who had initiated her into sapphism, paid only discreet attention to this new acquaintance. Renée on the other hand was totally captivated by the young American and would relate this love at first sight in her autobiographical novel Une Femme m'apparut : "I evoked the already distant hour when I saw her for the first time, and the shiver that ran through me when my eyes met her eyes of mortal steel, her sharp blue eyes like a blade. I had the obscure prescience that this woman was giving me the order of destiny, that her face was the dreaded face of my future. I felt near her the luminous vertigos that rise from the abyss, and the call of very deep water. The charm of peril emanated from her and attracted me inexorably. I did not try to flee from her, for I would have escaped death more easily." "Winter 1899-1900. Beginning of the idyll. One evening, Vivien is invited by her new friend to Mrs. Barney's studio [Natalie's mother], 153 avenue Victor-Hugo, at the corner of rue de Longchamp. Natalie ventures to read verses of her composition. When Vivien tells her she loves these verses, she replies that it is better to love the poet. A response quite worthy of the Amazon." (J.-P. Goujon, Tes blessures sont plus douces que leurs caresses) Two years of unequal happiness would follow, punctuated by Natalie's recurring infidelities and Renée's morbid jealousy whose letters oscillate between passionate declarations and painful mea culpa. "Renée Vivien is the daughter of Sappho and Baudelaire, she is the flower of evil 1900 with fevers, broken flights, sad voluptuousness." (Jean Chalon, Portrait d'une séductrice)
In 1901 came an important rupture that would last almost two years; Renée, despite Natalie's solicitations and the intermediaries she sends to reconquer her, resists. "The two friends saw each other again, and it was, in August 1905, the pilgrimage to Lesbos, which constituted a disappointment for Natalie Barney and remained without sequel. [...] The spring was definitively broken. The two former friends ceased to see each other from 1907, and Vivien died without them having seen each other again." (J.-P. Goujon, Ibid.)

First printing of this important Romantic publication issued in 10 parts in 8 volumes.
Literary contributions by Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann "Le conseiller Krespel", Charles Dickens "Le baron de Grogzwig", Matthias Emmich "Geneviève de Brabant", Sâvitrî "Episode du Mahabharata", Homer "Le combat des rats et des grenouilles", Gottfried August Bürger "Lénore", Paul Gavarni "Madame Acker", Marie de France "Lai des deux amants" and "Lai du Bisclaveret", Ludwig Tieck "La réconciliation", Henri Blaze "Rosemonde" correctly containing 34 pages, which identifies the first printing as opposed to the second which contains only 24.
This collection is illustrated with 10 frontispieces drawn and etched by Penguilly, Jacque, Trimolet, Jeanron, Féart and Daubigny as well as 62 in-text engravings including 57 woodcuts and 5 etchings by Louis, Soyer, Lavieille, Guilbaut...
Our copy is complete with the plate, not listed in the table, for Sâvitrî and the vignettes for "Rosemonde" and "Madame Acker" which are sometimes lacking.
Handsome copy in green part wrappers, to which we add the general cover.
The whole is presented in a half blue long-grain morocco chemise, spine with four raised bands set with gilt garlands enriched with red mosaic morocco pieces, spine also decorated with gilt quadruple compartments embellished with red mosaic morocco pieces, gilt date at foot, marbled paper boards, pebbled paper endpapers and pastedowns, slipcase with blue morocco borders, marbled paper boards, pebbled paper interior, signed G. Mercier and dated 1923.
Three bookplates pasted on the pastedown including that of Maurice Robert.
One joint of the chemise and slipcase slightly rubbed at foot, small marginal tears on some green covers.
Rare and handsome copy of this work, one of the most important of the 19th century according to Carteret.

The first edition, of which there were no deluxe copies
Handsome copy despite a small discoloration stain on the first cover.
Autograph inscription signed by Pascal Quignard to Ulrike Bergweiler, then secretary to Antoine Gallimard: "Pour Ulrike, avec toute mon amitié. Pascal." ["For Ulrike, with all my friendship. Pascal."]

Very long autograph manuscript letter from Renée Vivien signed "Pauline" written in black ink on a double sheet of headed paper from 24 Hyde Park Street. Transverse folds inherent to posting.
Fine love letter sent from London while Renée was with her family: "Quelle lente et lourde journée, mon tout petit ! — j'en ai tout le poids sur le cœur — Dieu, que j'ai mal, que je m'ennuie ! — Ce matin, j'avais un faible rayon d'espoir, je croyais peut-être te rejoindre bientôt, ou même tout de suite, hélas ! hélas ! hélas ! — Il est arrivé ce que je craignais, — j'ai dû rester — On se serait étonné, on aurait trouvé ça louche, si j'étais partie tout de même." ["What a slow and heavy day, my little one! — I have all its weight on my heart — God, how I hurt, how I'm bored! — This morning, I had a faint ray of hope, I thought perhaps to rejoin you soon, or even right away, alas! alas! alas! — What I feared has happened, — I had to stay — People would have been surprised, they would have found it suspicious, if I had left anyway."] This was only a few months since Renée and Natalie began seeing each other and we can read here the importance this relationship held for the Muse of violets who never ceased to flagellate herself: "Ta pauvre lettre, où chaque mot respire la mélancolie et la souffrance, me brise le cœur. Je souffre, en la lisant, tout ce que tu as souffert. Pardonne-moi, Natalie, ma bien-aimée ! Tes reproches sont si doux qu'ils me déchirent l'âme plus que toutes les récriminations amères qu'un autre être moins aimant m'aurait criées... J'ai eu tort, cent fois tort, mille fois tort, de rester — pourquoi donc ai-je obéi à un fantôme de Devoir, à un spectre de Pitié qui, je ne sais pourquoi, m'obsède et vient m'ôter des heures divines que le Destin pitoyable m'accorde... La réalité, c'est l'Amour, il n'y a que lui, rien n'est en dehors de lui, et, on souffre toujours de l'avoir sacrifié à quelque chose, si sainte soit-elle..." ["Your poor letter, where each word breathes melancholy and suffering, breaks my heart. I suffer, in reading it, everything that you have suffered. Forgive me, Natalie, my beloved! Your reproaches are so sweet that they tear my soul more than all the bitter recriminations that another, less loving being would have cried to me... I was wrong, a hundred times wrong, a thousand times wrong, to stay — why then did I obey a phantom of Duty, a specter of Pity which, I don't know why, obsesses me and comes to take from me divine hours that pitiful Destiny grants me... Reality is Love, there is only it, nothing is outside of it, and one always suffers from having sacrificed it to something, however sacred it may be..."]
Very fine letter imbued with the devouring passion of the Muse of violets for her Amazon.
It was at the end of 1899 and through the intermediary of Violette Shillito that Renée Vivien - then Pauline Tarn - made the acquaintance of Natalie Clifford Barney "cette Américaine plus souple qu'une écharpe, dont l'étincelant visage brille de cheveux d'or, de prunelles bleu de mer, de dents implacables" ["this American more supple than a scarf, whose sparkling face shines with golden hair, sea-blue eyes, implacable teeth"] (Colette, Claudine à Paris). Natalie, who had just lived a summer idyll with the sulfurous Liane de Pougy who had initiated her to sapphism, paid only discreet attention to this new acquaintance. Renée however was totally subjugated by the young American and would relate this love at first sight in her autobiographical novel Une Femme m'apparut: "J'évoquai l'heure déjà lointaine où je la vis pour la première fois, et le frisson qui me parcourut lorsque mes yeux rencontrèrent ses yeux d'acier mortel, ses yeux aigus et bleus comme une lame. J'eus l'obscur prescience que cette femme m'intimait l'ordre du destin, que son visage était le visage redouté de mon avenir. Je sentis près d'elle les vertiges lumineux qui montent de l'abîme, et l'appel de l'eau très profonde. Le charme du péril émanait d'elle et m'attirait inexorablement. Je n'essayai point de la fuir, car j'aurais échappé plus aisément à la mort." ["I evoked the already distant hour when I saw her for the first time, and the shiver that ran through me when my eyes met her eyes of mortal steel, her sharp blue eyes like a blade. I had the obscure prescience that this woman was giving me the order of destiny, that her face was the dreaded face of my future. I felt near her the luminous vertigos that rise from the abyss, and the call of very deep water. The charm of peril emanated from her and attracted me inexorably. I did not try to flee her, for I would have escaped death more easily."] "Hiver 1899-1900. Débuts de l'idylle. Un soir, Vivien est invitée par sa nouvelle amie dans l'atelier de Mme Barney [mère de Natalie], 153 avenue Victor-Hugo, à l'angle de la rue de Longchamp. Natalie s'enhardit à lire des vers de sa composition. Comme Vivien lui dit aimer ces vers, elle lui répond qu'il vaut mieux aimer le poète. Réponse bien digne de l'Amazone." ["Winter 1899-1900. Beginnings of the idyll. One evening, Vivien is invited by her new friend to Mme Barney's [Natalie's mother] studio, 153 avenue Victor-Hugo, at the corner of rue de Longchamp. Natalie ventures to read verses of her composition. As Vivien tells her she loves these verses, she replies that it's better to love the poet. A response quite worthy of the Amazon."] (J.-P. Goujon, Tes blessures sont plus douces que leurs caresses) Two years of unequal happiness would follow, punctuated by Natalie's recurring infidelities and Renée's morbid jealousy, whose letters oscillated between inflamed declarations and painful mea culpas. "Renée Vivien, c'est la fille de Sappho et de Baudelaire, c'est la fleur du mal 1900 avec des fièvres, des envols brisés, des voluptés tristes." ["Renée Vivien is the daughter of Sappho and Baudelaire, she is the flower of evil 1900 with fevers, broken flights, sad voluptuousnesses."] (Jean Chalon, Portrait d'une séductrice)
In 1901 came an important rupture that would last almost two years; Renée, despite Natalie's solicitations and the intermediaries she sent to reconquer her, resisted. "Les deux amies se revirent, et se fut, en août 1905, le pèlerinage à Lesbos, qui constitua une déception pour Natalie Barney et demeura sans lendemain. [...] Le ressort était définitivement brisé. Les deux anciennes amies cessèrent de se voir dès 1907, et Vivien mourut sans qu'elles se soient revues." ["The two friends saw each other again, and it was, in August 1905, the pilgrimage to Lesbos, which constituted a disappointment for Natalie Barney and remained without sequel. [...] The spring was definitively broken. The two former friends ceased to see each other from 1907, and Vivien died without them having seen each other again."] (J.-P. Goujon, Ibid.)

Handwritten signed letter addressed to Natalie Clifford Barney: “I told you by the raw voice of the telegraph, Natalie, the time has not come for us to see each other again.” Handwritten letter signed “Pauline” from Renée Vivien addressed to Natalie Clifford Barney and written in black ink on two double leaves edged with violettes. Transverse folds from having been sent.
Interesting letter mentioning Brumes de fjords and Freddy Manners-Sutton.

“Tu te trompes en croyant retrouver dans Brumes de fjords un reflet de femme ou l'influence d'une pensée de poète norvégien. Je les ai faites d'un souvenir très lointain de ce pays mystique et de quelques rêves lourds de nostalgies.” “You are mistaken when you think that you find a reflection of a woman or the influence of a Norwegian poet's thinking in Brumes de fjords. I wrote them as a very distant memory of this mystical country and of some dreams heavy with nostalgia.” Brumes de fjords is the first collection of prose poetry by Renée Vivien to be published in June 1902. Natalie and Renée were then separated but this letter shows that the Muse aux violettes continued to send her texts to the Amazone despite the physical and sentimental distance that separated them. “Car j'ai dans ma vie une tendresse que je crois sincère – quoi qu'il me soit difficile aujourd'hui de croire à la sincérité, même lorsqu'elle me montre ses larmes.” “Since I have a tenderness in my life which I believe to be sincere - though it is difficult for me today to believe in sincerity, even when it shows me its tears.”

This letter was indeed sent to Natalie Clifford Barney while she was in the United States: “Je serais venue si tu avais eu besoin de moi. Toi-même tu m'as télégraphiée que ma présence était inutile. (lorsque ton temps était pris par un flirt) Freddy Manners-Sutton ? qui sait ? et qu'importe ? Il est trop tard maintenant. Je ne viens pas t'amuser ni remplacer une distraction absente. Si tu viens à Paris cet hiver je te verrai une ou deux fois – comme on revoit le visage lointain de son passé – sans colère, sans haine, mais aussi sans amour.” “I would have come if you needed me. You yourself telegraphed me that my presence was useless. (when your time was taken by a flirt) Freddy Manners-Sutton? Who knows? And what does it matter? It's too late now. I don't come to amuse you or replace an absent distraction. If you come to Paris this winter I will see you once or twice - as you see the distant face of your past - without anger, without hatred but also without love.” Here Renée gives free reign to her jealousy, mentioning Freddy Manners-Sutton, Natalie's friend: “En réalité, Vivien ne pouvait supporter Manners-Sutton. Dans Une femme m'apparut, elle l'appellera tout simplement Le Prostitué et dira de lui : Il est banal comme l'adultère. Cette antipathie se transformera en une haine féroce lorsqu'un peu plus tard Vivien apprendra que cet homme se faisait passer pour le fiancé de Natalie Barney. Sacrilège suprême... ! Mais Vivien ne savait pas – ou bien voulait ignorer – que cette rumeur était en fait propagée par Natalie Barney elle-même, afin de donner le change à ses parents. Non, pensait-elle, ce personnage au-dessous de toute insulte veut tout simplement capter la fortune de Natalie !” “In reality, Vivien could not bear Manners-Sutton. In Une femme m'apparut, she will very simply call him Le Prostitué and will say of him: He is common like adultery. This antipathy will turn into a fierce hatred when a little later Vivien learns that this man pretends to be Natalie Barney's fiancé. Supreme sacrilege...! But Vivien did not know - or even wanted to ignore - that this rumour was actually spread by Natalie Barney herself, in order to pull the wool over her parent's eyes. No, she thought, this below any insult character simply wants to capture Natalie's fortune!” (J.-P. Goujon, Tes blessures sont plus douces que leurs caresses)

Precious and very rare letters from Sapho 1900 to the Amazone.

Very long autograph manuscript letter by Renée Vivien signed "Ton fervent Paul" written in black ink on two double sheets and one single sheet. Transverse creases inherent to the mailing, envelope included.
Moving letter recounting Renée Vivien's first encounters with suffering and death. Having returned to her family in London, the Violet Muse watches over her dying cousin : "Mon pauvre cousin va de plus en plus mal. Je crains horriblement que ce ne soit la fin. Il est la plupart du temps en proie à la fièvre et au délire. Ou bien il dort d'un mauvais sommeil de prostration et de faiblesse, à la suite des piqûres de morphine. [...] Cela me fait mal de voir le pauvre squelette qui me sourit si faiblement, ce visage est marqué déjà par la mort, il y a la trace de sa serre qui ne relâche pas." ["My poor cousin is getting worse and worse. I am horribly afraid this may be the end. He is most of the time prey to fever and delirium. Or else he sleeps a bad sleep of prostration and weakness, following morphine injections. [...] It pains me to see the poor skeleton who smiles at me so weakly, this face is already marked by death, there is the trace of its grip that does not let go."] Pain is omnipresent in this letter-torrent: "J'ai vu une chose horrible aujourd'hui à l'hôpital en allant voir mon cousin. On a apporté, sur un brancard, une chose épouvantable, - un corps couvert d'un drap, et une tête d'homme aux joues brûlées, - et de cela sortait des gémissements et des hurlements et des râles. Il me semble que je ne pourrai jamais oublier l'affreuse chose inerte qui m'a frôlée de si près cette après-midi. Il paraît que c'était un ouvrier terriblement blessé par une explosion de gaz qui a eu lieu dans une fabrique, à une heure cette après-midi. Ah ! la sinistre chose qu'on portait là-bas ! On entend parler d'accidents, et de blessures et de mort, et on n'y fait pas attention, jusqu'à ce qu'on voie ce que c'est. L'horreur de tout cela m'obsède ce soir, et s'ajoute à mon abattement et à ma mélancolie." ["I saw a horrible thing today at the hospital while going to see my cousin. They brought, on a stretcher, a dreadful thing, - a body covered with a sheet, and a man's head with burned cheeks, - and from this came moans and howls and death rattles. It seems to me I will never be able to forget the awful inert thing that brushed so close to me this afternoon. It appears it was a worker terribly injured by a gas explosion that occurred in a factory, at one o'clock this afternoon. Ah! the sinister thing they were carrying there! One hears talk of accidents, and injuries and death, and pays no attention to it, until one sees what it is. The horror of all this obsesses me tonight, and adds to my dejection and my melancholy."]
At this time, Renée Vivien had not yet published anything and even devalued her verses in favor of those of the Amazon: "Ce matin, Chère, la joie que m'a causée ta lettre, et l'émotion profonde de ton beau sonnet - ce vers « Is there no touch beyond the touch of hands » et ces deux autres : « Is there no love that burns an unseen fire » « Beyond the finish of expressed desire » sont de toute splendeur poétique. [...] C'est toi qui portes au front la grande lumière, c'est dans ton cœur que chante la musique sublime, parler de mes vers, à moi ? Ils sont pauvres à faire pleurer." ["This morning, Dear, the joy your letter caused me, and the profound emotion of your beautiful sonnet - this verse 'Is there no touch beyond the touch of hands' and these two others: 'Is there no love that burns an unseen fire' 'Beyond the finish of expressed desire' are of all poetic splendor. [...] It is you who bears the great light on your brow, it is in your heart that the sublime music sings, speak of my verses, me? They are poor enough to make one weep."] Written in a period preceding the sentimental storms, this very beautiful poetic letter is a celebration of love between Renée and Natalie: "Je t'aime, ô mon cher grand Poète admirable et superbe, d'avoir écrit ces vers lumineux et de les avoir pensés. Je t'aime d'avoir autant de la Divinité en toi. Je t'adore avec la religion d'un culte. Mon âme est pieusement prosternée, ce soir, - la beauté de ton âme triomphe. [...] J'ai encore un baiser à te donner, le dernier ce soir. Je le poserai sur ton front de poète, - ton front d'harmonie et de bonté. Je te dirai encore que tes vers sont divinement inspirés. Je me mettrai religieusement à tes pieds, - je t'écouterai et je t'adorerai. Enseigne-moi, chante-moi, Poète, Prêtresse, et Divinité tout à la fois. Ton fervent Paul" ["I love you, oh my dear great admirable and superb Poet, for having written these luminous verses and for having thought them. I love you for having so much of the Divine in you. I adore you with the religion of a cult. My soul is piously prostrated, tonight, - the beauty of your soul triumphs. [...] I still have a kiss to give you, the last one tonight. I will place it on your poet's brow, - your brow of harmony and goodness. I will tell you again that your verses are divinely inspired. I will place myself religiously at your feet, - I will listen to you and I will adore you. Teach me, sing to me, Poet, Priestess, and Divinity all at once. Your fervent Paul"]

It was at the end of 1899 and through the intermediary of Violette Shillito that Renée Vivien - then Pauline Tarn - made the acquaintance of Natalie Clifford Barney "cette Américaine plus souple qu'une écharpe, dont l'étincelant visage brille de cheveux d'or, de prunelles bleu de mer, de dents implacables" ["this American more supple than a scarf, whose sparkling face shines with golden hair, sea-blue pupils, implacable teeth"] (Colette, Claudine à Paris). Natalie, who had just experienced a summer idyll with the sulfurous Liane de Pougy who had initiated her into sapphism, paid only discreet attention to this new acquaintance. Renée on the other hand was totally subjugated by the young American and would recount this love at first sight in her autobiographical novel Une Femme m'apparut : "J'évoquai l'heure déjà lointaine où je la vis pour la première fois, et le frisson qui me parcourut lorsque mes yeux rencontrèrent ses yeux d'acier mortel, ses yeux aigus et bleus comme une lame. J'eus l'obscur prescience que cette femme m'intimait l'ordre du destin, que son visage était le visage redouté de mon avenir. Je sentis près d'elle les vertiges lumineux qui montent de l'abîme, et l'appel de l'eau très profonde. Le charme du péril émanait d'elle et m'attirait inexorablement. Je n'essayai point de la fuir, car j'aurais échappé plus aisément à la mort." ["I evoked the already distant hour when I saw her for the first time, and the shiver that ran through me when my eyes met her eyes of mortal steel, her sharp and blue eyes like a blade. I had the obscure prescience that this woman commanded me with the order of destiny, that her face was the dreaded face of my future. I felt near her the luminous vertigo that rises from the abyss, and the call of very deep water. The charm of danger emanated from her and attracted me inexorably. I did not try to flee her, for I would have escaped death more easily."] "Hiver 1899-1900. Débuts de l'idylle. Un soir, Vivien est invitée par sa nouvelle amie dans l'atelier de Mme Barney [mère de Natalie], 153 avenue Victor-Hugo, à l'angle de la rue de Longchamp. Natalie s'enhardit à lire des vers de sa composition. Comme Vivien lui dit aimer ces vers, elle lui répond qu'il vaut mieux aimer le poète. Réponse bien digne de l'Amazone." ["Winter 1899-1900. Beginning of the idyll. One evening, Vivien is invited by her new friend to Mme Barney's studio [Natalie's mother], 153 avenue Victor-Hugo, at the corner of rue de Longchamp. Natalie grows bold enough to read verses of her composition. As Vivien tells her she loves these verses, she replies that it is better to love the poet. A response quite worthy of the Amazon."] (J.-P. Goujon, Tes blessures sont plus douces que leurs caresses) Two years of uneven happiness would follow, punctuated by Natalie's recurring infidelities and Renée's pathological jealousy, whose letters oscillated between passionate declarations and painful mea culpa. "Renée Vivien, c'est la fille de Sappho et de Baudelaire, c'est la fleur du mal 1900 avec des fièvres, des envols brisés, des voluptés tristes." ["Renée Vivien, she is the daughter of Sappho and Baudelaire, she is the flower of evil 1900 with fevers, broken flights, sad voluptuousness."] (Jean Chalon, Portrait d'une séductrice)
In 1901 came an important breakup that would last almost two years; Renée, despite Natalie's solicitations and the intermediaries she sent to win her back, resisted. "Les deux amies se revirent, et se fut, en août 1905, le pèlerinage à Lesbos, qui constitua une déception pour Natalie Barney et demeura sans lendemain. [...] Le ressort était définitivement brisé. Les deux anciennes amies cessèrent de se voir dès 1907, et Vivien mourut sans qu'elles se soient revues." ["The two friends saw each other again, and it was, in August 1905, the pilgrimage to Lesbos, which constituted a disappointment for Natalie Barney and had no tomorrow. [...] The spring was definitively broken. The two former friends ceased to see each other from 1907, and Vivien died without their having met again."] (J.-P. Goujon, Ibid.)

First edition on ordinary paper, statement of one thousand copies.
Small tears at head and foot of spine.
Work illustrated with 24 photographic plates hors-texte as well as drawings and tailpieces by Serge Ivanoff.
Autograph inscription signed by Serge Lifar to Maryelle Krempff who completed her brilliant career as a dancer as principal dancer of the Opéra Comique before teaching dance at the National Regional Conservatory of Saint-Maur des Fossés from 1969 to 1989: "Pour la charmante mademoiselle Maryelle Krempff en souvenir amical de Serge Lifar" ["For the charming Miss Maryelle Krempff in friendly remembrance from Serge Lifar"].

First edition printed in 100 numbered copies on pur fil paper.
Handsome copy.
Work illustrated with a frontispiece photographic portrait of "Père Delanier," the very famous book restorer.
Autograph inscription signed by Léon Lascoutx to Monsieur Picaut, enhanced with an autograph inscription signed by Delanier to the same beneath his photographic portrait.

First edition on ordinary paper.
Spine and boards marginally and lightly sunned.
Fine dated autograph inscription signed by François Weyergans to his friend Ulrike Bergweiler, then secretary to Antoine Gallimard: "Chère Ulrike, merci d'écouter la musique de "Rire et Pleurer" (qui est la traduction de "lachen und weinen" poème de Rückert, musique de Schubert...) avec toute mon affection, pour toujours, ton François. 1990." ["Dear Ulrike, thank you for listening to the music of 'Rire et Pleurer' (which is the translation of 'lachen und weinen' poem by Rückert, music by Schubert...) with all my affection, forever, your François. 1990."]

First edition on ordinary paper.
Minor tears of no consequence at head and foot of the slightly ridged spine, one tear to the upper right corner of the back board.
Work illustrated with 8 photographic plates.
Fine autograph inscription signed by Léandre Vaillat to Maryelle Krempff who completed her brilliant dancing career as principal dancer at the Opéra Comique before teaching dance at the Conservatoire National de région de Saint-Maur des Fossés from 1969 to 1989: "A mademoiselle Maryelle Krempff qui a le grand privilège de savoir danser, cette vie d'une étoile de la danse et du ballet romantique, en sympathique souvenir de sa précieuse présence aux 'Samedis de la danse'" Léandre Vaillat." ["To Miss Maryelle Krempff who has the great privilege of knowing how to dance, this life of a star of dance and romantic ballet, in fond memory of her precious presence at the 'Dance Saturdays'" Léandre Vaillat.]

First edition.
Occasional light foxing.
Half black shagreen binding, smooth spine decorated with double blind compartments and gilt fillets, gilt initials at foot, black paper boards, pebbled paper endpapers and pastedowns, one lower corner slightly bumped, contemporary binding.

First edition on ordinary paper.
Spine yellowed, otherwise a handsome copy.
Dated autograph inscription signed by Philippe Sollers to Ulrike Bergweiler who was Antoine Gallimard's secretary.

New edition.
Spine slightly yellowed, otherwise a handsome copy.
Dated autograph inscription signed by Philippe Sollers to Ulrike Bergweiler who was Antoine Gallimard's secretary.

First edition in Czech, of which there were no deluxe copies.
Publisher's full gray cloth binding, smooth spine, with the illustrated dust jacket which has some marginal tears.
Provenance: from the library of Nadine Nimier, wife and widow of Roger Nimier.

Handwritten signed letter addressed to Natalie Clifford Barney: “I am in the grips of one of my bouts of black and wild melancholy, - I can no longer see anyone.” Handwritten letter from Renée Vivien signed “Paule” and written in pencil on a double leaf with a silver-coloured heart with the poet's monogram at the top of the first sheet. Transverse fold from having been sent.
Beautiful letter of apology after a dispute with the Amazone: “Suis en proie à un de mes accès de mélancolie noire et sauvage, – je ne peux plus voir personne. Je m'en vais demain à Fontainebleau pour y rester jusqu'à ce que je sois guérie, – je dis : guérie avec intention car c'est une espèce de maladie morale dont je souffre en ce moment. C'est pour cela que j'étais si mauvaise hier, – j'aurais dû m'enfermer, comme je le fais toujours en pareil cas. Une autre fois je m'en irai à temps pour ne pas te faire du mal, – si toutefois tu me permets de dire : une autre fois, et si tu ne me renvoies pas à jamais de ta présence. Je n'ai qu'une excuse, c'est que je souffre. Je n'ai pas été digne de l'amour que tu m'as si généreusement et si largement donné, – je n'ose plus te demander pardon, – je t'ai tant de fois offensée !” “I am in the grips of one of my bouts of black and wild melancholy, - I can no longer see anyone. Tomorrow, I am going to go to Fontainebleau to stay there until I am healed, - I say: healed with intent because it is a kind of moral illness from which I suffer at the moment. That's why I was so bad yesterday, - I should have locked myself up, as I always do in such a case. Another time I will go sooner so as not to cause you harm, - if, nevertheless, you allow me to say: another time, and if you do not dismiss me forever from your presence. I only have one excuse, that is that I suffer. I have not been worthy of the love that you have so generously and so widely given me, - I dare not ask you anymore for forgiveness, - I have offended you so many times!”

First edition in Slovak, of which there were no deluxe copies.
Publisher's full gray cloth binding, smooth spine, with the illustrated dust jacket.
Provenance: from the library of Nadine Nimier, wife and widow of Roger Nimier.

Autograph letter signed "Pauline" by Renée Vivien addressed to Natalie Clifford Barney and written in violet ink on a double sheet bordered with violets. Transverse creases inherent to the mailing.
Icy and a fresh attempt at rupture or at the very least a rebuff, this letter is completely devoid of courtesy and tenderness: "Je ne suis pas pareille à toi, - j'ai de l'orgueil et de la fierté, - cet orgueil, tu l'as blessé, cette fierté tu l'as froissée, - je ne m'exposerai plus à des dégoûts de ce genre. Tes lettres te seront renvoyées sans être lues, - ne m'envoie pas de fleurs, elles seront refusées. Je vois peu de gens, dans l'horreur où je vis des êtres, j'en verrai moins encore, - cela me procurera peut-être la paix. Je me demande seulement pourquoi tu m'as importunée pour me revoir, si ce n'était pour m'humilier et me dégoûter de toi encore davantage. Adieu puisque je ne te reverrai plus de ma vie. Pauline" ["I am not like you, - I have pride and dignity, - you have wounded that pride, you have bruised that dignity, - I will no longer expose myself to such disgust. Your letters will be returned unread, - do not send me flowers, they will be refused. I see few people, in the horror I feel for human beings, I will see even fewer, - that will perhaps bring me peace. I only wonder why you bothered me to see me again, if it was not to humiliate me and disgust me with you even more. Farewell since I will never see you again in my life. Pauline"]
Moving letter revealing the suffering and isolation of the Muse of violets, sliding inexorably toward her tragic end.
It was at the end of 1899 and through the intermediary of Violette Shillito that Renée Vivien - then Pauline Tarn - made the acquaintance of Natalie Clifford Barney "cette Américaine plus souple qu'une écharpe, dont l'étincelant visage brille de cheveux d'or, de prunelles bleu de mer, de dents implacables" ["this American more supple than a scarf, whose sparkling face shines with golden hair, sea-blue eyes, implacable teeth"] (Colette, Claudine à Paris). Natalie, who had just experienced a summer idyll with the scandalous Liane de Pougy who had initiated her into Sapphism, paid only discrete attention to this new acquaintance. Renée, however, was completely subjugated by the young American and would relate this coup de foudre in her autobiographical novel Une Femme m'apparut: "J'évoquai l'heure déjà lointaine où je la vis pour la première fois, et le frisson qui me parcourut lorsque mes yeux rencontrèrent ses yeux d'acier mortel, ses yeux aigus et bleus comme une lame. J'eus l'obscur prescience que cette femme m'intimait l'ordre du destin, que son visage était le visage redouté de mon avenir. Je sentis près d'elle les vertiges lumineux qui montent de l'abîme, et l'appel de l'eau très profonde. Le charme du péril émanait d'elle et m'attirait inexorablement. Je n'essayai point de la fuir, car j'aurais échappé plus aisément à la mort." ["I evoked the already distant hour when I saw her for the first time, and the shiver that ran through me when my eyes met her mortal steel eyes, her sharp blue eyes like a blade. I had the obscure prescience that this woman was giving me destiny's orders, that her face was the dreaded face of my future. I felt near her the luminous vertigo that rises from the abyss, and the call of very deep water. The charm of peril emanated from her and attracted me inexorably. I did not try to flee her, for I would have escaped death more easily."] "Hiver 1899-1900. Débuts de l'idylle. Un soir, Vivien est invitée par sa nouvelle amie dans l'atelier de Mme Barney [mère de Natalie], 153 avenue Victor-Hugo, à l'angle de la rue de Longchamp. Natalie s'enhardit à lire des vers de sa composition. Comme Vivien lui dit aimer ces vers, elle lui répond qu'il vaut mieux aimer le poète. Réponse bien digne de l'Amazone." ["Winter 1899-1900. Beginning of the idyll. One evening, Vivien is invited by her new friend to Mme Barney's studio [Natalie's mother], 153 avenue Victor-Hugo, at the corner of rue de Longchamp. Natalie ventures to read verses of her composition. When Vivien tells her she loves these verses, she replies that it is better to love the poet. A response quite worthy of the Amazon."] (J.-P. Goujon, op. cit.) There followed two years of unequal happiness, punctuated by Natalie's recurring infidelities and Renée's pathological jealousy, whose letters oscillated between impassioned declarations and painful mea culpa. "Renée Vivien, c'est la fille de Sappho et de Baudelaire, c'est la fleur du mal 1900 avec des fièvres, des envols brisés, des voluptés tristes." ["Renée Vivien is the daughter of Sappho and Baudelaire, she is the flower of evil 1900 with fevers, broken flights, sad pleasures."] (Jean Chalon, Portrait d'une séductrice)
In 1901 came an important rupture that would last almost two years; Renée, despite Natalie's entreaties and the intermediaries she sent to win her back, resisted. "Les deux amies se revirent, et se fut, en août 1905, le pèlerinage à Lesbos, qui constitua une déception pour Natalie Barney et demeura sans lendemain. [...] Le ressort était définitivement brisé. Les deux anciennes amies cessèrent de se voir dès 1907, et Vivien mourut sans qu'elles se soient revues." ["The two friends saw each other again, and it was, in August 1905, the pilgrimage to Lesbos, which was a disappointment for Natalie Barney and remained without consequence. [...] The spring was definitively broken. The two former friends stopped seeing each other from 1907, and Vivien died without their having seen each other again."] (J.-P. Goujon, Ibid.)
Precious and very rare letter from Sappho 1900 to the Amazon.

First edition on ordinary paper.
Handsome copy.
Foreword by Jean Giono.
Signed autograph inscription from Romée de Villeneuve to Monsieur Le Duc de Levis-Mirepoix.

First edition, one of 40 numbered copies on pure Lana rag paper, the only deluxe copies.
Very fine copy.

Autograph letter signed "Pauline" by Renée Vivien addressed to Natalie Clifford Barney and written in violet ink on two double sheets edged with violets. Transverse folds inherent to posting.
Very fine love letter evoking the only novel by the Violet Muse, Une femme m'apparut.
"Comment aurais-je pu ne point songer à toi Natalie, moi qui écrivais « Une femme m'apparut » - qui l'écrivais pour la seconde fois avec mes yeux nouveaux, et devenus plus clairs - avec mon cœur plus calme et plus profond ?" ["How could I not have thought of you Natalie, I who was writing 'Une femme m'apparut' - who was writing it for the second time with my new eyes, which had become clearer - with my heart calmer and deeper?"]
Published in 1904, this novel - the only one of Renée's literary career - tells the love story of the narrator and "Vally," Natalie Clifford Barney, from their beginning to their tragic end and the "apparition" of the savior Hélène de Zuylen. Reconciled with the Amazon, Renée undertakes to rewrite the book which will appear at the beginning of 1906: "Literary and stylistic improvement? No. The concern to justify herself anew, but this time in the face of Natalie Barney, is beyond doubt. Remorse too: now, the apparition that gives the book its title is no longer Eva-Hélène de Zuylen, but Lorely-Natalie Barney, and this from page 2. When we know that, during the summer of 1904, unexpected reunions in Bayreuth came to unite Natalie Barney and Vivien, we better understand the meaning of this new version of the novel, [Renée] only returns to her amorous past, to deliver us a second version, revised and corrected. She thus erases the final choice she had suggested in the first version. Complete palinode, confirmed by the very text of the letters that Vivien will write to Natalie Barney in 1904 and especially in 1905." (J.-P. Goujon, Tes blessures sont plus douces que leurs caresses) This confusion of feelings shows through this letter filled with oxymorons: "je goûte une tristesse charmante à t'évoquer [...] quand je songe à toi, j'évoque ma plus belle douleur" ["I taste a charming sadness in evoking you [...] when I think of you, I evoke my most beautiful pain"] The sadness - mixed with unconditional love - is here pushed to its paroxysm: "Ne te laisse pas attrister par ma lettre grise de ce soir. Il y a des heures ternes - ce sont peut-être les meilleures - Dans tous les cas, ce sont les plus vraies [...] Et ceux qui sont, comme tu le dis « ingrats et joyeux » sont fort à plaindre." ["Do not let yourself be saddened by my grey letter this evening. There are dull hours - these are perhaps the best - In any case, these are the truest [...] And those who are, as you say 'ungrateful and joyful' are much to be pitied."] Vivien effaces herself completely in favor of her beloved, even proposing to live in her place: "Va - si tu le peux - là où je voudrais être - à Mytilène. Je verrais l'île merveilleuse à travers tes prunelles - tu me ferais respirer tous ses parfums - A dire vrai, le courage m'a manqué pour y aller. Je n'avais plus la force ni le désir de partir ainsi." ["Go - if you can - where I would like to be - to Mytilene. I would see the marvelous island through your eyes - you would make me breathe all its perfumes - To tell the truth, I lacked the courage to go there. I no longer had the strength nor the desire to leave thus."] "Ne peux-tu, toi, aller à Mytilène et me rapporter des roses de là-bas ?" ["Cannot you go to Mytilene and bring me roses from there?"] Yet, it is together that the two lovers will soon undertake the journey to Lesbos; it will be the last of their story.

It was at the end of 1899 and through Violette Shillito that Renée Vivien - then Pauline Tarn - made the acquaintance of Natalie Clifford Barney "cette Américaine plus souple qu'une écharpe, dont l'étincelant visage brille de cheveux d'or, de prunelles bleu de mer, de dents implacables" ["this American more supple than a scarf, whose sparkling face shines with golden hair, sea-blue eyes, implacable teeth"] (Colette, Claudine à Paris). Natalie, who had just lived a summer idyll with the sulfurous Liane de Pougy who had initiated her to sapphism, paid only discrete attention to this new acquaintance. Renée on the other hand was totally subjugated by the young American and will relate this love at first sight in her autobiographical novel Une Femme m'apparut: "J'évoquai l'heure déjà lointaine où je la vis pour la première fois, et le frisson qui me parcourut lorsque mes yeux rencontrèrent ses yeux d'acier mortel, ses yeux aigus et bleus comme une lame. J'eus l'obscur prescience que cette femme m'intimait l'ordre du destin, que son visage était le visage redouté de mon avenir. Je sentis près d'elle les vertiges lumineux qui montent de l'abîme, et l'appel de l'eau très profonde. Le charme du péril émanait d'elle et m'attirait inexorablement. Je n'essayai point de la fuir, car j'aurais échappé plus aisément à la mort." ["I evoked the already distant hour when I saw her for the first time, and the shiver that ran through me when my eyes met her eyes of mortal steel, her sharp blue eyes like a blade. I had the obscure presentiment that this woman was giving me the order of destiny, that her face was the dreaded face of my future. I felt near her the luminous vertigos that rise from the abyss, and the call of very deep water. The charm of peril emanated from her and attracted me inexorably. I did not try to flee her, for I would have escaped death more easily."] "Winter 1899-1900. Beginning of the idyll. One evening, Vivien is invited by her new friend to the studio of Mme Barney [Natalie's mother], 153 avenue Victor-Hugo, at the corner of rue de Longchamp. Natalie grows bold enough to read verses of her composition. When Vivien tells her she loves these verses, she replies that it is better to love the poet. A response quite worthy of the Amazon." (J.-P. Goujon, op. cit.) Two years of unequal happiness followed, punctuated by Natalie's recurring infidelities and Renée's morbid jealousy whose letters oscillate between inflamed declarations and painful mea culpa. "Renée Vivien, c'est la fille de Sappho et de Baudelaire, c'est la fleur du mal 1900 avec des fièvres, des envols brisés, des voluptés tristes." ["Renée Vivien is the daughter of Sappho and Baudelaire, she is the flower of evil 1900 with fevers, broken flights, sad voluptuousness."] (Jean Chalon, Portrait d'une séductrice)
In 1901 came an important break that would last almost two years; Renée, despite Natalie's solicitations and the intermediaries she sends to reconquer her, resists. "The two friends saw each other again, and it was, in August 1905, the pilgrimage to Lesbos, which constituted a disappointment for Natalie Barney and remained without tomorrow. [...] The spring was definitively broken. The two former friends ceased to see each other from 1907, and Vivien died without them having seen each other again." (J.-P. Goujon, Ibid.)
Precious and very rare letter from Sappho 1900 to the Amazon.

First edition, one of 75 numbered copies on Montval, deluxe copies with 20 on vélin de Rives reserved for Jean Loize bookshop.
Full tawny morocco binding, smooth spine, gilt date at foot, boards decorated with curved black morocco plaques representing horseshoes within which pieces of skin evoking the coat of a pinto bay tobiano horse (mixture of brown and cream white) have been applied, brown paper endpapers and pastedowns, all edges gilt, covers and spine preserved, half chocolate brown morocco chemise with bands, brown-grey paper boards, tawny morocco title label, slipcase edged with chocolate brown morocco, brown-grey paper boards, elegant and spectacular binding signed D. H. Mercher.
Very rare and handsome copy perfectly executed.

Rare first edition of this masterpiece of erotic literature, one of 120 numbered copies on pure laid paper, the only deluxe copies.
This issue, complete with its cardboard box, bears the cover of "Fata Morgana" editions, while the ordinary issue bears the name of Jérôme Martineau editions.
The covers of the "Fata Morgana" edition are slightly and uniformly sunned without gravity.
Our copy, N°22, indeed contains, like the first 50 pure laid paper copies, the original engraving by François Lunven which he signed in pencil.

First edition printed on laid paper.
Handsome copy illustrated with a frontispiece and 4 out-of-text portraits etched.
Bradel binding in half safron percale, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets, black shagreen title label, speckled paper boards, original wrappers preserved, corners slightly bumped, bookplate of the famous bibliophile Paul Lacombe pasted on a pastedown, contemporary binding signed in blind by Lemardeley.

New edition of the French translation, one of 50 numbered copies on Japan paper, deluxe printing.
Handsome copy.
Work illustrated with wood engravings in headpieces and tailpieces by Louis-William Graux.

First edition on ordinary paper.
Front endpaper marginally creased, otherwise a handsome copy.
Autograph inscription signed by Michel Ragon to Marcel Arland.

First separate edition, one of 50 numbered copies on pure laid Marais paper, the only deluxe copies.
A fold at the foot of the spine, otherwise a handsome copy.

Edition published one year after the first, one of 50 numbered copies on Holland paper, deluxe issue.
Occasional minor worming affecting some deckled edges without consequence, front endpaper lightly shaded.
Handsome full-margined copy.

First edition, on ordinary paper, of the theatrical adaptation of the author's masterpiece.
Bradel binding in full moiré-patterned paper, smooth spine, mustard morocco title-label, covers with marginal restorations preserved, binding signed by Thomas Boichot.
Handsome copy attractively bound.
Signed autograph inscription from Jules Renard to Xanrof.

First edition in French, one of 110 numbered copies on laid paper, the only deluxe copies.
Fine copy despite the spine very slightly faded.

First edition in French, one of 66 numbered copies on laid paper, the only deluxe copies.
Handsome copy.

First edition in French, of which there were no deluxe copies, with fifth edition statement.
A handsome copy.