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May 23, 2025

Le Feu Follet's Letter #63

Sin transit gloria mundi

Broken written tokens
Maudits mots écrits
 

SIN TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI

Between dictated transcription and assisted composition, the artificial shaping of our correspondence has abruptly shifted our world from an inexorable orthographic decline — to which, I confess, we contributed in our previous letter — towards a sterile grammatical perfection, scarcely enlivened by the absurd slips of the autocorrect.

Errare humanum est, the Latin phrase that once softened the weight of our errors, would then become a proud declaration of Augustinian thought:

« si fallor, sum ».

Meanwhile, Le Feu Follet diligently takes up the task of noting the forgivable, trivial, or delightful errors of illustrious authors, whilst Edition-Originale’s investigation uncovers, on this occasion, the most significant typo in the history of psychoanalysis!

 

SELECTION

Broken written tokens 

Illustrated edition with drawings by J. Férat, engraved by Barbant. r

Rare publisher's navy blue cloth binding known as "aux deux éléphants", signed by Lenègre, type 1, spine with three gilt compartments, lower cover without medallion, gilt mention "Engel rel." at foot of spine, brown endpapers and pastedowns, all edges gilt.
Browse

 

The Investigation

Identity Freud

It is on the most precious copy of his thesis that the future master of linguistic "stumbling" commits his very first, and oh so revealing, slip of the pen:

« Au Professeur Sigmund Freud, père de la nouvelle psychiatrie, à laquelle je voudrais avoir contribué un peu par cet ouvrage, bien que j'aie dû m'y exprimer trop souvent en fonction de l'ancienne. / en témoignage de mon immense admiration, / Jacques Lacan / le 3 janvier 1932. » ["To Professor Sigmund Freud, father of the new psychiatry, to which I hope this work has made some small contribution, albeit often expressed through the lens of the old. / In testimony of my profound admiration, / Jacques Lacan / 3 January 1932."]

The young doctoral candidate thus dates his dedication to January 1932, several months before composing his thesis — an idea inspired precisely by his own translation of an article by… Sigmund Freud.
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MALLARMÉ & HUYSMANS & DANSE

Recueil de poèmes manuscrit
s. l. • [1887 ?]

Outstanding manuscript of 35 poems by Stéphane Mallarmé, written shortly before the first collected edition of his poetry of which only 47 copies were ever printed .

This carefully calligraphed collection is attributed to the hand of writer Joris-Karl Huysmans, a great admirer of the poet who is said to have given the manuscripts to his friend Jules Destrée.
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[RESISTANCE]
VOX & CURTIS & CLAVEL & BOURDET & GANDON & MONOD
La Revue noire — Numéro zéro
Aux éditions de la revue noire • [Paris] Mars 1944 [15 Février 1945]

First edition - only published issue of this journal of the Resistance.

This single issue was put together between December 1943 and March 1944, but La Revue noire could not be published during the Occupation. The final press proof was given on 15 February 1944 and the imprint is dated 15 February 1945.
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Geneviève DE GAULLE ANTHONIOZ & COLL.
Les Françaises à Ravensbrück
Éditions de la Baconnière • Neuchâtel 1946

First edition. A precious dated and signed presentation inscription by Irène Delmas, President of the Association of Deportees and Internees of the Resistance (ADIR). This copy is exceptionally enriched with the signatures of several members of the ADIR editorial committee and former deportees from Ravensbrück.
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Jules VERNE
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J. Hetzel • Paris [1875-1876]

Vendu - on garde ? 
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Germaine Baronne de STAËL-HOLSTEIN
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First edition, partly original, of the author's complete works. Our copy retains the engraved frontispiece portrait of Madame de Staël by Müller, present in the first volume.

According to Clouzot, this is the first, most sought-after, and by far the finest edition of the complete works of Madame de Staël.
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Frantz FANON
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New edition, augmented with an original afterword by Francis Jeanson.

 
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Patrick SÜSKIND
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First French edition of the translation, with no copies printed on deluxe paper.

A handsome copy complete with its illustrated dust jacket.

The book was adapted for the screen in 2006 by Tom Tykwer, starring Ben Whishaw and Dustin Hoffman.

 
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Le Feu Follet's Letter
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