SYMBOLIC SCORES & HISTORIC GROOVES

     From quill on stave to sharpie on vinyl, a century divides them – but the impulse remains the same: to pin down the ephemeral, to give weight to what exists only in the moment it's played.

    This week, Le Feu Follet centers this week's letter on an inscribed manuscript score by Camille Saint-Saëns and a copy of The Clash's Red China signed by Joe Strummer himself. Two worlds, two eras, speaking to each other across time through ink and autograph. One from the velvet-draped salons of the 19th century, the other from London's sweat-soaked punk dives – yet both insist that music needs something tangible to outlast its makers.

    These rare pieces are the physical memory of an art determined not to vanish into thin air...

INVESTIGATION. The Singer and the Warrior: a previously unheard Saint-Saëns melody 

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SELECTION. "Music calling"

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FOCUS.  One, two, I got a crush on you: vinyl record inscribed by the Clash frontman

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New arrivals

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Moïse TWERSKY & Pierre GUÉDY
Israël à New-York [Israel in New York]
Georges Crès ⯁ Paris 1932

A highly desirable deluxe presentation copy of this rare philosemitic work from the interwar period by a colourful author who might have stepped straight out of an Albert Cohen novel. Almost no documentation survives about this Solal, son of a Mangeclou, unknowingly at the heart of the literary stigmatization of French Jews before becoming one of the first victims of Nazi Occupation.

William SHAKESPEARE
François-Victor HUGO (Trad.)
Œuvres complètes de W. Shakespeare [The Complete Works of W. Shakespeare]

Pagnerre ⯁ Paris 1865-1866
 
Second edition of the French translation prepared by François-Victor Hugo.

Half red shagreen period bindings.

Our set, attractively bound uniformly in period bindings, is complete in 18 volumes, including the final three volumes of apocryphal writings, which are often lacking.

Marcel PROUST
À la recherche du temps perdu
[In Search of Lost Time]
Grasset & Gallimard ⯁ Paris 1913-1927

The complete first edition of À la recherche du temps perdu comprises the first two volumes on ordinary paper with the particularities mentioned above, followed by deluxe copies for the subsequent volumes. These deluxe copies on pur fil are in the same format as the first two volumes.

Fine complete set, all volumes in first edition as published.

Jules ROMAINS
Knock ou le Triomphe de la médecine [Knock] 
Gallimard ⯁ Paris 1924
 
First edition dedicated to Louis Jouvet, one of 108 numbered copies on Lafuma Navarre laid paper, reimposed in quarto tellière format, deluxe issue.

Half red morocco binding signed by D.H. Mercher.

Auguste RENOIR
« Je prends la liberté de vous charger de m'apporter un paquet de pinceaux »
Autograph letter dated and signed to Maurice Gangnat

Cagnes ⯁ 5 février 1909

A charming and vivid letter from the artist to an intimate friend during his Cagnes period, ordering brushes for future masterworks, notably his Ode to Flowers executed that year.

[CARTHAGE]

Excursions dans l'Afrique septentrionale [Excursions in North Africa] 

Gide • Arthus-Bertrand ⯁ Paris 1838
 
First illustrated edition, with four folding plates bound at the end of the volume.

Contemporary half green calf period binding.

This travel narrative reflects the semi-scholarly, semi-military nature characteristic of early French colonial Algeria.

Donatien Alphonse François de SADE
Bronze Cast of the Marquis de Sade's Skull
2012 ⯁ 20 x 13,5 x 15 cm
 
Bronze cast of the Marquis de Sade’s skull executed by the Master Art Founder Avangini. One of 99 unique numbered copies bearing the imprint of Sade’s signature, this being No. 31.

Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by the Countess de Sade and bearing the family’s wax seal.

Joan MIRÓ & Jacques PRÉVERT
Georges RIBEMONT-DESSAIGNES
Joan Miró

Galerie Maeght ⯁ Paris 1956

 
First edition.

Our copy is enriched with an autograph inscription signed by Joan Miró accompanied by an original drawing depicting one of his characteristic figures, as well as an autograph inscription signed by Jacques Prévert, enhanced with an original drawing showing a little man offering a flower to the dedicatee.

(Édouard Marcel SANDOZ)
Félix MARCILHAC
[Edouard-Marcel Sandoz, Figurative and Animal Sculptor 1881-1971 – Catalogue of the Sculpted Works]

Les Éditions de l'Amateur ⯁ Paris 1993
 
First edition, richly illustrated with reproductions of works by Edouard-Marcel Sandoz.

Publisher’s full cream cloth binding, smooth spine, complete with its illustrated dust jacket.

A very handsome copy.

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