First edition. Blue printed soft cover. Cover rubbed, some tears and missing spine.
Very rare essay on feeding bottles by the famous obstetrician Louis-Charles Deneux. He assisted the Duchess of Berry with the birth of the duke of Bordeaux, last legitimate descendant of Louis XV of France in the male line.
Presented before the Paris Academy of Medicine, of which he was a member of the surgical section, at the sessions of 12 and 19 February 1833. Deneux was the nephew and pupil of the famous Baudelocque, from whom he took courses in surgery and childbirth from 1782 to 1789.
Provenance: Mr Duval, penciled ex-libris on the cover; this could be François Marie Mathurin Duval, surgeon elected national correspondent of the Academy of Medicine on January 2 1827.
OCLC lists only two copies in America (Harvard, Williams College).
First edition.
Marbled paper boards, smooth spine, gilt lettered red morocco title-label lengthwise. Slightly sunned boards, some minor restorations to title page.
Extremely rare essay on a so-called “cure” for breast cancer, published during the French Revolution.
Second edition.
Bound in full roan, spine with five raised bands framed in gilt and decorated in gilt, edges framed in gilt partially faded in places, all edges speckled.
Lower corners bumped, worming visible on the first seven leaves.
A rare edition of this work, which include Dialogue de l'amour et de l'amitié, Critique de l'Opéra, La Peinture, Le Miroir ou la métamorphose d'Orante, La Chambre de justice de l'amour, une Critique de l'opéra Alceste.
Also featured is Charles Perrault's description of the now-lost Labyrinth of Versailles, a creation by the great Le Nôtre.
This remarkable labyrinth boasted thirty-nine fountains, each illustrating one of Aesop's fables and accompanied by verses from Isaac de Benserade.
Provenance: Library of Henry Bertrand, dry stamp on the first endpaper.
Autograph letter signed by Honoré de Balzac to Sophie Koslowska. 4 pages in black ink on a bifolium.
Usual folds. Very small lacks of paper along the horizontal fold of the first leaf. Published in his Correspondance 1819-1850, II. Paris, Calmann-Lévy, 1875, pp. 31-33.
A long, feverish letter by Balzac, a few days before the premiere of Les Ressources de Quinola at the Odéon theater. The writer writes to his close friend Sophie Kozlowska, daughter of Prince Kozlowski about the chaotic final preparations, and urges her to fill the theater with all of Paris's Russian high society.
Autograph letter most probably unpublished signed addressed by Juliette Drouet to her lover Victor Hugo, four pages written in black ink on a bifolium.
Transverse folds inherent to mailing, fold joining the two leaves reinforced with a fine strip of pasted paper barely perceptible.
Absent from the very complete online edition of Juliette Drouet's letters to Hugo by the Centre d'Études et de Recherche Éditer/Interpréter (University of Rouen-Normandy).
Very beautiful declaration of love and admiration by Juliette Drouet, the day after Hugo's plea defending his son. Charles Hugo had been brought before the assizes, and condemned despite his father's intervention, for having valiantly castigated the execution of Claude Montcharmont.
Hugo's great love addresses this letter in troubled times, where father and son find themselves at the forefront of the scene for their abolitionist positions. Scandalized by the execution of Montcharmont, a 29-year-old poacher from Morvan, Charles Hugo publishes an article in l'Événement which earns him a trial for contempt of respect due to the laws: the Second Republic already exists only in name, and the press is subject to frequent attacks, further aggravated here by the notoriety of the Hugos. Victor wants to defend his son and delivers a plea that remains famous: "Mon fils, tu reçois aujourd'hui un grand honneur, tu as été jugé digne de combattre, de souffrir peut-être, pour la sainte cause de la vérité. A dater d'aujourd'hui, tu entres dans la véritable vie virile de notre temps, c'est-à-dire dans la lutte pour le juste et pour le vrai. Sois fier, toi qui n'est qu'un simple soldat de l'idée humaine et démocratique, tu es assis sur ce banc où s'est assis Béranger, où s'est assis Lamennais !" (My son, you receive today a great honor, you have been judged worthy to fight, perhaps to suffer, for the holy cause of truth. From today, you enter into the true virile life of our time, that is to say into the struggle for the just and the true. Be proud, you who are but a simple soldier of the human and democratic idea, you are seated on this bench where Béranger sat, where Lamennais sat!)
Despite Hugo's historic intervention, Charles is condemned to six months in prison and 50 francs fine - a decision that Juliette bitterly castigates, overwhelmed by anguish at the outcome of the trial: "J'ai beau savoir que cet arrêt inique est non seulement supporté avec courage par vous tous, mais accepté avec orgueil et avec joie par le plus directement intéressé dans cette malheureuse condamnation, la fatigue et l'inquiétude que j'ai éprouvé pendant toute cette interminable journée d'hier m'a laissée une douloureuse courbature physique et morale" (However much I know that this iniquitous verdict is not only borne with courage by all of you, but accepted with pride and joy by the one most directly concerned in this unfortunate condemnation, the fatigue and anxiety I experienced during all that interminable day yesterday has left me with a painful physical and moral ache).
12 juin jeudi matin 7h
First edition of this collection of articles that Émile Zola wrote during the Dreyfus Affair, notably the famous « J'Accuse...?! » which appears for the first time in volume form. The last part entitled Mon Père is a compilation of articles in homage to François Zola.
Half binding, smooth spine, original wrappers preserved, binding signed C. Vilaine.
Autograph inscription by Émile Zola to historian and journalist Maurice Dreyfous.
Autograph letter dated and signed by Jean Hélion addressed to Raymond Queneau, 41 lines (four pages on two leaves) written in black ink.
Jean Hélion cannot respond favorably to an invitation extended by his friend Raymond Queneau, partly due to his homebody nature: "J'ai pris l'habitude de rester chez nous, le samedi après-midi : à l'atelier jusqu'à 5 heures et là-haut jusqu'à l'heure du dîner pour y recevoit toutes sortes de jeunes gens que je n'ai pas le temps de voir un par un... Mais j'aimerais davantage vous montrer à vous seul, un peu tranquille et à n'importe quelle heure. Ne passez-vous jamais de ce côté ?" ("I have gotten into the habit of staying at home on Saturday afternoons: at the studio until 5 o'clock and upstairs until dinner time to receive all sorts of young people whom I don't have time to see one by one... But I would prefer to show you alone, a bit quietly and at any time. Don't you ever come by this way?")
He worries about the political path of one of their mutual friends, the pacifist militant Garry Davis who created in 1948 the World Citizens movement and in 1954 the World Service Authority organization: "Je m'occupe encore de ce bon Garry Davis, qui s'engage maintenant dans la non-violence, mais d'une façon qui pourrait être violente... Breton a tapé dessus comme sur des cymbales. Mais moi, par amitié, autant que pour une confiance dans sa force instinctive, je l'aiderai tant que possible... Il veut encore consulter ses amis, et il en a grand besoin. Camus, Mounier, Altman, l'abbé Pierre et quelques autres lui sont demeurés dévoués." ("I'm still taking care of that good Garry Davis, who is now engaging in non-violence, but in a way that could be violent... Breton struck out at him like cymbals. But I, out of friendship, as much as for confidence in his instinctive strength, will help him as much as possible... He still wants to consult his friends, and he has great need of it. Camus, Mounier, Altman, Abbé Pierre and some others have remained devoted to him.")
Autograph poem by André Pieyre de Mandiargues signed A.P.M. and dated June 5, 1974 entitled "Le plus libre graveur" and which he dedicated to Joan Miro.
Written in black ballpoint pen on a sheet, the poem, of 44 lines, contains some crossings-out and manuscript additions as well as an addition of a cut and pasted sheet in the lower right corner of the poem.
This text celebrating the painter Joan Miro and his style was published in the review XXe siècle in December 1974:
"Feu d'air ou feu de terre
Feu de feu ou feu d'eau
Le haut feu de Miro
Se fait esprit de sel
Acide ardent fumant
Machoîre du dieu ivre
Qui va mordre le cuivre...
...
Parfois il grave sur le givre
il invente le regard
il noie le soleil
Il l'ébouillante
Parfois il balance l'homme
Il bascule la demoiselle,
...
La grande lingerie des noirs
Des bleus des rouges des roses
Des jaunes et des verts
Claquant au vent de Majorque
Un grand pavois d'allégresse
Imposé au blanc d'une page..."
Beautiful poem by André Pieyre de Mandiargues celebrating the abundant style of vivid colors of the painter and engraver Joan Miro.
Autograph letter signed by Charles de Gaulle, dated and addressed to his cook Augustine Bastide, who served him from 1940 to 1958, 13 lines in black ink on his headed paper.
Fold marks inherent to postal handling.
The de Gaulles had taken in the recipient of this letter, Augustine Bastide, upon their arrival in London. Of Provençal origin, she served the family from 1940 to 1958 first in Great Britain then in France. At the de Gaulle couple's table in an England severely affected by rationing, one could then find rabbits, winkles, and other frogs. The "outspoken Southerner" would remain in the general's service for nearly twenty years, sometimes causing hilarity in the stoic head of state:
« En 1946, alors qu'il venait de quitter le pouvoir volontairement, il lui a lancé : "Vous voyez Augustine, la politique c'est plus décevant que le travail aux fourneaux". Alors, les mains aux hanches, elle a rétorqué : "Mais général, pourquoi ne vous décidez-vous donc pas à rendre définitivement votre tablier ?" Mon père n'a pu se retenir de rire » ("In 1946, when he had just voluntarily left power, he said to her: 'You see Augustine, politics is more disappointing than working at the stove'. Then, hands on her hips, she retorted: 'But General, why don't you decide to hang up your apron for good?' My father couldn't help but laugh")
(Philippe de Gaulle, De Gaulle mon père)
Autograph letter signed by painter Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun addressed to historical painter and portraitist Hortense Haudebourt-Lescot. Two pages in black ink on a bifolium. Autograph address of Mme Haudebourt, 19 rue Rochefoucauld, on verso of second leaf. Usual horizontal folds, tear without damage to the text on the second leaf due to the wax seal. A bibliographer's note in blue pencil on the verso of the last leaf.
Autograph letter dated and signed by Charles de Gaulle, addressed to his cook Augustine Bastide, who served him from 1940 to 1958. 21 lines in black ink on his headed paper.
Fold mark inherent to postal folding, minor tears of no consequence at the left and right margins of the central fold.
General de Gaulle thanks her : "I was very touched by the birthday wishes you thought to send me...". He shares the same considerations as his correspondent concerning the role that France must embody on the political level : "You know that, on this matter, my feelings are yours and that, despite the powerlessness and baseness of the present, I do not despair of the future."
The de Gaulles had taken in the recipient of this letter, Augustine Bastide, upon their arrival in London. Of Provençal origin she served the family from 1940 to 1958 first in Great Britain then in France. At the table of the de Gaulle couple in an England severely affected by rationing, one could then find rabbits, periwinkles, and other frogs. The "outspoken Southerner" would remain in the general's service for nearly twenty years, sometimes provoking hilarity from the stoic head of state :
In 1946, when he had just voluntarily left power, he said to her : "You see Augustine, politics is more disappointing than working at the stoves." Then, hands on her hips, she retorted : "But general, why don't you decide to hang up your apron for good ?" My father could not help but laugh (Philippe de Gaulle, De Gaulle mon père)
Autograph letter dated and signed by Emile Zola, addressed to his friend the physician Maurice de Fleury, dated in his hand October 15, 1893. 1 page 1/4, 19 lines in black ink on a double sheet. Horinzontal and vertical folds due to mailing. Stain on verso, not affecting the text.
A most unusual invitation from the master of Naturalism, who wishes to organize a luncheon with two eminent specialists in nervous diseases: "Vous êtes bien aimable de m'inviter à déjeuner. Mais cela va vous faire perdre du temps et à moi aussi [...] pourquoi ne prendriez-vous pas un rendez-vous pour deux heures et demie par exemple, avec M. Gille de la Tourette, soit jeudi, soit vendredi. Nous irions chez lui, simplement [...]" ("You are very kind to invite me to lunch. But this will make you lose time and me as well [...] why wouldn't you make an appointment for two-thirty for example, with M. Gille de la Tourette, either Thursday or Friday. We would go to his place, simply [...]")
Zola relied on the expertise and scientific knowledge of Maurice de Fleury, a student of Charcot, to nourish his writing work on the Rougon-Macquart. De Fleury particularly shared publications from his library relating to heredity, a subject at the heart of Zola's great social series of novels - most particularly the generational transmission of nervous diseases, fits of violence and alcoholism.
Maurice de Fleury is also famous for having made, ten years after this letter, a medico-psychological study of Zola himself, through the prism of his working habits: "De dix heures à midi, Zola rédige encore - moins facilement et moins bien que pendant l'heure initiale - et c'est fini pour toute la journée, il ne sera plus bon qu'à écrire des lettres. C'est là la puissance du plus puissant cerveau dans le domaine littéraire, à la fin du siècle. Avec ce tout petit traintrain modeste, trois heures par jour en deux séances, cet homme dont l'attention est modique [...] trouve moyen de nous donner, tous les dix mois, un de ces livres où ne manquent ni la solidité de la charpente [...] ni rien de ce qui constitue la force créatrice, le génie, pour dire le mot"
("From ten o'clock to noon, Zola still writes - less easily and less well than during the initial hour - and it's finished for the whole day, he will only be good for writing letters. This is the power of the most powerful brain in the literary domain, at the end of the century. With this very modest little routine, three hours a day in two sessions, this man whose attention is modest [...] manages to give us, every ten months, one of those books which lack neither the solidity of the framework [...] nor anything that constitutes creative force, genius, to say the word").
"[Maurice de Fleury] maintained close relations with Émile Zola and Joris-Karl Huysmans, with whom he corresponded in the years 1880-1890. Fervent admirer of the author of the Rougon-Macquart, Fleury advised Zola for "Le Docteur Pascal" (1893) and confided his admiration in an article in Le Figaro, in 1896. Very 'fashionable' among the 'intellectuals' (according to Victor Segalen), the young physician also appears in the list of symbolist authors - alongside Paul Adam, Henri de Régnier and Gustave Kahn - in an essay by André Barre, in 1911" (Lola Kheyar Stibler)
Autograph letter dated and signed by Emile Zola, addressed to his friend the physician Maurice de Fleury, dated in his hand October 15, 1893. 1 page 1/4, 19 lines in black ink on a double sheet. Transverse folds inherent to mailing.
"[Maurice de Fleury] entretient des relations étroites avec Émile Zola et Joris-Karl Huysmans, avec lesquels il correspond dans les années 1880-1890. Fervent admirateur de l'auteur des Rougon-Macquart, Fleury conseille Zola pour Le Docteur Pascal (1893) et confie son admiration dans un article du Figaro, en 1896. Très « à la mode » parmi les « intellectuels » (selon le mot de Victor Segalen), le jeune médecin figure également dans la liste des auteurs symbolistes - aux côtés de Paul Adam, Henri de Régnier et Gustave Kahn - dans un essai d'André Barre, en 1911" ("[Maurice de Fleury] maintains close relations with Émile Zola and Joris-Karl Huysmans, with whom he corresponds in the years 1880-1890. Fervent admirer of the author of the Rougon-Macquart, Fleury advises Zola for Le Docteur Pascal (1893) and confides his admiration in an article in Le Figaro, in 1896. Very 'fashionable' among the 'intellectuals' (according to Victor Segalen), the young physician also appears in the list of symbolist authors - alongside Paul Adam, Henri de Régnier and Gustave Kahn - in an essay by André Barre, in 1911") (Lola Kheyar Stibler)
