Paris (France)

First edition, one of 100 numbered copies on hollande paper, deluxe issue (only the first volume numbered).
Each volume includes a historical introduction by Philippe De Gaulle.
Ex-libris pasted to the front of each volume.
A very fine copy with wide margins, complete in twelve volumes of this important work, commencing in 1905 and concluding in April 1969.

First edition, one of 350 numbered copies on handmade paper, ours unnumbered, the only deluxe copies.

Half-shagreen red binding, spine with five raised bands highlighted with gilt dotting and decorated with double gilt fillets, small stains on spine, marbled paper boards, endpapers and pastedowns, front cover preserved, corners very slightly bumped, speckled top edge, contemporary binding.

Precious autograph inscription dated and signed by Marcel Bleustein, who took the pseudonym Blanchet during the Resistance, to Paul Verneyras.
Press man, union activist and politician, Paul Verneyras joined the Resistance from 1940 by participating in the development of the Libération-Nord movement with Gaston Tessier. For his action during the occupation, Paul Verneyras was decorated with the rosette of the Resistance and made officer of the Legion of Honor.

Moving tribute from one Resistant to another Resistant.

 

First edition of the exhibition catalogue of Albert Aymé's works presented at Galerie Editions from February 11 to March 7, 1976.
Handsome copy.
Text by Mireille Guezennec.

 

First critical edition, with some parts of the text in first edition, illustrated with 10 portraits, 17 views and 10 facsimiles as well as the coats of arms of the Sévigné, Bussy, Grignan and Simiane families as frontispiece to the first volume.
Bound in half red calf, spines with four fine raised bands set with gilt friezes decorated with gilt fleurons and typographical motifs, gilt friezes at head and foot, owner's name gilt at foot of spines, red paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, elegant contemporary Romantic bindings.
Some foxing, manuscript ownership inscriptions in black ink at head of title pages.
Our copy is complete with the eleventh and twelfth volumes "Mémoires de M. de Coulanges suivis de lettres inédites de madame de Sévigné" published in 1820 at the initiative of M. de Monmerqué, editor of the marquise's letters and "Lettres inédites de madame de Sévigné, de sa famille et de ses amis" published in 1827 by the same publisher, which are always lacking to complete this set.
The eleventh volume is illustrated with 1 portrait, 3 facsimiles and 1 plate; the engravings of the twelfth having been bound and distributed throughout the first ten volumes.
Fine set, established in a charming and elegant uniform contemporary Romantic binding.

First edition printed in small numbers of this offprint from the Mercure de France published on May 15, 1920. OCLC does not locate any copies in North America and only three in Eu­rope (Bnf, Bibliothèque Doucet, Uni­versitätsbibliothek Basel).
Covers with frayed margins, second cover partially shaded, one small piece of paper missing from the right margin of a page due to the fragility of the paper.
Signed and inscribed copy to paint­er Bernard de Blois: “En sympathie de voisin de logis et d'esthétique. Canudo 1922.” [”In sympathy as a neighbor of lodgings and aesthetics. Canudo 1922.”]
Extremely rare first edition of the li­bretto of the ballet Skating-Rink set on a roller-skating rink, created by the Ballets Suédois with choreogra­phy by Jean Börlin and music by Ar­thur Honegger, as well as costumes, curtain and stage designs by Fernand Léger.
This Futurist poem-libretto is di­rectly inspired by Charlie Chaplin's The Rink (1916), using the events in the skating rink as a metaphor for the hectic life in modern cities with its mechanical, almost ritual repeti­tions and its vicious circle of attrac­tion and rejection.
Canudo's inscription dates from 1922, the year of the ballet's creation at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées by the Ballets Suédois. The troupe had been founded by the Swedish art collector Rolf de Maré after the model of Di­aghilev's Ballets russes. “The action of this 'Ballet aux patins', subtitle given by Canudo to his poem-libret­to, takes place in Paris in the hall of the popular ballroom Tabarin trans­formed into a skating rink for roll­er skates. Skating practised in large skating rinks such as the Skating Pal­ais on Avenue du Bois de Boulogne, had conquered the popular balls and café-concerts as early as 1875, but it returned in force in the 1910s after the ball-bearing revolution” (Josiane Mas). The dynamism of this activi­ty had won over the Italian Futurists and also inspired popular culture like Chaplin's The Rink, which Canudo certainly watched during a leave of absence from the French army where he had enlisted – like Apollinaire – during WW1.
The rare first edition of Canudo's poem is the real starting point of the Gesamtkunstwerk of Skating-Rink – the text that inspired its musical compositions, costumes and chore­ographies. Its title “for the music of...” clearly suggests a work in progress for which the artists have not yet all been chosen: Arthur Honegger, a famous member of the “Groupe des Six”, was commissioned to write the music in 1921 and did not finish the orchestration until 5 days before the ballet premiered. Canudo encour­aged every contributing artist to study Chaplin's film, which is reflect­ed in numerous aspects of the pro­duction: the figure of the “Madman” in Canudo's poem becomes a color­ful, cubist Tramp under the brush of Fernand Léger, with a high hat, a jack­et with uneven tails and trousers with one striped and one checked leg. His movements choreographed by Börlin were based on Chaplin's part, with comic acrobatics and countless laps of the skater – a metaphor for the be­witching rhythm of industry and the daily hustle and bustle of the modern city. To the chagrin of critics, these new concepts of dance and perform­ing arts combined modernity and the popular life inspired by the New World: “Despite their national foci, what made Skating Rink and Parade modern were their American refer­ences: both looked to Hollywood – Skating Rink to Charlie Chaplin, Parade to The Perils of Pauline; both made references to jazz, and both referred albeit in indirect ways to American mechanical modernity. The motivation behind their evident ad­miration for the United States was the desire that France and other Europe­an countries might emulate American modernity and, through attaining its promised financial rewards, use them to create a better life.” (Ramsay Burt, Alien Bodies. Representations of Mo­dernity, “Race” and Nation in Early Modern Dance, 2002).
This text created by a key figure of the Parisian avant-garde for the Ballets suédois in 1920 called for the conver­gence of the arts – literature, painting, dance and music – transforming the stage into a pure Cubist and Futurist manifestation.
Extremely rare, all the more with an autograph inscription by Ricciotto Canudo.

Very rare typographic edition published one year after the facsimile edition from the Montfaucon Research Center and without Sophie Podolski's consent.

This is why this edition was withdrawn from sale; it is illustrated with drawings and includes a preface by Philippe Sollers.

Spine and boards slightly and marginally lightened, otherwise a rare and handsome copy.
 

First edition, one of 150 numbered copies on vellum, the only deluxe copy.
Bound in half red chagrin, spine with five raised bands set with gilt dotted lines and decorated with double gilt fillets, marbled paper boards, endpapers and flyleaves of mould-made paper, first cover preserved, speckled top edge.
A pleasant copy.

First edition of the exceptionally rare catalog of Claude Monet and Auguste Rodin's dual exhibition at the Georges Petit gallery in Paris.
With introductory essays by Octave Mirbeau for Monet and Gustave Geffroy for Rodin. The catalog features 145 paintings by Monet and 36 sculptures by Rodin in chronological order, including the famous Impression soleil levant (Impression, Sunrise) as well as Le Penseur (The Thinker), still described as a part of the Gates of Hell for which it was originally created.
Small restoration to head of spine, title and dates penned on spine, traces of stamp on front pastedown, scattered foxing thoughout. 
Rare copy of the exhibition catalog of Claude Monet and Auguste Rodin: the greatest of the Impressionists and the most famous sculptor of his time, united by their love of nature and their tireless quest towards artistic ideal.
"Rodin and Monet were bound by a lifelong friendship and reciprocal admiration. While they were true contemporaries, born within two days of one another in November 1840, it is hard to pinpoint when they actually met. They were almost certainly introduced by mutual friends like writers and critics Octave Mirbeau and Gustave Geoffroy, or the art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel. On his return from Belle-Île in 1886, Monet is known to have started attending dinners held by the "Bons Cosaques", a group of artists and men of letters gathered together by Octave Mirbeau. Rodin also frequented these literary and artistic dinners that contributed to the intellectual effervescence of the period and challenged Academicism. By the time of the exhibition held at the Galerie Georges Petit in 1889, the four protagonists (Rodin, Monet, Mirbeau and Geffroy) definitely knew and already respected each other. On a visit to the Mirbeau family, near Auray (Brittany), in 1887, Rodin saw the ocean for the first time and is said to have exclaimed: "It's a Monet!" To Mirbeau's way of thinking, Rodin and Monet had embarked on the same artistic adventure and were destined to be equally successful. In November 1886, he wrote to Rodin about the paintings that Monet was going to exhibit at Petit's gallery the following year: "He works hard and, in my opinion, he has done great things: it will be a new facet of his talent; a formidable, awe-inspiring Monet, of whom we were unaware... Our friend Monet is a heroic man of courage, and if anyone deserves to succeed alongside you, it's him. [...] the dual exhibition was a great success with the public and critics. According to Mirbeau, Monet and Rodin embodied "most gloriously and most definitively, the two arts of painting and sculpture" (Rodin Museum).

First edition, a Service de Presse (advance) copy.
Foreword by Raymond Queneau.
Light dampstains to spine, some staining to board margins.
Rare autograph inscription signed by Boris Vian to the actress Jacqueline Pierreux, mother of Jean-Pierre Léaud, and to her husband the novelist and screenwriter Pierre Léaud: "Pour monsieur Léaud et mame Pierreux avec une bise (pas pour lui). Boris Vian." (For Mr. Léaud and Mrs. Pierreux with a kiss (not for him). Boris Vian.)
In April 1948, Jacqueline Pierreux created the role of Judy in the theatrical adaptation of "J'irai cracher sur vos tombes" at the Verlaine theatre, directed by Alfred Pasquali.

First edition in French, a Service de Presse (advance) copy.

Spine sunned with dampstains, pale dampstain to right margin of front board.

Autograph inscription signed by the translator Maurice Edgar Coindreau to Pierre Ripault.