Paris

Photographic portrait of Auguste Destouches, paternal grandfather of Louis-Ferdinand Céline, after a painting of the period, in cabinet card format on albumen paper mounted on cardboard from J. Couturier studio.
Cardboard slightly trimmed at lower margin. Handwritten caption on verso.

First illustrated edition by Gustave Doré. 142 vignettes and 12 plates.
Includes: Autograph inscription by the author on a card with his red seal on the left side of the card, for an appointment.

Contemporary half brown shagreen binding. Spine with raised bands decorated with 4 fleurons and fillets. Spine slightly faded. Some foxing. Handsome copy.
One of the first books illustrated by Gustave Doré after Balzac's Contes drolatiques. A popular novel that enjoyed great success in its time and remains one of the classics of adventure novels for young people.

First edition illustrated with 19 original lithographs by Alexandre Lunois, one of 140 numbered copies on Japan paper, the only printing with 60 other Japan copies containing separate proofs of the illustrations.
Two light halos on the first cover, small worming on the second cover.
Handsome copy.

Three autograph letters signed by Gérard de Nerval (2 pages signed « Gérard »), Théophile Gautier (1 page), and a third, unsigned letter (1 page) penned by a certain « Robert » (cf. Nerval's letter)
 
Louis Desessart, Théophile Gautier's appointed publisher, co-published Nerval’s play Léo Burckart with Barba in 1839. Following financial difficulties, he was forced to take refuge « in that sad and charming city of Brussels ».
 
The three friends wrote this letter from Paris, where they had reunited following Nerval’s long journey to the East: « I spent six months in Egypt; then three months in Syria – four months in Constantinople, and the rest en route. It’s quite beautiful. I only enjoy myself while traveling and try to live twice as much as I can. »
 
This journey deeply impressed Théophile Gautier, who would only travel to Turkey and Egypt years later: « I am in Paris and wish I were in Cairo, from where Gérard is returning. » The exoticism of distant lands starkly contrasts with the melancholy and severity of Europe: « How sad Paris is when one returns from sunlit countries. » (Nerval) And in Paris, far from dreams of escape, life means toil and melancholy:
« We are like sick people who are never comfortable anywhere. I think the good times are gone, and the golden hours of the past when we spoke such wise follies will never return. What’s the point of living if we must work and cannot see our friends or write to them or do anything we would like? » (Gautier)
The two writers express great compassion for their friend’s Belgian exile, with Brussels appearing as the capital of spleen: « What ! You’re still in that sad and charming city of Brussels ! [...] Brussels is even darker, poor fellow ! » (Nerval)
This joint letter was in fact initiated by « Robert » :
« Isn’t it true, my dear friend, that I’m quite skilled at making you forget my faults? [...] as a way of making it up to you, I’m sending you the autographs of two of your [...] comrades, your fondest memories, two men of fame who, despite all their affection and friendship for you, would never have written a word had I not trimmed their quills and handed them paper like sulky children, and told them : write at once, at once to the exile you love most. »

First edition, one of 796 numbered copies on pur fil paper, the only grands papiers (deluxe copies) after 109 reimposed.
Full green board Bradel binding, title piece in glazed yellow calf, covers and spine preserved, contemporary binding.
Presentation copy inscribed by André Breton: “à Edmond Jaloux, hommage très dévoué. André Breton” “To Edmond Jaloux, a very devoted tribute. André Breton”.
Edmond Jaloux, who was one of the earliest promoters of surrealism, wrote at the release of this atypical novel and misunderstood by most of his contemporaries, the most laudatory article of the time, concluding with this admiring admission of the impotence of criticism in the face of the modernity of Breton's work; “this examination, I can sense it, remains outside the book and in no ways gives you the feeling of intense poetry, of great, free and true poetry which absolves Nadja and which affects your mind [...] like an extremely intoxicating alcohol, with this difference that no alcohol gives you dreams that stimulate the moving prose of Monsieur André Breton.”
Precious grand papier (deluxe) copy with a handwritten inscription from the author and filled with the original article by Edmond Jaloux pasted on two loose double leaves.

Autograph letter signed by Jules Romains to André Dignimont, two pages penned in black ink on a sheet of his personal letterhead.
Folding marks from mailing.