Paris

HUGO Victor
La Pitié suprême [The Supreme Compassion] Calmann Lévy, Paris 1879, 150 x 240 mm (5 15/16 x 9 7/16 ”), half shagreen
First edition.
Elegant half dark blue shagreen over marbled paper boards by René Aussourd, spine in four compartments with gilt dots and double gilt compartments containing horizontal arabesques and gilt stars, date and “ex. de J. Drouet” in gilt at foot, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, covers and spine preserved (marginal repairs to covers), top edge gilt, ex-libris of Pierre Duché on one endpaper.
An exceptional presentation copy, inscribed by Victor Hugo to Juliette Drouet, the love of his life: “The first copy

First edition, one of the review copies.

Spine slightly sunned, minor marginal spots on the front cover.
Precious autograph inscription signed by Maurice de Vlaminck to his Montmartre friend Pierre Mac Orlan: "... son vieux copain..."

First edition on ordinary paper.
Contemporary half cloth adorned with arabesques over marbled paper boards, spine with gilt fillets and olive-green shagreen title-piece (repair to edges), marbled pastedowns and endpapers, one lower corner rubbed.
Autograph inscription from Guy de Maupassant to monsieur Caron.

First edition in French, printed on vergé paper.

Publisher's Arabesque yellow paper binding by A. Lenègre, spine with gilt, black, and turquoise Arabic decorative motifs (head- and tail-pieces slightly rubbed), upper cover richly ornamented with Arabic decorative motifs in gilt, black and turquoise with a frame of gilt and black fillets, turquoise paper pastedowns and endpapers (corners slightly bumped), all edges gilt, a few small insignificant spots to lower cover.
Text by Alfred Edmund Brehm & Johannes Dumichen.
The work is illustrated with 24 watercolors after nature by Charles Werner.
A few small spots, mostly affecting endpapers.
Rare.

First edition, an advance (service de presse) copy.
Handsome, fine autograph inscription from Maurice Blanchot to Gaston Gallimard on ffep: "On ne s'arrête plus aux tables des heureux, puisqu'on est mort. (Charles Cros) / A Gaston Gallimard, ce livre destiné à écarter tout lecteur [One doesn’t stop any more at the table of the joyous, for one is dead. (Charles Cros) / To Gaston Gallimard, this book destined to drive away every reader]."
Two repaired tears to head of spine (slightly sunned), one tiny scratch to head of upper cover, paper yellowed at edges of some pages as usual, ffep repaired with small lack at foot. 

First edition, an advance (service de presse) copy.
Handsome and attractive autograph inscription from Maurice Blanchot to Gaston Gallimard : "... ce livre qui lui doit deux fois l'existence. / Quand je contemplai ceci, je soupirai et dis en moi-même : certainement l'homme est un balai. Swift […this book that owes him its existence doubly./ When I think about that, I sigh and say to myself: man truly is foolish.” Swift]"
Repaired tear to head of spine (lightly sunned), paper yellowed at edges of some pages, as usual.

First edition, one of 90 numbered copies on Hollande paper, the tirage de tête.
Elegant half red morocco binding over marbled paper boards by P. Goy & C. Vilaine, spine in six compartments, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, covers and spine preserved, top edge gilt.
A very good, well-margined copy in a handsome binding. 

First edition, an advance (service de presse) copy. A handsome and moving autograph inscription from Maurice Blanchot to his brother, sister-in-law and nephews: "Qui m'a tué ma mort, c'est là ce que je demande. H. von Kleist ["Who killed my death, that is what I ask here. H. von Kleist”].
Covers and spine lightly sunned at edges (but not seriously). 

First edition, illustrated with 2 folding plates on strong paper. The separately paginated section, Précis de journaux, bears the date 1786 in its colophon.

Full marbled and glazed brown calf binding. Decorated raised spine. Red morocco title label. 2 corners slightly bumped. From page 96 to the end, pale yellow dampstains to margins and on the first pages of the separately paginated section, affecting the entire page, but without real consequence. Good copy.

This surprising memoir traces all the curative applications of electricity on man: rheumatism, deafness, toothache, ophthalmia, paralysis, epilepsy. Case descriptions and