Sans nom d'éditeur

Original burin engraving after a 16th-century painting by Maerten Jacobszoon Heemskerk van Veen.
Printed on watermarked laid paper in the early 17th century. This is an illustration of a passage from the Acts of the Apostles, 5.19-20:

"But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life."

Latin caption in the lower portion of the engraving. Artist's signature in the plate. Numbered notation "10" in the lower right corner, within the engraving. Manuscript notation "143" in the margin in the upper right corner of...

Original burin engraving after a 16th-century painting by Maerten Jacobszoon Heemskerk van Veen.
Print on watermarked laid paper, early 17th-century work.

This is an illustration of a passage from Acts of the Apostles, 9.1-3: 

"But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him".

Latin caption in the lower part of...

Original unsigned burin engraving, presumably by Harman Jansz van Muller.
Printed on watermarked laid paper in early 17th-century.
This is an illustration of the Gospel according to Matthew 25.20-23,

 "And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, 'Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.' His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.' 

Latin caption in the lower part of the engraving. Numbered references "5" at the bottom of the...

Original unsigned burin engraving probably by Claes Jansz Visscher, known as Piscator.
Printed on watermarked laid paper, in the early 17th century.
This is an illustration of the Gospel according to Matthew 2-12,

"Then, being divinely warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way."

Latin caption in the lower part of the engraving. Numbered mention "12" in the lower right corner within the engraving, and manuscript mention "17" in margin in the upper right corner. An old manuscript annotation in Greek characters under the right corner of the plate mark. Crown watermark. Minor foxing and...

New and improved enlarged edition (partly original), illustrated with a frontispiece, 12 unsigned figures, and 6 title vignettes (the title pages are entirely engraved). A fine printing. The original 1770 edition comprised only 3 volumes in-12.
Contemporary full mottled calf bindings. Smooth spines decorated with floral tools and multiple gilt rolls. Triple gilt fillet framing on covers. Blue sprinkled edges. Slight surface wear to the covers. A few wormholes to the joints, and some worming in the margin of volume I. Despite these minor flaws, a handsome, well-bound and fresh copy.

Rare first edition of this literary hoax, spuriously attributed by the translator to Cadmus of Miletus in a lengthy explanatory preface. Illustrated with a frontispiece after Cochin.
Contemporary full blond calf binding. Spine gilt-tooled between raised bands. Red morocco title label. Headcap partly worn and upper joint split at the head. Surface abrasions to the boards.

Rare. We have found nothing concerning this work, absent from libraries.
Half calf Romantic binding with corners in red, smooth spine with 4 tools and fillets. Foxing. One corner of the title page border reinforced.
In the form of a tale and dialogue between a father and son, the author examines the nobility of character of a good merchant, how he should be a good father to his son and a good father to his country. Numerous passages on the importance of agriculture. « Ce travail lui donna des vues très étendues sur les rapports du commerce, avec le bonheur particulier & général des hommes? » (This work gave him very extensive views on the relationship of commerce with the particular...

First edition. Rare.

Contemporary full calf bindings. Smooth spines with gilt fillets. Red and black morocco title and volume labels. Gilt fillet borders on covers. All edges gilt. Some rubbing.

Antoine de La Salle (1754-1829), philosopher and scientist, was certainly one of the most curious thinkers of his time; his ideas, sometimes whimsical and muddled, made him the leader of the physico-moral school. Physiognomy naturally plays an important part in this theory. La Mechanique is both a classical treatise on physiognomy and a new way of considering the relationship between morals and the body from an educational perspective. Beyond this...

Autograph note dated and signed by Paul Claudel, one page addressed to Thierry Maulnier (12 lines in blue ink on a single sheet).
Central folds.

Extract from the first edition of the Procès-verbal of the attempted coup of August 6, 1840.

Half midnight-blue chagrin, brown marbled paper sides, arms of Ernest-Gabriel, Marquis des Roys, on the upper cover with the motto "monstrant regibus astra viam", smooth spine, gilt-lettered title lengthwise on spine, combed paper pastedowns. Copy annotated in the margins. Some rubbing and scuffing, light foxing.

Bookplate of the Marquis des Roys with his arms and motto. Bookplate of Libes.

A rare copy of the list of defendants in Louis Bonaparte's insurrection, annotated in ink with the sentences handed down, preserved in the library of the son of a sitting...

Second edition, one of 20 copies on japon, followed by 480 numbered copies on hollande.

Contemporary full green morocco binding, spine with five raised bands, title and author lettered in gilt,  armorial stamp of Aleister Crowley and his motto “SPES” on upper cover and crowned cipher “AC” on lower cover, original wrappers preserved, marbled paper pastedowns and endpapers, inner gilt dentelle, roll tool on edges and spine-ends, top edge gilt, sunned spine, boards with slightly darkened margins, split at foot of upper joint.

Reprint in 12mo published the same year as the first edition in 4to. Both issued from the Elzevier press.

Pastiche binding in half light brown sheep, spine with five raised bands ruled in gilt and six compartments decorated with gilt rolls, one containing the title in gilt, marbled paper boards, sprinkled edges, shell-pattern marbled pastedowns and endpapers.

Hinges rubbed, one with a slight split at the upper right extending 2...

First edition printed in a small number of copies.

A rare and pleasing copy.

Autograph postcard dated 23 July 1924 and signed by Panait Istrati, addressed to Raoul Simonson from Massevaux, where he was spending his summer holidays.

Seven lines in blue ink; the recto of the postcard features a photographic view of Massevaux.

"Salutations d'un ami qui se souvient avec plaisir de votre sincère enthousiasme pour tout ce qui est beau. Panait Istrati. Massevaux 23/7/1924." ["Greetings from a friend who fondly remembers your sincere enthusiasm for all that is beautiful. Panaït Istrati. Massevaux, 23 July...

Final set of corrected proofs of Henri Calet's most important work: Le Tout sur le tout, 136 leaves in 17 unbound quires, with the "ready for press" manuscript inscription dated June 1, 1948. The pages are numbered from 10 to 271 (and, in pencil, from 9 to 274).

"In 1947, Henri Calet began writing "Aux vingt arrondissements", commissioned by Éditions de Minuit, ultimately published by Gallimard in 1948 under the title "Le Tout sur le tout". On 6 December 1948, Calet received for this book – considered by many to be his best – the first Prix de la Cote d'amour, awarded by an exclusively female jury. It honored a sad and...

Touching autograph note, dated and signed, addressed to his friend, the writer Christiane Baroche, eleven lines in black ink on a Post-it, concerning his wife’s illness and the treatment she is undergoing.

With the accompanying handwritten envelope on which the addressee added the name of her correspondent, Cortázar, in the upper left corner.

"31 (sic)/9/82 Chère Christiane,

un mot pour te remercier de ta carte et tes souhaits concernant Carol. Elle commence un traitement à la cortisone, et j’espère que bientôt il y aura de bons résultats. Merci de nous offrir ta maison, cela fait du bien de savoir qu’il y...

Touching autograph card, dated and signed by Julio Cortázar, addressed to his friend, the writer Christiane Baroche: eight lines in black ink, thanking her for the comfort she had given to his wife Carol, then suffering from an incurable illness.

"29/11/82

je n'oublierai jamais, Christiane, ta présence près de Carol, ta bonté que - je le sais - l'encourageait tant dans sa souffrance. Je ne peux pas écrire davantage, je t'embrasse très fort, Julio. Ton poème sera toujours près de mon coeur."

Autograph note dated and signed by Marguerite Yourcenar, written from her Paris residence to journalist Marcel Baroche of the literary review Sud. Written on one of her visiting cards. 

Eighteen lines in green ink, with the autograph envelope addressed to her correspondent, concerning a proposed collaboration with Yourncenar initiated by the director of Sud.

[27 December 1980,
to the journal Sud, to Marcel Baroche,

Dear Sir, you have my acceptance of the proposal for a special issue on my work in 1982, together with my thanks in advance. There exist many photographs of me, a few of which strike me as fairly faithful likenesses: I do not...

Original ink composition in magenta, brown, green, and blue hues, titled and signed “Moscou / L D” by Léon Deubel made on the verso of a leaf from his collection of poems titled La Lumière natale.

Magnificent multicoloured ink-blot drawing (klecksography) signed by the poète maudit Léon Deubel, inspired by Arthur Rimbaud’s Illuminations. This early Rorschach-like fold drawing was created using a...

First edition, illustrated on the title page with a small woodcut showing a bull and a mounted horseman charging, and at the end of the volume with a curious wood-engraved vignette depicting the poet (wearing spectacles) and his muse.

Rare and engaging bullfighting pamphlet containing a verse account of a mounted bullfight held in Lisbon on 26 September 1752.

Pleasing copy preserved in its original sewing with later plain marbled paper wrappers.

Black and white photographic postcard depicting a smiling Henri Salvador, his chin resting in his right hand.

A fine copy.

Signed autograph inscription by Henri Salvador in the upper left corner of the image.

Provenance: from the collection of noted autograph collector Claude Armand.

Bronze cast of the Marquis de Sade's skull by the master founder Avangini. One of a unique numbered edition of 99 bearing a reproduction of Sade's signature, this one no.31.
Also included is a certificate of authenticity signed by the Comtesse de Sade, with the family's wax seal.
Provenance: family archives.

Autograph manuscript by the author, two and a half pages in-8, published in the issue of May 11, 1944 of the Journal des Débats. Complete manuscript in very dense handwriting, with numerous erasures, corrections, and additions. Literary column published on the occasion of the release of Gaston Bachelard's L'air et les songes. Accompanied by the complete typescript.

« L'homme est d'abord rêverie, puissance d'imaginer avant d'être sensibilité et raison », Blanchot’s analysis of this new essay by Bachelard provides an opportunity to confront the philosopher with the uncertainties of his theory, which tends to fragment in the plurality of its forms...

Later print of a black and white photograph of Joan Crawford, taken in the 1950s.

A fine copy.

Inscribed and signed by Joan Crawford to the renowned autograph collector Claude Armand: "Dear Claude thnak you for your warming letter. Bless you Joan Crawford."