Sans nom d'éditeur

Original colour photograph depicting a smiling Jacques Chirac.

Attractive ensemble held together by a paperclip, which has left a discreet mark in the upper left margin of the photograph.

Enclosed are an official letter, its envelope, and a card on which Jacques Chirac, then Prime Minister, wrote in black felt-tip pen the following words: "vous remercie de votre aimable message de félicitations et vous adresse ses sentiments les meilleurs."

Signed by Jacques Chirac in blue ink at the foot of the photograph.

Original and unpublished manuscript by “Jean Cocquebert de Roquelaure de Reims”, dated 1647; 1 title leaf and 216 folios numbered in ink (431 pp. of text), including 2 ff. of a “Table of Towns and Other Places Contained in this Book” at the end. The full list of towns and villages cited in the manuscript is provided at the end of this description.
Full limp vellum binding, smooth spine with a calf lettering piece. Some dampstaining; one quire detached.

During the closing years of the Thirty Years’ War, a traveller from Reims named Jean Cocquebert, set down in this exceptional...

Black-and-white photograph showing Kirk Douglas smiling, facing the camera.

A handsome example.

Boldly signed by Kirk Douglas in the upper right corner of the photograph.

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

Black and white photograph of Micheline Presle, circa 1950s.

A fine example.

Inscribed and signed by Micheline Presle to the prominent autograph collector Claude Armand: "A Claude Armand mon amical souvenir. Micheline Presle."

Original black and white photograph of Roger Peyrefitte.

A fine example. Photographer Rodolphe Haussaire's printed stamp to verso.

Inscribed, dated and signed by Roger Peyrefitte to the noted autograph collector Claude Armand.

Later print of an iconic 1950s photograph capturing "The look" in profile, with her right hand resting on her hip.

Signed in black felt-tip pen by Lauren Bacall.

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

Autograph card signed and dated 18 February 1909 by Henri Bergson, to Mr. Masson de Saint-Félix.

Two years after the publication of L'Evolution créatrice, Bergson expresses his gratitude to a former student from his philosophy class in Clermont-Ferrand, where he taught for five years — from 1883 to 1888 — at the Lycée Blaise-Pascal and the Faculty of Arts.

"Thank you, my dear friend, for your kind note. I hardly need to tell you how fondly I remember your time in my class at Clermont. I do not know whether I shall be able to visit Lozère any time soon, as you kindly encourage me to do; but if you happen to be in Paris, it would give...

Printed proof with autograph inscription and autograph correction "Victor Hugo à l'Espagne" instead of "Victor Hugo et l'Espagne" of an article by Hugo written in Guernsey dated in the print "Hauteville House, 22 October 1868". Published in La Liberté (26 October 1868), with a dedication to Emile de Girardin ("à mon cher et grand ami") which does not yet appear in this preparatory broadside. Folds inherent to the elongated format of the sheet, a small tear on one letter without loss.

Proof enhanced with an autograph correction to the title and an exceptional autograph inscription signed to literary critic and later political polemicist...

Original watercolour signed with Sonia Delaunay’s initials, “S.D.” One leaf under a wooden frame with a mat, a few minor chips and small lacks to the frame. Red stamp on the verso of the leaf: "Ce projet de tissu provient de l'Atelier que dirigeait Sonia Delaunay entre 1925 et 1933. Son fils, Charles Delaunay".

Exceptional sketch of a colourful chevron dress, one of the famous "tissus simultanés" created by Sonia Delaunay. Likely to be a preparatory drawing for a dress featured in Delaunay’s portfolio Ses Peintures, Ses Objets, Ses Tissus Simultanés, Ses Modes, published on the occasion of the 1925 Exposition...

Original vintage photograph, signed and dated by Jeanne Moreau, showing her alongside Raymond Pellegrin during the filming of "Les hommes en blanc" as part of the Caméra du lundi series.

Black and white vintage print, with printed stamp and notations on the verso.

Manuscript signature by Jeanne Moreau, dated, at the foot of the image.

Edition regarded as the masterpiece of the painter and engraver Charles Eisen, and a counterfeit of the famed Fermiers généraux edition.

This edition is illustrated with 2 engraved frontispieces by Vidal, 2 title vignettes, 1 portrait after Hyacinthe Rigaud, along with 80 plates and 43 tailpieces. One engraving is unfortunately missing from our copy, which contains 79 engravings instead of 80.

A few minor spots, not affecting the text.

Bound in contemporary full green morocco, flat spines slightly sunned, decorated with double gilt fillets and gilt floral and typographic motifs, red morocco lettering-pieces and volume labels, gilt roll tooling at head and tail...

Autograph letter, dated and signed, addressed to his friend Pierre Louÿs while at sea, 3 numbered leaves written in violet ink.

Folds from original mailing, manuscript envelope enclosed.

Pierre Louÿs had delivered Claude Farrère’s manuscript of "La bataille"—likely to the painter Charles Fouqueray—and the author had failed to thank him: "Vous ai-je seulement remercié d'avoir vous-même porté chez F un manuscrit du poids de 2.780 grammes, à travers les XVe, VIIe et XIVe arrondissements ? A propos ? J'espère bien que ce n'est pas pour moi que vous êtes obligé d'attendre le retour de F avant de quitter Paris ?"

Claude Farrère misses his...

Entertaining fragments of handwritten notes and reflections by Sacha Guitry on the French origins of the English language, approximately 75 lines in black ink across 6 leaves.

Sacha Guitry wittily comments on the hospitality of the English language: "Aucune langue n'a été plus accueillante que la langue anglaise..." and its deep-rooted traditions, heavily influenced by French: "J'ai pu constater (on me l'avait dit mais je ne le croyais pas ! ) que, à la chambre des Lords lorsque le Roi prend la parole un huissier s'écrie : Oyez ! oyez ! Or, le mot oyez s'écrie o - y - e - z et c'est le vieux français : oyez ! du verbe ouïr - écouter." [...] "Lorsque le Roi...

Christmas greeting card illustrated with a printed drawing by Mathurin Méheut, to which he added a few handwritten words on the verso, addressed to a couple of friends:

"Aux vieux et très bons amis Dupouy ceux du tertre et de toujours, à toute leur famille. Les voeux bien sincères de MMéheut."

Marguerite Méheut, the artist’s wife, also added a note to convey her own wishes: "Aux parents, aux enfants, tous nos meilleurs voeux de bonne et heureuse année. Toutes nos amitiés à partager. Marg. Méheut."

Two small stains on the verso of the card.

Autograph letter dated and signed by Romain Rolland, 21 lines in blue ink, written from Villeneuve Schönbrunn.
Folding from postal dispatch, minor foxing.
Romain Rolland requests information necessary to properly draft the requested preface: "J'ai bien reçu les épreuves du volume, et je les ai lues. Il me manque encore les notes, qui me seront le plus nécessaires..."
He provides his Paris address on Boulevard du Montparnasse and informs his correspondent that he will be travelling for a few more days: "Je quitte Schoenbrunn, demain, et je ne saurais donner d'adresse stable, pour une quinzaine de jours." before turning to the Stendhalian task...

Autograph letter dated and signed by André Gide, 25 lines in black ink, addressed to his secretary Pierre de Massot.
Folding trace inherent to envelope insertion.
André Gide has recently failed in all his duties as a friend toward Pierre de Massot: "J'étais furieux contre moi, l'autre dimanche, de me rendre compte qu'il eût suffi peut-être d'un signe de ma part pour provoquer votre venue - et j'aurais eu grand plaisir à vous revoir ! Trop tard ! J'ai été très bas ces temps derniers..." (I was furious with myself, last Sunday, to realize that perhaps a simple sign from me would have been enough to bring about your visit - and I would have had great pleasure...

Original photograph by Lewis Carroll (Charles Ludwidge Dodgson), rectan­gular albumen print. The tondo portrait of the little girl gives way to a partic­ularly visible collodion emulsion, also bearing the number added by Carroll in the negative at top left. Discreet resto­ration at the ends of the plate, a diago­nal fold in the upper left corner.

Extraordinary photograph of Lewis Carroll's favorite sitter Xie Kitchin, one of the first portraits of his young muse, then aged 5. One of the few retaining as much of the collodion emulsion peel­ing away from the edges of the glass negative - a deliberate artistic choice by Carroll. 

The use of the...

A counterfeit edition of Rousseau's celebrated essay, bearing the date of the true first edition.

Illustrated with a title vignette, one initial, and two head-pieces.
Contemporary full brown roan, spine with five raised bands, beige calf lettering-piece, small pomegranate gilt tools and fillets, gilt rolls to the board edges partly rubbed, all edges red. Corners bumped and rubbed, a tear with loss of leather to the front board, surface rubbing and white staining to the back board, loss of leather to the lower edge of the back board.

A pleasing copy of this masterpiece, a superb portrait of humankind that gave Voltaire "the longing to go on all fours" (letter to...

Two original photographic prints signed in blue ink by Mariette Lachaud, mounted onto a sheet of heavy paper. Autograph note by Max Philippe Delatte on the verso: "1951 Photographs taken by Braque's secretary and arranged thus, facing one another, by Braque himself." The adhesive used by Braque has lightened the verso of the sheet and a small besides the first photograph.

A rare double photographic portrait of Francis Ponge, taken in the studio of his friend Georges Braque by Braque's assistant and inscribed by the poet to Max-Philippe Delatte.

First edition of Aristide Bruant’s electoral manifesto, written in his signature chansonnier style, for the legislative elections of May 8, 1898, covering the Belleville–Saint-Fargeau district, the first constituency of the 20th arrondissement of Paris.

The fourth leaf of this fragile electoral document features a hagiography of Aristide Bruant, "poet of the outcasts and the wretched," by Michel Morphy.

The manifesto is illustrated with a drawing by Borgey.

Printed visiting card of G. Clemenceau bearing the following autograph addition: "avec mes amicaux remerciements. GC."

A fine copy.

Autograph signed postcard, dated 8 February 1984, 8 lines in black ballpoint pen, addressed to her friend, the woman of letters Christiane Baroche, warmly thanking her for her friendship and for her laudatory reviews of her books.

Manuscript envelope addressed to Christiane Baroche included.

The postcard depicts a view of the leisure park at Cergy, in the Ile-de-France region.

"Christiane

tout ce que tu m'écris me fait très chaud au coeur. Je ne sais ce qui me touche le plus, ce que tu penses de moi comme auteur (écrivain c'est trop lourd ! ) ou ton amitié. Je t'embrasse. Annie."

Autograph card signed, dated 7 September 1984, 20 lines in blue ballpoint pen, addressed to her friend, the writer Christiane Baroche, in which she congratulates her on her latest work "Plaisirs amers" which she "devoured" and enjoyed. Annie Ernaux humorously refers to her property plans linked to the sale of her book "La Place".

"Ma chère Christiane,

j'ai reçu "Plaisirs amers" le 6, l'ai lu le soir d'une traite (comme tu sais bien parler de l'amour, c'est merveilleux ! Et de la vieillesse... Un  seul regret : que ces deux-là n'aient pas fait l'amour ensemble, enfin, tu ne dis rien ! ). Le 7, jai voulu t'appeler, la belle avait quitté le nid, je...

A collection of two first editions of Italian translations, each devoted to a figure of eighteenth-century French secret diplomacy and published during their lifetimes: the Chevalier d'Éon and Prince Charles Edward Stuart, d. 1810 and 1788 respectively. 

This sammelband, combining two separately published works, in fact possesses a genuine thematic unity: cross-dressing.

Printed calling card of G. Clemenceau bearing the following autograph addition: "avec tous mes remerciements. GC."

A fine copy.

Autograph letter dated June 10th (1929) and signed by Somerset Maugham addressed in French to the writer Marcel Prévost, who had just sent him an inscribed copy of his book "L'homme vierge".

27 lines in blue ink on one recto-verso page on Villa Mauresque letterhead from Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, printed stamp of Marcel Prévost's library in the upper right corner of the letter.

Mailing folds as usual.

Somerset Maugham thanks him for the inscription and praises the innovative literary qualities of his correspondent: "... je vous remercie infiniment. Je l'avais lu quand il s'appelait Amal et suis très content de le posséder maintenant en forme plus permanente. Vous...

Autograph letter signed by Thomas Mann, in French and on the headed paper of the Hôtel Regina, 2 place des Pyramides, Paris, addressed to the journalist (Claude Morgan).

10 lines in blue ink on a single leaf, a stain affecting the "14" of 14 May 1951, creases consistent with having been folded for mailing.

"14 Mai 1951

Cher monsieur,

ayant prolongé mon séjour à Paris d'un jour, je vous donnerais avec plaisir une courte interview ce soir à six heures trente. Avec l'expression de mes meilleurs sentiments. Thomas Mann."

Pirate edition from the same year as the first edition of this bible of chess strategy, published by Philidor at the age of twenty-two.

Full olive morocco binding, dentelle boards framed by a gilt roulette motif, central gilt decoration in mandorla shape composed of a quatrefoil formed by basket-handle motifs richly decorated in gilt inside the lobes, gilt edges, top spine-end slightly rubbed, corners bumped, some rare spots of foxing, binding attributable to René-François Fétil, pupil of the great Padeloup, based on numerous tools found on bindings bearing Fétil’s ticket and listed...

Exceedingly rare first edition. A sole copy in the U.S. (Newberry), out of only five listed on OCLC with the correct first edition pagination (British Library, BnF, Allard Pierson, Lucerne).

True first edition of Philidor’s chess book housed in a contemporary armorial binding of a noble chess player: Charles Theodore, Elector Palatine of the Rhine.

Later forming part of the library of famous chess player Lothar Schmid, chess grandmaster and arbiter of the 20th century, who assembled the largest and most prestigious private...

First edition (cf. Quérard II, 200. Perrod, 711).

Contemporary marbled fawn calf, spine with five raised bands gilt with gilt fillets, gilt compartments decorated with floral tools, gilt rolls to the headcaps partly rubbed, covers framed with a double blind-tooled fillet, some surface wear and losses to the boards, gilt fillet to the turn-ins, worn corners, red edges.

The sole, uncommon edition of this defence of the serfs of the Abbey of Saint-Claude in their dispute with their lord.

Christin (1744–1799) acted as their counsel before the Parlement of Besançon.

Despite his intervention (and that of Voltaire – see below), the sixteen canons of Saint-Claude...

Rare first edition, printed in small numbers, of this Extrait du Bulletin de la Société de Géographie, 2e série, tome XI, illustrated with two folding plates showing topographical cross-sections of various valleys, including that of the Jordan (cf. Hage Chahine, 471; Numa Broc, Asie, pp. 28–29).

Half tan calf, smooth spine gilt-ruled and tooled, some rubbing to the spine, one joint restored at the head, green morocco lettering-piece, marbled boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, red edges; a contemporary binding.

An orientalist and archaeologist, the Comte de Bertou explored Palestine in 1838 with the mission of verifying the hypothesis of an ancient outflow...

Complete and mostly unpublished autograph manuscript by Mouloud Feraoun, dated by the author from “December 1956” to “July 1958”, for his work "Les Poèmes de Si Mohand", published in 1960 by Éditions de Minuit. Numerous erasures, corrections, deleted passages, and additions.

178 manuscript pages in blue and black ink, written in a lined Séyès notebook, with the autograph title “Si Mohand” on the upper cover; a manuscript slip tipped onto page 53 and numbered by the author; also preserved in the notebook: 5 typescript pages with autograph corrections, entitled “Voyage de Si Mohand de Maison Carrée à Michelet (Recueilli par la P. Giacobetti des P. B. à Beni-Yenni, en 1906 peu de...

Photographic postcard issued by the television weekly Télé 7 Jours, depicting Guy Lux smoking a cigarette.

A well-preserved example.

Signed by Guy Lux in blue felt-tip pen.

Autograph envelope addressed by André Breton to his friend Géo Dupin, curator of the La Cour d'Ingres art gallery at 17 quai Voltaire, from whom the Pope of Surrealism acquired several paintings.

The address is written in black ink (some letters slightly smudged).

A well-preserved example.

Original black and white photograph depicting Valéry Giscard d'Estaing posing frontally.

A fine copy. Original envelope with the letterhead of the French Presidency included.

Inscribed and signed tribute by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in blue ink.

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

Original black and white photograph, dated and inscribed by Jacques Chirac.

A handsome copy.

Autograph inscription, dated and signed by Jacques Chirac: "Avec mes amitiés J. Chirac 24 4 74."

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

Autograph letter dated and signed by Ginger Rogers, addressed to the renowned Swiss collector Claude Armand, 20 lines penned in blue felt-tip from New York,

Folding marks from mailing, with a light paperclip impression to the upper left corner of the letter; original envelope included.

The celebrated American actress and dancer expresses her gratitude to her admirer for his previous letter, in which he requested a signed photograph that she is unfortunately unable to send, being away from her home in Eagle Point, Oregon, and currently in New York: "Your most gracious letter is in my hands and i cannot tell you how delighted its make...