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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 c

First edition, no copies on deluxe paper issued.

Half light brown morocco binding, flat spine with author stamped in gilt and title stamped in gilt lengthwise, gilt date at foot, brown stingray boards framed in morocco, brown suede endpapers and pastedowns, original covers and spine preserved, top edge gilt, elegant binding signed Thomas Boichot.

Manuscript ex-libris in black ink and a slight restoration to the upper right corner of the first endpaper.</

First edition displaying all the distinctive features of its publication: it presents no capital letters except at the beginning of paragraphs and it is the very first work to have been printed with Voltaire's spelling. Our copy is complete with its errata leaf, which is often missing.
Later bindings (19th century) in full red morocco, Jansenist spines with five raised bands, dates and places gilt at foot, boards struck at center with large gilt typographical fleurons, double gilt fillets on leading edges and headcaps, pastedowns lined with blue morocco presenting a wide gilt decorative border, monogrammed bookplates mounted on the pastedowns of each volume, following endpapers of comb

Rare and genuine posthumous first edition of the first six books of the Confessions, the remaining volumes not appearing until 1789. Several other editions were issued shortly thereafter, but the evidence provided by the commentary published in the June 1782 issue of the Journal Helvétique clearly establishes that this separately printed edition, known as the "large type" issue, is indeed the very first (F. Michaux, "L'Édition originale de la première partie des 'Confessions' de J.-J. Rousseau" in Revue d'Histoire littéraire de la France, 35th Year, No. 2 (1928), pp. 250-253).
Contemporary half calf bindings, flat spines tooled with gilt fillets and decorated

A unique combination of French translations of the first two philosophical works on the Sublime, marking the beginning of the most important reflection on aesthetics in Western history.
Extremely rare first edition of the first French translation of a philosophical work by Immanuel Kant, and the second ever translation of a Kantian text. The others were only translated during the 19th century. Illustrated with a portrait of the author by Benezy. The first edition in German was published in 1764 in Königsberg under the title "Beobachtungen über das Gefühl des Schönen und Erhabenen".
Contemporary half brown roan binding with vellum corners, smooth spi

First edition, one of 18 numbered copies on pur fil, from the deluxe issue.
Full red Jansenist morocco binding, spine in five compartments, date gilt at foot, black morocco endpapers and pastedowns, covers and spine preserved, all edges gilt; matching half red morocco chemise, spine in five compartments, date gilt at foot, black felt lining; slipcase edged in red morocco, ochre felt interior, a highly elegant ensemble superbly executed by Duhayon.
A superb copy, impeccably bound in a triple binding by Duhayon.

First edition, one of 30 numbered copies on Lafuma, the only copies on deluxe paper.
Very handsome copy despite a slight shadow on the half-title page.

First edition. One of 10 copies on vélin de Lana (lettered G, around which Genet has signed in blue ink), signed by Genet at the limitation page, most limited deluxe issue, except for a unique copy. Complete with the loose leaf beginning with “Une brusque lassitude...”. With an autograph letter signed by Jean Genet, on one page with customary fold marks from mailing, published in Edmund White, Jean Genet, pp. 260-261.

Illustrated with 29 erotic lithographs by Jean Cocteau, and an original pencil drawing by Cocteau, as well as a suite of the illustrations presentin

First edition illustrated with 6 original lithographs by Pablo Picasso, one of 500 numbered copies on Lafuma paper.
A pleasing copy, complete with its "prière d'insérer" written by Paul Eluard.

First edition, one of 15 numbered copies on Hollande Van Gelder paper and signed with the publisher's initials.
Full green morocco, the spine in five compartments, the first cover inlayed with a large and superb plate by Marguerite Lecreux of a horn sculpted in Cameo, featuring a sailboat with its sails unfurled, on the calm sea appears an engraved silverfish set under the plate of the horn and visible in transparency, pastedown in silk decorated with a submarine pattern (coral, jellyfish, starfishes and algae) framed in morocco embellished with quintuple gilt fillets, endpages of iridescence cloth, the following pages in marbled paper, the headband highlighted with a

Complete autograph manuscript of 106 pages entitled: “Mémoire de la construction et agrèz d'une galère ordinaire, avec l'explication des termes, l'usage des manœuvres, et de toutes les parties qui composent le corps de la galère et son armement”. Penned in a neat, unrubricated hand, with occasional marginal notes in another hand.
 
Contemporary full vellum binding, lightly soiled with minor wear, smooth spine without lettering.
A major and invaluable manuscript chronicling the revival of the French galley fleet, written by the most influential galley shipwright of his time: Jean-Baptiste Chabert.
We have ident

First edition first issue for which no grand papier (deluxe copies) were printed, one of the rare service de presse (advance copies).
Some very discreet restorations to spine, paper browned, some discreet traces folds at the bottom of some leaves.

A handsome copy, as issued. The book is housed in a slipcase signed by Julie Nadot, reproducing the original design of the cover and spine.

This first edition of L'Étranger was printed on 21 April, 1942 with a run of 4,400 copies: 400 advance copies (service de presse), 500 copies without statement and 3,500 copies with false statements from the second to eighth “editi

First edition of the French translation, one of 50 numbered copies on vellum, the only deluxe paper copies.

Illustrated wrappers.

A handsome copy.

A unique copy entirely transcribed by hand by Michel Butor for Claude Nardin; the paper, handmade by Georges Duchêne at the Moulin de Larroque, is on antique 15; the wrapper, made of "grès de larroque" rag paper, is adorned with an impression by Ania Staritsky.

The work is illustrated with original colour engravings by Ania Staritsky, who also devised the original layout of the book with the collaboration of Claude Nardin.

A rare and very fine copy, complete with its brown full moiré cloth slipcase, slightly and marginally faded.

Manuscript pencil signatures of Michel Butor and Ania Staritsky at the colophon.

Our copy is enrich

First edition of the French translation established by Alexandre Vialatte, one of 50 numbered copies on pur fil, the only deluxe paper issue.

A handsome copy.

First edition of this work devoted to the oeuvre of Ania Staritsky.

Illustrated with an original work by Ania Staritsky on the cover.

A rare and very attractive copy, spine plain and unlettered, boards slightly and marginally sunned, without seriousness.

Copy enriched with an artist’s proof engraving, justified and signed by Ania Staritsky in pencil

First edition printed in a small number of copies of this offprint from "Voyages en Scandinavie, en Laponie et au Spitzberg de la corvette la Recherche", Physical Geography, vol. II, p. 279, the author having taken part in the expedition (1838-1840).

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers, with plain green temporary covers.

Illustrated with 1 folding plate at the end of the volume.

Some light foxing and a few marginal tears to the right margins of certain leaves.

First edition, illustrated with 1 plate and 3 folding maps printed outside the text (cf. Tulard, 694.)

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers, in soiled temporary covers with angular losses and wear to the spine; internally in pleasant condition despite some foxing.

The only edition, and uncommon, of this report on the operations at Peschiera (1–19 January 1801), which followed the Battle of Marengo and were entrusted to François de Chasseloup-Laubat, Commander-in-Chief of Engineers with the Army of Italy. 

The diplomat Étienne-Félix d'Hénin de Cuvillers (1755–1841) was then serving in the same army as a captain, and later as a squadron leader attached to the Gen

Rare and sought-after first edition.
 
Half-black shagreen binding, spine in four compartments, marbled paper boards, pebbled endpapers and pastedowns, speckled edges, contemporary binding.
Some occasional light foxing as usual.
 
Rare copy in strictly contemporary binding.

First edition, one of 200 numbered copies on Hollande paper, the only large paper copies.

3/4 blue morocco Bradel binding, spine with five raised bands highlighted with gilt dots and decorated with triple gilt compartments, gilt date at tail, gilt fillets on marbled paper boards, marbled paper flyleaves and pastedowns, original wrappers and spine preserved, top edge gilt, others uncut, binding signed Canape.

Rare copy of Guy de Maupassant's masterpiece beautifully bound in an elegant signed binding.

First edition, one of 8 numbered copies on Chinese paper, the deluxe issue.
Bound in full red morocco, smooth spine, spine and boards decorated with a geometric design of black and gilt fillets representing interlaced mountain peaks in zigzag pattern, endpapers and pastedowns illustrated with an original lithograph signed in pencil by Germaine de Coster, following endpapers of red paper, original wrappers and spine preserved, top edge gilt; a very elegant contemporary binding signed by Hélène Dumas and Germaine de Coster.
This copy is further enriched with an original charcoal portrait of Jean Giono, signed by R

First edition, one of the press review copies.

A pleasing copy.
It is the work for which Patrick Modiano was awarded the "Prix Goncourt" in 1978.
Rare signed autograph inscription from Patrick Modiano to his friend, the actor and dubbing artist Roger Lumont.
 

First edition of the French translation, for which no deluxe paper copies were issued.

A very slight loss to the head of the spine.

A rare and pleasing copy.

French edition, issued simultaneously with an English edition by the same publishers. It is a virulent pamphlet directed against Napoleon himself, circulated by one of his best-known opponents: General Jean Sarrazin (1770-1848), who had defected to the enemy on 10 June 1810, having himself conveyed aboard an English brig by a fishing boat from Boulogne.

Full red blind-stamped cloth binding, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets, gilt initials at the foot of the spine, discolouration marks to the spine, blue paper endleaves and pastedowns.

Foxing.
Work illustrated with a portrait of General Kléber as frontispiece.

Sentenced to death in absentia by the Lille cour

Second edition, with a newly engraved portrait as frontispiece (cf. Blackmer 99 for the first edition issued the same year).

Light waterstaining to the upper margins of the opening leaves, minor losses to the head and foot of the spine as well as at the corners of the boards. Copy preserved in its original wrappers.

The first biography of Ali Pasha, illustrated with a portrait.

A rare first edition.

This scholarly periodical was issued continuously over eight years, from 1870 to 1877.

Angular losses to the lower wrapper.

Joseph Héliodore Garcin de Tassy (1794-1878) was an orientalist and a specialist of French India. He studied Oriental languages under Silvestre de Sacy and, alongside him, was one of the founders of the Société asiatique in 1822.

He was appointed to the chair of Indology at the École spéciale des Langues orientales in 1828 and was elected to the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres in 1838.

Initially known for his studies on Islam and for his translations from Arabic, Turkish and Persian, Garcin de Tassy beca

First edition of the French translation of an episode from the Ramayana. 

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers, under a temporary blue paper cover with minor losses at the corners. 

Some foxing, mainly affecting the endpapers.

The young orientalist Antoine-Léonard Chézy (1773-1832), influenced by Friedrich Schlegel, had begun teaching himself Sanskrit around 1806, studying original texts alongside their English translations.

In the same year, 1814, he was appointed to the very first chair of Sanskrit in Europe, becoming professor of Sanskrit language and literature at the Collège de France.

Rare first edition illustrated with a portrait frontispiece and a plate printed on a separate leaf with tissue guard depicting the Taj Mahal.

No copies recorded in the CCF.

Small tears to the unlettered spine, boards slightly soiled.

A very rare small travel guide to the city of the Taj Mahal (now in the state of Uttar Pradesh).

Manuscript bookplate "E. Miroir 8 February 1911" in the upper left corner of the title page.

First edition.

Contemporary half lemon calf binding, spine darkened and smooth, decorated with gilt quintuple fillets and garlands, black shagreen title label, rubbing to the spine and spine ends, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, speckled edges, a few nicks to the edges, contemporary binding.

Some light foxing, rubbing and small losses of paper at the corners of the boards, library shelfmark stamp to a flyleaf and the title page.

Only edition: despite the similarity of subject matter, this work should not be confused with the "Rudiments de la langue hindoustani" by the same author.

Joseph Héliodore Garcin de Tassy (1794–1878) was a French orien

First edition illustrated at the end of the volume with 2 folding engraved plates by Gobille after drawings by Guillet, depicting an ancient theatre and a plan of Athens with its surroundings (cf. Blackmer 766. Weber 364. Brunet, Table, 22855.)

Contemporary full brown sheep binding, spine with four raised bands decorated with compartments tooled in gilt, now very rubbed, restorations to the spine and covers.

First historiographer of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, to which he was admitted in 1682, Guillet de Saint-George (Thiers, circa 1625 - Paris, 1705) became known through several writings, the principal ones relating to Greece and the Ottoman Empire.

First edition of this speculative theological inquiry into the date of the end of time, based on scriptural data.

Contemporary full mottled fawn calf, spine in five raised bands richly gilt with fleuroned compartments, red morocco title label, loss to the headcap, joints split at head and foot and restored, some rubbing to the spine, covers framed with a blind fillet, marbled endpapers, gilt edges to the boards with a few nicks, red-speckled edges, corners worn, binding of the period.

A few pencilled markings and marginal annotations to certain passages, library stamp on the title page, a light dampstain to the upper edge of one leaf, not affecting the text. 

The author,

First edition.

No copies recorded in the CCF.

A very rare small guide intended for English travellers in the Kingdom of Naples. It opens with an itinerary from Rome to Naples via the monastery of Monte Cassino.

Some foxing, small losses to the spine which also shows a tear at the foot.

New edition, partly original (cf. Quérard VII, 308. See Blackmer and Atabey for other editions. Not in Conlon.)

Contemporary full mottled fawn calf binding, smooth spine decorated with panels adorned with a bird tool surrounded by small gilt fleurons, green calf title-piece, gilt fillets to edges, red edges.

Spine and joints restored.

The title-page is engraved and enhanced with wash (two Turks in conversation with a European).

"This work contains [the 21] letters of Neddim Coggia, supposedly describing his experiences in Paris as secretary to the embassy of Mehemet Effendi in 1721 (…) Blackmer incorrectly states that the Letters of Nedim Coggia and the 'Le

First edition, one of 50 numbered copies on Rives mould-made wove paper, the only printing after 20 hors commerce copies on Sirène offset paper.

Illustrated with colour linocuts and woodcuts after collages by Ania Staritsky.

Minor offsetting from glassine onto the inner flaps, tears to the spine.

Pencil signatures of Jacques Lemaire and Ania Staritsky at the colophon.

Rare first edition.

Contemporary half fawn cloth Bradel binding, smooth spine, place and date gilt at foot, marbled paper boards, covers preserved.

A single copy recorded in the CCF (BnF).

The only edition, uncommon. A collection of notes and anecdotes relating to Abbé Castel’s period of study in Rome (born 1894, ordained 1920) during his seminary years.

Some spotting to the endpapers.

Second edition of this apocryphal work by the scandal-minded journalist and literary mystifier Henri de Latouche (1785–1851), first issued under the title Album perdu.

Contemporary half fawn sheep, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets, garlands and fleurons, some rubbing to spine and joints, minor losses at head and foot of the split joints, marbled paper boards, endpapers and pastedowns, speckled edges.

Some foxing.

A collection of anecdotes and bons mots assembled here on the principle that “to those who have, more shall be given”: they circulated in the society of the July Monarchy and have since been endlessly repeated in monographs devoted to Talleyrand

First edition, one of 60 numbered copies on Hollande, tirage de tête.
Beautiful illustrated cover.

A good copy with good margins.

Original autograph manuscript by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, one page in black ink on a yellow paper sheet, numerous corrections, and rewritings.

Exceptional working manuscript of a passage from the original French version of Wind Sand and Stars [Terre des Hommes] from chapter VI "Dans le désert", a magnificent ode to the barren wilderness of deserts doomed to disappear due to the inevitable development of the industrial age. This section from the original French novel was removed for the English version translated by Galantière and remains unpublished in English. Moreover, the final two paragraphs of the manuscript are unpublished in the original French version.

First edition, one of 275 numbered copies on Lana wove paper, the deluxe issue.

Illustrated with 31 hors-texte plates.

A fine, uncut copy, complete with its illustrated dust jacket.