Canailles, truands, vilains & vicieux

First edition, one of 30 numbered copies on pur fil paper, this copy one of five not for sale.

A rare and fine copy.

New compilation of the celebrated songs by the troubadour from Sète, including "La mauvaise réputation", "Le parapluie", "Le petit cheval", "Le fossoyeur", "Le gorille", "Corne d'auroch", "La chasse aux papillons" and "Hécatombe".
Inevitable creasing and light rubbing along the margins of the record sleeve.

A small ballpoint pen doodle in blue ink on the lower cover.
Autograph signature of Georges Brassens in the lower right margin of the upper cover.

Edition illustrated with 12 original colour watercolours by Gerda Wegener, printed hors texte, one of 400 numbered copies on Arches laid paper.

Spine and boards faintly sunned at the margins, otherwise a pleasing copy.

First edition of the Petits poëmes en prose, later entitled Le Spleen de Paris – Petits poëmes en prose. Second edition of Les Paradis artificiels.

Some foxing, mainly at the beginning and end of the volume.
Contemporary half black shagreen binding, spine with five raised bands ruled in gilt and decorated with gilt tools, marbled paper sides, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, speckled edges, corners slightly rubbed.
The half-title bears the designation: "Oeuvres complètes". The work was issued separately, either on its own or as the fourth volume of the complete works, the publication of which extended over several...

First edition, one of 170 numbered copies on vélin teinté de rives, the only issue following 40 copies on vélin blanc d'Arches, with an additional suite of the illustrations.

A fine copy.

Illustrated with three etchings by Alberto Giacometti.

Rare first edition of this sticker album entirely devoted to the glory of the Castro regime and the Cuban Revolution.

The album comprises 268 small, mounted, colour stickers, each captioned and arranged in strict chronological order of events, including 16 portrait plates of the principal figures (the Castro brothers, Camilo Cienfuegos, Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Faure Chaumont, Rolando Cubelas, Victor Bordon, Eloy Gutierrez, Crecencio and Faustino Perez, etc.).

No copy recorded in the CCFr, which comes as little surprise for this type of production.

Our copy, issued in original illustrated colour wrappers, is housed in a modern oblong slipcase, full decorated boards in the...

Rare first edition of this virtuoso plea in defence of Prince Pierre Bonaparte (1815-1881), first cousin of the Emperor, in the case of the assassination of the journalist Victor Noir [Yvan Salmon], which took place on 10 January 1870 and caused an immense scandal.

According to the CCF [Catalogue Collectif de France], copies are held only at the BnF, Compiègne and Versailles.

Smooth spine, unlettered, small corner losses to the boards, some foxing.

The High Court of Justice, the only body empowered to try a prince of the Emperor's family, convened at Tours on 21 March 1870 and heard counsel for the civil party recall the accused's unfortunate past record (he was said to...

First edition of the French translation, illustrated with 105 full-page plates (including 2 folding tables, 21 maps and plans, and 82 views and facsimiles of documents).

Remarkable account of one of the most significant international opinion manipulations by China and North Korea at the onset of the Korean War: as early as 1952, North Korean and Chinese officials (including Zhou Enlai) claimed that the U.S. Army was deploying "insect vectors" on a large scale to spread diseases such as plague and cholera among the populations of Korea and Manchuria.

As later confirmed by Soviet documents published in 1998, the entire operation had been meticulously staged.

Spine with...

First edition, with no deluxe copies printed.
Pleasant copy, which is uncommon given the fragility of this book, often handled without care.
Inscribed and signed by Serge Gainsbourg to a recipient named Georges.
 

First edition, one of 20 numbered copies on Japan paper, the smallest issue of the deluxe edition, along with 20 on Arches.

Spine and covers marginally faded and sunned as usual, with minor paper losses at the flaps.

Illustrated with 8 original lithographs by Georges Annenkoff.

As with all copies from the deluxe issue, this copy includes the complete double suite of illustrations on vellum and on China paper.

First edition of Pierre Drieu la Rochelle's first book, one of 150 numbered copies on Hollande laid paper, the only deluxe copies.
Precious autograph inscription signed by Pierre Drieu la Rochelle : « to Charles Maurras this anxious testimony. Pierre Drieu la Rochelle ex. sergeant in the 146^th Infantry. October 1^st, 1917. »
Important testimony of the young Drieu la Rochelle's admiration – then in full intellectual development – for the « master of Martigues » to whom he sends this copy of his war poems composed in 1916 after being wounded at Verdun.
Demobilized and...

Photographic postcard depicting Jean-Paul Belmondo with sunglasses and a cigarillo between his teeth.
Handsome copy.
Autograph inscription signed by Jean-Paul Belmondo in the lower margin of the photograph: "Pour Claude JP Belmondo".
Provenance: from the collection of the great autograph collector Claude Armand.

First edition, of which there were no deluxe copies.

Autograph inscription signed by Henri Charrière to journalist and historian Gilbert Guilleminault.

Henri Charrière, known as Papillon, ward of the state and petty criminal, had been sentenced to the penal colony in 1931 for a murder he always denied. More than thirty years later, he recounts his terrible experience in this autobiographical text. He describes the violence, injustice, diseases and escape attempts, crowned by years of exile in South America: « Pure of all contact, his publisher noted, and of all literary ambition, what he writes is "as he tells it to you", you see it, you feel it, you...

First edition of the French translation, one of 51 numbered copies on pure wove paper, the only copies printed on deluxe paper.
Spine and boards slightly and marginally sunned, as often.
Rare and handsome copy of this work, splendidly adapted for the screen in 1967 by Richard Brooks, with Robert Blake, Scott Wilson, John Forsythe, and John MacLiam in the leading roles.
Richard Brooks even went so far as to film in the actual house where the crime took place, as well as in the same courthouse, where 7 of the 12 jurors played their own roles.

Exhibition catalogue of Paul Gauguin's works at the Galerie Barbazanges, 109 Faubourg Saint-Honoré, from 10 to 30 October 1919.
Illustrated with Gauguin's splendid colour self-portrait with halo and serpent, wood-engraved by Jules Germain.
Essay by François Norgelet, entitled "Gauguin au Pouldu".
Catalogue of 28 works by Gauguin, including two lithographs and two plaster casts. Minute black spot in the margin of the front wrapper.

First edition printed in 300 numbered copies on pure rag vellum from the marais, ours being one of the 246 containing illustrations in the text.
Work illustrated with 18 unsigned drypoints in the text by Fernand Hertenberger.
Boards uniformly and lightly sunned.
Rare and handsome copy.

Long autograph letter signed by Claude Farrère, approximately 160 lines in blue ink (8 pages on two double leaves), to his friend Pierre Louÿs thanking him notably for his thoughtfulness.
Traces of folds inherent to being placed in an envelope, envelope included.
Claude Farrère praises his friend's thoughtfulness towards him: "Thank you for your letter... not only because it is exquisite, - six times more than you can believe, - but much more because I know very well that you told it to me so as 'not to worry me...' as you say." and is amazed by the problems raised by these recent articles: "Said in parentheses, I am quite stunned by the one...

“Yes I have sarcasm in my words, yes I do not know how to flatter and bend my back, how to beg in official salons […] I am nothing but a braying schemer, but if I had submitted - yes I would be comfortable."

Long autograph letter dated August 1896 and signed by Paul Gauguin to painter Daniel de Monfreid. Four pages in black ink on two lined sheets.
Small tears to margins not affecting the text, traces of folds inherent to sending.
In the midst of his descent into hell, abandoned in his Tahitian artificial paradise, Gauguin feels cursed : “Definitely, I was born under a bad...

First edition, one of 20 copies on Arches paper, most limited deluxe issue (tirage de tête).
Like all copies on Arches, it is wrapped in a double dust jacket in yellow and white, and bears the rare sanguine vignette drawn and engraved by Hans Bellmer.
Preface by Jean Paulhan.

Our copy is housed in a custom clamshell box featuring an original design signed by Julie Nadot.

Beautiful first edition copy of this masterpiece of erotic literature, in its most limited deluxe issue.

Autograph manuscript signed by Louis-Ferdinand Céline written in blue ballpoint pen on a sheet of white paper numbered 237 in the left corner. Some stains as well as a central fold of no consequence. Some pinholes in the upper margin, evidence of the organization of Céline's manuscripts in "bundles".
"Y'en a un charlatant là-haut ! et terrible ! et vous le connaissez !... donc de dessous, là ! de dessous la table, je regarde le moulin... pas loin... peut-être deux cents mètres... et dans quel air éblouissant !... eh bien je vous dis comme je l'ai vu..." ["There's a charlatan up there! and terrible! and you know him!... so from underneath, there! from under...

First edition of the French translation, by Raymond Queneau, of Nigerian author Amos Tutuola’s first novel. One of 86 copies on Lafuma-Navarre pur fil wove paper, the only deluxe issue.

A fine copy.

Manuscript pages from ‘Conversations with Professor Y', n.p. [Meudon] n.d. [1954], various sizes (from 10x21 cm to 27x21 cm), 34 sheets.
Autograph manuscript by Louis-Ferdinand Céline, 34 sheets of various sizes, written in blue and sometimes pink ballpoint pen. Some of the pages are numbered by Céline at top left. The last folio numbered 159 is signed by the writer at the bottom.
Two leaves contain previously unpublished passages: the first, a few lines long, refers to the Professeur. The second leaf numbered 136 features another full-page text on the verso which we did not find in the ‘Professeur Y' or in any of the published works of Céline...

Original colour lithographed poster depicting Jean Jaurès as an elephant sitting on a chair and holding a bottle of “water from the Jordan”. Until then portrayed as a dog – caricaturists mocking his aggressiveness – Jean Jaurès is here, for the first time, represented as an elephant. It is a question here of highlighting his potbelly and his pachyderm silhouette, but we can, nevertheless, highlight the great dignity of this massive personality with a high gaze. The water from the Jordan is held on one of his hoofs and alludes to the rumour that he had his son baptised in the scared river, thus acting against his anticlerical policy. Despite the caricaturist's desire to...

First edition, one of 30 numbered copies on alfa paper, the only large-paper copies.

A small tear with slight loss at the head of the spine.
A fine and rare copy.