First edition, one of 50 numbered copies on deluxe paper, the only deluxe copies.
Spine and boards marginally sunned, small lacks to the plastic film covering the boards at their margins.
First illustrated edition by Gustave Doré. 142 vignettes and 12 plates.
Includes: Autograph inscription by the author on a card with his red seal on the left side of the card, for an appointment.
Contemporary half brown shagreen binding. Spine with raised bands decorated with 4 fleurons and fillets. Spine slightly faded. Some foxing. Handsome copy.
One of the first books illustrated by Gustave Doré after Balzac's Contes drolatiques. A popular novel that enjoyed great success in its time and remains one of the classics of adventure novels for young people.
First edition, one of 450 numbered copies on Holland paper.
Work illustrated with 35 original woodcuts by Fernand Siméon.
Full brown morocco binding, smooth spine decorated with a vertical band of black mosaic morocco, black roulettes on the headcaps, slight rubbing to the upper headcap, gilt title struck to the center of the first cover, covers decorated with a large diamond and a wide horizontal band of black mosaic morocco, endpapers and pastedowns of paper with gilt floral motifs and moiré effect, frame of vertical and horizontal bands of black mosaic morocco on the pastedowns, covers and spine preserved, top edge gilt, double black fillets on the leading edges, slipcase with brown morocco entry, covers of paper with gilt floral motifs and moiré effect, perfect Art Deco binding signed A. Pinard-Lefort.
Handsome copy perfectly executed in a beautiful Art Deco binding.
First edition, one of 50 numbered copies reimposed on Japan Imperial paper, ours being one of the few hors commerce copies, deluxe edition after 1 unique copy on Japan Imperial and 19 old Japan.
Illustrated work, as frontispiece, with a portrait of Charles Maurras consisting of an original drypoint by Edouard Chimot and original lithographs by Wassily Schoukhaeff.
Half chocolate brown morocco binding with corners, spine with five raised bands, gilt date at foot, black roulettes on headcaps, black fillet frame on wood-effect paper boards, wood-effect paper endpapers and pastedowns, covers and spine preserved, top edge gilt, perfect unsigned binding.
Very handsome copy perfectly executed and complete, as stipulated in the justification page, with the double state of Edouard Chimot's drypoint with remarques, 1 proof of the cancelled plate and 1 suite of the lithographs on Japan.
New edition, illustrated with a full-length portrait frontispiece of Lavater by Stober and 30 plates for volume 1, 30 for the second volume, 30 for the third, 29 for volume 4 and 2 facsimiles of his handwriting; all these plates are contained in an atlas. The four volumes are bound in two volumes. Each plate contains 2 to 12 figures.
Contemporary 3/4 burgundy shagreen binding, spine with false raised bands decorated with gilt and blind fillets, marbled paper boards, all edges marbled.
Bindings skillfully restored. Scattered foxing throughout text.
Extremely rare original photograph showing Charles Baudelaire on albumen paper, contemporary print in carte de visite format, mounted on a board from the Nadar workshop, 35 boulevart (sic) des Capucines; “Photographic portrait for us taken by Nadar. Taken the same day as the previous one, same dimensions, same clothes. The waistcoat is still unbuttoned but Baudelaire hides his hands in the pockets of his trousers. Seen face on, he seems more troubled and sadder than in the previous attempt.” (Ourousof, 1896)
“Another carte de visite from the same day as the previous no. 41 [...] a contemporary albumen print found in the Musée d'Orsay collections (Provenance: from the Braive collection, then the Marie-Thérèse and André Jammes collection, 1991, acquired by the Musées Nationaux with the support of the Heritage fund [...] Musée d'Orsay, fiche 39389) (S. Plantureux, Charles Baudelaire ou le rêve d'un curieux).
This photo, taken in 1862, was sold between 1862 and 1871, as evidenced by the photographer's address on the back of the board. Only two of Baudelaire's poses seem to have been retained from this session.
“If photography is allowed to replace art in some of its functions, it will soon have replaced or corrupted it altogether, thanks to the natural alliance it will find with the multitude of nonsense” wrote Charles Baudelaire in the Salon de 1859.
We know of only fifteen different photographic portraits of Baudelaire, taken between 1855 and 1866 (three sessions at Nadar, three at Carjat and one at Neyt), for some of which there remains only one copy.
Baudelaire and Nadar met in 1843 and their friendship endured until the poet's death in 1867. The photographer shot a total of seven portraits of his friend between 1855 and 1862. The two men, full of admiration for one another, paid each other moving tributes in their respective works: Baudelaire dedicated “Le rêve d'un curieux” “The dream of a curious man” (in Les Fleurs du Mal) to the photographer, who dedicated to him, in addition to the photographic caricatures and portraits, an unvarnished work titled Charles Baudelaire intime: le poète vierge (1911).
Extremely rare and beautiful copy of this little-known photograph of Baudelaire by the most important French photographer of the 19th century.
Amis que je vous raconte / La vie triste et pleine de honte / D'un horrible mécréant / Qui mourut voici cent ans / Doué d'une nature immonde / Du jour où il vint au monde / Il souffrit de priapisme / On lui mit un sinapisme / Pour lui calmer ses ardeurs
Original photograph of Ravachol flanked by gendarmes, period albumen print mounted on card with a red border, bearing the handwritten caption « Ravachol à Montbrison » at the foot.
This image was taken by Auguste Berthon, a photographer based in Saint-Étienne, on the eve of Ravachol’s execution, during a walk in the prison yard at Montbrison. This promenade is mentioned in the surveillance reports of the Conciergerie: « Le détenu a été conduit à la promenade à 8 heures, a déjeuné à 9 heures et est retourné à la promenade de 10 heures à midi où il était encore lorsque nous avons été remplacés. » (11 May 1892)
Very skilful restoration to the upper left corner.
We have located only one other copy of this photograph, held at the Bibliothèque du Patrimoine de Clermont-Auvergne.
Extremely rare period print of the Christ of Anarchy.
Rare first edition, with the wrapper and title page dated 1874.
Half black morocco binding with corners, spine with five raised bands, date at foot, gilt fillet on boards, combed paper pastedowns and endpapers, original wrappers preserved, top edge gilt, binding signed Alix.
Printed in 1869 by Lacroix, this edition was not released for sale for fear of censorship. Only about ten copies were stitched and given to the author (five have been recorded to date). In 1874, Jean-Baptiste Rozez, another Belgian publisher-bookseller, acquired the stock and published the work with a wrapper and cancel title page dated 1874, without publisher's imprint. It was in his bookshop that the poets of the Jeune Belgique would be the first to discover this text. A literature of vertigo at the limits of the bearable, of adolescent excess, of total darkness, Maldoror, or the epic of a figure of evil wandering through the world, became famous thanks to the Surrealists who made it a true aesthetic manifesto.
A fine copy elegantly bound.
First edition, one of 50 copies printed anonymously on papier japon.
First edition, one of 50 copies printed anonymously on papier japon.
Illustrated with an erotic frontispiece by Félicien Rops on chine.
Custom chemise and slipcase in half morocco and paper boards signed Boichot, some discreet restorations to the spine and covers, some discreet restorations to the top margin of the frontispiece, not affecting the engraving.
“La Présidente”, honorary nickname given to Apollonie Sabatier (alias Aglaëe Savatier, her real name), was one of the most captivating Salon hostesses of the 19th century. She inspired an ethereal love in Baudelaire who composed his most mystical poems in Les Fleurs du Mal in her honor. The other artists who frequented the apartment on Rue Frochot, during her famous Sunday dinners, had more licentious feelings for this woman of surprising wit and beauty. The sculptor Clésinger portrayed her in his lascivious “woman stung by a snake”; Flaubert wrote sensual letters to her ending with “the very sincere affection of one who, alas, only kisses your hand”; she has long since been recognized as the model for Gustave Courbet's scandalous The Origin of the World.
Gautier sent her this letter in 1850. Sabatier made copies which she never published but privately distributed to her guests:
“In October 1850, Gautier sent her [this] very long letter, farcical and obscene, from Rome, commenting with Rabelaisian exaggeration what himself and his friend Cormenin had learned regarding sexuality during their travels. Gautier knew that his freedom of expression would not offend Madame Sabatier. He had long since accustomed her to it and he prided himself on his “smut” to brighten up the friendly social gatherings of the Rue Frochot.” (Dictionnaire des œuvres érotiques)
Honored indeed by this priapic attention, ‘La Présidente' gave copies to all her guests and the reading of Gautier's “indecent prose” became a popular event at Parisian soirées. However, the letter was ultimately published – luxuriously but confidentially – after the recipient's death in 1890.
After this first edition of 50 copies on papier japon, a second edition on papier vélin followed a few months later with a larger print run and without the Rops frontispiece.
A rare, beautiful and very sought after copy.
"Y a des bals pour les pompiers / Et les joyeux militaires. / Y en a pour les vieux notaires / Et les sombres charcutiers." ["There are dances for the firemen / And the jolly soldiers. / There are some for the old notaries / And the gloomy butchers."]
First edition on ordinary paper.
Publisher’s full cloth binding, flat spine, minor inconsequential wear to headcaps and corners.
Illustrations.
Rare and valuable presentation copy to Odette and Francis Ponge.
First edition of these memoirs - extract from the first issue of the Description de l'Égypte, in the section titled "Etat Moderne",
Bound in full modern cream parchment-style boards. Black morocco title label. A wide-margined, untrimmed copy.
The city of Qoçeyr lies on the shores of the Red Sea, along the trade route between Egypt and Arabia. The author stayed there during his journey in Egypt. M. Costaz undertook a voyage and stay in Nubia in 1799, from which he brought back these invaluable observations, of a still largely unknown region.
