Figures de proue[Figureheads]
First edition, one of 11 numbered copies on Hollande paper, constituting the deluxe issue.
A rare and attractive copy.

First edition, one of 11 numbered copies on Hollande paper, constituting the deluxe issue.
A rare and attractive copy.
Three works bound in one volume, comprising one first French translation and two first editions.
Half fawn calf, paste-paper boards, green corners, smooth spine decorated with six gilt bands and three blind-stamped tools, two titles stamped on the spine (that of the Mémoire sur l'université is not present), speckled edges. Some rubbing and soiling to the binding, light foxing.
A curious gathering of two scientific texts, one devoted to the telegraph and the other to optical instruments, together with a polemical pamphlet by the founder of the Collège Stanislas.
First edition, one of only 11 numbered copies on Hollande paper, constituting the deluxe issue.
A rare and attractive copy, illustrated with two drawings by Jean de La Varende, engraved on wood by H. Cols.
First edition of the French translation.
Illustrated with 147 reproductions of works by Marc Chagall, and complete with the four original lithographs, two of which are double-page.
Publisher's full grey cloth binding. A fine copy, complete with its illustrated dust jacket.
First edition, one of the numbered copies.
Publisher's binding after the original binding design by Paul Bonet.
Richly illustrated.
A fine copy.
First edition, illustrated with 4 plates (including the portrait of Gustave Eiffel as frontispiece), 103 text figures and, at the end, 7 plates, including a folding color map showing the points visible from the top of the Eiffel Tower.
Publisher's cloth binding, flat spine slightly faded and decorated with compartments adorned with blind-stamped ornamental motifs, blind-ruled frame to covers, slight and inevitable rubbing to joints, blue paper endpapers and pastedowns marginally faded as often, speckled edges.
Exceptional presentation copy, inscribed by Gustave Eiffel to Gabriel Hanotaux on the half-title of his great work on the history of the tower from its origins...
First edition, illustrated with a frontispiece portrait of Edouard Manet by Bracquemond and an etching by Edouard Manet after "Olympia".
Black half morocco over corners, spine with five raised bands ruled in blind, date gilt at foot, marbled paper boards, patterned endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers preserved, binding signed by Stroobants.
A rare and handsome copy, attractively bound.
First edition, with no deluxe copies printed.
Publisher's full sand-coloured cloth, smooth spine, complete with the illustrated dust jacket.
Illustrated with photographs by Glasberg.
A fine copy.
First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Recueil des notices et mémoires de la Société archéologique de Constantine de l'année 1873.
Not in Tailliart.
Front wrapper detached then reattached, losses to the spine, small chips to the corners.
Scarce work illustrated with 14 plates printed hors texte and numbered I–XII (including plates VI bis and ter). Not in Tailliart.
A volunteer in the Corps of Engineers from 1841 onward, Baptiste-Charles Brunon (1821–1888) spent most of his military career in Algeria; after the 1871 war he returned to oversee the Engineering Corps in Constantine.
First edition describing the 388 items offered in the sale.
A few pencilled hammer prices in the margins, a loss to the upper right corner of the front wrapper and title-page, and small corner losses to the wrappers.
The introduction is by Fröhner, though the expert in charge of the sale was Hoffmann.
Of Baden origin, the numismatist Ludwig Wilhelm Fröhner (1834–1925) settled in Paris in 1859; he became a close friend of Napoleon III and assisted him in the preparation of his Histoire de Jules César (1865–1866), which helped him obtain both French naturalisation (1866) and an important post at the Louvre.
He later devoted himself to the cataloguing of...
Rare first edition of this lecture delivered at the Cercle de France in Paris on January 8, 1958, no copy referenced in Worldcat. Light foxing to the front board.
Rare utopian pamphlet celebrating the creation of Brasilia and laying the theoretical foundations for the cities of the future. Inscribed and signed by Robert Miocque to his friend Marcel Dollfus at the top of the first page of text.
Rare first edition.
Only two copies recorded in the CCF (BnF and Marseille).
“…their change of residence, abandoning the old city to settle in the new districts? A memoir awarded by the Société académique de médecine de Marseille at its public session of 1 August 1819; (…). Enlarged with the plan of a medical topography of the city of Marseille, which the author proposes to publish.” Marseille, Joseph-François Achard, 1819, 8vo, disbound. Title, 40 pp. Only two copies recorded in the CCF (BnF and Marseille). Very rare. The author was a physician attached to the dispensaries and the maternity hospital of Marseille.
First edition, published anonymously by Delaporte, secretary and prompter of the Comédie-Française.
Contemporary black cloth Bradel binding, smooth spine, red shagreen lettering-piece with some loss, marbled paper boards, upper corners slightly worn, 19th-century binding.
Copies recorded only at the BnF and in Rouen (CCFr).
Printed initials at the foot of the title page.
Rare summary, by the Comédie-Française secretary and prompter, of the grievances held by the Company against the actor Talma, focusing particularly on performances of Marie-Joseph Chénier’s play Charles IX.
The play, which achieved immense public success, drew criticism from...
No publisher, no place, no date [1885–1890]. Quarto (32.5 × 23 cm), 1 blank leaf and 49 unnumbered leaves. Contemporary half red percaline over corners, smooth spine covered in red shagreen, pebble-grain paper-covered boards, blue paper endpapers.
An exceptional collection of 49 original unsigned watercolours, each measuring approximately 20 × 15 cm within the margins, finely executed in Indian ink and watercolour with gouache highlights, mounted on guards. Several leaves bear the watermark "Latune et Cie Blacons", that of a paper mill in the Drôme region active throughout the final third of the nineteenth century. Rubbing to the spine, a few marginal...
Very rare first edition illustrated with 14 plates, three of which are in colour, issued as a supplement to the "Guide pratique de la fabrication de la bière" and the "Guide raisonné de la fabrication de la bière" published in 1867 and 1868.
Not in Vicaire or Bitting. Oberlé, Fastes, 1125, does not record this supplement.
Spine restored with minor losses, small marginal defects to the boards, and a stain along the right margin of the upper cover.
The author was a hop dealer and purveyor of brewery equipment in Strasbourg and in Gray (Haute-Saône).
This volume reflects the advances achieved by the brewing industry, particularly in northern France and in...
First edition, illustrated with photographs by Lucien Clergue.
Publisher’s binding in full boards, smooth spine,
With a text by Jean-Marie Magnan.
Signed autograph inscription by Lucien Clergue to the writer Christiane Baroche: "Pour Christiane ces images de notre éternelle jeunesse ! et avec la bise de Lucien. 5.X.2002."
First edition, printed in a small run, of this offprint from the Journal des savants.
Work illustrated with a finely engraved plate printed outside the text.
Some scattered foxing internally and to the wrappers.
Appointed in 1820 to the chair of archaeology at the Sorbonne, succeeding Quatremère de Quincy, Désiré Raoul-Rochette (1789–1854) was chiefly known for his expertise in Greek antiquity. He also served as curator of the Cabinet des médailles.
On the upper cover, authorial presentation inscription from Désiré Raoul-Rochette to the physician and botanist Henri Dutrochet (1776–1847), the discoverer of the phenomena of exosmosis and...
Complete first edition, in eleven bound volumes (ten text volumes and one atlas) of Auguste Pavie’s monumental work on former French Indochina, enriched with an autograph inscription signed by the author and accompanied by the large map of the Mission.
Published in Paris by Ernest Leroux, with the assistance of Augustin Challamel for the Atlas, between 1898 and 1919, the work appeared under the auspices of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, the Colonies, Public Instruction, and Fine Arts.
The set comprises the section Géographie et voyages, volumes I to VII, published between 1901 and 1919, illustrated with 52 maps and portraits hors texte...
First edition, with a single copy recorded in the CCF (Dijon).
Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers and housed in a plain blue interim cover, with a mounted title label at the head of the spine.
Some foxing.
The sole edition of this compilation, conceived primarily for fiscal purposes: indirect taxes at the time were levied chiefly on beverages.
The bookseller Louis Rondonneau (1759–1834) is renowned as the author, compiler, or editor of numerous legal codes, manuals, collections, and repertories of legislation and jurisprudence.
First edition, describing 829 entries.
Contemporary half calf, spine with five raised bands showing traces of rubbing, brown calf lettering-piece, marbled paper boards, two small blue spots on the upper cover, wear to the edges, corners softened, red edges, early shelf label pasted at the head of a pastedown.
A few marginal spots, not affecting the text.
Born in Antwerp to a family of Spanish origin, Jean-François de Los Rios (1727–1820) practised as a bookseller in Paris (1745), then in Lyon (1760), where—despite opposition—he was entrusted with the conduct of public book auctions. He was the one who purchased the Jesuit college library after the suppression of the...
Very rare first edition (125 copies printed according to Quérard) of this remarkable exposition of Talma’s dramaturgical principles, still regarded as a “revolutionary” actor despite his immense success (his friendship with Napoleon never wavered); the text was inserted the same year, 1825, at the beginning of the new edition of the Memoirs of Henri-Louis Caïn, known as Lekain (1729–1778), who was still considered in the early nineteenth century as one of the greatest tragedians of the eighteenth century.
See Quérard IX, 333.
Scattered foxing.
Full cherry-red long-grain morocco, smooth spine tooled with gilt fillets, garlands and fleurons, gilt rolls at head and tail...
First edition (cf. Not in Quérard or Musset-Pathay. Oberlé 101-02.).
Including, with the appended pieces (cf. infra), the account of the thirteen experiments conducted by Maupin between 1772 and 1777 on the handling of wines.
Bound at the end:
Bradel-style binding in half bottle-green long-grain...
First edition of this pamphlet devoted to the largest marshland in Italy, the Fucecchio wetlands.
Illustrated with a double-page engraved plate.
Disbound copy.
From the library of the economist, agronomist, industrialist, and lithographer Charles-Philibert de Lasteyrie du Saillant (1759–1849), with his ownership stamp on the title-page.
First edition, illustrated with seven folding plates.
Preserved in its original state, sewn and issued in plain blue paper wrappers with an added inner lining.
This volume gathers eight short papers previously published in the annual reports of the Kew Observatory.
Francis Ronalds (1788–1873), a largely self-taught engineer, became in 1843 the director and superintendent of the Kew meteorological observatory.
His work included, among other tasks, the development of a system for recording meteorological data.
On the front flyleaf, autograph presentation from Francis Ronalds to a member of the Becquerel family, most likely Antoine-César (1788–1878)...
First edition of this concise treatise on rural economy, attributed to the Duke of Sully, the famed minister of Henri IV, born at Rosny and who bore the name of that estate.
His well-known commitment to the development of agriculture has passed into national lore. However, it cannot be excluded that another author, sharing the same territorial designation, may be responsible for the text.
Contemporary full mottled fawn sheep, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt compartments and gilt tools, gilt fillets, Havana morocco lettering-piece, gilt rolls to the headcaps, gilt fillets to board edges, red sprinkled edges.
Some repairs to the binding. Manuscript...
This work is in fact the reissue of the original edition, published under a new title: the 1772 edition was entitled "Dissertation sur les vins".
One hundred blank leaves have been bound at the end of the text.
The work saw an expanded edition in 1782, which was subsequently reprinted. (Cf. Simon BG: 510. Not recorded by Vicaire, Oberlé, or Bitting. Lacking from the Kilian Fritsch Collection.)
Contemporary half mottled tawny sheep with vellum-tipped corners, the spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt compartments, marbled paper sides, red edges.
An important treatise on vinification by a former wine merchant’s employee who had worked in France...
First edition of this paper on cassava and the cultivation of peanuts, read before the General Assembly of the Royal Aragonese Society on 22 August 1800.
Our copy is preserved in modern plain beige wrappers, with a few insignificant spots of foxing.
From the library of the comte de Lasteyrie du Saillant, the renowned agronomist, with his red printed stamp on the title-page.
Second edition, illustrated with 15 engraved plates hors texte, of this first part devoted to the cattle breeds of the Oderbruch, Oldenburg and Frisia-Anspach (cf. Kayser, Bücher-Lexicon, VI, 265). Thirteen plates were finely hand-coloured at the time, several of them showing the animals against handsome mountain landscapes; one of the two uncoloured plates depicts chalet utensils used in cheese-making. The French text is printed on the verso of the German text.
A very rare complete suite, preserved with its original upper wrapper, housed in a modern black box with smooth spine, red morocco lettering-piece to the spine and a large red morocco title-label to the...
First edition of the inaugural instalment printed in Pondicherry at the Rattinamodeliar Press.
Losses to the spine and, more lightly, to the board corners; internally a clean and appealing copy.
Recorded in the CCF with copies only at the BnF (the sole institution holding a complete set), the Collège de France, and Sainte-Geneviève.
The first of five parts of this exceedingly scarce botanical publication, devoted entirely to Lawsonia alba [or inermis = henna].
Handsome and uncommon album comprising 36 vintage silver-print photographs (18.5 × 23 cm, mounted and captioned by hand), depicting exterior views—façades, gardens, and architectural perspectives—of this English neo-Gothic estate built between 1868 and 1872 by Thomas Smith and the Cannes contractor Scavy for one Michael Hugh Scott, who never lived in it: the property quickly passed to the businessman Debionne, who resold it to Lord Wolverton after furnishing and decorating the interior.
Publisher’s blue percaline binding, smooth unlettered spine, blind-ruled frame on the boards, gilt-lettered title to the upper cover, marbled endpapers and pastedowns; contemporary binding.
A...
Exceptionally rare first edition of this remarkable photographic album, printed in Cairo by Mourès & Cie, the press operated by Antoine Mourès. Produced under the direction of Auguste Mariette, it constitutes the first illustrated photographic catalogue of the Boulaq Museum, the first Egyptian museum devoted to Pharaonic antiquities and the direct predecessor of the present Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
The work comprises forty albumen prints (approximately 24.5 × 18 cm), mounted on heavy card leaves hinged on guards. Each photograph is accompanied by a printed descriptive leaf - with the exception of plates 4 and 11, which are accompanied by two - the photographs being...
First edition, illustrated at the end of the volume with four hors-texte plates printed on chamois paper.
Not recorded by Brunet, who lists the author’s principal works.
Scattered foxing, including to the boards.
The orientalist Michelangelo Lanci (1779–1867) produced a fascinating blend of genuine erudition and improbable conjectures, shaped by the pre-critical and broadly concordist mindset then prevailing without challenge in the learned circles of pontifical Rome (Lanci being a subject of the Pope).
This largely accounts for the profound neglect into which most of his works have since fallen.
Prisse d’Avennes (1807–1879), who had worked with Champollion...
First edition of this study in political economy.
Three copies listed in OCLC, all in the United States. BMC records only the second edition (London, 1809).
"Sur quelle base reposent les gouvernements, les lois, les peuples, les autorités, les souverainetés, les partages, les propriétés, les distinctions, les inégalités : voilà le problème important dont on s'occupera dans cet ouvrage."
Some small losses of paper to the spines and corners, rear cover of the first volume soiled, a pleasant, clean interior.
Rare copy preserved in its original grey wrappers.
Second edition.
"Magendie, pioneer experimental physiologist, regarded pathology as only a modification of physiology, 'medicine the physiology of the sick man'. By him clinical medicine was reconstructed on the physiological lines".
Spines of the first two volumes split, small losses to the other two, spines browned, some foxing.
Rare copy preserved in wrappers as issued.
First edition, complete in 23 instalments, of the second series of this magic periodical (cf. Fechner, p. 503).
Text in two columns; each instalment, richly illustrated, comprises between 12 and 16 pages (20 for the final one).
Contemporary half-sheep bindings: the first volume in brown, the second in tan, the spines with four raised bands tooled with gilt ornaments, moiré-patterned paper sides, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, sprinkled edges; one original wrapper preserved. Bindings from the period, though mismatched in tone between the two volumes.
Complete collection of the second series of this Swiss periodical, whose first publication appeared in 1941–42 as the...
First edition, illustrated with 12 in-text reproductions of coins.
Contemporary half Russian-cherry morocco over marbled boards, smooth spine gilt with a floral tool, date gilt at foot, marbled paste-paper boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt edges at head.
Sole edition, uncommon.
Henri Lavoix (1820–1892) served as curator of the Department of Medals and Antiquities at the Bibliothèque nationale.
At the head of the half-title, which shows heavy foxing, signed presentation inscription from Henri Michel Lavoix to the archaeologist Alban-Emmanuel Guillaume-Rey (1837–1916), a specialist in medieval Syria and in particular the Frankish settlements...
First edition illustrated with two etched plates under tissue guards.
Claude Bernard’s (1813–1878) laboratory notes on alcoholic fermentation (see pp. 3–33) record his experiments on the search for yeast germs on grape clusters, the formation of alcohol in grape juice without ferment, on sound and rotten grapes, on the search for a soluble alcoholic ferment and the influence of decay, and on the production of alcohol. All these experiments were conducted on his estate at Saint-Julien in October 1877, during the grape harvest.
This conception of a soluble ferment as the origin of yeast, a living organism, marked the starting point of the famous controversy between Pasteur and...
Fourth edition, partly original, revised and considerably enlarged from these lectures given at the Paris School of Pharmacy. The work is illustrated with 600 figures within the text.
Slight losses or small corner tears to the spines and boards, minor scattered foxing.
A pleasant copy.
First edition of the first of Augustin Sageret’s (1763–1851) two memoirs on cucurbits. Sageret was a pioneer in plant hybridization, particularly through his experiments with melons.
Only two copies of this edition are recorded in the CCF (Muséum and Lyon). Extracted from the Mémoires de la Société royale et centrale d’agriculture, year 1825. Pritzel 7969. Oberlé, Fastes, 708.
Half green long-grain morocco binding, spine faded and slightly darkened, decorated with gilt and black double fillets and blind-stamped floral tools, gilt rolls at head and tail, gilt date at foot, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, marbled edges, modern binding.
Some foxing...
First edition, illustrated with four plates, including a folding world map (cf. Sinkankas 3466; Agassiz III, 370).
Full fawn calf, spine with five slender raised bands, gilt-tooled compartments with occasionally softened floral tools, rubbed gilt headcaps, brown morocco lettering-piece, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt dentelle framing the pastedowns, gilt fillets to board edges, marbled edges, contemporary binding.
Repairs to the spine, one joint split at head and foot, browning along the board margins with surface scratches, scattered foxing, a waterstain at the head of all leaves.
A noteworthy treatise devoted to yellow amber and above all to ambergris, the...
First edition of this offprint of great rarity.
Not listed in Musset-Pathay. Only two copies recorded in the Catalogue Collectif de France (Institut and Orléans).
Our copy is presented in a modern temporary wrapper made to resemble old paper.
Wine and cherry brandy, homemade kirschen-vasser, gin, juniper wine, poor man’s wine, currant wine, raisin and other dried fruit wines, etc.
Very rare first edition.
Only three copies recorded in the CCF (BnF, Sainte-Geneviève, CNAM).
Half blond calf, spine lightly sunned, with five raised bands decorated with gilt and black fillets, tan morocco lettering-piece, marbled paper boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, mottled comb-marbled edges, original front wrapper preserved; contemporary binding.
The architect of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Christophe-Edouard Mauss (1829–1914), undertook several archaeological missions in the Levant (Salonika, Smyrna, Alexandria) before being sent by the French government to Jerusalem (1862–1874) to restore the Church of Saint Anne. He also developed a...
First edition, illustrated with in-text vignettes (cf. Vicaire 733; Bitting 391; Cagle 273; NUC: only 2 copies listed. Not in Oberlé, "Fastes").
At the CCF, copies only at the BnF and Sainte-Geneviève.
Contemporary half green sheep binding, spine darkened and faded, decorated with triple blind fillets, marbled paper boards, endpapers and pastedowns, speckled edges.
"Une des particularités de ce traité culinaire, c'est qu'il est 'dédié à la Sainte Vierge, mère de Dieu'" [Vicaire].
Another distinctive feature is that the work, divided into 1,187 paragraphs, exemplifies a scientific method and clarity worthy of a publication by Baillière.
...Second illustrated edition, with five plates, including one hand-coloured, one partly coloured, and one aquatint (cf. Sinkankas 4286; Borba de Moraes 542; not in Sabin).
Half beige sheep binding, smooth spine with some rubbing, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns; modern binding signed Houdart.
Some light foxing; numerical notes in the upper right corner of the half-title.
An interesting work, largely devoted to the diamonds of Brazil.
First published in 1813 and reprinted in 1815, this edition—despite the statement on the title page—would thus be the third rather than the second (cf. Borba de Moraes). “Largely concerns Brazilian diamonds and...
First edition of the first of Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire’s essays on “Philosophie anatomique.”
Illustrated with 10 folding plates drawn by Huet and engraved by Plée père, containing 116 figures (cf. Agassiz III, p. 29, no. 51; British Museum (Natural History) II, p. 656; Engelmann I, p. 263; Quérard III, 320; DSB V, 355-358; Cahn (Th.), La vie et l’œuvre d’Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, pp. 81-112).
Bradel binding in full marbled paper boards, smooth spine with black morocco title label, modern binding signed by Thomas Boichot.
Some foxing to the plates.
Based on a meticulous examination of the various anatomical structures of the respiratory organs...
First edition illustrated with in-text figures.
Spine split, small losses to the spine and boards, otherwise a clean and pleasant copy internally.
One of Pasteur’s principal collaborators, Charles Chamberland (1851–1908) served as deputy director of Pasteur’s laboratory on rue d’Ulm from 1879 to 1888.
First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Revue des arts décoratifs of January 1885.
Unbound copy.
Copies recorded in the CCFr only at the BnF, the Musée des Arts décoratifs, and Troyes.
This offprint gathers the three lectures delivered on 18, 21, and 25 October 1884 by the influential art critic Philippe Burty (1830–1890), a key figure in the emergence of Japonism.
Inscribed by Philippe Burty to the archivist and historian Pierre Margry (1818–1894).
First edition illustrated with a copper-engraved plate (showing some dampstains) from the second part of this brief communication, which served as an invitation to the public meeting of the Imperial Society of Naturalists of Moscow.
According to the CCF, only the Natural History Museum holds all three parts, published respectively in 1809, 1810, and 1811.
Very rare copy preserved in its original stitched wrappers with the printed pink cover.
Covers slightly discoloured and foxed at the margins, two dampstains affecting the lower edge throughout. Manuscript notes at the head of the front wrapper identifying the author and title.
The Saxon naturalist Fischer von...
Very rare document on the so-called "Eau de Cologne," illustrated with a headpiece depicting the city of Cologne.
Written by Giovanni Antonio Farina (1718–1787), one of the heirs and successors of the inventor of the famous lotion, the Italian perfumer Giovanni Paolo Feminis (1660–1736), who had settled in Cologne.
Jean-Antoine Farina would later transmit the formula to his descendants, the last of whom, Jean-Marie Farina (1785–1864), successfully marketed the celebrated water during the first half of the 19th century.
This pamphlet details the various medicinal applications of Eau de Cologne (the names of the ailments are printed in capitals). "Il y a environ un...
Very rare first French edition of this translation, illustrated with a folding plate.
Full mottled tan calf binding, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt fleurons and typographic motifs, red morocco title label, gilt rolls at the head and tail, gilt fillet along the edges, lightly rubbed corners, marbled edges, contemporary binding.
A pleasant copy.
The only French translation of the Libellus, quo demonstratur : Colchici autumnalis radicem non solum tuto posse exhiberi hominibus, sed et ejus usu interno curari quandoque morbos difficillimos, qui aliis remediis non cedunt (Vienna, Trattner, 1763), which was also issued in an English version.
An...
First illustrated edition, with four folding plates bound at the end of the volume (cf. Tailliart 1979).
Contemporary half green calf binding, flat spine faded and yellowed, decorated with a gilt cartouche and ornamental tooling at head and tail, caps trimmed, joints fragile, marbled paper boards, hand-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, sprinkled edges, period binding.
Some foxing.
In fact, this pamphlet was intended as the first of a series, hence the general title; however, only this installment was ever published. The secondary title specifies the subject of the volume: "Relation d'une excursion de Bône à Guelma et à Constantine, par sir Grenville Temple et le...
New edition illustrated with 2 photographic plates outside the text, with statement of print run.
Half cloth Bradel binding in burgundy, smooth spine, original illustrated and stained front cover preserved, marbled paper boards, modern binding.
Some marginal foxing.
The work is signed Chevalier X, the pseudonym of Captain Martin. Autograph inscription dated and signed by Captain Martin to Hardy (Jean Tardy, 1902–1987, the renowned illusionist): "A mon ami Hardy pour son grand succès du Casino du 12 mars 1929 Alger. Chevalier X alias Martin."
First edition of an important text advocating, with detailed arguments, for the free cultivation, production, and export of tobacco, following the loss of land value "by half [...] as a result of two invasions."
Our copy has been disbound.
Bound at the end of the volume are several related pamphlets forming a rare and appealing collection on the subject of the tobacco trade in Alsace:
- Pétition sur la modification du Régime actuel du Monopole des tabacs, présentée à la Chambre des Députés par les délégués de la Chambre de commerce de Strasbourg. Paris, Le Normant, janvier 1818. 9 pages.
- Monopole des Tabacs. Pétition Sur l'inexécution de la Loi du...
Third edition, the second issued under this title, partly original as it includes several new memoirs and the general tariff of Holland.
See Sabin 47557. Cioranescu 35613. Kress 3019. Not in Goldsmiths or Einaudi. See INED 2306 for the "Grand trésor historique et politique du florissant commerce des Hollandois" (1712).
Amsterdam, Du Villard, Changuion, 1718, 8vo,
Full mottled tan calf, spine with raised bands decorated with gilt fillets, garlands and floral tools (partly faded), red morocco title label, gilt rolls at the head and tail, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillet on board edges, red edges, one lower corner bumped, others slightly rubbed, contemporary...
Head of the collection of this technical periodical, which appeared for only three years (1839, 1840, and 1841); this set comprises all the issues published from January 1839 to December 1840.
Half lavallière calf bindings with corners, smooth spines lightened and decorated with gilt and blind fillets, red calf title labels, green volume labels, some rubbing to the spines, marbled paper boards, marbled edges, contemporary bindings.
Some occasional foxing.
The first volume is illustrated with in-text figures and 3 plates out of text; the second contains in-text figures.
The articles abound in practical details on the state of science and technology during the July...
First edition. Quérard I, 271 lists only one edition: "Paris, Née de La Rochelle, 1789." Kress B.1163; Goldsmiths 13858. Not in Einaudi."
With loose printed title pages for each volume, dated 1789.
The first volume, with an engraved pictorial title after Meunier, contains 52 double-page or folding plates inserted into the pagination, without following its numbering logic.
The second volume has an engraved pictorial title by Zaveris after Meunier and includes 154 etched plates of coins.
Full mottled calf, spines with six raised bands, gilt fillets and double gilt panels, red morocco lettering-pieces, green morocco numbering-pieces, gilt rolls on...
First edition in book form; the rare original edition was issued in parts between 1845 and 1856 (Brunet, I, 1707. Garrison and Morton reference three works by Cazenave on skin diseases).
Illustrated with 60 large and striking hand-colored plates.
Contemporary half red shagreen binding, spine with five raised bands adorned with double gilt and black fillets, sides covered in marbled “cat’s eye” paper, some rubbing to the upper portion of the front board, endpapers and pastedowns in combed marbled paper, corners a bit worn; later binding.
Minor foxing, a pleasing copy overall.
Head of collection of this important medical periodical, whose significance needs no further demonstration. It was published until 1914 (volume XLII) and included most of the essential contributions to the advancement of medical science in the 19th century.
The set is illustrated with 61 plates hors-texte, some lithographed and/or folding.
Half cherry calf bindings, smooth spines decorated with gilt fillets, romantic arabesques and blind-stamped fleurons, a few small rubs to some headcaps or joints, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, some corners slightly bumped, marbled edges, period bindings.
Beautiful set in a contemporary romantic binding...
Subscription prospectus issued in the format of the work, with 2 black-and-white reproductions in the text and 2 colour plates hors texte.
A fine copy.
Illustrated edition with 2 folding maps and 10 engraved plates outside the text (see Garrison & Morton 71; DSB 613-614).
Contemporary full marbled calf binding, spine with six raised bands decorated with double black panels stamped with blind typographic motifs, burgundy shagreen title label, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, red edges.
Some restoration to the binding, spine rebacked; evidence of waterstaining to the upper margins of the leaves in the second volume.
Giovanni Maria Lancisi (1654–1720), an Italian physician trained at the University of Rome, produced significant work on mosquitoes and malaria (he introduced the term), as well as on cardiovascular...
First edition, with a frontispiece photograph depicting Gustave Eiffel in his laboratory, and 28 plates outside the text, some folding (an additional copy of plate 26 is included).
Publisher’s binding in white cloth-backed boards with corners, flat spine showing some soiling and small tears at head and foot, printed paper label mounted on spine, printed title on upper board, corners slightly rubbed.
Pleasant internal condition.
A light water stain in the left margin of the frontispiece and at the foot of the lower cover, some soiling to the bottom of the upper cover, and a few pencil annotations in the margins.
The author presents the results of experiments...
Very rare first edition of this pamphlet, absent from all bibliographies consulted on the subject (Borba de Moraes, Rodrigues, Maggs, Bibliotheca brasiliensis, Robert Bosch), as well as from the national libraries of Brazil and Portugal.
Tears and losses at the corners of the covers, spine reinforced with a brown adhesive strip, a few small spots of foxing.
First edition, adorned at the beginning of the volume with a folding facsimile (cf. Cordier, Sinica, 1732).
Spine reinforced with an adhesive strip, minor marginal losses to the boards, some foxing.
These Practical Exercises are in fact a reply to the personal attacks and to two articles by M. Pauthier published in the Journal asiatique of Paris (nos. 66 and 67 of volume XII).
They "constitute the confirmation and complement" of his earlier work entitled "Examen critique de quelques pages de chinois relatives à l'Inde", translated by M. G. Pauthier, accompanied by grammatical discussions on certain rules of position which, in Chinese, play the same role as...
First edition illustrated with figures in the text.
Comprising two articles (issues 111-114, then 121-126) published in the periodical Les Grandes usines de France, which appeared from 1859 to 1898 and gathered, issue by issue, monographs on the country’s industrial establishments (the complete collection includes 360 issues in 19 volumes).
Disbound copy.
First edition adorned with numerous copper-engraved reproductions of medals and coins distributed across 4 plates outside the text, together with 19 vignettes within the text.
Half blue sheep binding with corners, unlettered spine with five raised bands, moiré-patterned paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, covers preserved, front cover marginally soiled, modern binding.
Rare collection of twelve letters focused on coinage.
The Lorrain scholar Nicolas-Damas Marchant (1767-1833) was a military physician, numismatist, and also served as mayor of Metz from 1 November 1805 to 6 May 1815, spanning almost the entire Imperial period.
First edition and definitive and posthumous edition, arranged in strict chronological order, of a very rare iconographic series whose publication had begun as early as 1806 in somewhat disorderly instalments, but was never completed (only 49 instalments had appeared at the author’s death).
Cf Brunet V, 1453.
Work illustrated with 300 plates: lithographed and watercoloured title-frontispiece and 149 engraved plates, most finely hand-coloured, for the first volume; 150 plates for the second.
Contemporary bindings in half cherry-red morocco-grained shagreen with corners, spines with five raised bands decorated with blind fillets and panels, some minor rubbing to spines...
Three original childhood photographs of Maurice Béjart, and his birth announcement
[after 1927] | 12.2 x 17.2 cm| three photographs and a card
Three original photographs of Maurice Béjart as a child beside his mother, taken in Mougins.
We attach the birth announcement, dated 1 January 1927, printed with his name “Maurice Jean Berger.”
Provenance: Maurice Béjart's personal archives.
First edition of this important album devoted to Algiers and several towns of the Regency, published in Paris by Charles Motte in 1835. The work comprises 50 lithographs on mounted China paper after drawings by Émile-Aubert Lessore and William Wyld, printed by Charles Motte. It was first issued in five thematic parts devoted to buildings, landscapes, types and scenes, before being gathered into a single volume. Cf. Gérard Sangnier, Bibliothèque algérienne, no. 207; Playfair, 517; Tailliart, 896; Gay, 919; Brunet III, 1018. Not in Blackmer.
First edition, printed in 500 numbered copies, of this splendid archaeological album featuring 78 in-text illustrations and 13 full-page plates with tissue guards (including 7 double-page or folding plates).
Text by Henri Lechat.
Publisher’s Bradel binding in full forest green cloth, smooth spine, headcaps slightly crushed, one joint split at head, spine and boards ruled in ochre, corners slightly rubbed, bookplate affixed to the front pastedown.
Copy from the library of industrialist Anatole Descamps (1833–1907), with engraved ex-libris by Devambez mounted on the pastedown.
A handsome copy.
Black cloth binding. A white star made by Mugler in corrector fluid on the first cover.
Fifteen pages of the notebook filled in by the fashion designer:
- The first page, in neon blue felt-tip pen, with the word "Yes" as and large exclamation mark ending with the iconic Mugler star.
- A double page with the word "white" enhanced with corrector fluid and in capital letters on a black felt-tip background, in orange the words "Indehain" (?) and "TRIBE" with a drawing depicting a sun, several notes in black ballpoint pen: "Aelino Rock-Elektro", "DJ", "Syath Choreographie".
- A double page with a wonderful drawing of a naked Black woman with voluminous pink...
Complete set of 115 copper-engraved plates with an additional plate (116 plates), all printed on either laid or wove paper, all hand-colored with watercolor. Two entirely different plates 39 follow each other, in first issue: "Les Titus et les cache-folies" was published in the 1817 and 1822 sets, and the other "La Politicomanie" appeared in 1827. This is the most complete series, which also includes the 11 new plates published from 1818 to 1822, numbered 105 to 115.
According to Vicaire, the plates were probably all printed between 1801 and 1822, and only the text preceding the plates was reprinted in 1827.
3/4 long-grained cherry half-morocco...
Edition of wich no leading copies exists.
Binding of the editor in full black fabric.
Iconography.
Slips slightly warped in margins, the book that had stayed in a damp place previously, otherwise nice copy.
Rare autograph signed Kenzo Takada Gilles Brochard.
First edition, one of the rare copies printed on deluxe paper.
Full cherry-red shagreen binding, spine with four raised bands decorated with gilt fillets and triple gilt panels, some rubbing to headcaps and bands, gilt rolls at the headcaps, gilt fillet, dotted and garland borders on the covers, scratches and stains to the lower portion of the front cover, white moiré silk endpapers and pastedowns, gilt garland borders on the pastedowns, all edges gilt, gilt dots on the edges, contemporary binding.
One wormhole at the foot of the final leaves not affecting the text, some foxing, particularly on the white endpapers, library shelf labels pasted on a pastedown.
Important...
First edition, printed in a very small number of copies of this offprint from the Journal de l'agriculture et des pays chauds, 1865-1866; cf. Berger & Rey, p. 232. Not cited by Pritzel.
Bradel binding in full green boards, smooth spine, black shagreen lettering piece, modern binding.
Dr. Victor Pérez was a physician in Laguna (Tenerife) and Dr. Sagot (1821-1888) was a former surgeon in the Imperial Navy.
Pleasant and rare copy.
Rare first edition illustrated, at the end of the volume, with 2 folding plates.
Unique edition, of the utmost rarity, rendered all the more so by the second dedication to Berthier, unrecorded elsewhere and evidently added later.
It is known that the young Bonaparte, assigned to the artillery regiment of La Fère, had passionately learned his military trade at the Royal School of Artillery in Auxonne.
It is also known that he had studied in depth the Nouveaux principes d'artillerie by Benjamin Robins, on which he left notes.
This work must therefore have drawn his particular attention. The author long taught artillery in military schools, yet little is known about...
First edition, consisting of the facsimile of the author’s autograph manuscript.
Publisher’s binding in full white boards, smooth spine, covers illustrated with drawings by Oscar Niemeyer.
A handsome copy, complete with its illustrated dust jacket showing very minor tears and insignificant losses.
Work illustrated with drawings by Oscar Niemeyer.
Rare presentation copy, dated and signed by Oscar Niemeyer to Georges and Alice (Raillard).
Georges Raillard was an art critic and a close friend of Antoni Tàpies and Joan Miró; his wife Alice translated into French the leading Brazilian authors of the second half of the 20th century, such as Jorge Amado.
First edition.
Publisher’s full white boards, smooth spine.
A fine copy, complete with its illustrated dust jacket bearing very minor, inconsequential tears.
Illustrated with drawings by Oscar Niemeyer.
Rare signed presentation inscription from Oscar Niemeyer to Henri (Raillard).
Rare bilingual edition, in Italian with the Croatian text facing, of this study on the woods of Istria, with at the end of the volume a folding engraved plate on the timbers intended for naval construction "de sorte que les navires dureraient plus longtemps".
Disbound copy, the plate detached.
From the Bibliothèque économique Lasteyrie, with its stamp on the title page.
Rare first edition of the French translation prepared by Thomas-François Dalibard at the request of the Comte de Buffon (cf Wheeler Gift 367d. Waller 11339. DSB V, pp. 129-139).
Full mottled calf, spine with five raised bands ruled in gilt and decorated with double gilt compartments with floral tools, red morocco lettering-piece, gilt rolls on the caps (partly rubbed), restorations to head and tail of spine as well as to the corners of the boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets on the edges, marbled edges, contemporary binding.
Some foxing, a dampstain to the upper right corner of the first endpaper.
The English first edition was published in London in...
New edition printed on laid paper.
Some light foxing affecting mainly the endpapers.
Full marbled sheep binding, spine with five raised bands set with gilt garlands decorated with double compartments adorned with gilt typographical motifs, traces of rubbing on spine, gilt rolls on headcaps almost completely faded, triple gilt fillets framing the boards, some scratches on boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt edges on leading edges which show some rubbing.
The work consists of 12 parts each comprising 6 engraved plates plus three engraved plates: the half-title page, the title page with a portrait of Gille Marie Oppenort and, finally, a plate with the letter "B"...