Barnebys

This is the penultimate edition of the most famous historical dictionary, an inexhaustible source that remains highly sought after for both history and genealogy. This edition was refined by Platel and considerably expanded. The first edition was the only one published during the author's lifetime, in 1664, in one folio volume.
Bindings in full dark brown glazed mottled calf, spine with raised bands decorated with animal tools, red morocco title labels. Unidentified arms on the boards (possibly of a town or the Oormsgard family, but non-French arms) with a lion facing forward (and not in profile as usual) holding a castle.
Copy complete with the frontispiece.
Volume I has the upper joint cracked two-thirds of the way and both headcaps worn, the other 7 volumes are in good condition with various minor defects. Volume 2, a tear with loss to the upper headcap, small damage to the joints. Volume VI, a tear with slight loss to the upper headcap. Volume VII, lower joint cracked and open for one-third. Volume VIII, a tear to the upper headcap with small loss, 10 cm splits to both joints. Handsome copy nonetheless.

Collection of 5 royal ordinances on various subjects.

1/ Edict faict par le roy contre tous meurdres et assassinementz qui se commettent journellement en ce royaume, le vendredi, quinziesme du moys de juillet 1547. Title vignette with royal arms.

2/ Ordonnance nouvelle du roy Henry deuxiesme de ce nom, faicte le XV jour de novembre, Mil cinq cens quarente sept:sur le faict de la gendarmerie.

3/ Secondes lettres patentes du roy Henry Second de ce nom, sur le faict des francz fiefz & nouveaux acquestz par tout le royaume de France, publiées à son de trompe & cry public par les carrefours de ceste ville de Paris, le unzieme jour de janvier, l'an mil cinq cens quarante sept.

4/ Ordonnaces faictes par le roy sur le faict de la gendarmerie, viures et munitions d'icelle. Vignette with royal arms.

5/ Ordonnances & edicts du roy Henry sur les estats des prevostz majeurs, eschevins & autres charges & estatz des villes de France. Publié en jugement en la court de parlement a Paris, le XXVIII jour de Novembre, M.D.XLVII.

Full vellum binding, re-used.
It should be noted that it was during the time of Francis I and Henry II that absolute royal power was definitively organized, and ordinances in all domains bear witness to a king managing his kingdom.

Rare first edition. Not held by the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Brunet II, 1236. Title vignette.

Modern full vellum binding with overlapping flaps. Plain spine, ties. Light marginal dampstaining to first few pages. Some foxing.

Auger Ferrier (1513-1588) of Toulouse was simultaneously a renowned astronomer, physician and physicist (he was one of Catherine de Medici's private physicians). The work is a treatise on the Spanish plague or Spanish pox, otherwise called the Neapolitan disease, which is none other than syphilis and which had been wreaking havoc in France for some time (depending on the country it was also called the French disease). Description of the illness and remedies. There follows a chapter intended for barbers and the remedies they could employ not being physicians (falling nails, alopecia); this treatise is followed by its translation, as barbers were not learned and did not speak Latin, yet they often practiced various surgical operations.

Rare second edition by Blaes illustrated with 12 plates. Rare edition by Thomas Syndenham, not found in European libraries. We do not know if this is the first. Title pages in red and black. Absent from Brunet.

Contemporary full calf binding, decorated spine with raised bands, red morocco title label. Rubbing.

This work by Gerard Blaes (1625-1692), Dutch physicist, anatomist (he was the creator of comparative anatomy) and physician who practiced in Amsterdam and was a famous leader in his field, is one of the most celebrated treatises on teratology, the science of monsters.

Thomas Syndenham (1624-1689) was an English physicist and physician, famous for introducing opium, laudanum and morphine into medicine as painkillers and analgesics against pain. The two books by Blaes and Syndenham are medical treatises containing various observations, with the section on monsters appearing after the observations.

First edition of the famous translation by Abraham Loesher, the best and most faithful edition according to Clavier. The editio princeps of this text dates from 1516, printed by the Aldine Press in Venice, but according to Brunet (IV, 454), although rare, it was made from a poor manuscript and was executed carelessly, which gives full importance to the edition we present. Publication date in colophon. Printer's device on verso of final leaf, with the inscription Arion. Historiated initials.
Contemporary full calf binding. Spine with raised bands restored at the end of the 19th century, with fleurons and roulettes on the bands, red morocco title label. Corners restored. On the upper board, gilt: G. Harrosset. Numerous scratches on the boards. Some worming on the lower board. The bottom of the title page has been reinforced over 1cm. Minor damage of no consequence: A pale dampstain in lower margin (another in upper margin on some leaves) fading until page 48, resuming on the last 20 pages and the index. Worming between page 26 and 46 in the lower right corner. A second from page 349 to 413 in right margin, at the very bottom.
Pausanias was a geographer and writer of the 2nd century AD. His description of Greece constitutes a testimony of primary importance on Greece in the Roman period, particularly for the 2nd century of the Christian era, even though Pausanias often delights in mixing history and mythology. In the manner of a modern travel guide, he gives, as he follows his itinerary, the detailed list of sites he visits and the legends relating to them. Numerous archaeological excavations have repeatedly confirmed the veracity of his information, especially concerning historical sites and the works of art they contained. To describe the monuments and sites he visits, Pausanias (115-180) searches libraries and travels extensively.

Autograph manuscript by the author, two and a half pages in-8, published in the issue of May 11, 1944 of the Journal des Débats. Complete manuscript in very dense handwriting, with numerous erasures, corrections, and additions. Literary column published on the occasion of the release of Gaston Bachelard's L'air et les songes. Accompanied by the complete typescript.

« L'homme est d'abord rêverie, puissance d'imaginer avant d'être sensibilité et raison », Blanchot’s analysis of this new essay by Bachelard provides an opportunity to confront the philosopher with the uncertainties of his theory, which tends to fragment in the plurality of its forms. « Qu'est-ce pour lui que l'image et l'imagination ? On ne le voit pas nettement ».
Yet this sometimes severe critique is above all a device to highlight the true value of Bachelard’s work, which also coincides with one of the central themes of Blanchot’s thought: the creative power of poetic language: "L'image littéraire est un fait premier; elle est la poésie même; (...) se demander s'il y à en nous une poésie d'avant les mots, d'avant les images, un en deçà poétique, une blancheur et un silence que le langage essiaerait de reproduire, c'est méconnaitre l'activité littéraire qui une activité naturelle, originelle, correspondant à une action de l'imagination - faculté de produire l'irréel qui est la conscience même - sur le langage."
Autograph manuscripts by Maurice Blanchot are of the greatest rarity.

First edition on ordinary paper.

A good copy retaining its advertising band.
Handsome autograph inscription from Marguerite Duras to Claude Simon.

Original colour print heightened with gold, printed on laid paper and signed in the plate lower right.

Original engraving produced for the illustration of La Gazette du Bon Ton, one of the most beautiful and influential fashion journals of the 20th century, celebrating the talent of French designers and artists at the height of the Art Deco era.

Original colour print heightened in palladium, printed on laid paper and signed in the plate lower right.

Original engraving produced for the illustration of La Gazette du Bon Ton, one of the most beautiful and influential fashion journals of the 20th century, celebrating the talent of French designers and artists at the height of the Art Deco era.

Original colour print, printed on laid paper and signed in the plate lower right.

Original engraving produced for the illustration of La Gazette du Bon Ton, one of the most beautiful and influential fashion journals of the 20th century, celebrating the talent of French designers and artists at the height of the Art Deco era.

First edition, an ordinary paper copy.
The three volumes are housed in a full black morocco case, spine ruled in blind, date at foot, inside lined with khaki sheepskin, by Goy & Vilaine.

Handsome copy inscribed by Marcel Proust to Henri Massis in the first volume: 
“En témoignage de très vive sympathie Marcel Proust [a gesture of very fond affection].”