Fine Bindings

First edition, illustrated with 32 color illustrations by Sureda and engraved by Aubert (full-page, headpieces and fine lettering), many of which are enhanced in gold or silver ink.

Limited edition of 400 copies. This one, marked H. C. V, is one of the rare first paper copies on the finest Japon (only 15 copies), containing every engraving in double state on Vieux Japon and Japon Impérial of all the woodcuts, covers and spine.

 
Signed and inscribed on the title page from the authors: "What a pleasure it is for you, O reader, if you enjoy La Fête arabe !" Jérôme and Jean Tharaud. December 1928."

Illustrated edition with twelve original etchings by Édouard Chimot, issued in a limited edition of 576 numbered copies. The present copy, no. 111, is one of 100 printed on tinted Van Gelder Holland wove paper, accompanied by the usual double suite of the etchings in colour and in black.

It is further enriched with an original signed drawing by Édouard Chimot and an exceptional quadruple suite, on Japan paper, of eight of the etchings illustrating the work: the unreduced line engraving, the...

First edition, illustrated with drawings by Minartz engraved on wood by Paillard. Limited edition of only 138 numbered copies on Marais laid paper. 3 plates including one frontispiece, 56 headpieces illustrating Parisian nightlife, shows... The illustration achieving close correspondence with the poems (the opera, merry-go-rounds, cabarets...).
Near-contemporary Bradel binding in half morocco with old rose corners. Smooth Jansenist spine. Author and title in gilt. Covers and spine preserved. Fine paper freshness, with foxing on fore edge and very rare and pale internal foxing. Spine slightly faded, or having turned uniformly.

Engraved bookplate of Jacques Crépineau...

Rare first edition decorated with ornamental headpieces, letterheads and culs-de-lampe.

Posterior binding in full red morocco, Jansenist spine, gilt date at the foot, marbled endpapers, frame of gilt roll-tooling on the pastedown endpapers, all edges gilt.
A very beautiful copy of one of the most famous plays in the French repertoire. It was played for the first time on 13 December 1669 at the Hôtel de Bourgogne and received a mixed reception. At the head of this edition is a preface by the playwright responding to his critics:

“Of all the works that I have given to the public, there is none
that attracted more applause and nor...

First edition illustrated with 11 original black woodcut engravings by Paul-Emile Colin and 15 original engravings and typographical ornaments printed in bistre by Pierre-Eugène Vibert, one of 25 numbered copies on Japan paper containing a collection of artist's proofs by both painter-engravers on China paper.
Full mauve morocco binding, faded spine with five raised bands, gilt date at foot, some rubbing to bands and joints, watered silk endpapers in mauve, brown morocco doublure decorated with vegetal and floral frieze executed with brown and violet mosaic morocco pieces, covers and spine preserved, all edges gilt, slipcase with mauve morocco entry, faded, marbled paper boards...

Antwerp, Ex officina Plantiniana, apud Ioannem Moretum, 1602. Small duodecimo, 8.2 x 12.6 cm. Three works bound in one volume.

A collection of three portable editions issued by the Plantin Press under the imprint of Jan Moretus: Cl. Claudianus, Theod. Pulmanni Craneburgii diligentia, & fide summa, è vetustis codicibus restitutus. Unà cum Del-Rio notis, 351 pages and 1 unnumbered leaf; Aviani Aesopicarum fabularum liber. A Theod. Pulmanno Craneburgio ex membranis in lucem editus, 29 pages and 3 unnumbered leaves; and Ad Cl. Claudiani V. C. Opera Martini Antonii Del-Rio notae, 90 pages and 3 unnumbered leaves...

First edition printed in 310 copies, ours being one of 285 numbered copies on Auvergne paper.

Our copy is enhanced with an original drawing signed by Léon Courbouleix. 
Bradel binding in full vellum, smooth spine decorated with an original drawing and pen title, covers decorated with drawings by Gaston Hoffmann, marbled paper slipcase.
Very handsome work entirely engraved with etching, printed on hand press by Léon Courbouleix and bound in a very beautiful painted binding by Gaston Hoffmann.

First edition illustrated with wood engravings in the text by Gavarni, Daumier, D'Aubigny...
Bradel binding in full beige percaline, smooth spine with a black paper label, front cover decorated with an oil painting after the frontispiece, signed lower right "A. Dangleterre d'après document d'époque". Headcaps and joints skillfully restored.
A rare publication on Paris under Louis-Philippe. The work proceeds by subjects and articles: the wet-nurses’ office, flower sellers, baths, streetlamps, pavements, theatre outings, beards and moustaches, the Luxembourg Gardens, the Opera Ball, the auctioneers’ hall, lorettes and courtesans (Alexandre Dumas), restaurants and...

The first edition, of which there were no deluxe copies.

Bradel binding in full wood-effect paper, smooth spine, author's name and title lettered in orange and vertically, in the center of the front board, inlaid, a photographic portrait, covers and spine preserved, slipcase bordered with the same wood-effect paper, brown paper boards, original contemporary binding signed Leroux.

Handsome copy pleasantly executed by one of the last great masters of French twentieth-century bookbinding.


 

Rare uniform set of Didot stereotype editions. The title page of each volume is preceded by an advertising and presentation leaf of the edition composed as follows: this stereotype in-18 edition is sold in Paris, by P. Didot l'Aîné and by Firmin Didot. Price in sheets: Ordinary paper, fine paper, laid paper, deluxe laid paper. All the present editions are printed on laid paper or deluxe laid paper. 

François Ambroise Didot perfected the manufacture of laid paper in France in 1780, which was particularly well suited to printing Didot typefaces.
Contemporary full red Russia leather binding. Smooth spine decorated with 5 fleurons and multiple roulettes. Decorative frames...

First edition of this exhibition catalogue held at 32, place Saint Georges in November–December 1903.
Bound in contemporary chocolate brown morocco-backed marbled boards, spine plain, corners in matching morocco, marbled endpapers, gilt top edge, original wrappers and spine preserved; signed binding by Lortic.
Pasted on the rear pastedown is the invitation card to the exhibition, illustrated by Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen.
Preface by Anatole France.
A handsome copy finely bound by Lortic, son of Charles Baudelaire’s bookbinder.

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...

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...

First edition illustrated with text illustrations and plates by Hermann Vogel and ornaments by Adolphe Giraldon, one of 60 numbered copies on China paper, the only deluxe copies after 20 on Japan.
Full blue morocco binding, spine very slightly faded with five raised bands, date and place gilt at foot, gilt borders on the headcaps, gilt fillet border on the pastedowns in full purple morocco, purple watered silk endpapers, following endpapers of combed paper, covers preserved, all edges gilt, double gilt fillets on the edges, slipcase edged with blue morocco, marbled paper boards, superb full morocco binding with doublure signed Blanchetière Bretault.
Each plate appears in triple...

French translation by Adolphe Van Bever and illustrated with 40 original wood engravings by Louis Jou, one of the numbered copies on Rives vellum.
Half black morocco binding, spine with two thick raised bands set with gilt fillets, imitation white wood paper boards, small foxing to boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, top edge gilt, original wrappers preserved, elegant contemporary binding signed by Creuzevault.
Handsome copy in a beautiful Art Deco binding by Creuzevault.

Second edition, printed in a small number of copies on Hollande laid paper.

3/4 red morocco, five raised bands-spine,  gilt date at foot. Slight, superficial fading to spine, marbled paperboards, pebbled flyleaves and pastedowns, original covers and spine preserved, top edge gilt, A finely executed, unsigned binding from the late 19th to early 20th century.

Provenance: from the library of Simone and André Maurois, with their engraved bookplate on front pastedown.

Signed and inscribed copy by Paul Verlaine to the opera singer Marie-Blanche Vasnier : "A Madame Vasnier, hommage respectueux. P. Verlaine." [To Madame Vasnier, with respectful homage. P...

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...

First edition of the French translation of Livy's Roman History by Pierre Du Ryer, historian, member of the French Academy and great translator for the Parisian booksellers of the period. This translation is accompanied by the supplements of Jean Freinsheim, philologist and historiographer to Queen Christina of Sweden, to whom Du Ryer dedicates the work. The edition also includes Florus's complete Summaries at the head of each book. Arms of Louis XIII engraved on the title page, text enhanced with engraved headpieces, initials and tailpieces.

Full calf binding, spine with 6 raised bands, later 18th-century red morocco title-label decorated with an eagle, arms of the Sade family...

First edition of one of the most beautiful books of the 18^th century, of which the text and the music are entirely engraved. It is illustrated with an engraved title, 3 frontispieces by Le Bouteux and Le Barbier, a dedication page with the Dauphine arms, and 100 figures by Moreau le Jeune, Le Barbier, Le Bouteux and Saint-Quentin, finely engraved in copperplate by Masquelier and Née. The portrait of Laborde, which can be found on some copies, is not part of this edition and was printed in 1774, separately.

Magnificent copy bound in 4 volumes, very rare condition. There are usually only copies with 2 volumes for understandable cost issues. It is...

First edition of this revised and illustrated version of François de Ligny’s Histoire de la vie de Jésus-Christ, published in Paris in 1804 under the supervision of the Abbé de Sambucy. The work is illustrated with 75 plates - 40 in volume I, including the frontispiece, and 35 in volume II, likewise including the frontispiece - engraved under the direction of L. Petit after paintings from the Italian, French and Flemish schools, together with a folding map of Palestine. Entirely printed on laid paper watermarked “Vie de J.C.”