Cadeaux historiques

Second edition, with a newly engraved portrait as frontispiece (cf. Blackmer 99 for the first edition issued the same year).

Light waterstaining to the upper margins of the opening leaves, minor losses to the head and foot of the spine as well as at the corners of the boards. Copy preserved in its original wrappers.

The first biography of Ali Pasha, illustrated with a portrait.

First edition illustrated with 1 folding plate consisting of a copper-engraved reproduction of the Choiseul Marble by Poisson (cf. Monglond II, 651.)

A restored tear to the verso of the folding plate.

Bradel binding in full marbled paper-covered boards, smooth spine, brown shagreen lettering-piece, red edges, modern binding.

A pleasing copy.

Rare first edition illustrated with 2 plates outside the text, including a frontispiece and a large folding facsimile of the inscription.

Contemporary green half sheep, spine faded and decorated with blind fillets and raised bands, a few scuffs to the spine, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, speckled edges, corners bumped.

A few spots of foxing.

This inscription had been unearthed in Marseille in June 1845 and had already given rise to numerous attempts at interpretation.

It is now known as the “Carthage Tariff” and lay at the origin of the enduring myth of the city’s Phoenician origins: the religious regulations it records appeared to provide proof that...

First edition of this colourful verse drama featuring the Conquistadors and Montezuma.

Not listed by Lorenz.

Contemporary green half calf, smooth spine tooled with gilt dots and fillets and blind fillets, some rubbing to spine, marbled-paper boards with small areas of loss and traces of recolouring, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, speckled edges.

The Avignon-born author had previously published, in 1830, a verse comedy entitled "Les débuts en province". Cf. Bourquelot I, 150.

Our copy is enriched with numerous manuscript corrections in the author’s hand, together with a signed autograph presentation inscription by Paul Barbe on the recto of the final...

First edition of this essay on the etiology of contagious diseases.

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers, in blue paper temporary covers, with printed paper spine label, partially unopened. 

Claude Balme studied medicine at Montpellier before departing for the United States.

Having returned to France at the time of the invasion by foreign armies, he enlisted as surgeon-major with the 2nd Battalion of Ain, serving in that capacity in the Italian, Egyptian, and Syrian campaigns.

Signed autograph presentation inscription from Claude Balme to Doctor Gilibert fils on the half-title.

First edition of the first work on anonymous and pseudonymous authors published in France (cf. Barbier, I, 320; Besterman, Bibliography of Bibliographies, 398.)

Contemporary full marbled calf binding, spine with five raised bands ruled in gilt and decorated with richly gilt compartments, red morocco lettering-piece, gilt rolls to the spine ends, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets to the edges, yellow speckled edges, engraved armorial bookplate pasted to the pastedown.

The work was intended to serve as a preliminary study for a Recueil français des auteurs déguisés, a project abandoned following the author's death before later being resumed by...

First edition (cf. Quérard I, 152, which incorrectly gives the date as 1824).

Our copy is preserved in its original beige printed wrappers, with the title label pasted to the spine.

Tears and corner losses to the wrappers, a few scattered foxing spots.

Born in Béthune (Pas-de-Calais) in 1777 and deceased in Margency (Val-d'Oise) in 1824, Chevalier Bail began a military career before turning his attention to the moral and political sciences.

This work was entered for the prize awarded by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in 1823.

New edition, partly original, revised and enlarged (cf. Vicaire 56; Bitting 231; Oberlé, Fastes, 466).

Contemporary-style half tan sheep, smooth spine decorated with gilt and blind fillets and blind-stamped ornaments, black shagreen lettering-piece, marbled paper boards, modern binding.

A few instances of foxing. 

The author of this work, born in Grasse in 1767 and died in 1839, was appointed physician to Joseph Bonaparte, King of Naples, in 1806.

His dictionary is a mine of highly valuable information on food products from throughout the world, with historical, literary, anecdotal, scientific, gastronomic, and medical entries. It also...

Rare first edition.

Only copy recorded in the CCFr (BnF).

Losses at the head and foot of the spine, small marginal tears to the covers and half-title, occasional foxing.

The author is presented as a serving Catholic statesman wishing to remain anonymous. With an introduction by the publicist Armand Ravelet (1834-1875).

Despite its very broad title, the pamphlet chiefly concerns the highly contentious relations between Gregorian Armenians and Catholic Armenians, as well as the respective positions of the Porte and the Papacy regarding these two communities.

First edition illustrated with 6 folding tables printed hors texte (cf. Palau, 16641. Not in Sabin.)

 Contemporary half tan sheep, smooth spine decorated with black and gilt fillets, rubbing to the spine and joints, marbled paper boards, endleaves and pastedowns of decorated paper, wear to the edges, bumped corners, speckled edges.

Account of the political unrest of 1833 by a Mexican statesman [1802-1855] who would become President of the Republic in 1851. For the first time in modern Mexican history, a transfer of power took place without violence, and even in a cordial manner. Nevertheless, fierce opposition ultimately brought down his government, and Arista resigned on 4...

First edition illustrated with a large folding plate inserted out of text reproducing the Greek portion of the Rosetta Stone (cf. Quérard I, 48.)

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers, in temporary root-pattern paper covers.

A key figure in the establishment of literary repositories during the Revolution, and their transformation into libraries, the antiquarian Hubert-Pascal Ameilhon (1730-1811) remains an important, though far too neglected, figure in bibliography and the sciences.

This relative oblivion owes much to the small number of works published during his lifetime : the work offered here constitutes an essential link in the decipherment of the...

First edition.

Publisher's full cloth-backed pictorial boards, front board with color illustration, pictorial endpapers, a newspaper clipping photograph of the Disney couple pasted on the front pastedown. Minor lacks to the upper cover, corners slightly creased.

Exceptional incribed copy by Walt Disney on the front pastedown: "Best wishes / Walt Disney," below a portrait of him with his wife and their dog.

First edition, one of 275 numbered copies on Lana wove paper, the deluxe issue.

Illustrated with 31 hors-texte plates.

A fine, uncut copy, complete with its illustrated dust jacket.

First edition.
Some foxing to spine and boards.

Precious dated and signed autograph inscription from Irène Delmas, president of the National Association of Former Female Deportees and Prisoners of the Resistance (ADIR): "A monsieur Massin avec l'amitié et la reconnaissance des Anciennes Déportées de la Résistance. IRDelmas Présidente de l'ADIR. Paris 13 Novembre 1957." (To Mr. Massin with the friendship and gratitude of the Former Female Deportees of the Resistance. IRDelmas President of ADIR. Paris 13 November 1957.)

Our copy is exceptionally enhanced with the signatures of several members of the editorial committee of the Association of...

First edition, limited to 1,100 copies, divided into four fictitious editions within the same year, in order to create the illusion of commercial success. These were subsequently reissued with a new title-page bearing an edition statement and the author’s name, together with a volume designation on the half-titles (cf. Clouzot). Our copy carries the designation “third edition.” Contemporary bookplate traces on the upper pastedowns. Expert restorations to headcaps and joints, with a tiny loss at the foot of the lower joint of vol. I. A clean copy, entirely free of foxing.

Contemporary half chocolate calf bindings...

First edition, one of 100 numbered copies on hollande paper, deluxe issue (only the first volume numbered).
Each volume includes a historical introduction by Philippe De Gaulle.
Ex-libris pasted to the front of each volume.
A very fine copy with wide margins, complete in twelve volumes of this important work, commencing in 1905 and concluding in April 1969.

Original felt-tip drawing signed by Uderzo, accompanied by René Goscinny's signature in blue ink. Half a page on the verso of the final leaf of a three-page typescript stapled with a metal clip.
Some minor fold marks, without consequence.
A round and cheerful portrait of Obelix, drawn by his creator and inscribed “pour Anne Sophie avec toute notre amitié”, enriched with René Goscinny’s signature, on the verso of television script pages from a show featuring Uderzo and Goscinny as guests.

Original signed drawing in pencil and pink crayon by Antoine de Saint-Ex­upéry, on “Navarre” watermarked paper. Horizontal fold, annotation in pencil in upper left-hand corner, min­ute tears in lower margin.

Precious drawing signed by Saint-Exupéry – the writer-artist very rarely signed his graphic works – of a caricature character, sharing some of the writer's own features.

First edition, one of 8 numbered copies on Chinese paper, the deluxe issue.
Bound in full red morocco, smooth spine, spine and boards decorated with a geometric design of black and gilt fillets representing interlaced mountain peaks in zigzag pattern, endpapers and pastedowns illustrated with an original lithograph signed in pencil by Germaine de Coster, following endpapers of red paper, original wrappers and spine preserved, top edge gilt; a very elegant contemporary binding signed by Hélène Dumas and Germaine de Coster.
This copy is further enriched with an original charcoal portrait of Jean Giono, signed by...

First edition - only published issue of this journal of the Resistance.
Minor rubbing at head and foot of spine, slight tears in margins of covers.
Anonymous texts by Claude Bourdet, Maurice Clavel, Jean-Louis Curtis, Yves Gandon, Flavien Monod and Maximilien Vox, who was the magazine's director.
This single issue was put together between December 1943 and March 1944, but La Revue noire could not be published during the Occupation. The final press proof was given on 15 February 1944 and the imprint is dated 15 February 1945.
A rare and pleasant copy.

First edition and first printing of Lucien Laforge’s pacifist illustrations, one of 400 deluxe copies on special matte red paper from the Barthélémy paper mills, the only deluxe issue announced.
Some light wear, otherwise a very good copy of this fierce anti-militarist pamphlet in which runs "comme le grésillement du fer rouge marquant à vif la chair pâle et grasse du Bourgeois repu de morts" (Paul Vaillant-Couturier in L'Humanité).

"Si quelque part au monde le coeur de la liberté continue à battre, s'il est un lieu d'où ses coups nous parviennent mieux frappés que de partout ailleurs, nous savons tous que ce lieu est l'Espagne." ["If anywhere in the world the heart of freedom continues to beat, if there is a place from which its beats reach us more clearly struck than from anywhere else, we all know that this place is Spain."]

First edition, one of 120 numbered copies on holland paper, deluxe copy.
Very handsome copy.
Autograph inscription signed by André Malraux to his friends Minka and Karl-Hans [Strauss] enhanced with two small drawings in red and blue ink representing cats.
Minka, a Rothschild descendant, and Karl-Hans Strauss, were important patrons and collectors of art and music close to André Malraux. Their correspondence seems to reveal that in the 1970s the elderly writer was hunting around the world, with his last companion Sophie de Vilmorin, for works for their collection. At the end of his life, he thus rediscovered this youthful passion that inspired his first work...

First edition first issue for which no grand papier (deluxe copies) were printed, one of the rare service de presse (advance copies).
Some very discreet restorations to spine, paper browned, some discreet traces folds at the bottom of some leaves.

A handsome copy, as issued. The book is housed in a slipcase signed by Julie Nadot, reproducing the original design of the cover and spine.

This first edition of L'Étranger was printed on 21 April, 1942 with a run of 4,400 copies: 400 advance copies (service de presse), 500 copies without statement and 3,500 copies with false statements from the second to eighth...

First edition, a Service de Presse (advance) copy.

Iconography at rear.

Precious autograph inscription signed by André Malraux to the diplomat and great resistance fighter, faithful among the faithful of General De Gaulle, Gaston Palewski to whom this work is dedicated below the printed dedication: "C'est pour vous distraire. Vous recevrez vos exemplaires convenables la semaine prochaine" ["This is to entertain you. You will receive your proper copies next week"].
 

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, one of 80 numbered copies on Holland paper, the deluxe issue.

A fine copy.

First edition displaying all the distinctive features of its publication: it presents no capital letters except at the beginning of paragraphs and it is the very first work to have been printed with Voltaire's spelling. Our copy is complete with its errata leaf, which is often missing.
Later bindings (19th century) in full red morocco, Jansenist spines with five raised bands, dates and places gilt at foot, boards struck at center with large gilt typographical fleurons, double gilt fillets on leading edges and headcaps, pastedowns lined with blue morocco presenting a wide gilt decorative border, monogrammed bookplates mounted on the pastedowns of each volume, following endpapers of...

First edition, one of 25 numbered copies on Holland paper, the deluxe issue.
A fine copy.

First edition on current paper.

Illustrated book of 6 vignettes by André Derain.
Very discreet restorations on the back and the boards of covers, tiny angular gaps in heads of the very first leaflets.
Precious autograph dedication signed by Antonin Artaud: "To my dear friend André Lhote the only living writer who knows how to speak about painting in a poetic and superior sense."

Original color lithograph, one of 15 proofs on Japon impérial paper reserved for the artist and his collaborators, the only printing with 20 more on Japon and 250 on Arches paper. Unsigned proof, as all proofs in this series, other than the frontispiece.
A superb proof on Japon paper specially made for The Story of Exodus, published in 1966, for which Chagall made 24 hors-text lithographs printed by Mourlot.
An exceedingly rare original proof on Japon paper, the most attractive and best for color lithographs.


Fernand Mourlot was undoubtedly the finest lithographic printer of the 20th century and was thus the friend and printer to the leading artists of his day...

Edition, review copy.
Complete copy of his please insert.

Autograph dedication of the author autograph signed by Jorge Semprun to Jean Freustié.

First edition on ordinary paper.

Half-forest green shagreen contemporary binding, spine with five raised bands, marbled paper board and endpapers, bookplate pasted on one guard.
Some slight, minor foxing.

Rare signed and inscribed copy by Gustave Flaubert to (Louis) de Carné, journalist and historian, several of whose works were listed in the inventory of Flaubert's personal library.

Flaubert's interest in de Carné's work was not always benevolent, however. Critical notes on his articles can be found in the Bouvard and Pécuchet files.
Moreover, the publication of Salammbô coincided with the controversial election of Louis de...