Ecriture & Politique

First edition, one of 60 numbered copies on pur fil paper, the only deluxe copies.
Handsome copy.

First edition of which there were no grand papier (deluxe) copies.
Texts by Michel Leiris, Jacques Prévert, Vercors, Hervé Bazin and commentaries by Jean-Paul Sartre.
Autograph inscription signed by Jean-Paul Sartre to Mademoiselle Marchais.

First edition, one of 30 numbered copies on Lana chiffon wove, the only deluxe paper copies.
A very handsome copy.

First edition of this weekly review, written entirely by Georges Clemenceau and complete in 60 issues.
Bradel binding in half red percaline, smooth spine decorated with a gilt fleuron, initials and double gilt fillets at foot, marbled paper boards, upper wrapper of the first issue preserved, contemporary binding.
A fine and rare complete set in 60 issues.

First edition, one of 125 numbered copies on pure thread, the only deluxe paper copies.
Illustrations.
A fine copy.

First edition on ordinary paper.
Half red morocco over marbled paper boards, spine lightly sunned in six compartments, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, covers and spine preserved, top edge gilt.

One top corner very slightly rubbed.
Handsome autograph inscription by Charles Maurras : "A madame Colette Willy, en souvenir de la cocarde."

First edition, one of 55 numbered copies on vélin neige, the only deluxe paper issue.
Preface by Emmanuel Roblès.
A fine and rare copy.

First edition, one of 109 copies numbered on Lafuma pure wove paper and reset in quarto tellière format, deluxe issue.
Two discreet restorations to the head and tail of the spine.
A pleasing copy.

Unpublished autograph manuscript comprising 6 and a quarter leaves written in black ink, containing around twenty notes and digressive reflections relating to the exercise of power.
- "Where does the law come from? From power. The law is the voice and instrument of power. Power precedes the law and gives birth to it."
- "The working masses are not about to accept, nor to consider as political, the rape of a little girl – nor of a little boy. We live in such a moral climate that it first makes us pity the pain of the parents, it makes us reject the cruelty of the act... The worker needs a certain respectability in order to stand equal here with the present bourgeois classes (the aristocracy has disappeared). We must look ever more closely at what servile labor consists of, and what it entails."
- "Work as a virtue fostered a new morality, and if it was all the more distant and disregarded by the aristocrat, the people held to it. (I am not speaking of what broke out in 1789, but of what was gradually formed, as serfs escaped, in one way or another, from serfdom.) In 1789, this new morality had reached its point, and what had carried it (word illegible) to the extreme had become what was called the bourgeoisie. Bound to this new morality of work, they also aspired to an 'imitation'—but an imitation only—and the morality was stronger than the still prestigious pretensions of the declining nobility."
- "If there is an essence of power, it remains hidden. But the manifestation of power, even if not ostentatious, seeks to be recognized and visible. For instinct, one must accept the enigma."
- "Rousseau, a foundling, abandons his children to public care: no one cares. It is probable that Dostoevsky raped a little girl: no one cares. The Brothers Karamazov is indeed a revolutionary book."

Edition published the same year as the first. Illustrated with a portrait of the author, three folding plates, a folding map of Longwood house and two folding maps.
Some foxing.

Full black calf bindings, smooth spines with gilt romantic motifs, boards with central motif in blind, boards ruled in gilt, a small restoration to the margin of the first volume's upper board, handmade endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges, spine-ends ruled in gilt, contemporary romantic bindings.

Rare signed and inscribed copy to a veteran of the Napoleonic wars, on the title page of the first volume: "A Mr. Foucauld, ancien s. [sous] officier de la Grande Armée. Passy 19. 7bre 1840 par le Cte de Las Cases" [To Mr. Foucauld, former second officer of the French Imperial Army. Passy 19. September 1840 by Count de Las Cases]

This inscription by the famous memorialist dates from the year Napoleon's mortal remains were returned to France, a few days before the Belle Poule frigate arrived in St. Helena to collect the coffin. Las Cases inscribed this copy at a turning point in history, as the world was once again turning to the remote island where the Emperor was exiled and buried. A second resurrection was to occur with the triumphant return of the imperial coffin:

"Frozen sky, pure sun. - Oh! shines in history,
Of the mournful imperial triumph torch!
May the people forever keep you in their memory,
Beautiful day like glory,
Cold as the grave" (Le Retour de l'Empereur, Victor Hugo).
The famous compilation of memories and confidences of Napoleon in exile was considered from the beginning to be a true masterpiece which had a lasting effect on Napoleonic legacy. Inscriptions by Las Cases on his most famous work are extremely rare. Las Cases wrote these words to another faithful servant of the Empire, at a time when one of the most important events in Napoleonic history was unfolding: the long voyage of so-called “Mission des cendres”. Las Cases was to be part of this expedition and abandoned due to ill health. He was replaced by his son who had shared his captivity in St Helena and was to publish, like his father, an account of his journey with the Emperor's remains. Las Cases did, however, attend the lavish funeral ceremony at the Invalides, true to his words from the Mémorial: "The heavens blessed my efforts by allowing me to go all the way".

An exceptional copy with a rare meaningful signed autograph inscription, on the iconic work at the origin of Napoleonic mythology, handsomely set in a contemporary binding with Romantic gilt motifs.

Charpentier, Paris 1885, 11,5x18,5cm, bound.

First edition. One of 150 numbered copies on hollande, the only deluxe issue after 10 on papier japon.
Half red morocco binding, gilt date on spine, marbled paper covers and endpapers. Original wrappers including the spine preserved. Set in an early 20th century binding signed by Alfred Farez.

Our copy includes a two-page autograph letter dated and signed by Émile Zola to Octave Mirbeau. The author thanks him for the benevolent article he recently wrote about Germinal, while defending himself from being considered as the leader of Naturalism: “But why do you say that I lead naturalism? I don't lead anything at all... I work in my own corner, letting the world go where it pleases...”

A beautiful and rare copy, perfectly established with a superb autograph letter signed about Germinal and Émile Zola's position within the “École Naturaliste”.

First edition strictly hors commerce, one of 5 numbered copies on Holland paper, deluxe issue.
Minor foxing without consequence on some leaves.
A handsome and very rare full-margined copy of this work denouncing the misdeeds of French colonization in the Maghreb.
Mission providentielle, published in 65 copies at the author's expense under the pseudonym of François Lazerge, consists of a first version of La Rose de sable which would appear, in its definitive version, from Henri Lefebvre in 1967.
Finally, fearing he would incur the wrath of the authorities, Henri de Montherlant refused to have Mission providentielle distributed and published it only privately.

First edition, one of 120 numbered copies on Lafuma pure wove paper, the only large-paper issue.

Endpapers very slightly and marginally toned, two small tears at foot of spine.

A rare and much sought-after copy in original state.

First edition, one of 1050 numbered copies on laid paper.
Handsome copy.
Publisher's boards after the original design by Mario Prassinos.

Autograph letter dated and signed by Jules Vallès, on letterhead of his newspaper "Le cri du peuple", addressed to a journalist, 16 lines in black ink on a double leaf.
A central fold inherent to postal delivery has caused a tear to the left margin.
Jules Vallès has received the request from a journalist to insert his article in the next issue of "Le Cri du peuple", but he will not be able to honor it favorably: "J'ai vu la direction du journal, et malheureusement, il sera de toute impossibilité de vous faire même la plus petite place dans le Cri."
His article will however be paid for: "... nous dira ce que vous avez donné de copie, et cette copie vous sera réglée."
"Le Cri du Peuple", founded by Jules Vallès in February 1871, was during the Paris Commune the most widely read daily newspaper, printing 100,000 copies until the crushing of the Paris Commune. It would reappear upon Jules Vallès' return from exile with the collaboration of Séverine.

Autograph letter dated and signed by Romain Rolland, 18 lines in black ink, written in French and English from Villeneuve in the canton of Vaud.
Usual folds, a small hole to the upper left corner made by a pin, not affecting the text.
Romain Rolland, aligned with Moscow's position, criticizes the expansionist and imperialist policies of the West and the Japanese empire: "I take the liberty of communicating to you the enclosed appeal which I sent today to several French newspapers, and I enclose a copy of the telegram from Moscow, which triggered it."
He comes to the defense of the Kuomintang and its leader Sun Yat-sen, endangered by the Japanese army backed by the Europeans, including the French: "A few days before, I had received from Shanghai in flames the following cablegram from Madame Sun Yat-sen [in English]: 'Urgently appeal united action with antiimperialist League previent subjection division China by japanese imperialists with active assistance other imperialists including French...'.


 

Autograph letter signed and dated by Romain Rolland, 26 lines in blue ink, denouncing the accusation, by the Hitler regime, of the participation of Bulgarian communist militants in the Reichstag fire. Georges Dimitrov, head of the Comintern bureau for Western Europe, is in Berlin in February 1933. On the night of February 27, the Nazi regime, then in power for only a month, takes advantage of the criminal arson of the Reichstag to impute responsibility to communist militants and the left-wing opposition. On March 9, Dimitrov is arrested with five of his companions including Tanev and Popov. After a long trial in Leipzig and a public counter-trial organized by German communist Willy Münzenberg, Dimitrov is acquitted.
Fold inherent to postal dispatch.
Romain Rolland fully committed himself to the defense of his Bulgarian comrades incriminated by the Third Reich: "Enclosed copy of the response I am addressing to the Reichsgerichtanwalt of Leipzig. I have made use of the indications provided by the international commission of inquiry on the Reichstag fire, from which I received a detailed letter..." despite his precarious state of health: "No, I am not recovered. My health is still very poor, but I could not leave unanswered this insidious letter from the Reichsgeritchanwalt which calls into question the lives of these unfortunates."
Tireless pacifist militant and scourge of imperialisms, Romain Rolland also supports the liberation struggle of autonomist movements: "For the Indo-Chinese, it is very difficult to find available funds - which are lacking to come to the aid of the oppressed of Europe. Is there not a way that the International Commission of Amsterdam which is currently in the Far East could stop, on the return, in Indo-China?."
Very beautiful letter from an intellectual engaged in the struggle against all imperialisms and dictatorial regimes.

Autograph letter signed by Emile Zola to Octave Mirbeau, dated August 19, 1898. Four pages in black ink on a bifolium written to Octave Mirbeau.
Usual trace of horizontal fold.
Published in Zola's Œuvres complètes, t. XLIX, ed. F. Bernouard, 1927, p. 808.
Exceptional testament of friendship and self-sacrifice from Emile Zola in exile, after being sentenced to the maximum penalty for writing "J'accuse!", the most famous article proclaming Captain Dreyfus's innocence.
After his historic article in L'Aurore, Zola was sentenced a first time by a jury on February 23, 1898 to one year's imprisonment and a fine of three thousand francs. The verdict was overturned, and the case was referred back to the Versailles court of justice, which upheld only three of the eight hundred lines in "J'accuse!" as a charge. Unwilling to accept such a stifling of the proceedings, Zola's defense decided to default, and the conviction was upheld. After his eventful exit from the courthouse, Clémenceau and his lawyer Labori advised him to leave the country before the judgment could become enforceable. Zola left on the last train that evening, with only a shirt hastily rolled up in newspaper as luggage.
A month after his departure, the writer writes this superb reply to a letter from his loyal supporter, Octave Mirbeau, who had written to him a few days earlier: "We think only of you; there isn't a minute of our existence that you don't fill entirely" (August 14, 1898). Settled in the London suburb of Weybridge, he angrily receives the "echoes of Paris" and is enraged to see Esterhazy, the true culprit of the Dreyfus Affair, once again cleared - this time by civil courts.


"My dear friend,
Thank you for your kind letter [...] In the midst of universal cowardice, you wouldn't believe how moved I am to feel a few faithful people around me.
My existence here has become possible, since I've been able to get back to work. Work has always comforted me, saved me. But my poor hands are still trembling with a shiver that cannot end. You wouldn't believe the outrage I feel at the echoes from France that reach me. In the evening, when daylight falls, I think it's the end of the world.
You think I should go back and make myself a prisoner, without returning to Versailles. That would be too good, to have the peace of prison, and I don't think it's possible. I didn't set out to go back like that; our attitude would be neither logical nor beautiful. Rather, I think I'm in indefinite exile, unless I run the abominable risk of a new trial. Besides, we won't be able to make up our minds until October. And by then, who knows? Although I'm counting on a miracle, in which I have little faith.
So let us be brave, my friend, and let our work be done! If I can keep working, things won't be too bad yet.
[...]
I shake your hand, my good friend, the faithful and rare friend of bad days".



Poignant manuscript confession from Zola, forced into exile. Death would strike him in the midst of his glory days, without him ever knowing the outcome of the affair he had devoted so many years of struggle.
 

First edition, one of 900 numbered copies on alfa paper.
Handsome copy.
Fine autograph inscription signed by Jacques Laurent to Christian Giudicelli: "... ce livre d'un jeune écrivain pour un jeune écrivain, avec toute ma vive sympathie..." (...this book from a young writer for a young writer, with all my warm sympathy...)

Exceptionally rare first edition of this pamphlet published a few days after Japan's surrender.
Covers detached, rusted staple.
Nevertheless a very fine copy.
Precious autograph signature of General de Gaulle on the cover.

First edition in French, translated by Joseph Roy, partly previously unpublished, with corrections and additions by Karl Marx.
Complete with the two title pages addressed to Lachatre, a frontispiece portrait of Karl Marx, the facsimile of his letter to the publisher and his reply on the verso, removed from later editions.
Simple contemporary bronze half-cloth binding, smooth spine framed in gilt, gilt title, bookbinder's ticket at foot of the pastedown, "Buchbinderei Schey & Co, Zürich". 
***
This first French edition of 'Das Kapital' was published in parts between 1872 and 1875, but met with no success, as the publisher writes in a letter to Marx dated 24 December 1873: "Sales are nil on your book (...). The print run is 1100 copies, almost all still in store". Unsold quires were partly reassembled and offered in bound paperback volumes in early 1876. As the book was barely finished, booksellers were already sabotaging distribution. In June 1879, La Châtre wrote to Marx:


"There are still three hundred copies left of the last parts, printed at a thousand copies. We would therefore have sold only 600 or 700 copies in a span of six years. It is a very sad result..."


This was a major disappointment for Karl Marx, who had put a great deal of effort into this French edition, the only translation he personally edited, and last one published in his lifetime.
Marx "wished to leave a mark with Le Capital in French theoretical and political debates, strongly influenced by the legacy of Proudhon, in a country where the International was more effectively organized than anywhere else, and whose capital had 'set itself up as a Commune'. In France, Le Capital was in a way the epilogue to a long theoretical and political debate begun in French twenty years earlier with the first polemic against Proudhon. (...) In 1872, Marx simultaneously corrected and revised Joseph Roy's translation and reworked the first German edition in preparation for the second edition published by Meissner. This twofold work constantly intersecting with each other, is partly responsible for the many differences that remain between German texts of the 2nd (and even later) editions and the French version, which Marx was correcting separately and simultaneously. At each stage of the process (preparation of the original text for Roy, correction of the proofs for Meissner, correction of the translation sent by Roy, correction of the proofs sent by the printer), Marx made changes, much to the despair of the printers. For many authors, this division of labor into different phases would result in a large number of small variants. For Marx, it encouraged a tendency that didn't need encouraging, the tendency to perpetual rewriting, to palimpsest." (Jean-Pierre Lefebvre, introduction to the 1983 reprint of Le Capital published by Editions Sociales).
On 28 April 1875, Karl Marx makes additions to a notice to the reader that would appear in the last issue, on p. 348, stating his involvement in this French version and its importance within his work:
"[M. J. Roy's scrupulous translation has] forced me to modify the wording, with the aim of making it more accessible to the reader. Since the book was published in separate parts, these changes were made one after the other, and were carried out with uneven attention to detail, resulting in stylistic discrepancies. Having once undertaken this revision work, I was led to apply it also to the substance of the original text (the second German edition), to simplify some developments, to complete others, to give additional historical or statistical material, to add critical insights, and so on. Whatever the literary imperfections of this French edition, it has a scientific value independent of the first edition and should be read even by readers familiar with the German language".
Our copy was undoubtedly acquired by a fellow countryman of Karl Marx, as it was bound at the time by a Zurich bookbinder, Schey & Co. In 1957, it was purchased by a bibliophile in Zagreb, in Tito's Yugoslavia, as evidenced by the marginalia on the title page.
Contemporary ownership inscription written three times: on the endpapers and both title pages.
A precious copy of the French edition, as important as the first in German.

The first edition, of which there were no deluxe copies.
Minor pinprick foxing of no consequence on the first endpaper, a handsome copy.
Rare autograph inscription signed by Nicolas Berdaieff to Abbé Lallement on the first endpaper.

Autograph letter signed by Astolphe de Custine (16 lines in black ink) regarding the republication, issued by the same publisher Amyot in the same year as the first edition, of his prophetic and famous work "La Russie en 1839".
Fold marks inherent to posting, the ink of the year in the date having faded.
Due to the great success of his work "La Russie en 1839" whose first edition was published in 1843 by Amyot, Custine had difficulty obtaining a copy of the republication, printed a few months later the same year, of his masterpiece which he intended for his correspondent: "Here, sir, is the second copy of La Russie that I have been able to wrest from Amyot since the new edition went on sale."
Like his publisher, the author insists to his correspondent, certainly a literary critic, on the importance of this new edition which contains some parts in first edition so that he might review it: "Amyot is very keen that emphasis be placed on the new anecdotes with which this edition is enlarged: and I am especially keen not to neglect any opportunity to show you my confidence in your goodwill..."
A handsome letter testifying to the immediate and resounding success of this very important work by Astolphe de Custine, considered the counterpart to the celebrated "De la démocratie en Amérique" by Alexis de Tocqueville; the accuracy of certain of Custine's analyses being verified even in Stalinist Russia up to that of Vladimir Putin.

First edition, one of 25 numbered copies on alfama du marais, the only deluxe copies.
Handsome copy.

New edition.
Handsome copy.
Autograph inscription signed by Louis Aragon to Jean-Pierre Lecointre.

New edition.
Handsome copy despite minor scratches of no consequence on the joints and spine.
Autograph inscription signed by François Mitterrand to Frédéric Cartierre.

First edition, one of 100 numbered copies on Holland paper, the only deluxe copies.
Half-title and title pages lightly toned, a small light stain to upper right corner of half-title page, some deckled edges toned and with light dampstaining.
Rare copy of this work dedicated: "To the memory of the martyrs of the New Faith: of the human International. To Jean Jaurès, Karl Liebknecht, Rosa Luxembourg, Kurt Eisner, Gustav Landauer, victims of ferocious stupidity and murderous lies, liberators of men, who killed them."

First edition printed in 1000 numbered copies on pure Johannot rag paper, ours being one of the 300 containing a duplicate suite of engravings at the end of the volume.
Full midnight blue morocco binding, spine with four raised bands, red watered silk endpapers and pastedowns, quadruple gilt fillet frame on pastedowns, covers and spine preserved, all edges gilt, red cloth slipcase bordered with midnight blue morocco, binding signed P. Goudon.
Work illustrated with wood engravings by Henri Jadoux.
A handsome copy beautifully bound.

The first edition, of which there were no deluxe copies.
Handsome copy.
Autograph inscription signed by Léopold Sédar Senghor to Pierre-Louis Mathieu.

First edition, one of 12 numbered copies on hollande paper, the only large paper copies.

Full red shagreen binding, spine with three raised bands decorated with gilt fillets and gilt cartouche enriched with black typographic motifs, marbled paper endpapers and pastedowns, bookplate affixed to pastedown, original wrappers and spine preserved, top edge gilt, other edges uncut.

Foxing to some uncut edges.

Autograph inscription signed by Georges Clemenceau to Monsieur Henry Leyret, political and judicial chronicler and editor at L'Aurore.

First edition of the French translation
A handsome copy.
Rare autograph inscription signed by Vaclav Havel, in French, to Richard Coutin accompanied by a small drawing of a heart.

First edition of the French translation, published before the original Italian edition. Indeed, Campanella only published in 1623 a Latin translation which remained for several centuries the sole version of his famous utopia.
Bradel binding in full mottled paper, smooth spine, black shagreen title-label, binding signed T. Boichot.
Occasional light foxing.

The first edition, of which there were no deluxe copies.
Small worming to top edge, one stain to edge, one crease mark to lower left corner of front cover.
Autograph inscription signed by Pierre Mendès France to Irène Porchey with an additional autograph inscription signed by Pierre Rouanet.

First edition.
Contemporary half red sheep binding, smooth spine decorated with triple gilt fillets, some stains to spine, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, some marginal rubbing to boards, contemporary binding.
Marginal lack affecting 3 letters on pp. 467-469, some reading marks by the dedicatee in pencil in margins of certain paragraphs.
Rare autograph inscription signed by Jean Jaurès: "Au citoyen Mauranges. Jean Jaurès."
Georges Mauranges (1884-1975), lawyer at the Parliament of Paris and member of the Socialist Party from 1905 (identified with the "right wing" of the movement). He was a member of the 11th SFIO section of Paris and would run in the 1919 legislative elections.

First edition, a Service de Presse (advance) copy.
Spine sunned with two small lacks at head and foot, boards marginally sunned.
This collection of poems contains the famous "Strophes pour se souvenir", a poem paying tribute to the members of the F.T.P. - M.O.I. of Missak Manouchian shot at Mont Valérien on February 21, 1944. This moving poem would be set to music and performed in 1959 by Léo Ferré under the title "L'affiche rouge" referring to the ignominious red poster displayed by the Vichy regime depicting the F.T.P.-M.O.I. as vulgar and criminal foreign terrorists.
Autograph inscription signed by Louis Aragon to Jean Ballard who was the director of the literary review Les Cahiers du Sud.

First edition on ordinary paper.
Foxing to endpapers and throughout all leaves in their margins.
Precious autograph inscription signed by Jacques Chardonne: "A André Fraigneau bien sympathiquement. Jacques Chardonne."

Autograph letter signed by Ernest Renan, 31 lines in black ink regarding his brief entry into politics.
In 1869, Ernest Renan ran as an independent candidate for a deputy seat in Seine-et-Marne, which resulted in his electoral defeat.
Central fold marks.
Ernest Renan thanks his correspondent for the decisive support that triggered his decision to launch into politics: "Vous êtes le premier qui avez parlé au public de ma candidature éventuelle à Meaux, à Lagny." ("You are the first who spoke to the public about my potential candidacy in Meaux, in Lagny.") despite his apprehensions: "J'ai dû en cette circonstance faire une grande violence à mes goûts, mais j'ai pensé qu'on est plus fort à critiquer son temps quand on s'est prêté aux occasions de le servir que quand on s'y est systématiquement refusé..." ("I had to do great violence to my inclinations in this circumstance, but I thought that one is stronger in criticizing one's time when one has lent oneself to opportunities to serve it than when one has systematically refused to do so...")
He will not be affected by a potential failure: "Si je réussis pas, je serai vite consolé, si vite consolé à vrai dire que c'est probablement là une raison pour laquelle je ne réussirai pas." ("If I don't succeed, I will be quickly consoled, so quickly consoled in truth that this is probably a reason why I will not succeed.") but nevertheless requests the journalistic support of his political mentor: "Vous êtes lu sur les bords de la Marne comme partout, et votre voix sera là d'un grand poids." ("You are read on the banks of the Marne as everywhere, and your voice will carry great weight there.")

Amusing autograph letter signed by Jacques Perret, 34 lines in blue ink, to Roger Nimier.
Fold marks inherent to the mailing.
Jacques Perret, then in Algiers, wishes to clarify, in a humorous manner, certain points concerning the political situation which conditions his own: "... je vous fais savoir [...] que l'Algérie est toujours française... Que le père et le fils ont eu la chance de garder le contact... Que les conditions de mon retour ne se sont pas améliorées..." (... I inform you [...] that Algeria is still French... That father and son have had the chance to keep in touch... That the conditions of my return have not improved...)
Jacques Perret also mentions his works in progress: "... les Biffins de Gonesse se rappellent à vos bons soins... La 2e partie des épreuves annoncées par ma personne ne me sont pas encore parvenues..." (... the Biffins de Gonesse commend themselves to your good care... The 2nd part of the proofs announced by myself have not yet reached me...) and remains available for his correspondent in order to resolve certain pecuniary problems.

Autograph signed letter addressed to a fellow journalist, 45 lines written in purple ink.
Central fold inherent to the mailing.
Léon Blum warns his fellow journalist about his article which differs from the editorial line of his own (probably La Revue Blanche to which Alexandre Varenne contributes, who is cited at the beginning of the letter): "... I confess to you in all frankness - that the very substance of the article was troublesome for our readership. First, in your enumeration, a term was missing: the priests. Don't forget that we are sectarians. Furthermore, a sentence about financiers could seem, in our publication, rather singular..." and which could also offend the political sensibilities of his readership: "Finally, above all, don't forget that our readers might have found it strange to be told: 'Don't hate... There are trees, paintings, verses, music...' You know, they don't have the time..."
After careful reflection, Léon Blum advises and invites his correspondent to write another article better suited to satisfy the journal's management and readers: "... I am convinced that it is better, quite simply, to send us another one, which would then appear Saturday morning.", his frank recommendations being dictated only by the friendship he shows his friend.

Edition with some parts in first edition, one of 50 numbered copies on laid paper, the only deluxe copies.
A very handsome copy.

First edition, one of 55 numbered copies on vellum for each volume, deluxe copies.
Spines very lightly sunned without detriment, handsome set.

Réflexions sur la question juive [Anti-Semite and Jew] Paul Morihien, Paris 1946, 12x19cm, original wrappers.

First edition, one of 120 numbered copies on pur fil, a deluxe copy.
Nice copy of one of the very first and most important essays on antisemitism shortly after the war, by the founder of Existentialism. Within a broader reflection on citizenship and identity, Jean-Paul Sartre demonstrates how ethnical essentialism feeds Nazi ideology.

Touching autograph letter dated and signed by Henri Béraud addressed to his mother-in-law while he was incarcerated at Poissy prison (46 lines in blue ink on one recto-verso page) relating his situation as a prisoner and worrying about his mother-in-law's failing health.
The letter is on letterhead from the infirmary of the central prison of Poissy, with fold marks inherent to being placed in an envelope.
Henri Béraud is very sad not to have been able to see his mother-in-law who encounters some health problems preventing her comforting visits to Poissy: "... j'ai été bien peiné de ne pas vous voir jeudi..." ["I was very saddened not to see you Thursday..."] but promises to see her again soon in good health: "... que du moins après cela je vous retrouve en belle santé et toute gaie, comme toujours..." ["may I at least find you again after this in good health and all cheerful, as always..."]
He asks for news of his helpful mother-in-law's family and positions himself as the ugly duckling of the family: " ... seul, en somme, votre gendre vous donne du souci. Que voulez-vous, il faut bien que dans toutes les familles, y comprises les meilleures, on compte un mauvais sujet ..." ["alone, in short, your son-in-law gives you worry. What can you do, it's necessary that in all families, including the best ones, there be one bad subject..."]
Finally, Henri Béraud ironizes about his condition so as not to make "his dear mama" feel too guilty about missing their meetings in the visiting room, Henri Béraud's only source of escape to the outside world: "... ne vous fatiguez pas surtout, comme je vous soupçonne de le faire, pour les colis de ce chenapan. Il est infiniment trop gâté, et une fois de plus, il vous remercien de tout coeur, pour la peine que vous prenez..." ["don't tire yourself especially, as I suspect you do, for the packages of this rascal. He is infinitely too spoiled, and once again, he thanks you with all his heart for the trouble you take..."]
A bon vivant native of Lyon, Henri Béraud was a journalist and international reporter (Le canard enchaîné, Le Crapouillot, Petit Parisien, France-Soir and Gringoire) and a prolific writer (Prix Goncourt 1922 for Le martyre de l'obèse and Le vitriol de lune published a year earlier) whose political evolution, moving from the extreme left to the extreme right pro-collaborationist position, is characteristic of the inexorable rise of totalitarianism in the inter-war period and the corruption of many French intellectuals. Friend of Roland Dorgelès, Albert Londres and especially Joseph Kessel whom he met in 1922 in Ireland when it was recently and partially liberated from British rule, Henri Béraud defended very left-wing opinions. But after a trip to the U.S.S.R., he began to revise his positions while drifting toward anti-parliamentarism, Anglophobia (Faut-il réduire l'Angleterre en esclavage ? published in 1935 and dedicated to Joseph Kessel), and anti-Semitism "without realizing it" according to his friend the journalist Jean-Galtier Boissière. It was the Stavisky affair and its corollary, the riots of the fascist and anti-parliamentarian leagues of February 6, 1934, that triggered Henri Béraud's manifest passage to the extreme right, going so far as to break his friendship with his great friend Joseph Kessel. In 1936, his violent articles in Gringoire led to the suicide of the Popular Front's Interior Minister Roger Salengro, accused of desertion during the First World War. Arrested in September 1944 and sentenced to death on December 29, 1944 for intelligence with the enemy, he was pardoned by General De Gaulle.

Autograph letter signed by Xavier de Hauteclocque (23 lines in black ink from the camp of Auvours in Sarthe where he is a reserve officer) addressed to Léon Daudet thanking him for his laudatory article regarding his latest work: "... si l'on trouve peu d'encouragements quand on veut dire aux Français la vérité sur l'Allemagne, je puis dire que j'ai dérogé, grâce à vous, à cette règle..." ["...if one finds little encouragement when one wants to tell the French the truth about Germany, I can say that I have made an exception, thanks to you, to this rule..."]
Xavier de Hauteclocque is worried about the blindness of his fellow citizens although he warns them of the Hitlerian threat, only Action Française and its daily newspaper playing the salutary role of Geese of the Capitol far from: "...la critique 'officielle' et conformiste..." ["...the 'official' and conformist criticism..."]
Fold mark inherent to being placed in an envelope.
Decorated with the war cross in 1914-1918 (at 18 he had volunteered early on July 15th, 1915 to join the 3rd regiment of hussars at Saumur, his father and brother having fallen on the field of honor in 1914), first cousin of Marshal Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque, Xavier de Hauteclocque is a military man, journalist and writer who never ceased to vigorously denounce, through his writings and reports, the dangers of Adolf Hitler and his party taking power in Germany. In 1935 in Paris, he died poisoned by the Nazi regime that his works such as La Tragédie brune, À l'Ombre de la Croix Gammée or Nuit sur l'Allemagne disturbed.

First edition, one of 45 numbered copies printed on Van Gelder Holland vellum, this copy being one of the 5 hors commerce copies, from the deluxe issue.
The book is housed in a slipcase signed by Julie Nadot, reproducing the upper and lower covers and the spine of the volume.
A very fine copy, as issued.

Actes et paroles - Avant l'exil, 1841-1851 [Words and Deeds - Before the Exile, 1841-1851]
Michel Lévy frères, Paris 1875, 19,5x25cm, bound.
First edition, one of 20 numbered copies on chine, most limited deluxe edition of this important collection of speeches, public declarations, and political texts intended for French parliament (Chamber of Peers, Constituent Assembly and Legislative Assembly), all written - as stated in the title - prior to his exile. These important texts address freedom of the press, theater and education, as well as the abolition of the death penalty.
Half red shagreen binding, smooth spine decorated in gilt lengthwise, marbled paper boards, caillouté pastedowns and endpapers, original covers preserved, top edge gilt over untrimmed edges.
Exceptional and loving signed inscription by Victor Hugo to his daughter-in-law Alice Lehaene - widow of Charles Hugo - and his beloved grandchildren: "To my dear daughter and your sweet mother, my Georges, my Jeanne, [signed:] Papapa" (A ma chère fille et à votre douce mère, mon Georges, ma Jeanne, Papapa).
"We called him Papapa. Legend has it - he surrounded us with legends! - that one morning at Hauteville House, while he was working in that glass cage perched at the top of the house, little Georges came in and said: - Hello Papapa! [...] To hear the son of his son Charles who had just died, pronounce this unknown word, the grandfather was overjoyed for he knew the secret language of children: Georges' stammer made him twice a father, much more than a grandfather. [...] ‘My name is Papapa now,' he said, softly. And until he died, my sister and I called him by this dearest name, which he always cherished" (Georges-Victor Hugo, [My Grandfather] Mon grand-père, Paris: Calmann-Lévy)

In 1871, after the tragic and unexpected death of his son Charles, Victor Hugo became guardian of his two grandchildren Georges and Jeanne. From then on, he played a large part in their upbringing and spent some of the happiest moments of his life with them, reflected in the countless endearing notes about the two children in Choses vues [Things Seen]. Upon the death of his last son François-Victor, he moved in with Georges and Jeanne's mother Alice at 21 rue de Clichy; on the floor below, he lodged Juliette Drouet. This gave him plenty of time to spend with his "little ones", for whom he organized children's dinners and made plenty of toys. The children are the subject of his immensely popular poetry collection, L'Art d'être grand-père (1877) [The Art of Being a Grandfather]. "Its popularity was immediate and its success resounding, so dazzling was his way of celebrating childhood by telling the story of Georges, Jeanne and himself. By putting children's words into verse so naturally and freshly, Georges et Jeanne's "Papapa" has succeeded like no other in exalting "grandparental" feelings. At home, these feelings are not limited to allowing children to leave their toys lying around on manuscripts: when Alice remarried journalist and politician Édouard ‘Lockroy' Simon – contributor to Le Rappel – Hugo opposed him sharing guardianship" (Sandrine Fillipetti, Victor Hugo)
This inaugural volume of Actes et paroles [Deeds and Words] containing Victor Hugo's first major political texts, is a poignant testimony to his humanist commitments. The "little" owners of this precious copy received their grandfather's intellectual and militant legacy: from his "Discours de réception" at the Académie française (1841) to his famous stance against Napoleon III "Révision de la Constitution" ("No! after Napoleon the Great, I don't want Napoleon 'le Petit'!") which led to his exile. At the heart of this compilation is a highly significant text "For Charles Hugo. The death penalty" delivered by Hugo before the Seine Assize Court in 1851 in defense of his son, father of Jeanne and Georges, convicted for an article against death penalty: "What my son has written, he has written, I repeat, because I inspired it in him from childhood, because at the same time as he is my son by blood, he is my son in spirit, because he wants to continue his father's legacy"
This beautiful gift to two children aged six and seven was undoubtedly offered with the intent to uphold the family tradition of commitment to freedom.

Edition with some parts in first edition as expanded with an unpublished preface.
Half marbled sheep binding, smooth spine decorated with gilt cartouche, some rubbing to spine, top headcap worn down, navy blue shagreen title label, marbled paper boards, beige paper endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers preserved, top edge gilt, contemporary binding.
Precious signed autograph inscription by Maurice Barrès: "A Léon Daudet , son ami. Maurice Barrès." ["To Léon Daudet, his friend. Maurice Barrès."]

First edition, with service de presse stamp at end of volume.
Bradel binding in half brown cloth, smooth spine decorated with gilt fleuron, double gilt fillet at foot, navy blue shagreen title-label, marbled paper boards, one tear to lower edge, corners slightly bumped, contemporary binding.
Precious autograph inscription signed by Maurice Barrès: "A Léon Daudet, souvenir amical. Maurice Barrès."

Original albumen print, cabinet card mount with the stamp of the Gerschel studio. Bottom margin skillfully restored, a trace a folding in the left corner.This portrait was taken by Charles Gerschel on September 27, 1899 in the garden of Dreyfus' brother-in-law Joseph Valabrègue in Carpentras. A week after his official pardon, the captain had come to Carpentras seeking isolation and rest while awaiting his rehabilitation.
We have only been able to locate one other copy of this photograph, inscribed to Bernard Lazare, now in the Musée de Bretagne. This same museum has a letter from Charles Gerschel to the captain's wife Lucie Dreyfus proving the rarity of these portraits: “I did not put any prints out there other than to give (and not to sell, I insist on this point) to a few faithful and devoted friends. As for the portraits of the captain [Dreyfus], I learned that one of my employees took the liberty of giving them to a dealer. By telephone I immediately had this traffic stopped.”
Original photographic portraits of Dreyfus are rare and this one was printed in small numbers for Alfred Dreyfus and probably as a gift to his supporters.
Provenance: library of Anselme Weill.

Dr. Anselme Weill was charged with the difficult task of announcing to the Dreyfus family the news of Alfred's life sentence and formal degradation. In his book Affaire Dreyfus, L'Honneur d'un patriote, Vincent Duclert writes: “Mathieu [Dreyfus, Alfred's brother] had asked a relative of the Hadamard family, Dr. Weill, to wait for the announcement of the verdict and to bring the news to the apartment on rue de Châteaudun, where a small group of friends and family members was waiting. He arrived at half past seven in the evening.” He also reveals that Anselme Weill had testified on behalf of Alfred Dreyfus at his trial: “Other allegations could be rejected, for example those directed towards Dr. Weill, whose wife was a third cousin of Lucie Dreyfus. 'I attest, as the very frequent, almost daily relations that I had with him as a relative, as a doctor and as a friend, allow me to do so, I attest that Dreyfus was always a perfect husband, and that I never knew him to be a gambler nor a libertine. However, it is just the opposite that I am made to say, and I protest against these allegations. I have nothing to add', he declared to the court.”

Reproduction of a photographic portrait of Léopold Sédar Senghor shown slightly in profile and wearing glasses.
Handsome copy.
Autograph inscription signed by Léopold Sédar Senghor, in blue ink at the foot of the portrait, to Frédéric Brion.

First edition, one of 297 numbered copies on handmade paper.
A handsome copy.

Humorous and antifascist original drawing signed in black felt-tip pen by Henry-Paul Gassier depicting King Victor Emmanuel III on his knees polishing the shoes of Mussolini, who is brandishing a club in his left hand and a bottle of castor oil (which the Blackshirts forced political opponents to drink).
The drawing has been mounted on cardboard with slight corner losses.
This drawing entitled "Le bavard" ["The Chatterbox"] was given by Henry-Paul Gassier to his friend and colleague Carlo Rim.
Carlo Rim was a Provençal writer, author of "Ma belle Marseille" ["My Beautiful Marseille"], a caricaturist, a filmmaker, and was notably the friend of Fernandel, Raimu and Marcel Pagnol as well as Max Jacob and André Salmon, whom he met in Sanary.

First edition.
Bradel binding in green half-cloth, smooth spine decorated with a central gilt fleuron, date and double gilt fillet at foot, burgundy morocco title-label with very slight marginal scratches, marbled paper boards, a small light stain on the first cover, original wrappers preserved, contemporary binding signed Vié & Sevin.
Endpapers partially shaded.
Autograph inscription from Emile Zola to Henri Lavedan.

Autograph manuscript signed, written in blue ink on three sheets of white paper; numerous deletions and corrections.

"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."]

This magnificent text was delivered by André Breton on February 22, 1952 during the meeting organized by the League of Human Rights at Salle Wagram. The speech was later published in Le Libertaire of March 6, 1952.

"N'oublions pas que le monstre qui pour un temps nous tient encore à sa merci s'est fait les griffes en Espagne. C'est là qu'il a commencé à faire suinter ses poisons : le mensonge, la division, la démoralisation, la disparition, qui pour la première fois il a fait luire ses buissons de fusils au petit matin, à la tombée du soir ses chambres de torture. Les Hitler, les Mussolini, les Staline, ont eu là leur laboratoire de vivisection, leur école de travaux pratiques. Les fours crématoires, les mines de sel, les escaliers glissants de la N.K.V.D., l'extension à perte de vue du monde concentrationnaire ont été homologués à partir de là. C'est d'Espagne que part l'égouttement de sang indélébile témoignant d'une blessure qui peut être mortelle pour le monde. C'est en Espagne que pour la première fois aux yeux de tous, le droit de vivre libre a été frappé." ["Let us not forget that the monster that still holds us at its mercy for a time sharpened its claws in Spain. It is there that it began to make its poisons seep: lies, division, demoralization, disappearance, where for the first time it made its thickets of rifles gleam in the early morning, its torture chambers at nightfall. The Hitlers, the Mussolinis, the Stalins, had their vivisection laboratory there, their school of practical work. The crematory ovens, the salt mines, the slippery stairs of the N.K.V.D., the endless extension of the concentration camp world were approved from there. It is from Spain that flows the indelible dripping of blood testifying to a wound that may be mortal for the world. It is in Spain that for the first time in everyone's eyes, the right to live free was struck down."]

"Breton could not remain indifferent to international events. In Spain, Franco's regime maintains itself through police repression, but it cannot prevent a succession of important strikes, led by anarchist organizations that remain vigorous. In March, eleven leaders are sentenced to death. A campaign alerting European public opinion is launched in their favor. Breton speaks at the meeting organized at Salle Wagram on February 22, 1952. Citing the Barcelona strikes, launched on a supposed watchword of the Falange, he prophesies a total victory in time. The mood of the clandestine leaders announces revolt against economic misery, against fascism, a three-headed monster that first tried its claws in Spain." (Henri Béhar, André Breton)

First edition.
A rare and handsome copy.

Each volume in its first edition: one of 30 numbered copies on Pur fil paper for the first, one of 14 numbered copies on Hollande for the second and third, one of 36 numbered copies on Hollande from the fourth to the ninth, one of 35 numbered copies on Hollande for the tenth and last.
Each work is presented in a brown half morocco slipcase, smooth spine slightly sunned, gilt date at the foot of spine, marbled paper boards, wood-like paper inside.

A very nice complete set in 10 volumes and a very rare collection of first editions. There were only 14 copies ever printed on Hollande paper of the second and third volumes, meaning that there are possibly only 14 complete sets in existence.

First edition, of which no deluxe copies were printed.
Handsome copy despite minor stains of no consequence to one edge.
Bibliophile's blind stamp as bookplate at foot of endpaper.
Signed autograph inscription from François Mitterrand to Catherine Poulen.

The first edition, of which there were no deluxe copies.
Handsome copy, blind-stamped bookplate at foot of half-title page.
Signed autograph inscription by François Mitterrand to René Doré on the half-title page.

First edition.
Half brown sheep bindings, smooth spines decorated with triple gilt fillets and gilt decorative motifs, gilt friezes at head and foot, marbled paper boards, combed paper endpapers and pastedowns, covers (soiled, with black ink stains, lacks or corner restorations, significant lack to the rear board of the first volume) and spine preserved, modern pastiche bindings.
Foxing, one stain at the foot of the leaves in the first half of the second volume not affecting the text.
Very rare autograph inscription signed by François René de Chateaubriand on the half-title page of the first volume to his secretary and faithful friend [Bernard Jean Erhard Desmousseaux] de Givré.

Autograph letter signed by Joséphin Peladan addressed to Marius Richard, Carlo Rim's father (12 lines in black ink). Fold marks inherent to mailing. Tiny lacks to lower right corner of the sheet, marginal foxing.
Interesting letter in which the occultist writer expresses his wish to meet Jean Jaurès, fervent admirer of Sâr Peladan's writings, through Marius Richard, Jean Jaurès's faithful companion.
"Dear confrère of the soul, you have excited my desire to see Jaurès. Would you, if there is still time, obtain an appointment with him for me. In haste & will write to you one of these days. Your Péladan. 24 Rue A. de Neuville"

First edition published in the wake of the resounding and historic front page "J'accuse" printed in the newspaper "L'Aurore", one of 200 numbered copies on laid paper, each justified by the publisher.
Bound in red half-shagreen, spine with four raised bands gilt-ruled with dotted fillets and decorated with gilt fleurons, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, contemporary binding.
Some rubbing along the joints, pleasingly fresh interior.
Illustrated with a photographic portrait of Emile Zola as frontispiece.
Includes numerous contributions, among them Paul Alexis, Jean Psichari, Elisée Reclus, Joseph Reinach, Paul Adam, Maurice Bouchor, Georges Eekhoud, Gustave Geoffroy, René Ghil, André Ferdinand-Hérold, Camille Lemonnier, Laurent Tailhade, Paul Fort, Mecislas Golberg, Camille Mauclair, Pierre Quillard...
The committee of sponsorship included, among others, Georges Clemenceau, Octave Mirbeau, Séverine, Maurice Maeterlinck and Emile Verhaeren...

First edition, one of 120 numbered copies on wove paper, the only deluxe copies after 36 on Holland paper.
Handsome copy.

First edition, one of 120 numbered copies on wove paper, the only deluxe copies after 36 on Holland paper.
Handsome copy.

The first edition, of which there were no deluxe copies.
Handsome copy.
Rare and fine full-page signed autograph inscription from Bernard-Henri Lévy to Jean-Louis Guillaud on his master work, which reads like a manifesto: "... because the 'left' changes, intellectuals 'resist' and this barbarie à visage humain bears witness to it, in respectful homage. Bernard-Henry Lévy."

First edition, one of 17 numbered copies on Ghaldwill, the only deluxe copies.
Preface by Laurent Schwartz.
Maurice Audin, French mathematician and member of the Algerian Communist Party, was arrested during the Battle of Algiers on June 11, 1957 and disappeared without his body ever being found.
While the French army claimed he had escaped, several prominent figures including Pierre Vidal-Naquet protested and denounced his martyrdom after he was certainly tortured by the French army, with General Aussaresses much later acknowledging having given the order to kill Maurice Audin.
Handsome and rare copy retaining its publisher's wraparound band (which has a lack): "Massu et ses complices"..

First edition of the French translation by Victor Serge, one of 26 numbered copies on deluxe paper, the only large-paper issue.
Half red morocco binding, spine with five raised bands, grey paper endpapers and boards, original wrappers and spine preserved, top edge gilt, signed binding by Goy & Vilaine.
Born in Belgium to anti-tsarist émigré parents, Victor Serge became politically engaged from the age of fifteen, militating within the ranks of the Young Socialist Guard. An antimilitarist and libertarian, he took part in numerous anarchist demonstrations and was sentenced for having sheltered members of the Bonnot Gang. In 1919, he placed himself at the service of the revolution and became a member of the Russian Communist Party, before strongly condemning the Stalinist degeneration of the Soviet state. Expelled from the Party and stripped of his Soviet nationality, he was ultimately banished from the U.S.S.R. in 1936, a few months before the first Moscow Trial. Close to Leon Trotsky, he translated several of his works before distancing himself from him, judging his ideology to be overly sectarian.
A rare and very fine copy of this essay written by Trotsky during his exile in Norway, which would not be published in the U.S.S.R. until 1991.

The first edition, of which there were no deluxe copies.
Fine and rare copy of this collection of anti-Apartheid poems.
Preface by Oliver Tambo, president of the African National Congress of South Africa then in exile.
Rare autograph inscription dated and signed by Paul Dakeyo to Madeleine Lanzais: "... à la lutte de nos peuples..." ["...to the struggle of our peoples..."]

First edition on ordinary paper.
A small light stain on the front cover.
Rare signed autograph inscription from Pierre Drieu la Rochelle on this text: "A mademoiselle (Marguerite ou plutôt Juliette) Leven Drieu la Rochelle qui n'est ni Faust ni Roméo." ["To Miss (Marguerite or rather Juliette) Leven Drieu la Rochelle who is neither Faust nor Romeo."]

Victor HUGO
Les Misérables
A. Lacroix & Verboeckhoven & Cie, Bruxelles 1862, 14,5x22cm, 10 bound volumes.

First edition without statement published concomitantly with the Pagnerre's Paris edition.
Bound in half blue sheepskin, spine in four compartments decorated with double gilt fillets, blue paper plates, marbled paste-down and endpapers, mottled edges, English bindings of the time.
Scattered foxings, title page of the third volume slightly and marginally soiled, paper plates a little rubbed and a few tears on some edges, some joints repaired.
The first edition of Les Misérables was legally created by three different publishers, Pagnerre in France, Lacroix in Belgium and Steinacker in Germany, under the aegis of the official publisher A. Lacroix, Verboeckhoven & Cie.
The question of the prevalence of one edition over the other has long stirred the bibliophilic world and bibliographers remain divided on this thorny issue. Carteret and Vicaire, for example, ensured that the Paris edition should be preferred, whereas Vanderem and Clouzot placed the Belgian edition first. More than just a matter of chronology, this bibliographical dispute reveals the complexity of the concept of the first edition and the symbolic importance its holds for literary history and, in particular, for this masterful work which is among the most important in world literature.
Strangely, without this question really being settled, the Brussels edition is commonly described as pre-Paris, whereas the Leipzig edition is simply ignored. Les Misérables would, therefore, be published on 30 or 31 March with Lacroix and 3 April with Pagnerre.
The arguments of this Belgian precedence are, however, all refutable, and from 1936, Georges Blaizot had demonstrated its fragility.
The first argument is based on a letter by Victor Hugo addressed to Lacroix from 1865 and in which the poet himself called the Belgian edition “princeps” “first”: “Typographiquement, il faut se régler en tout sur l'édition belge princeps des Misérables, en dilatant plutôt qu'en resserrant” “Typographically, it is necessary to be totally attuned with the first Belgian edition of Les Misérables, expanding rather than tightening” he wrote on the subject of the Travailleurs de la mer which will be published in 1866. Yet, Hugo's designation is by no means a bibliographical indication, as Georges Blaizot explains, denouncing the abusive interpretation of P. de Lacretelle and Dr Michaux: “ Le poète précise un point, un seul, très simple, très clair, très précis : l'édition belge princeps (c'est-à-dire la première parue des éditions belges) doit servir de type aux éditions futures. Il dit cela, il dit bien cela, il ne dit que cela.” “The poet specifies one point, one, very simple, very clear, very precise: the first Belgian edition (i.e. the first published of the Belgian editions) must serve as a type for future editions. He says that, he says that clearly, he says only that.” (Georges Blaizot in Le Bulletin du bibliophile et du bibliothécaire, 1936). Indeed, a more modern in-12 edition will follow the famous in-8 edition in October of the same year.
The second argument is more significant. It is based on a letter by Adèle Hugo to her husband recounting the extraordinary affair of the French publication four days before the scheduled date.
This letter will be partially reproduced in 1904 in the complete works published by Meurice and Simon, with the supposed date of “[31 March 1862]”. In it, Adèle recounts the reasons for the French publishing haste: “Auguste [Vacquerie] nous apprend que Les Misérables paraissent sous trois jours. Étonnement mêlé de satisfaction. Auguste me raconte qu'ils comptaient faire paraître Les Misérables le 7 avril ; que le matin [Noël] Parfait était accouru effaré chez [Paul] Meurice lui dire qu'il sortait de voir aux mains de [Paul] Siraudin, un exemplaire des Misérables qu'il avait acheté la veille à Bruxelles.” “Auguste [Vacquerie] tells us that Les Misérables will be published in three days. Astonishment mixed with satisfaction. Auguste tells me that they intended to publish Les Misérables on 7 April; that in the morning [Noël] Parfait had run in alarm to [Paul] Meurice to tell him that he went out to see a copy of Les Misérables in the hands of [Paul] Siraudin that he had bought the day before in Brussells.”
This testimony and the dating of the letter in these publisher's notes are no doubt at the origin of the assertion that the Belgian publication came first. In fact, it is undeniable that on this date, the French edition has not yet been published since the printer Claye will not deposit the two Parisian volumes at the National Archives until the next day, 1 April 1862. The Lacroix edition would therefore, in this sense, be the true “first”.
Adèle's letter was not, in fact, written on 31 March, but over three days: “commencée dimanche (donc le 30 mars) et finie aujourd'hui [mardi] premier avril” “started Sunday (therefore 30 March) and finished today [Tuesday] first of April”. She would therefore assume the existence of paper bound volumes in Brussels from 29 March (and certainly not on 30 March, which was a Sunday). Yet, at the same time, Hugo and Lacroix were in the midst of epistolary negotiations to settle this delicate issue of the next publication date: “ Mon cher maître, écrivait Lacroix le 30 mars, nous avons tout combiné pour le 4 avril, […] il faut qu'à Paris l'ouvrage paraisse aussi cette semaine” “My dear sir, Lacroix wrote on 30 March, we have everything together for 4 April, [...] the work must also be published in Paris this week”. For his part, Hugo, on 1 April, warned his publisher: “on prétend que le livre qui ne peut […] paraître à Paris que le 7, paraîtra le 3 partout ; de sorte que Paris, cœur du succès, serait servi le dernier. Ce serait là une faute incalculable. Paris servi après tout le monde, c'est le succès attaqué à sa source” “it is claimed that the book, which cannot [...] be published in Paris until the 7th, will appear everywhere on the 3rd; so that Paris, the heart of success, would be served last. This would be an incalculable mistake. Paris served after everyone else is attacking success at its source”.
While in Paris, Meurice, Vacquerie and Pagnerre speed up the French publication to counter the Belgians who “ont tenté de jouer un tour” “tried to play a trick” on the French, as Adèle reports to her husband, in Guernsey; Hugo raises the tone with his publisher by hammering home the importance of the French edition: “ la simultanéité, bien ; mais s'il devait y avoir une priorité, c'était pour Paris” “simultaneity, fine; but if there were to be a priority, it would be Paris”.
What about the Brussels publication in March? There is no other mention, other than Siraudin's affair (told by Adèle who takes it from Vacquerie recounting Parfait's words to Meurice) that seriously confirms this theory. The Belgian newspapers, the Parisian clan's main concern: “les journaux de Paris ne se soucieraient pas d'annoncer ce livre […] après les journaux belges et de devenir leur déversoir et leur succursale” “the Paris newspaper would not worry about announcing this book [...] after the Belgian newspapers and becoming their outlet and their branch”, did not yet form any link to this highly anticipated book, other than Indépendance Belge which announced in turn on 30 March: “En vente chez tous les libraires” “For sale in all bookshops” and on 1 April: “Demain paraît enfin la première partie des Misérables” “Tomorrow the first part of Les Misérables is finally published”. In accordance with Hugo's editorial strategy, the first extracts of the work will not be published until 2 April, notably in Le Temps, which the day before announces the simultaneous publication in France and Belgium on 4 April, and in Le Journal des Débats, where the article signed Jules Janin was in fact written by Meurice, due to the urgency described by Adèle: “Je ne puis parler du livre ce soir puisque je ne le connais pas, dit Janin, faites vous-même la chose, Meurice.” “I cannot speak about the book this evening since I don't know it, said Janin, do it yourself, Meurice.”.
Was there then really a Belgian publication in March, or were the few copies that probably circulated before the official and simultaneous publication in France and Belgium an isolated and insignificant accident? Studying Hugo's correspondence shows that as a result of a bad “trick” by the Belgians, it is simply a question of a confusion of dates attributable to... Victor Hugo himself. It is indeed Hugo who sent false intentions of simultaneous publication on 7 April to Vacquerie and Meurice, while he had rushed Lacroix for everything to be ready on 4 April. Thus, he sowed doubt and misunderstanding among the two publishers. (cf. Bernard Leuilliot, Victor Hugo publie les Misérables, p. 240)
The first two volumes, titled Fantine, will finally go on sale on 3 April, in France, Belgium, and also in Germany, and in several other countries that received copies printed by Lacroix. Probably, it was one of these advance paper bound copies to be shipped to Latin America that Siraudin obtained. Lacroix informed Hugo precisely on 30 March: “tout est tiré, tout était broché et les expéditions pour l'étranger en partie faites” “everything is printed, everything was paper bound and the shipments for foreign countries in part made”.
There is therefore no reason to assume any anteriority from one edition to the other. And it is in perfect harmony that Adèle, Charles, Paul de Saint-Victor, Vacquerie, Lacroix and Pagnerre will celebrate, on the evening of 3 April at Meurice's, the “ éclatante victoire simultanée en tous pays, le jour même de la mise en vente à Paris, à Bruxelles, à Londres, à Milan, à Naples, à St. Pétersbourg” “the brilliant simultaneous victory in all countries, the very day of release in Paris, in Brussels, in London, in Naples, in St. Petersburg” as Lacroix writes that very evening to the writer who had just become part of publishing history.

The success is such for these first two volumes that, as Victor Hugo feared, the Pagnerre's print run (6,000 copies according to Hovasse and 7,000 according to L.C. Michel in la revue anecdotique on 15 April 1862) sold out very quickly: “Le 6, on eût battu toutes les librairies de la rive gauche et de la rive droite, pour en trouver un exemplaire” “On 6 April, we would have scoured all the bookshops on the left bank and the right bank to find a copy”. Therefore, 1,000 copies of the 5,000 copies for Brussels intended for the Belgian and foreign market were obtained to create a false French “second edition”, which is in reality the Belgian first edition with a new title page. However, from 10 April, Pagnerre is obliged to undertake a new print run, which will be ready on the 17th thanks to the imprints carefully produced by the printer Claye during the first print run. Only the title pages were produced “on the mobile” in red and black with antique capitals “un des joyaux de son matériel typographique” “one of the jewels of its typographic material”. In all, if we are to believe the probably overly optimistic figures (according to Hovasse) from La Revue anecdotique and the publishers' correspondence, the different print runs of this first part will be almost 15,000 copies at the Parisian address and 12,000 at the Brussels address, with the addition of 3,000 copies printed in Leipzig at Steinacker. The latter, published in small format, also from 3 April, would undoubtedly deserve greater attention, because in addition to participating in the first editions, they respond to an urgent request from Hugo to immediately offer an inexpensive edition to allow everyone to access his work, such as the one introduced by Lacroix shortly after. On the other hand, the second and third parts will be published with a slight delay, on 15 May in Paris, and between 16 and 19 May in Brussels, due to an unfortunate steam engine accident (cf. letter from Lacroix to Hugo on 11 May 1862). Fortunately, on 30 June, Brussels and Paris will be perfectly synchronised to publish the last four volumes.
However, the concept of the first edition is not only a matter of date. Those who defend the Belgian theory highlight that it is to Brussels that the corrections of the proofs are sent and that, as Vicaire paradoxically affirms, Pagnerre is only the “custodian” of the genuine and sole publisher, Lacroix et Verboeckhoven & Cie.
From 1936, Georges Blaizot retorted in Le Bulletin du bibliophile that Pagnerre in no way took Lacroix's work on deposit, but that he “a véritablement établi, imprimé et vendu une édition des Misérables” “genuinely established, printed and sold an edition of Les Misérables”. Reducing Pagnerre to a territorial relay actually requires the complexity of the editorial affair of this major work to be ignored, the stake of which is not merely a financial matter for the exiled poet.
With Napoléon le Petit and Les Châtiments, Hugo demonstrated to the imperial power that the banishment of man in no way weakened the power of his word. On the contrary, this island exile could only echo that of an illustrious predecessor. The State's only weapon is therefore censorship. And it is the sword of Damocles that will henceforth control the publication strategies of Hugo and his publishers. In 1856, the publication of Les Contemplations was thus the dress rehearsal for Les Misérables: collaboration of publishers, simultaneous publication in France and in Belgium, only one correction of proofs... Hugo even thought of dividing the publication to dupe the censorship: “La 1ère livraison paraît ; c'est le premier livre, Aurore, une géorgique, une bucolique, une églogue. On se jette dessus avec d'autant plus d'avidité qu'on craint que l'ouvrage ne soit interdit et que c'est presque du fruit défendu. Que fera le gouvernement ? Arrêtera-t-il cela ? quoi ! ce livre, Aurore : cette poésie fleur de mauve et rose tendre ? – il serait inouï, fabuleux, grotesque, ineffable de ridicule ; et en même temps que les frais de la tentative du côté des éditeurs seraient six fois moindres, l'odieux de l'instruction serait pour l'empire dix fois plus grand.” “The first delivery is published; it is the first book, Aurore, a georgic, a bucolic, an eclogue. We hurl ourselves on it with all the more greed given that we fear that the work will be forbidden and that it is almost forbidden fruit. What will the government do? Put a stop to it? What! this book, Aurore: this tender purple and pink flower poetry? – it would be incredible, fabulous, grotesque, outrageously ridiculous; and at the same time the cost of the attempt on the side of the publishers would be six times less, the unbearable instruction would be ten times greater for the Empire.”
These precautions, undoubtedly unnecessary for the wise collection of poems that is Les Contemplations, will be the matrix of the publication of Les Misérables, a huge alarm call against the inequalities which could only fuel the anger of the Imperial Institution.

It was therefore necessary that Hugo's great work descend upon the world in one big wave. If censorship prevented the work from being published in Paris, it would come from everywhere else, and if the borders were closed, it would already be in the capital. Multiple printing, synchronisation and division of the work were the key to the success of this skilful game of cat and mouse. Added to this threat was the more mundane threat of counterfeiting that had to be taken aback. One month after the release of Fantine, the first two volumes of the novel, nearly ten pirate editions were circulating in Europe
Albert Lacroix would have liked to undertake this epic alone and distribute his copies in France, as he did for the rest of the world. Hugo, despite Hetzel's insistence – who had been courting him for a long-time to obtain this Holy Grail – had explicitly chosen this unknown and inexperienced young Belgian publisher, to the detriment of his usual partners. Lacroix and Verboeckhoven are the only publishers and they make it known on every volume, Belgian or French. Thus, the title pages of the Parisian edition are inscribed “éditeur : Lacroix et Verboeckhoven & Cie” “Publisher: Lacroix et Verboeckhoven & Cie”. And La Revue Anecdotique comments: “L'édition française originale de Paris n'a été faite que pour éviter les formalités de douane.” “The first French edition from Paris was only made to avoid customs formalities.”
However, the reality is more complex and if Lacroix had not been able to impose its address at the foot of the title pages of the Parisian edition, it is because Pagnerre is not merely a relay of the Belgian publisher. On the contrary, Pagnerre is, in fact, the first holder of the publication rights of Les Misérables.
Indeed, in 1832, Hugo signed a first agreement with the publisher of Notre-Dame de Paris, Gosselin, promising his next “roman en deux volumes in-8” “two-volume, in-8 novel”. Then in 1848, together they specified, by a new contract, the title of this novel: Les Misères “dont le rythme [d'écriture] est devenu celui d'une période d'achèvement” “whose [written] rhythm has become that of a period of completion” (Leuilliot, p.18). However, the revolution in 1848, then the poet's exile, put an end to the “ livre des Misères” “book of Misery”, the imminent publication of which Charles Hugo announced in L'événement on 31 July 1848. Thus, when twelve years later, Hugo resumed his work with these words: “14 février (1848) (ici le pair de France s'est interrompu, et le proscrit a continué :) 30 décembre 1860 Guernesey.” “14 February (1848) (here the peer of France is interrupted, and the outcast continued:) 30 December 1860 Guernsey.”, he is still linked to his former publisher, whose successor is none other than Laurent Pagneer.
The heir to the Gosselin-Renduel house is no stranger to Victor Hugo since he was one of the three associates (with Hetzel and Lévy) who published Les Contemplations and is still the publisher of Hugo's son, François-Victor.
Therefore, Victor Hugo sold his novel to Lacroix, provided that he negotiates with Pagnerre to purchase the rights to Gosselin and Renduel's successor. “J'ai vendu aujourd'hui Les Misérables à MM. A. Lacroix et Verboeckhoven et Cie, de Bruxelles, pour 12 années moyennant 240.000 fr. argent et 60 000 fr. éventuels. Ils acceptent le traité Gosselin-Renduel. Le contrat a été signé ce soir.” “Today I sold Les Misérables to Messieurs A. Lacroix and Verboeckhoven and Co. of Brussels for 12 years for 240,000 francs cash and a further potential 60,000 francs. They accept the Gosselin-Renduel agreement. The contract has been signed this evening.”. However, rather than sell his rights, Pagnerre preferred to exchange with Lacroix his 1832-1848 agreement for the exclusive distribution right in France. The symbolic value of Pagnerre's edition does not in any way give way to that of Lacroix, and the Parisian publisher is linked to the very origins of the novel through its history.
As for the proofs, they were corrected on the Belgian print at Lacroix's will, despite Hugo's insistence: “Songez quel avantage il y aurait pour vous à m'envoyer les épreuves de l'édition de Paris” “Think of the benefit there would be for you in sending me the proofs to the Paris edition” (Letter to Lacroix on 12 January 1862). Even if Lacroix pretends to ignore this proposal, the fact remains that the right sheets must be sent to Meurice to perfect the work: “Il importe que l'édition parisienne soit page à page et ligne à ligne identique à l'édition belge. La rapidité et la sûreté des corrections sont à ce prix, et de cette façon Meurice pourra donner les bons à tirer. Autrement, je serais obligé de demander la dernière épreuve de chaque feuille.” “It is important that the Parisian edition be page by page, and line by line, identical to the Belgian edition. The speed and safety of the corrections are at this price, and in this way Meurice can send the goods to print. Otherwise, I would have to request the last proof of each sheet.”
Finally, an archive of the Victor Hugo collection tells us that the author had explicitly asked Lacroix about the proof of the title page with the two editions, Brussels and Paris, being placed facing each other on one common title page: “Je crois qu'il faudrait mettre sur deux colonnes en regard Paris Pagnerre | Bruxelles A. Lacroix en répétant cela sur la double édition de Paris” “I think that we should put Paris Pagnerre | Bruxelles A. Lacroix on two facing columns, repeating this on the Paris double edition”.
However, even if Lacroix did not (voluntarily?) accept the proposition (although he took into account the other corrections on the page), the meaning of this note is clear: for Hugo, there are not two editions, but only one, the printing of which had to be divided into two strategic places for reasons that were political (the risk of censorship of this masterful book), social (the international distribution of a work with universal scope) and economic (the risk of counterfeit of the greatest novel of the 19th century).
In 1936 Georges Blaizot concluded that the two editions were twin sisters. In that, he refuted the old rumour claiming that, in the Parisian edition, “un certain nombre de phrases ayant paru dangereuses pour la France, ont été modifiées” “a certain number of phrases that seemed dangerous to France have been changed” (Vicaire). This belief, however, is attributable to an unfortunate error by Victor Hugo himself who, on 24 December 1865, wrote to Verboeckhoven: “Il va sans dire encore que si un mot ou une ligne semblait dangereuse pour Paris, il faudrait l'éliminer, comme on a fait pour Les Misérables, édition Claye” “It goes without saying that if a word or a line seemed dangerous to Paris, it would have be eliminated, as was done for Les Misérables, Claye edition”. Yet Georges Blaizot highlights that this was an incorrect memory of Victor Hugo and that, thanks to careful rereading by Meurice and Vacquerie, who “tenaient avant tout à ce que l'édition de Paris ne fût pas inférieure à l'autre” “were above all concerned that the Paris edition was not inferior to the other”, there was no unilateral cut. “Victor Hugo aura ignoré ou oublié ce détail” “Victor Hugo will have ignored or forgotten that detail” (Dr Michaux quoted by G. Blaizot).
However, there are many differences (which escaped the attention of these bibliographers) between the two editions, but this was not to the detriment of the Parisian version, quite the contrary. It is indeed his best friend and factotum Paul Meurice, who, during Hugo's eighteen years of exile, was responsible for the publication, proofreading and corrections of Victor Hugo's works in France and, therefore, the Pagnerre edition of Les Misérables, on which the writer communicated his final, not light, but substantial, corrections. These corrections will also be sent to Lacroix, but too late, and the Belgian publisher warned Hugo that these will only appear in the second edition.
Thus, the Pagnerre edition was enriched with two modest but significant reflections that are lacking in the Brussels edition, in the important Waterloo chapter: “ Le fond de ce prodigieux capitaine, c'était l'homme qui, dans le rapport au Directoire sur Aboukir, disait : Tel de nos boulets a tué six hommes ; Tel point du champ de bataille dévore plus de combattants que tel autre, comme ces sols plus ou moins spongieux qui boivent plus ou moins vite l'eau qu'on y jette. On est obligés de reverser là plus de soldats qu'on ne voudrait. Dépenses qui sont l'imprévu.” “The foundation of this wonderful captain was the man who, in the report to the Directory on Aboukir, said: Such a one of our balls killed six men; Such a point of the battlefield devours more fighters than another, as these more or less spongy soils that drink more or less quickly the water that we throw on to it. We are forced to give back more soldiers than we would like. Expenditure that was unexpected.”.
More than twin sisters, therefore, the two prints are one and the same editorial work that carries and embodies the ubiquity of their tremendous author. Alone on his rock, and yet omnipresent, Hugo invades the public, poetic and political space with a universal romantic tragedy that crosses continents (no less that nine translations in progress from April 1862). A true slap in the face for the Empire Napoleon III, Victor Hugo's work immediately and irretrievably became a founding secular myth, illustrating the republican motto of 1848 and 1879: Liberté – égalité – Fraternité (Freedom, Equality, Fraternity).

First edition for each of the volumes: one of 100 numbered copies on alfa paper for volumes I, II and III and III bis, one of 50 numbered copies on alfa paper for volumes IV & V, the last and sixth volume printed in 70 numbered copies on alfa paper, the only deluxe copies.
Bound in half red shagreen with corners, spines with five raised bands set with blind fillets, marbled paper boards, endpapers and pastedowns, covers and spines preserved, top edges gilt, retaining deckled edges.
Spines slightly faded.
Handsome copy attractively bound and complete in 7 volumes (the third volume comprising two volumes).

New edition of the French translation.
Handsome copy complete with its dust jacket, slightly and marginally sunned at the head of the covers.
Rare and precious autograph inscription signed by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn on his masterpiece: "Für J.J. Piot".

First edition, one of the rare personalized copies printed on Holland paper, ours for Paul Boncour.
Half bronze sheep binding, spine with four raised bands set with black fillets, navy blue and red shagreen title-labels, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, original wrapper preserved, contemporary binding.
Preface by Marcel Déat.
Autograph inscription signed by Eugène Fasquelle to Paul Boncour, important politician of the Third Republic and considered the best orator of his time.

First edition on ordinary paper, one of the copies specially printed for the author, with mention of third thousand on the first cover.
Some worming on the first cover and in the margins of some leaves.
Signed autograph inscription from Maurice Barrès to the politician Paul Boncour: "A Paul Boncour pour sa bibliothèque minime, son ami." ["To Paul Boncour for his modest library, his friend."]

First edition on ordinary paper.
Iconography.
Small tears reglued at head and foot of joints, a black stain at head of back board.
Autograph inscription signed by Maurice Thorez to Francis Jourdain.

Edition illustrated with original woodcuts within and outside the text by André Deslignières, one of 100 numbered copies on tinted laid Rives paper, the deluxe edition after 50 Annam copies.
Full orange morocco binding, spine very lightly darkened with four raised bands set with black fillets, gilt roulettes on the headcaps, endpapers and pastedowns of moiré-effect paper, frame of gilt fillets finished at the corners with floral motifs in yellow and green mosaic morocco pieces as well as a brown mosaic morocco fillet, covers and spine preserved, top edge gilt, gilt fillets on the edges, slipcase bordered with orange morocco, boards of moiré-effect paper, binding signed J. Van West.
Our copy is exceptionally expanded with 6 original watercolors signed by André Deslignières which were used for the illustration of the work.
Handsome copy superbly bound in full morocco signed by J. Van West and expanded with 6 original signed watercolors by André Deslignières.

First edition, one of 150 copies on B.F.K. de Rives, the only issue after 50 other deluxe copies.
Some discreet restorations to spine and covers.
At the colophon, our copy is exceptionally enriched with the very rare manuscript signature of Louis-Ferdinand Céline, then in exile in Denmark.
The publisher, Pierre Lanauve de Tartas, specified, just above Céline's signature, "Author's copy".
This very rare copy indeed bears, printed on the front cover, the initial title of the work: Lettre à J. B. Sartre. We include the flying slip bearing the final title "à l'agité du bocal" which was glued onto the entirety of the print run subsequently distributed.

Precious author's copy of Céline's scathing response to Jean-Paul Sartre, who, in Réflexions sur la question juive, had accused him of having been paid by the Germans under the Occupation for having held such indefensible antisemitic positions.

First edition, of which there were no deluxe copies.
Handsome copy.
Fine signed autograph inscription from Louis Althusser: "Pour Jean Kahn (qu'il sache que j'estime plus que tout au monde le jugement d'un juriste : Marx aurait dû écrire : "le droit et l'idéologie juridique continuent l'anatomie (mot souligné) de toute l'idéologie bourgeoise) . Avec ma considération et mon amitié" ["For Jean Kahn (let him know that I value a jurist's judgment above all else in the world: Marx should have written: 'law and legal ideology continue the anatomy (word underlined) of all bourgeois ideology') . With my consideration and my friendship"].

Original photograph taken by Pierre Ligey showing Charles Maurras slightly in profile and seated at his work table. Contemporary print.
Photographer's printed stamp on the verso of the photograph.
Autograph inscription dated and signed by Charles Maurras at the foot of the photograph: "A André Jeambon très cordialement, Charles Maurras. Paris le 31 Déc. 1936." ["To André Jeambon very cordially, Charles Maurras. Paris December 31, 1936."]

First edition very scarce according to Clouzot.
Nice copy in its original wrappers.
Second volume with coated ex-libris "Fortis and Fidelis" engraved by Desnoyers.
Rare signed handwritten inscription by Astolphe de Custine on top of first volume to the Duchesse de Blains.