Le grand horloger[The Big Clock]
First edition, on ordinary paper, of the French translation by Boris Vian.
A pleasing copy, considering the poor quality of this post-war paper.

Pardon my non-french! You are all forgiven, you strange strangers who delight us with your torrents of tongue, your lexicons of legend, your diamonds of idiom. Let us relish the ripeness of your rhetoric, the wild, unheard-of wonders you weave, told in the tongue of Shakespeare, Goethe, Li Po, Dante, Cervantes, Khayyam, Sappho - or in the translations of Gide, Nerval, Judith Gauthier, Rivarol, Oudin, Toussaint, or Renée Vivien!
First edition, on ordinary paper, of the French translation by Boris Vian.
A pleasing copy, considering the poor quality of this post-war paper.
New edition of the French translation first published in the author’s collected works, one of 550 numbered copies on pure wove paper, the only issue after 80 copies on Arches wove paper.
Contemporary forest green half morocco over marbled boards, corners, spines lightly sunned with four raised bands, gilt decorative rolls and richly gilt compartments, marbled endpapers, original upper wrappers preserved, top edges gilt.
First edition of this issue devoted entirely to dreams, one of 300 numbered copies on bibliophile wove paper, this copy out-of-series and without limitation statement.
A pleasing copy despite a very lightly sunned spine, of no real consequence.
Literary contributions by André Breton, Michel Leiris, Paul Eluard, Xavier Forneret, Gisèle Prassinos, Benjamin Péret...
Illustrated with works by Max Ernst, Yves Tanguy, Alexei Remizov, Giorgio de Chirico, André Masson, René Magritte, Salvador Dalí, Oscar Dominguez, Man Ray, Maurice Henry...
New edition of the French translation, one of 1,040 numbered copies printed on alfa paper.
Publisher's boards, bound to the original design by Mario Prassinos.
First edition of the French translation, sixth edition statement.
Contemporary half blue sheepskin binding, spine with four raised bands ruled in black and decorated with gilt floral motifs, gilt initials at foot, cat’s-eye paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.
A pleasant copy.
First edition of the French translation, one of the ordinary issue copies, as no deluxe paper copies were produced.
A very good copy.
Signed autograph inscription from Richard Wright to Pierre Descaves.
First edition of the French translation, of which no deluxe paper copies were issued.
Rare copy.
Rare signature by Alexandre Solzhenitsyn on the title page.
First edition.
Contributions by Paul Léautaud “Lettres 1902-1919 (1ère partie)”, Edmond Gréville “Porte donnant sur la voie”, Jean Lurçat “U.S.A.”, P.G. van Hecke “Spectacles américains à Paris”, Pierre Courthion “Bar du Dôme”, Jean Perros “A bas le pittoresque”...
Issue illustrated with photographs by Man Ray, Germaine Krull, Bérénice Abbott, Florence Henry, Eli Lotar and drawings by Paul Klee, Marc-Eemans, Gustave de Smet, Frits van der Berghe...
Reproductions of paintings by Pablo Picasso, René Magritte, Paul Klee, André Derain, Raoul Dufy, Marc Chagall, Max Ernst, Georges Braque, André Masson, Juan Gris...
A stain to the upper cover, spine and covers lightly...
First edition.
Contributions by Albert Valentin "Eugène Atget", Morely Callaghan "Une passion de rustre", E.L.T. Mesens "Hans Arp", Pierre Mac Orlan "L'aube", Denis Marion "La découverte de l'Amérique", Paul Fierens "Vénus et les mannequins", Franz Hellens...
Issue illustrated with photographs by Eugène Atget, Man Ray, Germaine Krull, Mylander and drawings by Marc-Eemans, Ramah, Frits van der Berghe, Hans Arp, Fernand Léger, Léopold Survage...
Spine and covers slightly and marginally sunned, not affecting the soundness of the copy, internally well preserved.
First edition of the French translation, one of 50 numbered copies on vellum, the only deluxe paper copies.
Illustrated wrappers.
A handsome copy.
First edition of the French translation, for which no deluxe paper copies were issued.
A very slight loss to the head of the spine.
A rare and pleasing copy.
American edition based on the 1929 translation by the poet William Carlos Williams of Philippe Soupault's 1928 post-Surrealist work, Les Dernières Nuits de Paris. Enriched with illustrations, an introduction by the author written in 1980, "William Carlos Williams in Paris. By Day and by Night," translated into English for the present edition by Ron Padgett, a publisher's note, and a reprinted epigraph.
Complete with its violet dust jacket, with the price indicated on the rear...
First edition of this poetry collection, prepared posthumously by the author's former husband, Ted Hughes. Our copy is complete with its unclipped dust jacket.
Publisher's blue percaline in Bradel binding, smooth spine lettered in silver, with the title, author's name and publisher's imprint.
Lower headcap very slightly bumped, minimal wear to corners. To the dust jacket, upper headcap with a very slight split, and a faint...
First edition of the French translation, one of 21 numbered copies on pur fil paper, deluxe issue.
Bradel binding in half blue percaline, smooth spine, floral motif, date and double gilt fillets at the foot, hazel morocco title label with some scuffing, marbled paper boards, covers and spine preserved, top edge gilt, contemporary binding.
The text by Friedrich Sieburg is followed by a letter from Bernard Grasset to the latter.
Fine dated and signed autograph inscription, from London, by Friedrich Sieburg to Monsieur de Fleuriau, then French ambassador in London: "... en le priant de ne voir dans ce livre que l'attrait que la France exerça sur son auteur...
First edition.
Literary contributions by Antonin Artaud, Paul Eluard, André Breton, Pierre Brasseur, Louis Aragon, Michel Leiris, Benjamin Péret, Ernest Gegenbach...
Pictorial or photographic contributions by Joan Miro, Yves Tanguy, Max Ernst, Man Ray...
Upper cover with a few marginal stains to the left margin, a small tear at the foot of the spine, otherwise a pleasing copy considering the fragility of this periodical.
New edition.
Illustrated with engravings by Jean Hugo.
A pleasing copy.
Inscribed and signed by Anaïs Nin to the writer Christiane Baroche.
First complete edition of the French translation.
Contemporary red half morocco, spine with four raised bands tooled with gilt dotted rules and decorated with double gilt compartments filled with a semé of gilt stars, minor rubbing to spine, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, speckled edges.
Occasional light foxing.
First edition of the French translation, one of 1,000 numbered copies on pur fil paper, the only issue with 10 copies on Auvergne paper.
Frontispiece with an original portrait of Blaise Cendrars by Riera, covers illustrated with an original lithograph by Orfeo Tamburi.
Spine and boards slightly and marginally sunned, as usually.
First edition richly illustrated with reproductions of works by Francis Bacon in the second volume.
Text by Gilles Deleuze for the first volume.
The slipcase is lacking in our copy.
Spine and boards slightly and marginally sunned, as usual.
Inscribed copy signed by Gilles Deleuze to the art critic Gilbert Lascault in the first volume.
First edition of the French translation, for which no deluxe paper copies were issued, with the correct "achevé d’imprimer" dated February 1939.
A fine copy, complete with its illustrated dust-jacket, as usual showing only slight rubbing and minor marginal tears, not affecting its overall appearance.
The work is illustrated, facing the title-page, with a map of the south-eastern United States during the Civil War.
First British edition of 1955 (the first edition of 1954 is American), complete with its dark pink dust jacket designed by Lynton Lamb, on which one of the two prizes received by A Fable in 1955 is mentioned: the Pulitzer Prize. This is the work on which William Faulkner laboured longest and which he considered his masterpiece.
Publisher's binding in candy-pink cloth, with title and author's name gilt in a false panel at the head of the spine, and publisher's name gilt at the foot. Galignani...
First edition of the French translation and adaptation prepared by Edmond Haraucourt, one of 10 numbered copies on Holland paper, the only deluxe paper issue.
Bradel binding in half tobacco percaline, smooth spine decorated with a gilt floral motif, date and double gilt fillet at foot, hazelnut shagreen title label showing some rubbing, marbled paper boards, wrappers with small marginal losses at corners and spine preserved, contemporary binding.
A few small foxing spots.
Music by Gabriel Fauré.
First English edition, printed after the first edition published in Milan in 1959 and the American edition published that same year, on ordinary paper, complete with its original unclipped dust jacket.
Publisher's red cloth binding, title and names of author and publisher to spine in gilt. Manuscript inscription, dated February 1964, on the front free endpaper.
Spine of the dust jacket sunned as is often the case, joints of the front board very slightly split, small tears at the head of the front board and a few minute red offsetting to that same board.
Scattered foxing and light browning to the pastedowns and endpapers.
English reprint of 1955 — the first American edition was published in 1927 and the first English edition in 1928 — on ordinary paper, complete with its original illustrated unclipped dust jacket.
Publisher's binding in light blue cloth, title, author's name and publisher's device stamped in dark blue to spine, title repeated, also in dark blue, to head of upper board.
Spine ends and edges slightly sunned as is often the case, a...
Later edition.
Publisher's full green cloth binding, smooth spine, copy complete with its illustrated dust jacket which shows a few small tears and minor losses.
The verso of the front panel of the dust jacket shows an angular loss affecting the printed price.
Dated and signed autograph inscription from Richard Wright to Ganan Bocca.
First edition, for which no deluxe paper copies were issued.
A pleasant copy.
Valuable signed autograph inscription from Susan Sontag to her friend Sonia Rykiel: "pour Sonia avec mes amitiés Susan Sontag 26 septembre 1995 Paris."
Copy of the thirteenth printing of the first edition illustrated by the author.
Publisher's full bottle-green binding, smooth spine decorated in black with the title and author's name at the head and the publisher's name at the foot, upper board decorated in black with the title and author's name within a blind-stamped border, complete with its illustrated dust jacket. Author's inscription in blue ink on the first free endpaper, followed by a slightly faded ex-dono on the next: "I hope you will still feel like reading this. Love, Sisi."
Headcaps slightly bumped, losses, folds and tears to the dust jacket.
1865 edition of Goethe's reimagining of Euripides' Iphigenia in Tauris.
Contemporary publisher's plum cloth binding, smooth spine lettered with title and author's name in gilt, blind-stamped decoration on boards.
Spine faded as often, slight loss of cloth at spine ends.
Minor scattered foxing.
Two parts in one volume, printed on hōsho paper and folded in the Japanese style
Two colour-illustrated covers, and 28 superb Japanese colour prints by Kano Motonobu, Kadjita Hanko. All text pages are illustrated with drawings in black.
A very fine artistic publication printed on pure Japanese rag paper with special Japanese folding. The Tokyo publisher is Kané-Mitsou Masao, the printer Shueisha, under the direction of Yamamoto Yeijiro.
Original publisher's binding in half black embossed leather with japanese motifs, illustrated boards depicting figures and animals in colours, long-grain red morocco lettering-piece on the upper board...
First edition, one of the copies printed on alfa paper.
A small split to the spine, a few light foxing spots.
Manuscript signatures of Joseph Kessel and Hélène Iswolsky.
Fourth edition.
A pleasing copy.
Introduction by Harry T. Moore.
Presentation inscription signed by Anaïs Nin to the writer Christiane Baroche: "my friend love, Lawrence and i was the first woman i write abour him. Anaïs Nin."
New edition.
Illustrated with engravings by Jean Hugo.
A pleasing copy.
Fine signed autograph inscription from Anaïs Nin to the woman of letters Christiane Baroche: "Your poems should be in a book one can keep nearly and read now and then for substance. Anaïs Nin."
First edition.
Original wrappers, complete with its color illustrated dust jacket.
Association copy, signed and inscribed: "A mon cher Georges Hugnet en souvenir de cette petite AMERICA '57 et de son ami Orfeo Tamburi / Paris 8.5.'68" [To my dear Georges Hugnet in remembrance of this little AMERICA '57 and his friend Orfeo Tamburi / Paris 8.5.'68]
Fine copy of this journey through the United States, with 37 illustrations by Tamburini from his travels to New York, Brooklyn, Chicago, New Orleans, Harrisburg, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Providence.
Hugnet and Tamburi collaborated on several artists' books: La Morale à...
First edition, one of 35 copies on Holland paper, the limited deluxe issue following 19 on China paper.
A fine copy, with a visiting card tipped in on a blank leaf bearing the manuscript note: "de ton beau-frère, un échantillon des éditions suisses".
Illustrated with headpieces and tailpieces by Marcel North.
First edition of the French translation prepared by Jacques Schiffrin and André Gide, one of 80 numbered copies on alfa paper, the only deluxe paper issue, with a further 45 copies on pure rag.
A rare and fine copy.
New edition of the French translation.
Spines slightly sunned, with minor tears at the foot.
Signed in manuscript by Thomas Mann on the endpapers of both volumes.
First edition, one of 500 copies on wove paper, after 13 copies on Auvergne and 60 on Rives.
Illustrated with four original photomontages.
Exceptionally inscribed by Georges Hugnet on the half-title page to the Dadaist Raoul Hausmann
First edition, printed in a limited run of 70 copies numbered on Montval paper and signed by Georges Hugnet.
Illustrated with a frontispiece etching by Stanley William Hayter.
Two poignant autograph inscriptions signed by Georges Hugnet—one to his father and one to his son—in blue and red pencil: "à Georges Hugnet mon père en souvenir des romans noirs dont il enchanta et peupla mon enfance. Georges Hugnet."; "Et maintenant vingt-ans après, à mon très cher fils Nicolas de la part de son grand-père qui l'aurait bien aimé de tout cœur son papa. G."
First edition illustrated with 80 plates hors texte. Each play is accompanied by one steel engraving and one wood engraving. The names appearing on the plates include Geoffroy, Verdeil, Rouargue, and Harvey, though most of the steel engravings — remarkably fine and often marked by a highly imaginative, at times visionary style — are unsigned.
Publisher’s original blue morocco-grain cloth binding, richly gilt, the spine lavishly decorated with a geometric interlace and foliate motifs; the boards with a large romantic blind-stamped frame and two distinct central designs, one depicting Falstaff, the other a composition with a lyre, a medallion, and related emblems. Slight damage at the...
First edition of the French translation by Élisabeth de Bon, gathering in 2 volumes the 4 parts of this anonymous English novel originally printed in 1809, which according to André Marc in his Dictionnaire des romans anciens et modernes of 1819, is the work of Anna Maria Porter, younger sister of the novelist Jane Porter. The Porter sisters, contemporaries of Jane Austen and famous before the Brontës, were close to the Scottish poet Walter Scott.
Contemporary full brown tree sheep...
An intriguing first edition, complete with its engraved frontispiece of the author by Giovanni Volpato after Domenico Corvi, and its introductory poem by the Abbé Luigi Godard. A copy unrecorded in non-European libraries according to WorldCat.
Contemporary binding of fawn mottled calf, smooth spine divided into five gilt compartments by gilt rolls, brown morocco lettering-piece, triple gilt fillet framing the boards, double gilt fillet on the board edges, blue speckled edges, and shell-pattern marbled pastedowns and endpapers.
The lower cap lacking, some surface...
Rare first edition of the French translation by Judith Gautier, printed on japon-style paper.
Slight restoration work to spine and a corner of the lower cover, wrappers slightly and marginally soiled as usual.
Illustrated throughout with full-page colour woodcuts by Yamamoto.
New edition.
A handsome copy.
Fine inscribed copy, signed by Anaïs Nin to the writer Christiane Baroche: "Christiane Baroche my last novel before I began to edit the diaries and be drowned in them. Perharps because I had arrived at humor and could bear to make the journey backwards. Anaïs Nin."
First edition, one of 500 numbered copies on white vellum, the sole issue with 15 copies on Japon.
A fine copy, notwithstanding a small spot to the upper left margin of the second board.
First edition of the French translation by Edouard Chavannes of an extract from the Journal of the Peking oriental society.
Contemporary Bradel-style binding in full grey percaline, smooth spine decorated with a gilt fleur-de-lis, double gilt fillet at the foot, cherry shagreen lettering-piece with surface scuffing, partially toned endpapers.
This was the translator’s first scholarly publication devoted to this treatise, which forms the twenty-eighth chapter of the celebrated Shiji (Historical Records) by the first true Chinese historian, Sima Qian (145–86 BCE).
These records constitute the first systematic synthesis of...
New illustrated edition featuring 15 naive woodcuts, including one on the rear cover.
No copies recorded in the CCF (Collective Catalogue of France).
Pleasant and rare copy.
This small illustrated tale, primarily serving as an opportunity to showcase all familiar animals within a single narrative, is part of the "penny books" series—the equivalent of our own chapbooks intended for the most modest audiences.
It is traditionally attributed to the publisher, John Golby Rusher (1784–1877), who took over his father’s printing business (William Rusher) and specialized in children’s literature.
First edition of the French translation (cf. Sabin 26375).
A defence of Catholic principles addressed to a Protestant minister (…) preceded by a notice on the author’s life and virtues. Translated from the English by Prince Augustin Galitzin. Paris, Ch. Douniol [printed by Simon Raçon et Comp.], 1856, 12mo.
Contemporary half navy blue shagreen, spine with four raised bands ruled and panelled in gilt, slight unobtrusive rubbing to the spine, marbled boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.
Scattered foxing.
A work of religious controversy; the preface offers interesting information regarding Prince Galitzin’s activities in the United States.
Bound after it...
First edition illustrated with 24 colour figures mounted within the text.
No copy recorded in the CCFr.
Occasional light foxing.
Publisher’s original full lemon-yellow percaline, smooth spine, upper cover decorated in red, minor spotting to the boards.
Pleasing album devoted to the monuments of ancient China, then undergoing rapid transformation at the beginning of the twentieth century.
The text was set before the Chinese Revolution of 1911 and the Great War.
On the half-title, this copy is enriched with a long dated autograph inscription by the American singer and society figure Tryphosa Bates-Batcheller (1876–1952) to Henry de Galard de...
First separate edition of Plain Language from Truthful James, which first appeared as an article in The Overland Monthly in September 1870.
Issued as a printed envelope-folder containing nine lithographed caricature plates by John Hull, each accompanied by a poem.
No copy recorded in the CCF.
Small angular tears to the envelope, with some staining to the lower margin.
Originally intended as a fierce satire on the racial prejudice of Irish-American workers against the numerous Chinese immigrants competing for railway construction jobs, the piece was widely misread as mocking the immigrants themselves.
The Jewish writer and poet Francis Brett...
First edition, with no copies printed on deluxe paper.
A pleasant copy.
On the half-title page, autograph inscription signed by Jean-Claude Carrière to the writer, essayist, and pianist Catherine David: "... qui m'ouvrît avec grâce la lourde porte du temps, je m'incline sur son passage avec amitié."
On the front endpaper, autograph inscription signed by Umberto Eco to the same recipient.
First edition printed in small numbers of this offprint from the Mercure de France published on May 15, 1920. OCLC does not locate any copies in North America and only three in Europe (Bnf, Bibliothèque Doucet, Universitätsbibliothek Basel).
Covers with frayed margins, second cover partially shaded, one small piece of paper missing from the right margin of a page due to the fragility of the paper.
Signed and inscribed copy to painter Bernard de Blois: “En sympathie de voisin de logis et d'esthétique. Canudo 1922.” [”In sympathy as a neighbor of lodgings and aesthetics. Canudo 1922.”]
Extremely rare first edition of the libretto of...
First edition in French, a Service de Presse (advance) copy.
Spine sunned with dampstains, pale dampstain to right margin of front board.
Autograph inscription signed by the translator Maurice Edgar Coindreau to Pierre Ripault.
First French edition, one of 77 numbered copies on pur fil, only deluxe issue.
Preface by Albert Camus.
Nice copy housed under a chemise and slipcase by Devauchelle.
First edition in book form of The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, published in London by Chapman and Hall in 1837, following its appearance in monthly parts beginning in March 1836. Dickens’s first novel, the work is illustrated with forty-three engraved plates, including a frontispiece and engraved title, by Robert Seymour, Robert William Buss, and Hablot Knight Browne, known as Phiz. The printed title is dated MDCCCXXXVII.
Contemporary full brown calf, spine with false raised bands, decorated with broad gilt fillets, longitudinal gilt tools over the bands, and blind wave tooling; red calf...
New illustrated edition with 22 plates by Célestin Nanteuil, and some headpieces. Text adapted for young readers. Translation by Le Prince Le brun. First edition of this version for young readers.
Publisher's polychrome mosaic cartonnage binding. Smooth spine with ornaments on red, green and cream ground. Upper cover decorated with 4 shields, 2 red and 2 blue, and a portrait of Tasso on cream ground, all set against Renaissance interlacing patterns. Blind-ruled frame on covers. Edges gilt. On the lower cover, a very elaborate shield on green ground. Tinted paper throughout. Dark traces on the lemon endpapers. Some very occasional and light foxing.
A very handsome...
New edition. The journal first appeared in volume form in 1712. Title pages in red and black. Statement of fifth edition.
Heraldic wheat sheaf device of Maynon de Farcheville in gilt compartments on spine, and bookplate of the same on pastedowns, with three wheat sheaves. Vincent Michel Maynon, president of the fourth chamber of inquiries at the Parliament of Paris, lord of Farcheville.
Contemporary full brown sheep, speckled and glazed. Spine with five raised bands, red morocco title labels, brown morocco volume labels, gilt compartments and floral ornaments. All edges speckled red. Headcap of volume I partly lacking, that of volume III at head partly worn. Lacks to head of volumes...
Illustrated edition with a portrait of Jean Boccaccio as frontispiece to the first volume and 11 etched out-of-text engravings by Léopold Flameng, one of 600 copies on Holland paper in forme.
Half straw-yellow morocco bindings with corners, spines with five raised bands decorated with black fillets, gilt dates at foot, red morocco title and volume labels, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, top edges gilt, bindings signed by Canape-Helz.
Our copy is exceptionally enhanced with a suite of engravings executed by Gravelot.
Handsome set.