Full Morocco Bindings

First edition, of which only 500 copies were issued. With an etched frontispiece portrait of Théophile Gautier by Émile Thérond.

With a substantial prefatory letter by Victor Hugo.

Full red morocco binding, gilt date at the foot of spine, marbled endpapers, Baudelairian ex-libris from Renée Cortot’s collection on the first endpaper, wrappers preserved, top edge gilt. Pale foxing affecting the first and last leaves, beautiful copy perfectly set.

New collected edition of the works of Théophile. The third part contains the pieces written during his imprisonment until his death. Text in italics.

Contemporary full red morocco binding. Raised spine richly decorated. Red morocco title label. Edges gilt. Owner's initials in the tail compartment: BD (these letters are found handwritten on the title leaf with the number 68). Joint widely cracked along the tail compartment, without damage to the headcap. A hole of one cm in diameter on leaf 83 of the second part, with the loss of one word over three lines. Leaf 115 with three restorations resulting in the loss of two letters. Foxing, sometimes heavy.
These Works are...

Substantially revised reissue of the first illustrated edition of the Contes et nouvelles en vers, published ten years earlier, in 1685, by the same Henry Desbordes. Two parts bound in one 12mo volume: (16) 236 pp. (2); (8) 216 pp. (2).

The illustration comprises two frontispieces and 58 half-page vignettes after Romeyn de Hooghe. Yet this apparent continuity with the 1685 edition conceals a thorough reworking. The earlier copperplates were not simply reused: the compositions were re-engraved in reverse. The frontispiece to the first volume thus reproduces the 1685 design in mirror image, now...

Second edition, published shortly after the first on the same date. A folding frontispiece depicting a mausoleum, piled dead soldiers and generals.
Contemporary full red morocco binding with long grain. Richly decorated spine with five raised bands, a central fleuron, 2 other small fleurons and several fillets. Red morocco title-label. Covers decorated with 3 frames with corner fleurons. Fillet on leading edges and board-edges. All edges gilt. One wormhole on the upper joint at foot. Foxing. A very handsome copy.

History of the French campaigns from 1792 to 1815.

First edition. Royal families of Europe. Set of the French administration.

Copy with the cipher of Marie Amélie d'Orléans, wife of Louis-Philippe, who also used a simple monogram for bindings from the time he became king. Some of the almanacs were directly bound by the publisher for the royal family, these copies often bear simple marks, the publisher not having the stamps belonging to the sovereigns. Nothing formally attests however that this is a copy for Marie Amélie d'Orléans, it is on the other hand certain that this copy was intended for a member of the royal family whose M is the first name. Furthermore Marie Amélie is only the name known today of the queen, who...

First edition

Contemporary full red morocco binding. Decorated spine with raised bands. Red morocco title label. Triple fillet frame on boards. Gilt edges. Traces of rubbing. 2 corners slightly bumped.

Fine copy, precious in contemporary red morocco.

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

First edition, one of 15 numbered copies on Hollande Van Gelder paper and signed with the publisher's initials.
Full green morocco, the spine in five compartments, the first cover inlayed with a large and superb plate by Marguerite Lecreux of a horn sculpted in Cameo, featuring a sailboat with its sails unfurled, on the calm sea appears an engraved silverfish set under the plate of the horn and visible in transparency, pastedown in silk decorated with a submarine pattern (coral, jellyfish, starfishes and algae) framed in morocco embellished with quintuple gilt fillets, endpages of iridescence cloth, the following pages in marbled paper, the headband highlighted with a...

Rare edition of this bawdy tale, complete in two parts published separately. It is illustrated with four wood-engraved vignettes, borrowed from Decameron of Boccace (Venice, 1531) and ingeniously twisted to suit their context. This edition is the first text of the author and is unique in that it has not been corrected. The book will be translated in French only in 1792.
Modern binding in full red morocco, the spine in five compartments, gilt date and title, golden fillets surround the cover, the endpaper and pastedown of vellum.
Provenance: Library of Gianni de Marco with its book plate and itsseal.
No copies in an American Library, one in the British...

First bilingual edition translated and annotated by Le Maistre de Sacy. Ruled copy. Text in double columns.

Contemporary full burgundy morocco binding. Jansenist spine with raised bands. Roll tooling on edges and board-edges. All edges gilt. Trace of dampstain in lower margin of first leaves fading away, reappearing on some leaves in the middle and at the end.
Before appearing in its entirety in 1696 under the secular title Bible de Port-Royal, Pierre Thomas du Fossé gathered the various manuscripts left by Le Maistre de Sacy at his death in 1684 and published them punctually. He continued the unfinished work and published separately first the translations...

First edition, one of 40 numbered copies on vélin pur fil paper, the tirage de tête (deluxe copies).

Full morocco, covers and spine preserved, slipcase, elegant binding signed by Semet & Plumelle.

Provenances: mostly from Robert Desprechins' library with his ex-libris drawn by Jean Cocteau, and by Louis de Sadeleer with his engraved ex-libris.

A very nice copy beautifully bound morocco signed by Semet & Plumelle.

Illustrated first edition. Faerno's verses appeared for the first time in 1564, and Perrault's version in 1699. This edition gives for the first time Faerno's original text followed by Perrault's translation. It is illustrated with a frontispiece by Claude du Bosc representing Aesop among animals, and 100 unsigned headpieces (9 x 11 cm). The preliminary leaves contain some poems by the neo-Latin poet and some letters.

Full aubergine morocco binding from the late 19th century signed Chatelin in the frieze. Richly ornamented spine with raised bands. Title, date and place in gilt. Central framing à la Du Seuil with fleurons in the corners and 4 large fleurons inside the rectangle...

A new, corrected and enlarged collected edition of the Œuvres philosophiques of Julien Offray de La Mettrie, published in 1764 and more comprehensive than the first collected edition issued in Berlin in 1751. It includes in particular the Anti-Sénèque, ou Discours sur le bonheur and L'Art de jouir, both absent from that earlier collection.

The two volumes are joined, in a strictly uniform contemporary binding, by L'Homme plus que machine, a work long attributed to La Mettrie but now assigned to Élie Luzac. The three volumes thus form a contemporary collected set.

First French edition translated by Arnaud de la Chapelle. Title page in red and black.

Later 19th-century full red morocco binding with straight grain (Russia leather) signed by Thouvenin at tail. Spine with raised bands decorated with compartments framed by gilt fillets. Title and date in gilt. Gilt fillets framing the boards with trefoils in the corners. Inner gilt fillet. All edges gilt. Spine slightly faded. Rubbing to headcaps, joints and corners. Upper joint narrowly split at tail for 3 cm. One tear on p. 274, another on p. 302, both in the middle of the page. Despite some defects, a handsome copy.

    
20th-century engraved bookplate of E. Crawshaw...

New edition. Printed in italics. Title page within a Renaissance engraved border.
Full red morocco binding, 18th century. Spine with raised bands richly decorated with small tools. Dotted fillet border on covers with corner tools and small tools. Decorative gilt board-edges. Edges gilt. Rubbing to joints and corners. Handsome contemporary binding. Fine copy.
The Pharsalia or Civil Wars (between Pompey and Caesar) is the only preserved work by Lucan, an unfinished epic poem in ten cantos.

First edition. One title-frontispiece.
Contemporary full red morocco binding à la Du Seuil. Spine with raised bands richly decorated. Gilt title. Covers decorated with a central frame of three fillets and a dotted fillet, with corner tools; second frame similar to the first with small angular tools. Lacking the two endpapers pasted down on the first and last leaves. Very handsome copy.
Antoine Godeau (1605-1672), Bishop of Grasse, poet and exegete, from the moment he became a priest (March 16, 1636) then bishop appointed by Richelieu, Godeau abandoned literature and turned to religious writings. He is the author of several paraphrases, notably on the famous psalms of David, the...

First edition.
Full aubergine morocco binding, late 19th century, signed by Chambrolle-Duru. Jansenist spine with raised bands. Rich decorative gilt board-edges. All edges gilt. Spine uniformly faded to dark green. A handsome copy, nevertheless.
Sermons by one who was considered the greatest preacher of his time. The sermons went through many editions and were widely read in the 19th century.