First edition, with no copies issued on deluxe paper.
A handsome copy.
With Pierre Bourdieu’s signed presentation inscription to the anthropologist Emmanuel Terray.
Collective edition, partly original, issued without any deluxe copies.
A pleasing copy.
Author's signed presentation inscription from Elias Canetti to his cousin: "Meiner liebsten Kusine Matica, der einziger, die geblieben ist, was sie immer war, begabt, klug, offen in Liebe und Freundschaft. Elias Canetti. Paris, September 1962" ("A ma chère cousine, la seule qui est reste ce qu'elle a toujours été, douée, intelligente, ouverte, en amour et en amitié)."
First edition.
A pleasing copy.
Inscribed by Anaïs Nin to her friend, the writer Christiane Baroche: "Vos paroles Christiane Baroche : 'je veux cueillir le feu comme un dernier amant' amitié et concordances. Anaïs Nin."
Autograph note dated and signed by Marguerite Yourcenar, written from her Paris residence to journalist Marcel Baroche of the literary review Sud. Written on one of her visiting cards.
Eighteen lines in green ink, with the autograph envelope addressed to her correspondent, concerning a proposed collaboration with Yourncenar initiated by the director of Sud.
[27 December 1980,
to the journal Sud, to Marcel Baroche,Dear Sir, you have my acceptance of the proposal for a special issue on my work in 1982, together with my thanks in advance. There exist many photographs of me, a few of which strike me as fairly faithful likenesses: I do not personally possess any, but perhaps I may be able to find some to send you in due course. For the moment at least, I have no unpublished material to offer. Perhaps later…
With kind regards,
Marguerite Yourcenar.]
"27 décembre 1980, à la revue Sud, à marcel Baroche,
cher monsieur, vous avez mon acceptation au projet d'un numéro spécial sur mon oeuvre en 1982, et mes remerciements anticipés. Il existe de nombreuses photographies de moi dont quelques unes me paraissent ressemblantes : je n'en possède personnellement aucune, mais peut-être en trouverai-je à vous en envoyer en temps utile. Pour l'instant au moins, je ne possède aucun inédit à offrir. Plus tard peut-être... Bien sympathiquement Marguerite Yourcenar."
First edition of the French translation, for which no deluxe paper copies were issued.
A handsome copy, complete with its photographic dust jacket showing a tiny tear at the head of the spine, with illustrations.
Inscribed and signed by Julio Cortázar to the writer Christiane Baroche: "Pour toi, Chirstiane, avec toute mon amitié. Julio."
First edition, with no deluxe paper issue, one of the review copies.
A pleasing copy.
Inscribed, dated and signed by Annie Ernaux to her friend, the writer Christiane Baroche.
First edition, one of 1050 numbered copies on alfa paper.
Two very slight sunning without gravity to head of boards, handsome copy.
Paperboard binding after Mario Prassinos' original design.
First edition, with no deluxe paper issue.
A handsome copy, with the promotional leaflet loosely inserted; the verso is creased and shows a tear.
Fine dated and signed presentation inscription from Annie Ernaux to the writer Christiane Baroche: "Pour Christiane,qui m'a fait "naître" dans le bonheur il y a dix ans. Annie. 3/02/84."
Rare edition presenting the bilingual text in two facing columns (French–Piedmontese).
No copy recorded in the CCF.
A scarce version in the Piedmontese dialect (then the vehicular language for much of the population of the former duchy), issued by one of the Protestant Bible societies, likely intended for the Waldensian and related communities still well established in the valleys.
Contemporary full black shagreen binding, spine with five raised bands ruled in blind, rubbing to the spine, triple blind-ruled panels on the covers, yellow endpapers and pastedowns, inner hinge split, all edges gilt, corners lightly worn.
Copy presented to Wilbraham Taylor by The Foreign Conference and Evangelization Committee in 1851 (printed presentation label mounted on the front endpapers).
Embossed stamp and label of the Forbes Library in Northampton on an endleaf and on the title-page.
First edition, illustrated at the end of the volume with four hors-texte plates printed on chamois paper.
Not recorded by Brunet, who lists the author’s principal works.
Scattered foxing, including to the boards.
The orientalist Michelangelo Lanci (1779–1867) produced a fascinating blend of genuine erudition and improbable conjectures, shaped by the pre-critical and broadly concordist mindset then prevailing without challenge in the learned circles of pontifical Rome (Lanci being a subject of the Pope).
This largely accounts for the profound neglect into which most of his works have since fallen.
Prisse d’Avennes (1807–1879), who had worked with Champollion on the decipherment of hieroglyphic script, must have received with some surprise these observations drawn essentially from personal interpretations of Old Testament texts.
First edition (cf Caillet I, 1960. Waller II, 12861a.)
A lack at the foot of the spine of the first volume, covers uniformly browned, handsome interior condition.
Rare first edition of the author's principal work, but with a most questionable method, since he classifies under the category of alienation all the unknown or misunderstood phenomena of the period (demonolatry, lycanthropy, mysticism, vampirism, witchcraft, etc.).
It has at least the advantage of attempting the first history of psychiatry, from the 15th to the 19th century.
Louis-Florentin Calmeil (1798-1895), intern in Philippe Pinel's service, practiced at Charenton from 1823 to 1873 and was able to benefit from the advances due to the successive direction of Royer-Collard and Esquirol.
First edition, illustrated at the end of the volume with tables printed on two large folding plates included in the pagination (cf. Ferguson 2165a.)
Contemporary half bordeaux shagreen, the spine very lightly faded, with five raised bands framed by black fillets, marbled-paper boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers marginally soiled and showing small preserved restorations, edges untrimmed, modern binding signed Laurenchet.
Botany Bay, on the eastern coast of Australia, had been chosen in 1787 by the British government as a place of deportation. This study seeks to demonstrate the ineffectiveness of penal colonies at a time when the proposal to establish one in France still had many supporters.
A pleasing copy.
First edition illustrated with two etched plates under tissue guards.
Claude Bernard’s (1813–1878) laboratory notes on alcoholic fermentation (see pp. 3–33) record his experiments on the search for yeast germs on grape clusters, the formation of alcohol in grape juice without ferment, on sound and rotten grapes, on the search for a soluble alcoholic ferment and the influence of decay, and on the production of alcohol. All these experiments were conducted on his estate at Saint-Julien in October 1877, during the grape harvest.
This conception of a soluble ferment as the origin of yeast, a living organism, marked the starting point of the famous controversy between Pasteur and Berthelot.
Rare and appealing copy, largely uncut.
First edition.
Copies recorded in the Catalogue collectif de France only at the BnF, Versailles, and Bar-le-Duc libraries.
Half bottle-green shagreen binding, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt dotted rules and floral tools, blind-stamped frame on bottle-green grained cloth boards, gilt initials stamped at the centre of the upper board, white moiré silk endpapers and pastedowns, all edges gilt. Slight rubbing to the corners, a handsome contemporary binding.
The Courrier de Lyon case dates back to the period of the Directoire (April–October 1796). The execution of Joseph Lesurques was soon regarded as a major miscarriage of justice, and his family spent more than sixty years trying to obtain a revision of the case, despite the absence of any law permitting rehabilitation.
The decision of the Cour de cassation in December 1868 brought the matter to a definitive close in the negative sense.
Nevertheless, the confiscation of Lesurques’s property—customary in cases of capital punishment—was revoked, and his estate returned to his heirs. Today, some historians remain convinced of Lesurques’s innocence, while recent investigations by gendarmerie commander Éric Dagnicourt and historian Éric Alary tend to support his guilt as the financial instigator.
Provenance: a distinguished copy belonging to the celebrated lawyer and statesman of the July Monarchy, Odilon Barrot (1791–1873), with a fine signed presentation inscription from Louis Méquillet dated 15 February 1864, and Barrot’s gilt monogram (O. B.) stamped in the centre of the covers.
Odilon Barrot was among the active supporters of the Lesurques family’s petitions, which explains this presentation inscription.
First edition, with no deluxe-paper copies printed.
Illustrations.
A handsome copy despite the slightly faded spine.
Precious and fine signed presentation copy from Louis Aragon to Maurice Druon: "A Maurice Druon, pour qu'il sache que de temps je m'égarée dans Césarée. [sic] Louis".
First edition of this important account of Buffon, providing insights into his private life, his character, and his relationships with those around him; it also contains numerous references to his scientific work (cf. Quérard I, 119: "Lyon, Grabit, 1788"; Dureau, "Notice sur Joseph Aude," p. 15).
Half vellum binding, smooth spine with a red morocco title label in vertical layout, marbled paper boards, slightly rubbed corners, sprinkled edges.
Stains in the margins of the title page and final leaf.
The memoirs proper end on page 55.
The following pages contain the poems announced in the title.
The rarity of this volume was already noted by Dureau in 1868...
Chevalier Aude (1755–1841), a prolific dramatist and former secretary to Caraccioli, had also served as Buffon’s secretary and resided, in the manner of an “Eckermann,” with the great naturalist at his estate in Montbard.
Armorial bookplate "Sapere Aude" pasted on the verso of the front board, likely belonging to a descendant of the Chevalier.
First edition, one of 10 lettered copies on Holland paper, the only deluxe copies.
Illustrated on the cover with a portrait of Max Jacob by Pablo Picasso.
A rare and handsome copy.
New edition of the French translation established by Amédée Pichot, partly original as it is enhanced with a historical notice on Lord Byron.
Half blue glazed calf bindings, spines partially faded with four raised bands framed by gilt garlands and richly decorated gilt compartments, navy blue glazed calf title and volume labels, blind-stamped floral tools at head and tail, marbled paper boards, gilt fillets at foot, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges; a few lightly rubbed corners. Romantic bindings of the period.
Our copy contains 13 engraved plates, some serving as frontispieces.
Scattered foxing, a few leaves browned due to paper acidity.
A copy in an attractive decorative and romantic period binding.
First octavo edition illustrated with 92 engravings by Benett, including one folding map in colour: this marks the very first use of polychromy in an illustration for a Jules Verne novel.
Publisher’s Hetzel binding "aux deux éléphants" in full red cloth, signed by Lenègre, type 3, upper cover signed by Souze, lower cover Lenègre type “e” as described by Jauzac, original blue endpapers, all edges gilt, publisher’s EL catalogue at rear.
Spine slightly faded as usual, small black marks along the hinges, spine-ends softened as often, a pleasant copy almost free of any foxing.
“Deux ans de vacances” is a Robinson Crusoe-like novel featuring fourteen schoolboys from New Zealand.
First edition, with no deluxe paper copies issued (except for No. 7) for each volume.
Our complete set comprises:
Céline Notebooks 1: Céline and the Literary Scene 1932–1957.
Céline Notebooks 2: Céline and the Literary Scene 1957–1961.
Céline Notebooks 3: Semmelweis and Other Medical Writings.
Céline Notebooks 4: Letters and Early Writings from Africa 1916–1917.
Céline Notebooks 5: Letters to Female Friends.
Céline Notebooks 6: Letters to Albert Paraz 1947–1957.
Céline Notebooks 7: Céline and Current Events 1933–1961.
Céline Notebooks 8: Progress followed by Works for Stage and Screen.
Illustrations.
Rare complete set.
First edition of the French translation, one of 75 numbered copies on pur fil, the only deluxe paper issue.
Half brown morocco with bands, smooth spine, date gilt at foot, marbled paper boards, endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers and spine preserved, gilt top edge. An elegant binding signed Alix.
A handsome and carefully bound copy.
First edition of this uncommon work, originally written in French.
Illustrated with two engraved frontispieces and two folding maps bound at the end of the first volume.
Bradel binding in bottle-green half cloth, flat spine gilt with a central floral tool and double gilt fillet at foot, marbled paper-covered boards, black morocco title label; modern binding signed Boichot.
Three of the four original wrappers preserved, occasional scattered foxing.
Prince Emmanuel Mikhailovich Galitzine or Golitsyn (1804–1853) was a member of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society.
First roneo edition of the prospectus for the exhibition organized by the A.R.C. (Animation Recherche Confrontation) cinema section at the instigation of Christian Boltanski.
Signs of folding due to having been placed in an envelope.
The event was attended by Edmund Alleyn, Gianni Bertini, Christian Boltanski, Guðmundur Guðmundsson said Erró, Gérard Fromanger, Ipousteguy, Jean Le Gac, Tamas Zanko, Bruce Nauman, Pesce, Martial Raysse, Peter Stämpfli.
A rare document.
First edition, a Service de Presse (advance) copy.
Some worming to margins of covers.
Precious autograph inscription signed by Marcel Aymé: "A monsieur Valery Larbaud en sincère hommage. Marcel Aymé." ["To Mr. Valery Larbaud with sincere homage. Marcel Aymé."]
First edition, one of the review copies.
Some light foxing to the spine and along the edges of the covers, a pleasing copy given the poor quality of the paper.
Inscribed by Raymond Queneau to Dominique Aury.
Set of eight original color engravings, printed on laid paper and signed at the lower right and left of the plates. The plates are introduced by a text signed by Jean Cocteau and depict costumes for Shakespeare’s play (two Shepherdesses, Paulina, and Time).
Bradel binding in full decorative paper, smooth spine, brown shagreen title-piece, binding signed by Goy & Vilaine.
Original engravings created for the illustration of La Gazette du bon ton, one of the most beautiful and influential fashion magazines of the twentieth century, celebrating the talent of French designers and artists at the height of the Art Deco movement.
A celebrated fashion periodical founded in 1912 by Lucien Vogel, La Gazette du bon ton appeared until 1925, with an interruption between 1915 and 1920 due to the mobilization of its editor-in-chief. It comprises 69 issues printed in only 2,000 copies and is illustrated with 573 color plates and 148 sketches depicting designs by leading couturiers. From the outset, these luxurious publications were addressed “to bibliophiles and worldly aesthetes” (Françoise Tétart-Vittu, “La Gazette du bon ton” in Dictionnaire de la mode, 2016). Printed on fine laid paper, they employed a typeface specially created for the review by Georges Peignot, the Cochin type, later revived by Christian Dior in 1946. The engravings were produced using the pochoir technique, hand-colored and in some cases heightened with gold or palladium.
The venture began in 1912 when Lucien Vogel, a man of fashion and society—already involved with the magazine Femina—decided with his wife Cosette de Brunhoff (sister of Jean, the father of Babar) to establish La Gazette du bon ton, subtitled “Art, modes et frivolités.” Georges Charensol reports the words of the editor-in-chief: “In 1910, he observed, there was no fashion magazine truly artistic and representative of the spirit of its time. I therefore thought of creating a luxury magazine with genuinely modern artists [...] I was certain of success, for in matters of fashion no country can rival France.” (“Un grand éditeur d’art. Lucien Vogel” in Les Nouvelles littéraires, no.133, May 1925). The success of the review was immediate, not only in France but also in the United States and South America.
At the outset, Vogel brought together a group of seven artists: André-Édouard Marty and Pierre Brissaud, soon joined by Georges Lepape and Dammicourt; and finally his friends from the École des Beaux-Arts, George Barbier, Bernard Boutet de Monvel, and Charles Martin. Other talents quickly joined: Guy Arnoux, Léon Bakst, Benito, Umberto Brunelleschi, Chas Laborde, Jean-Gabriel Domergue, Raoul Dufy, Édouard Halouze, Alexandre Iacovleff, Jean Émile Laboureur, Charles Loupot, Maggie Salcedo. Most of these artists were unknown when Vogel first engaged them, yet they would later become emblematic and highly sought-after figures in the art world. These same illustrators also created the advertisements for the Gazette.
The plates highlighted and exalted the creations of seven designers of the period: Lanvin, Doeuillet, Paquin, Poiret, Worth, Vionnet, and Doucet. For each issue, the couturiers provided exclusive designs. Nevertheless, some illustrations did not reproduce actual models but rather conveyed the illustrator’s vision of contemporary fashion.
La Gazette du bon ton represents a decisive stage in the history of fashion. Combining aesthetic refinement with visual unity, it brought together for the first time the leading talents of art, literature, and couture, imposing through this alchemy an entirely new image of womanhood—slender, independent, and bold—further embodied by the new generation of designers such as Coco Chanel, Jean Patou, and Marcel Rochas.
Taken over in 1920 by Condé Montrose Nast, La Gazette du bon ton greatly influenced the new composition and aesthetic choices of the “little dying magazine” Nast had acquired a few years earlier: Vogue.
Illustrated edition by Grandville, engraved by Geoffroy, comprising 29 hand-coloured plates hors-texte in the first volume, and in the second, 23 hand-coloured plates hors-texte along with 2 black botanical plates illustrating the physiology of plants, "Horticulture des dames" and "Culture des fleurs." For this edition, the plates were re-coloured by Maubert, with fresher and more vivid tones, considered superior to the first edition. Accompanied by 3 pages of sheet music for the romance Le myosotis.
Contemporary half blue shagreen bindings. Spines with raised bands decorated with three gilt panels. Some scattered foxing, title-page of volume 2 with spotting. A few leaves slightly protruding. Spines somewhat darkened. Signs of rubbing. Tip of one corner lacking. A good copy.
Edition from the year of the original, illustrated with a portrait and 22 plates including 2 maps (cf. Taylor Pacific Bibliography p. 520. Cammack & Saito no. 346. Edridge, Solomon Island Bibliography, p. 250.).
Half purple sheep binding, spine with four raised bands tooled with gilt garlands and decorated double panels, traces of rubbing and restorations to spine and joints, gilt fillet framing the black blind-stamped boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges, contemporary binding.
Pleasant internal condition despite occasional foxing.
Edition from the year of the original, stating 78th thousand.
Copy complete with its wraparound band announcing the award of the 1965 Prix Renaudot.
A minute tear without consequence at the foot of one joint.
Autograph inscription signed by Georges Perec to Jean Berthou and his wife.
New edition illustrated with numerous engravings in the text: plants, animals, musical scores, geometrical figures, electrical devices, assorted objects, etc.
The table on p. 1323 presents the periodic classification of the elements; the figure on p. 1483 illustrates the path of light rays passing through lenses.
Publisher’s binding in half black percaline, spine titled in Chinese characters, sand-coloured boards slightly soiled at the margins, corners rubbed, endpapers partially toned.
The Cihai, or "Sea of Words," is a Chinese encyclopedic dictionary, work on which began in 1915 and which was first published in 1936.
Rare translation into Berber Tamasheq (spoken mainly by the Tuaregs of Mali) by Abdelkader ben El Hadj Ahmed.
Some of Saint-Exupéry’s original illustrations have been reused, others redrawn.
As often, a trace of vertical crease runs along the red cloth strip used for the binding; otherwise a handsome copy.
First edition, illustrated with 11 lithographed plates by Théodule Devéria and printed by Kaeppelin.
Some occasional foxing.
Rare.
Photographic portrait of Erroll Garner, seated at his piano.
A fine copy.
Inscribed and signed by Erroll Garner in blue ink in the upper left margin of the photograph.
Provenance: from the collection of the renowned autograph collector Claude Armand.
First edition, printed in small numbers as an offprint from the supplement to the March 1928 issue of the journal "L'Astronomie".
Minor marginal tears to the wrappers, not affecting the text; a well-preserved copy.
First illustrated edition, featuring 82 drawings by Tiret-Bognet and a color map of the Saint Lawrence River. Publisher's 1890 EX catalogue bound in at rear.
Binding with the two elephants, Lenègre type 3. Rear cover Lenègre type e.
Spine lightly faded, internally clean and well preserved.
In Famille sans nom, Verne recounts the story of a French-Canadian family during the Patriote Rebellion (1837–1838) against British injustice.
First edition of the French translation of the compilation entitled Historia de la dominacion de los Arabes en España sacada de varios manuscritos y memorias arabigas (Madrid, 1820–21), cf. Playfair 528. Palau 59020.
Contemporary bindings in black half sheepskin, flat spines decorated with gilt garlands and blind-tooled floral ornaments, gilt library shelfmark numbers at foot, vellum-tipped corners, headcaps rubbed on two volumes, covers in mottled paper, bookplates pasted on the endpapers, a few small chips to the upper edges and corners of the third volume, sprinkled edges.
Scattered foxing, minor rubbing to the bindings.
Copy from the library of Vittorio Rochstol, with his bookplates mounted on the front endpapers.
First edition, printed in a very small number of copies, of this extremely rare offprint (cf. Tardy 338 for the complete edition. Not listed by Polak.)
Some minor foxing, a handwritten letter "R" in ink at the upper right corner of the front wrapper.
A pleasant copy.
Second edition, illustrated with a figure of a ventilator at the end of the volume (cf. Polak 4846).
Copy preserved in its original blue paper temporary wrappers.
The first edition was published in 1817.
Pierre-François Kéraudren (1769–1858) served uninterruptedly as Inspector General of the Naval Medical Service from 1813 to 1845.
A pleasant copy.
First edition, illustrated with a frontispiece, 6 folding maps, 24 plates out of text, and 95 in-text reproductions.
Bradel binding in full blue cloth, cherry shagreen title label, original wrappers and spine preserved.
The botanist and biologist Auguste Chevalier (1873–1956) undertook numerous expeditions to Africa, Asia, and South America after earning his doctorate in 1901.
A handsome copy.
Inscribed and signed by Auguste-Jean-Baptiste Chevalier to Madame P. Lemoine at the head of the title page.
First edition, illustrated with a folding map bound at the end (cf. Quérard I 529).
Copy preserved in its original plain green wrappers,
uncut, some foxing to the map.
"Tableau des stations géodésiques et astronomiques choisies pour déterminer la mesure de l'arc du parallèle terrestre compris entre les tours de Cordouan et de Fiume, et qui doit s'étendre jusqu'à Orsowa en Transilvanie".
Inscribed and signed by Joseph-François Nicollet on the title-page, addressed to a Monsieur Pouillet.
Very rare first edition, privately printed in a very small number of copies, of this offprint from the Nouvelles annales des voyages, June 1857. (cf. Gay, 418).
Some foxing.
Complete in its original state with the large folding map inserted at the end.
Jacques-Auguste Cherbonneau (1813–1882), founder of the Archaeological Society of Constantine, provides here an account of the exploratory mission to the southern region of the Regency of Tripoli, culminating in the city of Ghadamès.
Second edition, illustrated with 13 full-page plates printed on various tinted backgrounds. The first edition was published in 1924.
This edition includes a map that was not reissued in the second printing.
The Miao people (known as Méo in Vietnam and Hmong in Laos) are an ethnic group found in southern China and northern Indochina. They speak various loosely related dialects, but without mutual intelligibility.
Today, they are generally regarded not as a single ethnic group but as a broader grouping of distinct peoples. A missionary of the Paris Foreign Missions Society, François-Marie Savina (1876–1941) worked in Upper Tonkin, Hainan (China), and Laos from 1901 to 1941.
Pleasant copy, with some minor marginal tears to the covers, not affecting the text.
Autograph postcard signed and addressed to his friend Ariel Denis from his summer residence in Vendée, 22 lines in black ink.
The postcard shows a general view of the coastal cliffs of Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez in Vendée.
Julien Gracq expresses his satisfaction with the advice he had given his friend, while lamenting the petty calculations of administrative life: "j'avais décidément raison de vous recommander une saine stratégie syndicale : faute ce cet appui je crains qu'il n'y ait plus de belle carrière dans l'enseignement ! J'espère tout de même que la stabilité au moins va venir couronner vos efforts (il y en a un de ma part sous le beau style ! malgré les vacances)"
The writer then mentions a televised adaptation of Wagner's *Das Rheingold* he recently watched: "bonne direction d'acteurs, costumes qui en définitive ne gênent pas, décors plutôt catastrophiques, aussi bien le barrage style Génie Rural, que le Walhalla dont on espère tout de même qu'il n'a pas épuisé l'imagination du décorateur. Mis à part l'excellent jeu des acteurs, que la télévision met en relief, il n'y pas de quoi se récrier. (Comme vous je ne pourrai voir le reste du Ring, et je m'en consolerai ! )"
Julien Gracq ends with a final recommendation to his friend: "tâchez d'aller voir Saint François du Désert que j'ai manqué autrefois et dont Barrès dit merveille."
First edition of the French translation, one of 30 copies numbered on pure white Lana wove paper, the deluxe issue.
Handsome illustrated cover.
A pleasing copy, untrimmed.
Sinclair Lewis was the first American novelist to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.
First edition, one of 60 numbered copies on Arches wove paper, the only deluxe issue.
A fine copy.
First edition of the catalogue of the 33 works by Paul Cézanne exhibited at the Galerie Bernheim Jeune & Cie from Wednesday 1st to Saturday 18th December 1920.
Upper cover lightly sunned along the edges, printed stamp and shelf number to upper left corner of the inside front cover; otherwise a rare and attractive copy.
Some pencil annotations in the margins of a few of the listed works.
Catalogue illustrated with 10 reproductions of the artist’s works.
Introductory text by Octave Mirbeau.
First edition, no deluxe copies printed.
Handsome copy.
Important presentation copy inscribed by Claude Lévi-Strauss to Jean-François Revel.
First edition, one of 1,500 copies printed on vellum paper, this one unnumbered.
A handsome copy.
Illustrated with a frontispiece by Jean Berque.
Exceptional full-page signed presentation inscription from Abel Bonnard to Hubert Lyautey, the first Resident-General of the French Protectorate in Morocco: "A monsieur le maréchal Lyautey, qui, marmi tant d'autres illustres, a aussi sauvé la beauté du Maroc. En respectueux hommage. Abel Bonnard."
First edition, one of 41 numbered copies on Hollande paper, the leading issue.
A fine copy.
New edition.
Spine very slightly sunned, but an attractive and well-preserved copy.
Signed by Jean-Paul Sartre on the half-title.
Autograph letter dated and signed by André Breton, 21 lines in blue ink on a single sheet, addressed to Georges Isarlo of the journal Combat-Art concerning a text given to him by his friend José Pierre.
True to form, the leading figure and high priest of Surrealism seeks to clarify matters with his correspondent: "Vous comprendrez sûrement le souci que je puis avoir de ne pas, sous un vain prétexte d'anniversaire, laisser dénaturer le sens et gâter le fruit de quarante années de lutte et voudrez bien considérer qu'il a pour tous ses signataires - répondants du surréalisme aujourd'hui - la même importance vitale que pour moi."
Autograph letter signed and dated by Jean Epstein to André Gide, 3 pages in blue ink on a bifolium and a single sheet, regarding the reception of his book: La Poésie d'aujourd'hui. Un nouvel état d'intelligence. Lettre de Blaise Cendrars, published by La Sirène.
Folding marks from original mailing.
Jean Epstein was an avid reader of Gide's works: "J'ignore si peu vos ouvrages, que vous écrivant, je vois sur mes rayons le dos de vos Nourritures terrestres, de vos Prétextes et Nouveaux Prétextes. J'en ai lu davantage : La Porte étroite, l'Immoraliste et récemment la Symphonie..." and perceived in his writing a revolutionary purpose and destiny: "... ce qui dans votre oeuvre a suscité cette estime dont vous m'avez fait presque l'offense d'en douter, est son côté vandale, destructeur, table rase, anarchiste, c'était bien gaucher, et en y songeant je vous envoyais mon livre..."
He submitted the manuscript of his book to La Nrf and expresses surprise at the publisher's rejection and the general incomprehension of his work: "J'y soutiens une thèse paramédicale. Un but précis, c'est à dire limité, entraîne des restrictions, un choix, une discipline... Et ces exemples je les ai trouvés dans les poètes extrêmes, et je les y ai pris, ne croyant pas faire un palmarès... or, je vois que mon livre est de plus en plus interprété comme une distribution de prix..."
Epstein deliberately refrained from mentioning certain authors he nonetheless considers important: "Je n'ai pas parlé de vos oeuvres, non plus que celles de Barrès, de Claudel et de quelques autres. Je ne cite Mallarmé que pour mémoire. Bien mieux, je ne dis rien de l'oeuvre de Gourmont." and explains his position: "Je ne sous-estime nullement l'influence que vous avez eue et avez et aurez encore, mais une fois entré dans la voie des cours d'eau à remonter et des sources à découvrir ou à simplement indiquer quand elles sont patentes, jusqu'où n'irait-on pas ?"
While acknowledging Gide's influence on his generation, Epstein names other sources of inspiration: "... nous sommes déjà en pleine seconde étape. Des sensiblilités postérieures sont apparues. Exemple ; Rimbaud -postérieur ! ici, pour une fois, éclate l'erreur flagrante des dates ; Cendrars \"époque construction\" et celle-ci, le voudrait-elle qu'elle ne pourrait pas vous plagier."
He closes his explanatory letter, which reads as a defense of his work, with these words: "Excusez l'ennui d'une si longue lettre, mais les reproches adressés à mon livre comme à un manuel de littérature moderne, il ne les mérite pas, parce qu'il est autre chose..."
First edition, one of 20 numbered copies on Japan paper, the smallest issue of the deluxe edition, along with 20 on Arches.
Spine and covers marginally faded and sunned as usual, with minor paper losses at the flaps.
Illustrated with 8 original lithographs by Georges Annenkoff.
As with all copies from the deluxe issue, this copy includes the complete double suite of illustrations on vellum and on China paper.
"The interposition of the poem between painting and music has therefore proven to be an excellent conduit between the arts thanks to the fact that Hahn scrupulously respected the spirit of the poem while preserving his autonomy in his composition. The link between music and painting reveals itself after the other materials unite with each other; it is in this alliance that an astonishing complementarity then operates, desired on the soothing light of Albert Cuyp" (Nicolas Vardon)
Autograph note by François René de Chateaubriand, 12 lines in black ink on a bifolium, addressed to Madame Amédée de Duras, rejoicing in her improved health.
A tear with loss, due to the seal having been broken to facilitate reading the note.
"Mde de CH[ateaubriand]. me dit de vous répondre: si je meurs, madame, ce sera à vos pieds le matin. Non pas à midi, mais à trois heures et demie. Je me porte à merveille chez ma soeur. Que cela ne soit pas vous, mais mde de Lévis qui m'ait vu perdre ma longue barbe er mon mouchoir turc. Ne venez pas, vous ne devriez pas venir. Mde de Ch[ateaubriand] est inconsolable... "
