Gift Ideas – Rare Editions

First edition, one of 13 numbered copies on Imperial Japan paper, from the deluxe issue.

A rare and fine copy.

First French edition, translation by Roger Caillois and René L.F. Durand, one of 33 numbered copies on pur fil, the only deluxe paper issue.

Rare and very fine copy.

First edition, one of 40 numbered copies on alfa paper, our copy not specifically numbered, issued as the only deluxe paper copies.

A few small spots of foxing, mainly affecting the edges and the endpapers, which show two small traces of adhesive paper.

First edition, one of 20 numbered copies on alfa paper, our copy lettered "A" among the 8 hors commerce lettered copies, the only deluxe paper issue.

A tear at the foot of the spine at the level of the sewing supports, otherwise a pleasant wide-margined copy.

Dated and signed autograph presentation by the publisher beneath the print statement: "Affectueusement reservé à mon admirable collaboratrice Suzanne qui est aussi la plus charmante & la plus précieuse des filleules - que dis-je ? la seule filleule qui compte ! Paris 18 octobre 1942."

A fine edition complete with all 12 steel engravings with tissue guards after paintings by Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Philippe de Champaigne, and Hyacinthe Rigaud, and its chromolithographic title page. Leafs containing the Discourse on Universal History  framed by floral, zoomorphic, figural and armorial interlaced borders. This copy is further enhanced with elaborate decorated initials and tailpieces, and a black-and-white frontispiece opening each part.

Sumptuous full navy blue cathedral polished calf bindings, smooth spines decorated in gilt and blind with Gothic tooling depicting ogival windows, dates and titles in gilt, Gothic lettering for titles; boards with a central panel in gilt and blind framed by multiple gilt fillets and a blind-tooled palmette border, board edges with repeated gilt and blind motifs, gilt edges, triple gilt fillet on joints, moiré pastedowns and endpapers.

Corners slightly bumped, a few minor scuffs to boards, bindings overall in very fine condition.

Scattered foxing, mostly marginal to text and plates, some leaves and plates with light browning.

List established by Georges Vicaire detailing the 12 steel engravings included in this edition:

"Portrait of Bossuet, engraved by Pigeot after H. Rigaud; Moses, engraved by Cousin after Ph. de Champaigne, within a border by A. Feart, engraved by E. Ollivier; the Nativity, engraved after Decaisne by Caron (border by Feart, engraved by E. Ollivier); Charlemagne, engraved after Meissonier by Caron (border by Feart, engraved by Ollivier); Isaiah, engraved after Meissonier by Cousin (border by A. Peyre, engraved by E. Ollivier); the Assumption, engraved after Murillo by Cousin; Jesus Christ, engraved after Decaisne by M. Lecomte (border by Chenavard, engraved by Ollivier); St. Paul, engraved after Meissonier by Cousin (border by A. Fries, engraved by Le Petit); St. Augustine, engraved after Murillo by Joubert (border by Feart, engraved by Ollivier); St. Basil, engraved after Herrera the Elder by Cousin (border by Feart, engraved by Ollivier); Greece, engraved after Tony Johannot by Revel (border by Feart, engraved by E. Ollivier); Rome, engraved after Tony Johannot by Pelée (border by Feart, engraved by Ollivier)."

(our own translation)

First edition limited to only 250 copies, which were not offered for sale but given to the author's close circle. This former minister under Louis XV composed these essays in 1736, and his son, the Marquis de Paulmy, had them published nearly fifty years later.

Contemporary half brown calf, grained paper boards, spine with five raised bands decorated with five compartments featuring double gilt fillets, red morocco lettering piece, red speckled edges.

Lower headcap missing, some surface rubbing to boards, corners worn, small wormhole at foot of spine, book interior in fine condition.

Light foxing, author's name annotated in brown ink on title page.

The name of the author's intellectual master, Michel de Montaigne, is spelled here, as in the first edition of the Essais, without the 'i'—originally silent before 'gn'; but after all, isn't 'Montagne' one of the highest peaks of French literature?

First edition entirely hand-painted by Jacques Capdeville and printed in 30 numbered copies on vellum, with a small number of hors-commerce copies also issued.

Rare and fine copy, complete with its full flexible paperboard slipcase and with the musical setting of the poem by John Supko, on tracing paper.

Handwritten signatures of Philippe Denis and Jacques Capdeville in the colophon.

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 wear to the spine and corners, the upper joint slightly split for several centimetres, a few discreet wormholes and small areas of loss to the leather on the boards, light rubbing to the edges; the interior in very good condition.

A marginal tear to p. 51 very slightly affecting the text, and a marginal stain to p. 47.

Rare illustrated 17th-century reimpression of Abbé Claude Picot's French translation of the Principia Philosophiæ, first published in Amsterdam in 1644. Ownership inscription in black ink on the title page signed "C.J. Bidey Sacerdotis de Dola in utroque lege Licentiam," likely a priest from Dole in the Jura, and a gift inscription in brown ink by "L.F. de Moriat."

Contemporary binding in full speckled brown calf, spine with five raised bands decorated with four richly gilt compartments, red morocco lettering piece, gilt roll on board edges, slightly worn, red speckled edges.

Early restorations to headcaps and joints, two small wormholes to spine, light surface wear and minor staining to boards, corners bumped.

Two marginal tears, not affecting text, to pp. 209, 401, and 483, and a minute hole to p. 371. Nine manuscript lines in brown ink on p. 4, possibly in the same hand as the author of the gift inscription.

The work is illustrated with several engravings, including a plate facing p. 119.

First edition in book form, issued for the centenary of the birth of Pierre Jean Jouve; one of 33 numbered copies on pure wove vellum, the deluxe issue.

A fine copy.

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 compilation of the celebrated songs by the troubadour from Sète, including "La mauvaise réputation", "Le parapluie", "Le petit cheval", "Le fossoyeur", "Le gorille", "Corne d'auroch", "La chasse aux papillons" and "Hécatombe".
Inevitable creasing and light rubbing along the margins of the record sleeve.

A small ballpoint pen doodle in blue ink on the lower cover.
Autograph signature of Georges Brassens in the lower right margin of the upper cover.

First public edition of this text written under the pseudonym François la Colère, one of 50 numbered copies on Madagascar paper, the deluxe issue.

Rare and fine copy.

Third edition and the last revised by the author, partly original as 25 poems appear here for the first time, bringing the total to 151 poems (as against 100 in the 1857 edition). Copy of the second issue, with a title page dated 1869 and bearing the statement of third edition.
Illustrated with a steel-engraved portrait of Charles Baudelaire by Nargeot as frontispiece.
A few minor spots of foxing, as often encountered.
The upper cover and the half-title page bear the wording: "Oeuvres complètes". According to Clouzot, the volume was sold either separately on its own or as the first volume of the collected works, whose publication extended over several years.
It should be noted that the wrappers of this third edition are always dated 1869, while certain copies, the rarest, carry a title page dated 1868.
Notice by Théophile Gautier.

First edition.

Spine and boards slightly and marginally faded.

A rare and pleasing copy.

First edition of the Petits poëmes en prose, later entitled Le Spleen de Paris – Petits poëmes en prose. Second edition of Les Paradis artificiels.

Some foxing, mainly at the beginning and end of the volume.
Contemporary half black shagreen binding, spine with five raised bands ruled in gilt and decorated with gilt tools, marbled paper sides, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, speckled edges, corners slightly rubbed.
The half-title bears the designation: "Oeuvres complètes". The work was issued separately, either on its own or as the fourth volume of the complete works, the publication of which extended over several years.
Clouzot notes: "Très rare en reliure d'époque sans tomaison au dos".
Particularly sought after.


 

First edition, limited to 59 numbered copies on Arches vellum, signed in pink pencil by André Masson beneath the limitation statement.
Rare and fine copy.
Illustrated with two original etchings by André Masson, printed full-bleed and issued hors texte.

First edition and complete run of the 9 G.L.M. cahiers issued between May 1936 and March 1939.

A few spines slightly faded, as is often the case; otherwise a pleasing copy, complete with its original publisher’s slipcase in full grey boards, with red printed title label pasted to the spine.

With numerous contributions by most of the Surrealist poets, writers, and artists, including: André Breton, René Char, Paul Éluard, Philippe Soupault, René Crevel, Valentine Penrose, Federico García Lorca, Pablo Neruda, Michel Leiris, Max Ernst, Man Ray, and André Masson, as well as several spiritual forebears of Surrealism such as Franz Kafka, Lewis Carroll, and Raymond Roussel...

First edition, one of 100 copies numbered on Arches wove paper, the only deluxe issue.

This exhibition catalogue devoted to the painter’s work at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York, marking his sixtieth birthday, is illustrated with three original lithographs (two double-page and one single-page) together with numerous black-and-white and colour reproductions.

Offsetting from the lithographs visible on the facing text leaves.

Autograph signature by Joan Miró, dated at the colophon number.

As stated in the limitation, this copy indeed includes its original lithograph, dated and signed by Joan Miró.

First edition, no copies in North American libraries; only four copies known in Europe (Mazarine, Méjanes, BnF, Lausanne). Illustrated throughout with numerous headpieces, historiated initials, and tailpieces. Contemporary full vellum binding, smooth spine gilt-tooled gilt floral tools twice framed in gilt, morocco lettering-piece, boards framed in gilt, centre oval palm wreath, enclosing the initials "I.H.S." (Jesus Hominum Salvator), superimposed over a former cypher "H. D. B.", the lower board with the same wreath enclosing the initials "MA" (Mater Amabilis), tie holes, traces of a library label at the foot of spine, gilt edges, some foxing and marginal worm holes to the boards, upper corner. Worm gallery affecting pp. 11 to 156, dampstain to the upper margin of pp. 319 to 429.

An exceptionally rare work of the Catholic Counter-Reformation by Didière Gillet, self-described as "une simple femme de village," [a simple peasant woman] virtually unknown to modern scholarship.

First edition, deluxe issue, one of 58 numbered copies on Montval paper signed by the artist on the colophon, with two original color lithographs signed by Max Ernst.

Additionally illustrated with 11 full-page drawings reproduced in black and reproductions of paintings by the artist, including one folding plate.

Copy as issued, green wrappers illustrated with an original artwork by Ernst in perfect condition without any trace of discoloration as is commonly found.

Pristine copy of the Max Ernst exhibition catalogue published in 1950 by the René Drouin gallery in Paris, signed by the artist with two signed lithographs, as well as texts by Joë Bousquet and Michel Tapié.

First edition, illustrated with a folding map and 469 engravings within the text.

Contemporary half black shagreen, the spine with four raised bands ruled in gilt and decorated with triple blind-tooled panels, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns; a few small scuffs to the edges, corners slightly rubbed.

Contents include: history; construction and manufacture of telegraph cables; laying and repair of submarine cables; electrical testing; fault detection; signal transmission; and the operation of submarine lines.

The author, Jules Hippolyte Eugène Wünschendorff (1840–1901), was an engineer with the telegraph service and director of military telegraphy.

A pleasing copy.

First edition.

Minor foxing, a pleasing copy.

The Roman jeweller Alessandro Castellani (1823–1883) was also an enlightened collector of ancient and medieval artefacts, from which he sometimes drew inspiration for his jewellery designs.

Jean de Witte (1808–1889), archaeologist and numismatist, became a member of the Institut in 1886.

First edition.

The association of the Lumière brothers’ name with the development of the cinematograph should not obscure the fact that Auguste Lumière (1862–1954) was first and foremost a biologist of distinction.

Having as early as 1895 left the new invention to his brother Louis, he established a laboratory of experimental physiology and pharmacodynamics in order to direct his discoveries toward experimental medicine.

This laboratory became the Lumière Laboratories in Lyon, which he personally directed until October 25th, 1940, when he transferred the presidency of the company to his son, while continuing his research until his death.

Fine copy. 

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 Chinese history and served as the model for all subsequent dynastic annals.

The great sinologist Edouard Chavannes (1865–1918), who lived in China from 1889 to 1893, was moreover the first to undertake a complete translation of the Shiji (five volumes published between 1895 and 1905, unfortunately covering only 47 of the 130 sections of the original work).

Copy enriched with a signed presentation inscription to Georges Cogordan (1849–1904), French Minister Plenipotentiary in Peking from 1885 to 1894.

Rare first edition of this small practical Malagasy–English lexicon compiled by the Protestant missionary Joseph Stickney Sewell (1819–1900), who was active in Madagascar between 1867 and 1876; although a Quaker, he was employed by the Anglican London Missionary Society.

No copy recorded in the CCF. Absent from Grandidier (who nevertheless cites other works by the author).

Publisher’s modest brick-coloured half-cloth binding, smooth spine without lettering, title blocked on the upper board, with light spotting and staining to the boards.

Title page and final endpaper toned,

First edition, illustrated with five engraved plates (see Crowley 894; David 258; Poletti 182).

Scattered foxing, otherwise a pleasing copy.

Contemporary half sheep, the flat spine gilt with decorative rolls and small tools, black morocco lettering-piece, headcap worn, some rubbing to spine and joints, marbled paper boards.

"… Serres did research into the development of the bones and teeth…" (D.S.B., XII, 315).

Very rare devotional work, for which no bibliographical information could be traced.

Not recorded in Hage Chahine, Blackmer, or Atabey.

Full brown calf binding, spine with four raised bands gilt-ruled and richly gilt-panelled, brown calf lettering-piece, contemporary binding.

Some restorations to the spine and joints, spotting to the edges.

Manuscript of 4 pages, in black ink on a double sheet, signed Perès and Grasset frères, Pitteu & Cie. Saint-Marc, 30 June 1785, entitled Compte de dépense & de recette pour l’habitation de Monsieur le Vte de La Bourdonnaye.

and [On the verso:] Etat des naissances de Nègres et mortalités & crues et déficits d’animaux [and] Etat des revenus fabriqués sur l’habitation de Monsieur le Vte de La Bourdonnaye. *

The vicomte de La Bourdonnaye’s habitation was a sugar plantation located at Les Verrettes, in the vicinity of Saint-Marc.

Presented on a double sheet, this account of expenditures and receipts covers the period from 1 January to 30 June 1785.

Among the expenditures are listed the steward’s salary, gratuities granted, notably to the sugar master, the purchase of supplies, and above all provisions acquired for the workers and enslaved labourers: « Pour la nourriture de Dussolier neveu pendant 80 jours qu’il a resté sur l’habitation à faire les deux moulins à 5 l. par jour, 400. Pour id. de 4 mulâtres ses ouvriers pendant 80 jours à 30 s. chaque par jour, 480. Pour id. de 6 Nègres ses ouvriers, pendant 80 jours à 15 s. chaque par jour, 360 » (20 March 1785).

Reference is also made to marronnage: « Payé à Francisque pour sa nourriture & celle de son mulet lors de son voyage au Mirebalais pour chercher Charles mulâtre qui étoit marron » (8 March).

The receipts record, for reference, the sums settled by Grasset frères, Pitteu et Cie on behalf of the plantation.

One reads thus: « Pour prix & frais de geôle du mulâtre Charles arrêté à l’Espagnol et pour son passage du Port au Prince icy, lesdits ont payé 535 l. 10 s. » (16 May). « Lesdits ont payé à Dussolier charpentier pour la façon d’un moulin à bête, fourniture de bois compris, 7000 l. » (30 June).

The total sum received from Grasset frères, Pitteu et Cie to settle the half-year’s expenses is then stated, amounting to 6,897 livres.

On the verso are summarised the births and deaths among the enslaved population during this period, together with their number as of 30 June 1785: « 84 Nègres, 93 Négresses, 41 Négrillons, 17 Négrittes », for a total of 235 enslaved persons.

The final page records the proceeds from the sale of casks of sugar, namely 208,538 livres for the first half of 1785.

A significant document concerning a Saint-Domingue plantation.

Rare first edition, limited to 50 copies.

A single copy recorded in the CCF (BnF).

Contemporary cream boards, smooth spine, the original printed front wrapper preserved and mounted on the upper cover.

Spine split, boards darkened, clean and pleasant internal condition.

The Toulon scholar Pons (1789–1836) is known both for his studies on the history of his native city and for his research in numismatics (a substantial portion of his posthumous manuscripts was devoted to this field).

On the title page, a signed autograph presentation inscription from Ange-Thomas-Zénon Pons to the celebrated archaeologist and epigraphist Jean-Antoine Letronne (1787–1848), with his ink stamp alongside.

Rare first edition.

Our copy is preserved disbound.

The sole edition of this uncommon pamphlet issued in the context of the Russian Campaign: "Ce Précis historique sur les Cosaques ne pouvait paraître dans une circonstance plus favorable que dans le moment où la Russie est devenue le théâtre de la guerre".

The son of the Paris bookseller Noël-Jacques Pissot (1724–1804), Noël-Laurent Pissot (1748–1815) at first followed in his father’s footsteps: admitted to the booksellers’ guild on 19 April 1768, he worked chiefly in partnership with him and specialised in the publication and sale of works in English or translated from the English. From July 1797 he was, together with his father, employed at the Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, and from 1802 onwards he published numerous historical works and essays, novels, melodramas, and political pamphlets, notably of an anti-Bonapartist nature.

First edition.

Light scuffing to the boards.

Bradel binding in half black shagreen, smooth spine lettered in gilt vertically, green paper-covered boards, modern binding.

Paper by M. Breton-Laugier, vinegar manufacturer of Orléans, on the advantages of Pasteur’s system, pp. [5]–7; Wine industry, pp. [9]–15.

Very rare first edition printed in a small number of copies of this offprint from the Fourth International Congress of Hygiene and Demography, session of 5 September 1882.

Spine and boards slightly faded and yellowed at the margins; interior in pleasing condition.

In this communication, Louis Pasteur examines all the new studies carried out in collaboration with Chamberland, Roux and Thuillier since the publication of the 1880 memoir.

Its principal purpose is to provide examples of the attenuation of viruses under the influence of atmospheric oxygen. He also summarizes the criticisms that had appeared in the collected works of the German Sanitary Office.

First edition of this in-folio printed broadside signed "Phelypeaux", printed on one side only.

Visible fold marks to the broadside.

Different issue from the one dated An XI (1803), which itself is not firmly established as the true first edition (cf. Monglond VI 139–140; Quérard VI 326).

The work is illustrated with an etched frontispiece entitled « Frémissez ! voilà du joueur le sort inévitable !! » depicting a gambler blowing his brains out in a gaming room, amid general indifference.

Our copy is preserved in its original publisher’s wrappers, with a blank marbled paper provisional cover showing small losses at the corners.

A pleasing copy.

Extremely rare collection of three works, in original anonymous editions, devoted to the Eastern Question and the policy France should adopt to counter Russian ambitions in the Ottoman Empire.

The author is believed to be one Mignonneau, a former war commissioner.

Bound in full mottled calf, smooth spine richly decorated with gilt crossbands, brown calf title label, rubbing to joints and spine, gilt roll partially faded on head and tail, triple gilt fillet framing boards, handmade paper endpapers and pastedowns, gilt turn-ins, corners slightly worn, all edges gilt, contemporary binding.

Minor angular losses to boards, light dampstaining to lower margin of leaves in the second work.

The set comprises the following:

1) "Considérations politiques, par M.***"
(S.l., 1783, title and 77 pp. First edition. (cf. Conlon 83: 1465. N.U.C.: NM 567505.))

2) "Ces réflexions devoient, avec beaucoup d'autres, faire suite aux Considérations politiques ; mais le tout n'étant pas encore rédigé, les circonstances du moment m'ont déterminé à faire paroître celles-ci sur-le-champ."
S.l.n.d. [c. 1783], 44 pp. with simple title. First edition. (cf. Conlon 83: 1464 locates no copies in France. N.U.C. locates only one copy at the Library of Congress. The RLG Union Catalog mentions another at the University of Chicago.)

The first half of this work is devoted to the invasion of Crimea, the second to Russia's claims regarding the "etiquette of the court" governing international relations and their true significance.

3) "Lettre à M. le Comte de ***, octobre 1784".
S.l.n.d. [c. 1784], title and 49 pp. First edition. (cf. Conlon 84: 1533 locates no copies in France. N.U.C. mentions only the copy at the Library of Congress.)

This third work denounces Russia's expansionist policy. The author reveals, among other things, Catherine II's designs on Armenia and also discusses the potential interest Turkey might have in liberating Greece.

First edition, illustrated with 19 folding plates at the end of the volume.

Contemporary half green calf, smooth spine darkened with age, decorated with gilt garlands and fillets, with small blind-stamped fleurons; sides framed with triple blind fillets; marbled paper boards; marbled endpapers and pastedowns; speckled edges.

André Menet-Aeschimann (1813–1898) was head gardener of the garden of the Société d’horticulture de Mulhouse.

Bound after Daniel BOUSCASSE: "Prompte formation des arbres fruitiers" (S.l.n.d. [La Rochelle, Siret, 1859], 36 pp.).

This additional work is illustrated, at the end of the volume, with 2 folding plates.

The title page alone is lacking; only two copies recorded in the CCF (BnF, Rennes). Bound by Abry, in Colmar.

Manuscript ex-libris Ostermeier on the front endpaper of the first volume.

Eighteenth-century manuscript (second half), comprising 258 foliated pages.

Contemporary binding, expertly restored in full tan calf, with a smooth spine adorned with gilt compartments and decorative gilt tooling, some now faded; signs of rubbing; title label missing; gilt rampant lion at the centre of both boards; handmade paper endpapers and pastedowns; gilt double fillets on board edges; corners slightly worn.

Notable manuscript featuring extracts and summaries of orders and dispatches issued by the Ministry of the Navy during the Regency and the first year of Louis XV’s reign.

Collated from original documents, carefully dated and with folio references, these extracts are written in a highly legible hand.

Topics covered include: general armament; the War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718, 1719, 1720); Barbary States; Guinea Coast; colonies; trade (Spain, Portugal, Guinea, Compagnie d’Afrique, Compagnie des Indes); justice, police, and discipline; munitions; goods and timber; fishing; ports and roadsteads; prizes, and more. The manuscript is in excellent condition, preserved in its original binding.

Contemporary pencil note on the front endpaper: "Aux armes [du] Maréchal Duc de Duras, de l’Académie française" [1715–1789].

New edition illustrated with 16 folding copper-engraved plates.

Only two copies recorded in the CCF (Collège de France, Caen). As such, the volume is not cited by Quérard nor by Cioranescu.

Contemporary temporary blue paper boards, smooth spine, unlettered. Minor rubbing to the spine-ends.

Some foxing.

As such, the volume is not cited by Quérard nor by Cioranescu. It nevertheless constitutes the exceedingly rare atlas to the second edition of the Histoire de Russie tirée des chroniques originales, published in the same year, 1800, in 8 volumes of text.

The first edition had appeared in 1782 in five duodecimo volumes and, compiled from the extensive materials gathered by the author during his stay in Saint Petersburg (1773–1780), represented a genuine historiographical breakthrough.

Bound in at the end: three issues of the Journal des débats politiques et littéraires (13 January, 27 January and 6 October 1826).

Provenance: J.-B.-M.-A. de Chauliac, with heraldic ink stamp (captioned in manuscript) on the half-title.

Rare first edition of this work by the author, one of 150 numbered copies on antique paper, the only issue after three deluxe copies.

Some light foxing.

No copies recorded in the CCF. Only three copies listed in WorldCat.

This slender booklet brings together pieces belonging to the earliest poetic experiments of Félix-Conrad Laventure (1902–1995), who was also known for his political career in ministerial, legal, legislative and municipal life (he served as Mayor of Port-Louis and as a minister).

His first verses appeared in 1921 (in Le Mauricien and L'Essor, of which he later became editor, and where in 1924 he published a critical study of the works of Mallarmé).

Second edition, illustrated with a large folding plate bringing together five figures (referred to as “plates”).

Our copy is preserved in its original stitched wrappers, in the blank provisional waiting cover, with manuscript annotations in ink on the upper cover.

Two faint waterstains, one at the foot of the first page and the other at the head of the last.

The author, formerly florist-gardener on the Brunoy estates of Monsieur (Louis XVIII), was at the time a nurseryman at Mandres [les-Roses].

First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Mémoires de la Société naturelle des sciences naturelles de Cherbourg, vol. XX (1876).

See O'Reilly, Tahiti, 2693. Only three copies recorded in the CCF (BnF, Aix-Marseille, Cherbourg).

Bradel binding in blue half cloth, smooth spine, long red marbled morocco title label, marbled paper sides, original wrappers preserved, modern signed binding by Boichot.

This pamphlet, which contains a large number of botanical entries on the Marquesas, Tahiti, the Sandwich Islands, New Zealand, etc., is a continuation of the study entitled Les Plantes alimentaires de l'Océanie (1875).

A rare and pleasing copy.

First edition.

Minor marginal tears to the boards, a few spots of foxing.

Not recorded by Sabin.

Rare first edition, illustrated with a large folding plate containing a hand-coloured map.

Cf. Ferguson I, 814 ("Section 12 deals with Australia and New Zealand"). Not recorded by Sabin and by most other bibliographers.

Bradel case binding in paper-covered boards, beige wrappers, smooth spine with some rubbing, blind title to the spine, original plain wrappers preserved; modern binding.

Small marginal losses to the corners of the first few leaves, not affecting the text.

The plate outside the text offers a world map in which the Protestant areas are shown in pink, together with a detailed list of the various missionary societies by region or city.

Numerous regions are covered: West Africa (especially Sierra Leone), Southern and Eastern Africa (with references to Madagascar and Mauritius), the Black Sea (Constantinople, Odessa and the Edinburgh Society for the Jews), Tibet, China, India, Ceylon; a whole chapter is devoted to Australasia (New Holland (Australia) and New Zealand), and another to Polynesia, with "les 4 grandes îles de George [Otahiti (Tahiti), Eiméo, Tetaroa, et Tapuamanu]; les 5 grandes îles de la Société [Huaheine, Raiatea, Teha, Borabora, et Marua] ; les 11 grandes îles Sandwich, dont la principale est Owhihée", British and Dutch Guiana, the West Indies (Tobago, Grenada, Saint Vincent, Barbados, Dominica, Antigua, Saint-Barthélemy, Haiti, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Bermuda), the tribes of North America, Greenland, Siberia, etc.

The names of the missionaries in the field are given, together with fascinating details on local conditions around 1820.

The author of this work may be the Swiss pastor and theologian François Samuel Robert Louis Gaussen (1790–1863), born in Geneva to a family originally from Languedoc.

Manuscript ex-libris "Dr Karl J. Lüthi, Bern" on a pastedown.

Second edition, partly original, as it was revised, corrected and enlarged with a handbook for the cultivation of mulberry trees, setting out the principles by which the fullest advantage may be drawn from this tree, together with the presentation of a new method of cultivation designed to prevent its mortality.

Light dampstaining to the upper outer margin of the first leaves, small losses to the head- and tail-cap of the spine, a few scattered spots.

The work was reissued in 1837 and 1848.

Charles Fraissinet (1798–1856) was a pastor of the Reformed Church at Sauve (Gard).

Although closely involved in the theological controversies of his day, he is best remembered for his commitment to sericulture and for publishing several pamphlets on the subject, notably the present Guide du magnanier.

A silkworm breeder himself, he devised a method for obtaining “les œufs de vers à soie à leur plus haut point de perfection”.

This activity even appears to have tempered the mutual belligerence of the pastor and the parish priest of Sauve, since, in the prospectus for this method, Curé Bernard—his sworn enemy—nonetheless made it “un devoir d’engager tous les sériciculteurs à se procurer sans retard la méthode de M. Fraissinet”.

First edition.

A comprehensive work setting out in detail the legislation and regulations governing silversmiths, jewellers and watchmakers in the mid-nineteenth century.

Spine cracked with small losses; corners chipped to the boards; some light foxing.

Rare first edition issued as an offprint from the Journal asiatique, no. 7.

Contemporary half aubergine calf binding with corners, smooth spine gilt with Romantic arabesque tools, minor rubbing to the spine, gilt garland frame to the marbled paper boards, orange paper endleaves and pastedowns, rubbed corners; a period binding.

Dampstaining affecting the first half of the volume, some foxing.

Concise manual of the Hanafi rite, one of the four Sunni schools of jurisprudence, the oldest and notably the one recognised as official within the Ottoman Empire.

Antoine-Joseph Du Caurroy (1775–1853) served as an interpreter at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Very rare first edition of this substantial memorandum on the "Pierre Calvet Affair", which unsettled Canada in the aftermath of the American War of Independence.

Sabin 21044. In the CCF, copies only at the BnF and Rouen.

A few light spots of foxing; a faint marginal dampstain to the fore-edge of the front endpaper.

Half green sheep with corners, smooth spine slightly darkened and ruled in gilt, gilt fillet border to the marbled paper boards, a central gilt cartouche bearing a crowned cipher to each cover. Corners rubbed, a few scuffs to the edges, bookplate pasted to one pastedown, lemon-coloured edges; nineteenth-century binding.

Parallel to the work The Case of Peter Du Calvet (784), addressed to the English courts, this volume presents the case for a Canadian readership.

The merchant Pierre Du Calvet (1735–1786), a French Protestant, settled in New France in 1758; he remained there after the British annexation and pursued a persistent political campaign on behalf of the inhabitants of the Province of Quebec, both to obtain a constitution and to secure fair justice for the former French subjects.

The present text concentrates on his disputes with Governor Frederick Haldimand (1718–1791) and on his brief imprisonment.

A forerunner of the long struggle waged by the citizens of the Province of Quebec for recognition of their political rights within the British Empire,

Du Calvet nevertheless remained largely forgotten in Quebec’s historical memory.

His actions, and even his name, were widely overlooked by posterity until the republication of his memorandum in 2002.

Rare first edition of this sticker album entirely devoted to the glory of the Castro regime and the Cuban Revolution.

The album comprises 268 small, mounted, colour stickers, each captioned and arranged in strict chronological order of events, including 16 portrait plates of the principal figures (the Castro brothers, Camilo Cienfuegos, Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Faure Chaumont, Rolando Cubelas, Victor Bordon, Eloy Gutierrez, Crecencio and Faustino Perez, etc.).

No copy recorded in the CCFr, which comes as little surprise for this type of production.

Our copy, issued in original illustrated colour wrappers, is housed in a modern oblong slipcase, full decorated boards in the colours of the Cuban flag.

Minor tears and marginal losses to the covers and spine, together with numerous unavoidable restorations using transparent adhesive repairs, reflecting the extreme fragility of this sticker album intended for "older children".

This very rare album, complete with all its stickers, was produced to commemorate the successive stages of the Cuban Revolution. It belongs to the genre of collectible sticker albums for children and young people, hugely popular in the 1960s: the images were obtained with the purchase of consumer goods and served as promotional incentives (in this case, the "dulces en conserva" marketed under the Felices brand).

Unsurprisingly, the portrayal of the Revolution is entirely partisan and conforms to the heroic and liberating image the regime sought to project.

On the verso of the final cover, one finds a speech by Fidel Castro dated 16 October 1953.

First edition published anonymously (cf. Ryckebusch, 6737).

Light, scattered foxing.

Modern half brown cloth, smooth spine without lettering, marbled paper boards, corners rubbed.

The anonymous author urges abolitionists to be especially active and visible at the moment when the chambers are to vote on the new colonial legislation.

Original offprint, printed in a small number of copies, of this extract from the Nouvelles annales des voyages for November 1858.

The original temporary front wrapper has been reattached; a few spots of foxing; the title written in pencil on the front cover.

No copy of this review recorded in the CCF.

Charles-Ernest Beulé’s monograph on the coinage of Athens had just been published earlier that same year, in 1858.

Rare first edition of this pamphlet printed at Carouge, Switzerland. Deschamps, 276, records 1789 as the date of the first book printed in that town (on the authority of a note by Ternaux).

Our copy is preserved in its original stitched wrappers, within a modern blank temporary cover.

Title-page and final leaf slightly soiled, early marginal note in the right margin of p. 19, blue pencil annotations at the foot of pp. 10 & 11.

A text violently hostile to Kellermann (1735–1820) and to the French presence in the Alps.

Kellermann commanded the Army of the Alps while Bonaparte was conducting his Italian campaign.

First illustrated edition with 5 plates (cf. Coll. Émile Brouwet, II (2), 168).

Half black shagreen binding, smooth spine decorated with gilt and blind fillets, title lettered lengthwise in gilt, joints and caps rubbed, title repeated on the upper cover, paper labels pasted to the lower left corner of the upper cover and the upper left corner of the inside back cover, bookplate pasted to the inside back cover, original front wrapper preserved, corners worn, mid-19th-century binding.

Some light foxing.

The five finely line-engraved plates by Cavelier and Pierron after drawings by Pierre-Paul Prud’hon bring together a selection of pieces of imperial furniture.

The first set — a firescreen, a dressing table with its mirror, an armchair, and a washstand — was executed in vermeil with lapis inlays and presented to Empress Marie-Louise on 15 August 1810. This important commission was the joint work of the chaser-founder Thomire, awarded a gold medal at the Exhibition of 1806, and the silversmith Odiot. The three plates devoted to it preserve its memory, as the ensemble was largely melted down in 1832.

The final two plates depict the celebrated cradle of the King of Rome, in vermeil, mother-of-pearl and burgau shell — the fruit of the same two craftsmen — which was presented by the City of Paris on 5 March 1811, before the arrival of the imperial child, and is now preserved in Vienna.

Thomire alone later produced a second example in elm burr and gilt bronze, following the same design and faithfully reproducing certain elements such as the two bas-reliefs of the Seine and the Tiber. This second cradle is now at the Château de Fontainebleau.

Provenance: from the library of Prince Demidoff (San Donato stamp), then from that of Prince Roland Bonaparte, with his bookplate and label N.

First edition (cf. Neu 838.)

Light foxing.

Contemporary full tan sheep, the spine with five raised bands ruled in gilt and decorated with gilt panels and gilt floral tools; some rubbing and small defects to the spine, gilt rolls to the head- and tailcaps, surface wear to the boards, red edges, gilt fillets to the board edges, corners a little softened; a period binding.

Second edition (cf. Quérard I, 529: records “Broussonnet”. Colas 457.)

Reflections on fashion and elegant dress in antiquity; the first edition, published in 1799, appeared under the name of one of the author’s pupils. 

Rare copy preserved in the original wrappers.

First edition (cf. Playfair, 533; Tailliart, 2295).

Spine cracked with small tears, some foxing. 

General considerations on the colonisation of Algiers, its aims and its results. On the Arabs. The various systems of occupation, etc.

At the head of the front wrapper, an autograph presentation inscription from Amédée Hippolyte de Brossard to Marshal Clausel.

Second edition of this treatise, first published in 1771 and reissued again in 1813 (see Mennessier de La Lance I, 162).

Our copy is offered stitched, in its provisional blue paper wrappers, the spine reinforced with an adhesive strip.

First edition of this important treatise, illustrated with 13 folding plates and inspired by the example of Fauchard, as the author himself acknowledges in his preface: "M. Fauchard (…) a été mon guide, & quand j’ai pu marcher sans guide, j’ai appris à respecter mes maîtres, à les abandonner quelquefois, & à ne diminuer jamais en rien l’estime qui leur est due."

See Garrison & Morton 3673.1. David, p. 39. Poletti, p. 16. Crowley, 783.

Contemporary full mottled calf, spine with five raised bands ruled in gilt and decorated with gilt floral tools within gilt panels, morocco lettering-pieces in bronze calf, volume pieces partly faded, gilt rolls to the headcaps, single-fillet blind-rule framing the covers, corners a little rubbed, gilt fillets to the board edges, marbled edges.

Scattered light foxing, not serious.

Provenance: copy of J. Pilane, doctor of medicine in Dijon, with contemporary manuscript ownership inscriptions on the half-title pages.

First edition originally written in French and illustrated at the end of the volume with a single engraved plate.

The English numismatist Henry Perigal Borrell (1795–1851) settled early in the Ottoman Empire as a dealer (in Smyrna in 1818). He quickly became one of the principal suppliers of the British Museum and of the English aristocracy in coins, medals and antiquities.

Small tears to the spine and a more significant one at the head of the upper cover, some light foxing.

First edition (cf. En français dans le texte, 288. Horblit, 11b. Printing and the mind of man, 353.)

Full black cloth binding, smooth spine, headcaps slightly softened, corners slightly frayed, contemporary binding,

Printed stamps on the title page and on the final page of the table of contents, which bears, on the facing page, a numerical annotation in black ink.

Unpublished manuscript comprising a collection of 17 captioned watercolours.

The work announced on the title page, "Vues et types du Sénégal", was never published, and the watercolours presented here were most likely intended to illustrate it.

The author of these watercolours is named at the foot of the table of plates: « A. Poquet (Del.) 1873 »., this illustrator is not recorded in either Bénézit or Bellier de La Chavignerie.

Modern half red shagreen binding with corners, spine with five raised bands gilt ruled, marbled paper boards.

A restored tear to the right margin of the final watercolour.

The volume consists of a calligraphed title leaf, with, on the verso, a list of plates (entitled « Table des gravures »), followed by the 17 watercolours mounted on the recto of each leaf, at a rate of one or two per page.

They depict landscapes, notable sites, various scenes, and figures in traditional dress.

Measuring 9.5 x 21 or 16 x 9 cm, they are accompanied by a handwritten caption:

 1. Dagana. - 2. Richard-Toll. - 3. Fort de Bakel. - 4. Princesse Mauresse, Trarzas [and] Maure Orfèvre, Trarzas. - 5. Type de coiffure de Malinkés. - 6. Homme Bambara [and] Femme Bambara. - 7. Femme Peule [and] Femme Mandingue. - 8. Jeune Maure Darmenkour [and] Femme Wolof portant son enfant. - 9. Palmier ronier. - 10. Deuxième barrage au-dessus du Félou. - 11. Montagnes de Maka Gnian. - 12. Vue de Koundian. - 13. Poste de Dabou.

On the title page, the name Bérenger Féraud has been crossed out in pencil.

This refers to Laurent Jean Baptiste Bérenger-Féraud (1832-1900), physician and ethnologist, head of the Senegal health service in 1872, chief physician in Toulon in 1873, and later director of the health service of Martinique in 1875.

The author of numerous medical publications, notably on tropical fevers, he also wrote several works on Africa, including "Etude sur les Ouolofs" (Paris, Ernest Leroux, 1875) and"Les peuplades de Sénégambie" (ibid., 1879).

A very fine group of unpublished watercolours devoted to Senegal.

A new edition, published anonymously, of the French translation.

Half black cloth binding with corners, spine without lettering, rubbed with small losses to the cloth at the joints, marbled paper boards, soiled original wrappers preserved, contemporary binding.

This rare Strasbourg printing escaped Sabin. It is in fact an adaptation of Struggles and Triumphs, the autobiography of the remarkable Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810–1891), first published by him in 1869.

Widely regarded as the father of the modern circus, Barnum was also a consummate master of spectacle and publicity. His conquest of Europe, accompanied by “General” Tom Thumb, measuring just 63 cm in height, remains legendary.

At the head of the front wrapper, a signed presentation inscription: G.R. to Mr Charles Amos, an industrialist who, in the mid-nineteenth century, established a hosiery and footwear factory in Wasselonne, near Strasbourg.

First edition.

Bradel binding in modern paper-covered boards of grey-blue stock, smooth spine lettered in black, original wrappers preserved; binding signed Laurenchet.

Label of the fishing library of M. Albert Petit pasted to the upper cover, no. 100.

The species are described in French, with their Latin and Greek names.

Stamp of the Société d'Acclimatation on the title-page.

A probably unique copy, comprising pulls of proofs of Masonic illustrations containing 38 plates, the majority double-page, numbered in red pencil from 1 to 40 (discontinuous numbering, with bis plates).

Not recorded in Caillet or Dorbon.

Bound in full black cloth, smooth spine, no lettering, title label pasted onto the upper cover, modern binding.

A restored tear in the left margin of plate 10, two angular tears in the left margin of plate 12 without affecting the image. Published by the Masonic booksellers Teissier et Cie, lithographed by J. Rigal et Cie and, in some cases, by A. Appert.

A highly interesting document on nineteenth-century Freemasonry

Rare first edition comprising a suite of 12 lithographs printed in colour on tinted grounds, numbered 1–12.

This series by the painter and lithographer Charles-Edouard de Beaumont (1821–1888), lithographed by Jaime, addresses the theme of children compelled to work from a very early age, exposed to street trades and itinerant entertainments.

Publisher’s half brown cloth over beige paper-covered boards, title stamped on the upper cover.

Some small tears and rubbing to the cloth spine, light dampstaining to the margins of the boards, occasional foxing, a small black mark to the upper cover.

The suite may be read either romantically or socially; in both cases it conveys a deeply poignant impression, all the more so as such subjects are ultimately seldom represented at a period which, par excellence, was that of child labour and early confrontation with poverty: 1. Match seller. – 2. Shrimp fishers. – 3. Street performers. – 4. Monkey seller. – 5. Performing dogs. – 6. Street singers. – 7. Chimney sweeps. – 8. Shepherd. – 9. Groom. – 10. Cabin boy. – 11. Broom sellers. – 12. Puppets.

Provenance: copy from the celebrated collection of Félicie Meunier d’Hostel, with her bookplate mounted on the front endpapers; subsequently in the library of Paul Gavault (1866–1951), playwright and theatre director.

Rare pre-first edition offprint of Charles de Gaulle's article Les Origines de l'armée française, published in issue 520 of the Revue d'Infanterie in January 1936. This 44-page text will be entirely reprinted two years later as the first chapter of his celebrated work La France et son armée, published by Plon in 1938. Our copy is enriched with an autograph inscription signed by the author "to M. Jean Auburtin": "With profound and faithful friendship. C. de Gaulle."

Blue wrappers slightly sunned at extremities, spine and upper joint rebacked, minor losses to spine, vertical crease probably from mailing, old creases to upper right corners, some ink stains on lower wrapper, old stamp affixed and partially torn on same wrapper.

First edition of the French translation, with false statement of second edition.

Full green cloth Bradel binding, flat spine decorated with a central gilt ornament, beige sheepskin title label, original wrappers preserved, contemporary binding signed in blind by Pierson. Some light foxing. 

Very rare presentation copy dated and signed by Ivan Turgenev to Anatole France: "Monsieur Anatole France / hommage de l'auteur / 1876".

Rare first edition, illustrated at the end of the volume with two folding plates.

Only two copies recorded in the CCF (BnF and Strasbourg). Backer & Sommervogel III, 1242 (59).

Our copy is preserved in its original provisional yellow paper wrappers,

With a few minor spots of foxing on the folding plates.

The Neapolitan Jesuit Raffaele Garrucci (1811–1885) devoted his work to the study of the Church Fathers as well as to both pagan and Christian antiquities.

He became one of the foremost disciples of Father Giuseppe Marchi, alongside the renowned Giovanni Battista de Rossi.

Very rare first edition of the French translation, illustrated at the end of the volume with one folding copper-engraved plate and two folding printed tables, all hors texte.

See Oberlé (for the Milan 1819 edition). Lacking from the Kilian Fristch Collection. Vicaire, 353-354.

A rare and appealing copy preserved in its original wrappers, with the plain provisional cover showing some surface wear.

First edition illustrated with 3 folding tables printed on separate leaves in the second text volume and 45 engraved plates, single or folding (3 maps, 42 plans and picturesque views), most with tissue guards, in the atlas volume.

Cf. Gay 266. Toussaint & Adolphe D1100. Ryckebusch II, 5713.

Some foxing throughout the text volumes and atlas.

Bindings in half black glazed calf with corners, smooth spines decorated with gilt fillets, circles and large gilt fleurons, burgundy calf lettering and volume-numbering labels, boards covered in paste paper with a cold-stamped garland border, light rubbing to spines and boards, bindings slightly later for the text volumes; the atlas volume in contemporary marbled paper boards, spine later and re-backed in green percaline, title label pasted to the centre of the upper board. The whole presented in a modern half bottle-green morocco slipcase, raised bands to spine, title label of the same leather pasted to the centre of the upper board.

Jacques-Gérard Milbert (1766–1840), landscape painter and engraver, was appointed to join the expedition to the Terres Australes led by Baudin, alongside Péron and Freycinet.

Forced to interrupt his journey at the Île de France on account of poor health, he remained there for two years and gathered during that time the materials for this work. Milbert subsequently became a corresponding member of the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, to which he had sent numerous botanical and zoological specimens.

Ryckebusch notes that "cet ouvrage rare comporte de multiples renseignements sur l'île de France, il concerne indirectement l'île Bourbon par certains chapitres (Administration de M. de La Bourdonnaye et de M. Poivre... habitants... culture et industrie... administration, etc)". 

Bookplate of Lady Le Fleming, of Rydal Hill, pasted to the front pastedown of the first volume.

First edition of Pierre Drieu la Rochelle's first book, one of 150 numbered copies on Hollande laid paper, the only deluxe copies.
Precious autograph inscription signed by Pierre Drieu la Rochelle : « to Charles Maurras this anxious testimony. Pierre Drieu la Rochelle ex. sergeant in the 146^th Infantry. October 1^st, 1917. »
Important testimony of the young Drieu la Rochelle's admiration – then in full intellectual development – for the « master of Martigues » to whom he sends this copy of his war poems composed in 1916 after being wounded at Verdun.
Demobilized and disillusioned by a war for which he had enlisted hoping to wash away the defeat of 1870, Drieu oscillates between Aragon's communism and Maurras's integral nationalism. Having discovered the latter in adolescence, he considers him from then on as one of his intellectual masters alongside Maurice Barrès, Rudyard Kipling and Friedrich Nietzsche. In November 1918, he would write to him: « It is you, it is your prudent thought that destroyed in me, around 1915 or 1916, my Germanic conception of joyful war. Having fought in the infantry during the first winter, I already knew all too well that war was not joyful... »
Glorifying Maurras as « the greatest political thinker of the last century » (Gilles), he is – like many young people of his generation – seduced by the patriotic aura as well as the taste for action and morality embodied by the leader of Action Française. Throughout the 1920s, the ambivalent Drieu will hesitate on which political path to take, before evolving toward fascism, definitively abandoning Maurrassian conservative ideology.

First edition, one of the numbered copies on vellum, the only printing.
Publisher's binding executed after the original design by Paul Bonet.
Rich iconography.
Handsome copy complete with its illustrated dust jacket.
Precious autograph inscription signed by André Malraux: "Pour Georges Bataille André Malraux."

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

First edition on ordinary paper, bearing the correct imprint dated 6 May 1959, with the false statement of second edition.
Spine very slightly sunned.
Signed and inscribed by Eugène Ionesco to the stage director, playwright, and writer Simone Benmussa on the half-title.

Autograph letter signed by Marshal Davout to his wife, Aimée Leclerc. Two and a half pages in black ink on a double sheet. Fold marks inherent to mailing.
Very likely unpublished letter ("the intimate correspondence of Marshal Davout ceases from August to November [1807]" incorrectly states the Marquise de Blocqueville in Le Maréchal Davout, prince d'Eckmühl, raconté par les siens et par lui-même) addressed to his beloved wife, sister-in-law of Pauline Bonaparte. Settled in his palace halfway between Warsaw and Łódź, Davout, now Governor General of the Duchy of Warsaw, longs for his wife and their property in Savigny-sur-Orge: "but although this place is one of the most beautiful in the country, it is a hundred thousand leagues from Savigny." He especially urges the marshal's wife to appear at court and remain close to the Emperor; she was notably in charge of requesting her husband's leave permissions from Napoleon himself. Davout could hardly escape from Poland ("If I could foresee the date of my definitive return") to deal, among other things, with the marital affairs of his cousin Hélène Davout: "I would ask you, if our cousin is not greatly attached to her future husband, to convince her that in the next six months we will find a more advantageous match for her, but events may occur that do not allow for leave.") This latter will eventually marry General François-Louis Coutard in Warsaw in 1808.
Very visual letter bearing a beautiful signature of Marshal Davout.

Autograph letter by Jean Cocteau, signed with his famous star, addressed to his great love, the actor Jean Marais. Dated by the author July 1940. One and a half pages in black ink on a sheet.
Two small marginal tears not affecting the text. Traces of transverse folds inherent to posting.
Magnificent love letter from Cocteau to Marais, who formed one of the most legendary artistic couples of the 20th century. Against the backdrop of defeat and German Occupation, their unbreakable bond is embodied in this letter from the writer with its desperate accents.
Published in the Lettres à Jean Marais, 1987, p. 157.
This missive from a love-stricken Cocteau was written shortly after the Armistice of June 22, 1940 marking the end of the French defeat. Marais, mobilized, had joined the front in May 1940 while Cocteau had taken refuge in Perpignan. Communication in these troubled times proved difficult: "Mon Jeannot, j'attends toujours ta réponse, mais avec une confiance absolue. Ce n'est pas pour rien que notre étoile nous a rapprochés l'un de l'autre, et sans doute, fallait-il que mes lettres ne t'arrivent pas et que je souffre de mon silence" ["My Jeannot, I am still waiting for your response, but with absolute confidence. It is not for nothing that our star brought us closer to one another, and no doubt, it was necessary that my letters not reach you and that I suffer from my silence"] "Tu es né chef, je suis né chef. Et sous notre étoile rien de ce que nous [...] ne peut s'annexer ni se perdre. Le principal est de se taire et d'attendre. [entre guillemets :] les choses ont une manière à elles d'arriver." C'est à nous de le savoir et de les laisser faire [...]" ["You were born a leader, I was born a leader. And under our star nothing of what we [...] can be annexed or lost. The main thing is to remain silent and wait. [in quotation marks:] things have their own way of happening." It is up to us to know this and let them do so [...]"]
The Cocteau - Marais partnership would soon return to Paris, and endure the torments of the German occupation which would ban the revival of their scandalous play Les Parents terribles, which had enjoyed great success in 1939.