Gift Ideas – Rare Editions

First edition illustrated with a large folding plate inserted out of text reproducing the Greek portion of the Rosetta Stone (cf. Quérard I, 48.)

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers, in temporary root-pattern paper covers.

A key figure in the establishment of literary repositories during the Revolution, and their transformation into libraries, the antiquarian Hubert-Pascal Ameilhon (1730-1811) remains an important, though far too neglected, figure in bibliography and the sciences.

This relative oblivion owes much to the small number of works published during his lifetime : the work offered here constitutes an essential link in the decipherment of the...

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 appears two years later as the first chapter of his celebrated work La France et son armée, published by Plon in 1938. Presentation copy 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...

First edition, one of 69 numbered copies on pur fil, the only deluxe paper copies.

A very handsome copy.

Rare and sought-after first edition.
 
Half-black shagreen binding, spine in four compartments, marbled paper boards, pebbled endpapers and pastedowns, speckled edges, contemporary binding.
Some occasional light foxing as usual.
 
Rare copy in strictly contemporary binding.

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".

First edition of this new Histoire générale des voyages, arranged and brought up to date with contemporary discoveries by Baron Charles-Athanase Walckenaer (1771-1852). Published in Paris between 1826 and 1831 in twenty-one octavo volumes, it constitutes the only portion ever completed of a project originally intended to extend to some sixty volumes. The final four volumes were prepared by Jean-Baptiste-Benoît Eyriès. Brunet V, 1041; Quérard X, 472; Gay 299; Hoefer XLVI, 498.

Contemporary half red Russia morocco with corners, spines with five raised bands, boards framed with blind fillets, marbled...

First edition of this substantially abridged French adaptation of Johann David Michaelis's Mosaisches Recht, published in Bordeaux in 1785 under the name of M. Senger.  Quatro; xii pp., 2 unnumbered leaves of preface and contents, 270 pp., one unnumbered privilege leaf.

Contemporary full mottled tan calf, smooth spine richly gilt in compartments with floral tools, dark green calf lettering-piece, gilt rolls at head and foot, covers framed with a triple gilt fillet, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, sprinkled edges. Restorations to spine and joints, internally a pleasing copy.

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.

Paris, Louis Janet and later Madame Veuve Louis Janet, from circa 1840 and subsequent years. 17 octavo volumes, 14.8 x 23.7 cm.

A set comprising the ten volumes of the first series and the seven volumes of the second, corresponding to the complete collection as described by Gumuchian. Uniformly bound in contemporary full burgundy calf, the smooth spines faded and decorated with gilt Romantic arabesques, gilt ornamental bands at head and foot, boards framed with double gilt fillets and gilt cornerpieces, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt lines to the board edges. Some corners slightly bumped. Scattered...

First edition, printed in a small run, of this offprint from the Mémoires présentés par divers savants à l’Académie des sciences, vol. XXII, no. 6.

This publication constitutes botanist Maxime Cornu’s (1843–1901) first work on phylloxera and stands among the earliest scientific studies in French devoted to the subject.

Our copy is preserved in its original plain blue waiting wrapper, showing two losses along the spine and some foxing to the panels.

Very scarce work illustrated with three plates.

Unpublished manuscript logbook kept by a French naval officer, an eyewitness to the celebrated action between the Aréthuse and HMS Amelia (1813), and to the campaigns that accompanied the restoration of French authority in the West Indies.

Unpublished autograph manuscript of 189 pages (the first 31 paginated, the remainder unnumbered), kept by an anonymous French naval officer and covering, without interruption, the period from 25 November 1812 to 4 May 1823.

Contemporary half tan calf, smooth spine decorated with repeated gilt rolls and naval ornaments, burgundy calf lettering-piece, brown paper-covered boards. Spine...

First edition.

Publisher's full cloth-backed pictorial boards, front board with color illustration, pictorial endpapers, a newspaper clipping photograph of the Disney couple pasted on the front pastedown. Minor lacks to the upper cover, corners slightly creased.

Exceptional incribed copy by Walt Disney on the front pastedown: "Best wishes / Walt Disney," below a portrait of him with his wife and their dog.

First edition of the Voyage pittoresque à l'Île-de-France, au Cap de Bonne-Espérance et à l'Île de Ténériffe, published in Paris by Auguste Nepveu in 1812 and printed by Le Normant. Two octavo text volumes with an accompanying atlas. The second text volume contains three folding tables; the atlas in the present copy comprises 45 engraved plates, both single-page and folding, including three maps and 42 plans and picturesque views, most retaining their tissue guards. 

Some foxing in the text volumes and atlas.

The text volumes in slightly later...

First edition, with no deluxe copies printed.
Pleasant copy, which is uncommon given the fragility of this book, often handled without care.
Inscribed and signed by Serge Gainsbourg to a recipient named Georges.
 

First edition, one of 275 numbered copies on Lana wove paper, the deluxe issue.

Illustrated with 31 hors-texte plates.

A fine, uncut copy, complete with its illustrated dust jacket.

Celebrated edition entirely engraved both images and text, richly illustrated with 6 engraved titles, a frontispiece and an engraved half-title for volume I, together with 243 figures, 473 vignettes and tail-pieces engraved by Fessard.

The illustration of the first three volumes is the work of Monnet, and in the last three by Fessard after Bardin, Bidauld, Caresme, Desrais, Houel, Kobell, Le Clerc, Leprince, Loutherbourg, and Meyer. The text is entirely engraved by Montulay and Drouet within decorative borders.

First edition, no copies on deluxe paper issued.

Half light brown morocco binding, flat spine with author stamped in gilt and title stamped in gilt lengthwise, gilt date at foot, brown stingray boards framed in morocco, brown suede endpapers and pastedowns, original covers and spine preserved, top edge gilt, elegant binding signed Thomas Boichot.

Manuscript ex-libris in black ink and a slight restoration to the upper right corner of the first...

Rare first edition, as referenced by Clouzot (see Guide du bibliophile français XIX^e siècle, p. 256).

A few insignificant spots of foxing, a small black ink stain at the bottom of pages 354–355. Complete with the errata leaf at the end of the volume.

Caramel half calf binding, spine with five raised bands ruled with gilt dotted lines and decorated with gilt and black tools, gilt fillets at head and foot of spine. Minor rubbing to the spine. Brown morocco title label. Marbled paper-covered boards framed with blind-stamped vertical rolls, endpapers and pastedowns in cat’s-eye paper, all edges gilt. Roman bookseller’s label at the top...

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...

First edition.
Some foxing to spine and boards.

Precious dated and signed autograph inscription from Irène Delmas, president of the National Association of Former Female Deportees and Prisoners of the Resistance (ADIR): "A monsieur Massin avec l'amitié et la reconnaissance des Anciennes Déportées de la Résistance. IRDelmas Présidente de l'ADIR. Paris 13 Novembre 1957." (To Mr. Massin with the friendship and gratitude of the Former Female Deportees of the Resistance. IRDelmas President of ADIR. Paris 13 November 1957.)

Our copy is exceptionally enhanced with the signatures of several members of the editorial committee of the Association of...

First edition, limited to 1,100 copies, divided into four fictitious editions within the same year, in order to create the illusion of commercial success. These were subsequently reissued with a new title-page bearing an edition statement and the author’s name, together with a volume designation on the half-titles (cf. Clouzot). Our copy carries the designation “third edition.” Contemporary bookplate traces on the upper pastedowns. Expert restorations to headcaps and joints, with a tiny loss at the foot of the lower joint of vol. I. A clean copy, entirely free of foxing.

Contemporary half chocolate calf bindings...

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.

First French edition, one of 77 numbered copies on pur fil, only deluxe issue.

Preface by Albert Camus.

Nice copy housed under a chemise and slipcase by Devauchelle.

First edition, one of 25 numbered copies on bouffant vellum paper from the Salzer mills, ours being No. 1, the only deluxe paper issue.
Handsome copy of this work awarded the Grand Prix du Roman of the Académie française. 
 

First edition of this complete suite of 18 numbered intaglio plates enhanced in colour, on 'J. Honig & Zoonen' laid paper, depicting 72 merchants accompanied by captions beneath each figure.
First printing, subsequent editions will feature individually numbered figures surrounded by a border.

Bound in half sienna morocco with corners, smooth spine, title stamped in gilt throughout, tiger patterned paper boards, combed paper endpapers and flyleaves, first cover retained, gilt head.
 
Extremely rare and the earliest known suite of prints depicting itinerant merchants and pedlars in Spain. Each figure is...

First edition, one of 100 numbered copies on pur fil de lana, only deluxe issue.
Nice copy.

First edition, printed in a small run of numbered copies.

With two photographic portraits: one of Charles Pathé and the other of his brother Émile, and a view of the Kodak-Pathé and Pathé-Cinéma factories.
3/4 beige sheepskin binding, spine with four raised bands decorated with black typographical motifs, date at foot of spine, marbled paper boards, endpapers and flyleaves.
Discrete restorations to spine, some rubbing to upper corners of boards.

Signed by Charles Pathé on his photographic portrait.

Rare first edition of this manual on film development.
Illustrated with 54 figures in the text and 6 folding plates at rear, containing 107 interest­ing samples of films negatives and celluloid.

With a frontispiece photographic portrait of Charles Pathé.

Skilfully restored brown half sheepskin pub­lisher's binding, smooth spine decorated with golden arabesques, small gaps filled at head of spine, marbled endpapers and past­edowns.

"In the early years of the twentieth century, the largest film production company was the Société Pathé Frères (Pathé Brothers Com­pany). Founded in 1897, the company was at its height in 1920s when it unveiled the first home...

First edition, one of 8 numbered copies on Chinese paper, the deluxe issue.
Bound in full red morocco, smooth spine, spine and boards decorated with a geometric design of black and gilt fillets representing interlaced mountain peaks in zigzag pattern, endpapers and pastedowns illustrated with an original lithograph signed in pencil by Germaine de Coster, following endpapers of red paper, original wrappers and spine preserved, top edge gilt; a very elegant contemporary binding signed by Hélène Dumas and Germaine de Coster.
This copy is further enriched with an original charcoal portrait of Jean Giono, signed by...

First edition, one of 200 numbered copies on Hollande paper, the only large paper copies.

3/4 blue morocco Bradel binding, spine with five raised bands highlighted with gilt dots and decorated with triple gilt compartments, gilt date at tail, gilt fillets on marbled paper boards, marbled paper flyleaves and pastedowns, original wrappers and spine preserved, top edge gilt, others uncut, binding signed Canape.

Rare copy of Guy de Maupassant's masterpiece beautifully bound in an elegant signed binding.

First edition of the French translation, one of 51 numbered copies on pure wove paper, the only copies printed on deluxe paper.
Spine and boards slightly and marginally sunned, as often.
Rare and handsome copy of this work, splendidly adapted for the screen in 1967 by Richard Brooks, with Robert Blake, Scott Wilson, John Forsythe, and John MacLiam in the leading roles.
Richard Brooks even went so far as to film in the actual house where the crime took place, as well as in the same courthouse, where 7 of the 12 jurors played their own roles.

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...

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...

2 frontispieces and 12 numbered engravings bound at rear of the second volume.
Small lack of paper to upper right corner and marginal restoration to the first volume's title page. Minor foxing, a light halo to the right margin of each of the 12 engravings at rear of the second volume.
Red half morocco binding, smooth spines with arabesques motifs in gilt, marbled paper boards, snags and rubbing to boards and edges, corners bent.
The book was first published as The Universal Cook in London in 1792; its fourth edition was translated into French...

First edition, one of 20 copies on Arches paper, most limited deluxe issue (tirage de tête).
Like all copies on Arches, it is wrapped in a double dust jacket in yellow and white, and bears the rare sanguine vignette drawn and engraved by Hans Bellmer.
Preface by Jean Paulhan.

Our copy is housed in a custom clamshell box featuring an original design signed by Julie Nadot.

Beautiful first edition copy of this masterpiece of erotic literature, in its most limited deluxe issue.

"CLAC: Cercle Littéraire des amis des caves / Cercle libre des amateurs de cuisse." ["Literary Circle of...

First edition of the French translation, by Raymond Queneau, of Nigerian author Amos Tutuola’s first novel. One of 86 copies on Lafuma-Navarre pur fil wove paper, the only deluxe issue.

A fine copy.

Actes et paroles - Avant l'exil, 1841-1851 [Words and Deeds - Before the Exile, 1841-1851]
Michel Lévy frères, Paris 1875, 19,5x25cm, bound.
First edition, one of 20 numbered copies on chine, most limited deluxe edition of this important collection of speeches, public declarations, and political texts intended for French parliament (Chamber of Peers, Constituent Assembly and Legislative Assembly), all written - as stated in the title - prior to his exile. These important texts address freedom of the press, theater and education, as well as the abolition of the death penalty.
Half red shagreen binding, smooth spine decorated in gilt lengthwise, marbled paper...

A unique combination of French translations of the first two philosophical works on the Sublime, marking the beginning of the most important reflection on aesthetics in Western history.
Extremely rare first edition of the first French translation of a philosophical work by Immanuel Kant, and the second ever translation of a Kantian text. The others were only translated during the 19th century. Illustrated with a portrait of the author by Benezy. The first edition in German was published in 1764 in Königsberg under the title "Beobachtungen über das Gefühl des Schönen und Erhabenen".
Contemporary half brown roan binding with vellum corners, smooth...