Love from Brutal to Sacred

First edition, a Service de Presse (advance) copy.
Foreword by Raymond Queneau.
Light dampstains to spine, some staining to board margins.
Rare autograph inscription signed by Boris Vian to the actress Jacqueline Pierreux, mother of Jean-Pierre Léaud, and to her husband the novelist and screenwriter Pierre Léaud: "Pour monsieur Léaud et mame Pierreux avec une bise (pas pour lui). Boris Vian." (For Mr. Léaud and Mrs. Pierreux with a kiss (not for him). Boris Vian.)
In April 1948, Jacqueline Pierreux created the role of Judy in the theatrical adaptation of "J'irai cracher sur vos tombes" at the Verlaine theatre, directed by Alfred Pasquali.

First edition with false statement of 3rd edition, as this theater play was first created at the théâtre français on January 18, 1866.
Split to upper part of joint of the second board, some wear to head and foot of joints, rubbed corners.
Contemporary deep green morocco binding. Arms of Napoléon III stamped at center of each boards. A nice copy.
In the aftermath of the Terror, the author portrays the protagonists of the French political revival: General Hoche and General Bonaparte in the Salon of Madame Tallien.

New edition illustrated with 52 unsigned plates, including 6 frontispieces. Volume V is a continuation of the history of Don Quixote, by the translator Filleau de Saint Martin. Volume VI written by the author Robert Challes. Title pages erroneously indicate 58 figures.
Brown full contemporary roan, stamped in gilt in between raised bands. Title page in red morocco. Small piece of leather lacking to upper part of Volume I, small loss to head of spine. In volume II, upper spine-end torn off and lower spine-end partly missing, some damage to lower cover. Volume III, damaged upper spine-end. Volume IV, lower spine-end missing. Volume V, upper spine-end missing. Volume VI, upper spine-end...

First edition, one of 9 numbered copies on japon, only deluxe issue aside from 35 copies on pur fil, and a few on coloured paper.

Full black morocco binding, flat spine, author’s name palladium-stamped, title stamped lengthwise in palladium and blind, grey long-grain shagreen inlays to boards with author and title stamped lengthwise in palladium and in blind, turn-ins framed in morocco, light plum suede pastedowns and flyleaves, three palladium decorated deckled edges, outstanding custom binding by Thomas Boichot.

Set of 52 original plates, etched and enhanced with watercolours at the time, numbered 1 to 52, mounted in pairs under mats.
 
Leaves in red half calf slipcase (early 20th century), red shagreen boards.
The plates vary in size (10.8 x 17.6 cm to 28.1 x 18.8 cm) and paper stock, as was often the case with La Mésangère's publications. Unbound engraved title on a bifolium, printed separately, absent from most copies. It is replaced here by its identical reprint by Gosselin (1893-1903), on antique watermarked paper and bears the publisher's 'G' mark, characteristic of this reprint a century later. All the plates, however, are in their first edition, without the G...

Autograph letter dated from Liane de Pougy to the French archaeologist, curator of the Musée de Saint-Germain and professor of art history at the École du Louvre, Salomon Reinach, 56 lines written in blue ink on one double-sided sheet, written from her property at Clos-Marie in Roscoff where the famous courtesan stayed until 1926.
A small tear in the right-hand margin of the letter, inherent in the enveloping of the missive; another slight tear at the foot, without affecting the text.
Liane de Pougy marvels at the youthful vigor of Reinach, who had just turned 65: ' Many happy returns for your 65 years, which find you so young, so fresh, so green, with such playful (studious)...

First edition printed in 300 numbered copies on pure rag vellum from the marais, ours being one of the 246 containing illustrations in the text.
Work illustrated with 18 unsigned drypoints in the text by Fernand Hertenberger.
Boards uniformly and lightly sunned.
Rare and handsome copy.

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...

Japan, circa 1900. Erotic emakimono composed of twelve original paintings on silk, mounted continuously in a scroll covered with silk patterned with gilt brocade and bordered with gilt edging. The outer margins are of printed silk, while the paintings are laid onto a paler silk ground decorated with cloud motifs, the whole mounted on paper. A few small spots and light stains to the silk. Each painting measures 18 x 23.5 cm; complete scroll: 24.5 x 380 cm. In very good overall condition.

The series comprises twelve scenes, a number traditionally associated with painted shunga scrolls. Here...

Painted handscroll, or makimono, comprising twelve paintings on silk with a transparent ground, mounted end to end to form a long continuous strip measuring 840 cm - that is, twelve panels of 70 x 14 cm - laid down on paper and edged with gold along its slips. When fully unrolled, the supporting paper strip measures 869 cm. Scroll mounted on a wooden rod and preserved in its original green silk wrapper. Some foxing and localised staining affect certain panels, without impairing the harmony of the whole, which remains in satisfactory condition.

Unsigned, this scroll is stylistically related to the circle of Miyagawa Shuntei (1873-1914), a painter and illustrator trained...

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.

To make the strength of marriage consist in that of love is to go so far as to misunderstand the spirit of this institution.

"On June 28, 1970, I attended the first New York Gay Pride March. The date marks the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots, which launched the LGBTQ+ liberation movement in the U.S. We left from Christopher Street, a gay cultural mecca in Greenwich Village, and walked up 6th Avenue to Central Park. To end the day, a kissing contest was held in the middle of the park! It was a great moment of joy, love and freedom. This couple, who kissed for hours under an umbrella, obviously didn't care about photographers" (Interview with Clément Thierry, 2021)

"On June 28, 1970, I attended the first New York Gay Pride March. The date marks the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots, which launched the LGBTQ+ liberation movement in the U.S. We left from Christopher Street, a gay cultural mecca in Greenwich Village, and walked up 6th Avenue to Central Park. To end the day, a kissing contest was held in the middle of the park! It was a great moment of joy, love and freedom. This couple, who kissed for hours under an umbrella, obviously didn't care about photographers" (Interview with Clément Thierry, 2021)

"On June 28, 1970, I attended the first New York Gay Pride March. The date marks the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots, which launched the LGBTQ+ liberation movement in the U.S. We left from Christopher Street, a gay cultural mecca in Greenwich Village, and walked up 6th Avenue to Central Park. To end the day, a kissing contest was held in the middle of the park! It was a great moment of joy, love and freedom. This couple, who kissed for hours under an umbrella, obviously didn't care about photographers" (Interview with Clément Thierry, 2021)

"On June 28, 1970, I attended the first New York Gay Pride March. The date marks the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots, which launched the LGBTQ+ liberation movement in the U.S. We left from Christopher Street, a gay cultural mecca in Greenwich Village, and walked up 6th Avenue to Central Park. To end the day, a kissing contest was held in the middle of the park! It was a great moment of joy, love and freedom. This couple, who kissed for hours under an umbrella, obviously didn't care about photographers" (Interview with Clément Thierry, 2021)

Cela fait bien longtemps que je te connaissais, mon coeur
Cela fait bien longtemps que je te connaissais
Et tu ne savais pas ce que c'est que d'aimer, mon coeur
Et tu ne savais pas ce que c'est que d'aimer

Si tu m'aimais
Si c'était vrai
Quelle surprise
Si tu voulais
Si tu venais
Quelle surprise
Si j'entendais
Dans l'escalier
Tes pas timides
Tes pas rapides
Qui se décident

Illustrated edition with twelve original etchings by Édouard Chimot, issued in a limited edition of 576 numbered copies. The present copy, no. 111, is one of 100 printed on tinted Van Gelder Holland wove paper, accompanied by the usual double suite of the etchings in colour and in black.

It is further enriched with an original signed drawing by Édouard Chimot and an exceptional quadruple suite, on Japan paper, of eight of the etchings illustrating the work: the unreduced line engraving, the...