Militaria

First edition, one of 110 numbered copies on vergé pur fil d'arches, the most limited deluxe issue.

A blue ballpoint pen mark to the upper cover, spine and boards lightly and partially sunned, as is often the case.
Untrimmed copy with wide margins, illustrated throughout.
A typed letter of thanks from Pierre Clostermann, signed by him and addressed to Henri Torrès, bound to the left margin of the half-title page.

Our copy exceptionally contains two original watercolours (14 x 10.5 cm) depicting two R.A.F. bomber aircraft flown by Pierre Clostermann: the Vickers-Armstrong "Wellington" and the Bristol...

Rare first edition. The first volume dated 4 August 1876, followed by the second volume published on 6 November with Un drame au Mexique bound in. All first editionswere published in 18° format. 

Half brown shagreen bindings, spines with four raised bands ruled in black and framed in black with with central gilt fleurons, marbled paper boards, paste-down endpapers and flyleaves of hand-marbled paper, sprinkled edges, contemporary bindings.

A handsome first edition copy of this celebrated Siberian adventure, attractively bound in contemporary bindings.

This first appearance of the text in book form was Jules Verne's preferred format, as Jauzac...

First edition, one of 175 numbered copies on pur fil wove paper, this being copy No. 1, specially printed for Madame General Frère, one of the deluxe issue.

Contemporary full red shagreen, spine with four raised bands decoratively tooled in blind with fillets and a coat of arms, light rubbing to the joints, gilt rolls to the spine ends, spotting to the boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillet border to the pastedowns, gilt rules to the edges, corners slightly bumped, top edge gilt, others untrimmed.
General Aubert Frère was notably a hero of the French Resistance, serving as organizer and commander of the Resistance within the Army; he was arrested by the Nazis in...

First edition of the French translation, one of 50 numbered copies on vellum, the only deluxe paper copies.

Illustrated wrappers.

A handsome copy.

First edition, with no deluxe paper copies issued.

Spine and covers lightly and marginally sunned, as is often the case, with a small loss at the foot of the spine.

A scarce and pleasing copy, considering the poor quality of the paper.

First edition, one of 822 numbered copies on pur fil paper, the only deluxe paper issue after 109 reimposed copies.
A pleasing copy despite two small areas of sunning at the head and foot of the spine.

First edition of the French translation, for which no deluxe paper copies were issued, with the correct "achevé d’imprimer" dated February 1939.

A fine copy, complete with its illustrated dust-jacket, as usual showing only slight rubbing and minor marginal tears, not affecting its overall appearance.

The work is illustrated, facing the title-page, with a map of the south-eastern United States during the Civil War.

First edition, decorated with provincial coats of arms, as well as elaborately engraved headpieces, initials and tailpieces. 

Contemporary mottled brown calf, spine richly gilt with fleur-de-lys tools, red morocco title and numbering pieces, gilt roll to the board edges, red mottled edges, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.

Spine headcaps lacking, wear to the hinges, boards slightly warped, gilding rubbed to the board edges, scuffing and scratching to the boards, corners and board edges rubbed. 

Occasional light foxing throughout.

Third edition, one of 200 numbered copies on handmade wove paper, the only large-paper issue. 

Bound in red half-shagreen, spine with five raised bands framed by gilt dotted fillets and gilt double fillets, marbled paper boards, sprinkled top edge, pastedowns and endpapers in marbled paper, original front wrapper preserved, lower edge and fore-edge uncut.

Corners with light wear.

Rare collection of pamphlets printed in Toulon or Marseille, notably during the Restoration period, several of which implicate senior military figures of the First Empire.

The first item is: "Ordonnance du Roi, Portant règlement sur les Franchises du Port de Marseille et Suite de l'Ordonnance..." printed in Toulon, by Alx (sic) Curet, (1815), 16 pages, comprising an extract from the Moniteur of 24 February 1815.

Bound in half ivory vellum with corners, smooth spine, manuscript inscription in black ink to spine, blue pasteboards with some surface abrasions, contemporary binding.

Some foxing. A few nicks to the edges.

Bound in continuation:

1)...

First edition, illustrated with figures in the text (cf. Hage Chahine, 4405.)

Contemporary bradel binding in full beige percaline, smooth spine darkened, olive green shagreen lettering-piece, binding of the period.

Occasional foxing.

The sole edition of one of the earliest works by the numismatist Gustave-Léon Schlumberger (1844-1929), who specialised in the history of the Crusades and the Byzantine Empire.

Autograph inscription signed by Gustave-Léon Schlumberger to the archaeologist Alban-Emmanuel Guillaume-Rey (1837-1916), a specialist of medieval Syria.

First edition of the French translation, illustrated with a plan of Macao and 51 engraved plates by S. Simon after drawings by William Alexander (cf. Cordier, Sinica, 2387).

In the train of Lord Macartney’s embassy, by Mr Holmes, sergeant-major of his guard; to which have been added the Views, Costumes, etc., of China, by Mr W. Alexander, the plates from the original atlas of the embassy omitted from the French translation, together with their explanations. Translated from the English (…), revised and published with observations on the political and commercial relations of England and France with China, and notes by L. Langlès. 

Nineteenth-century binding in tan...

First edition illustrated at the end of the volume with 2 folding engraved plates by Gobille after drawings by Guillet, depicting an ancient theatre and a plan of Athens with its surroundings (cf. Blackmer 766. Weber 364. Brunet, Table, 22855.)

Contemporary full brown sheep binding, spine with four raised bands decorated with compartments tooled in gilt, now very rubbed, restorations to the spine and covers.

First historiographer of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, to which he was admitted in 1682, Guillet de Saint-George (Thiers, circa 1625 - Paris, 1705) became known through several writings, the principal ones relating to Greece and the Ottoman Empire.

Partly pre-original edition for the first work and first complete edition for the second.

See F. Monaghan 239 and 240. Cited by Lasseray, "Les Français sous les treize étoiles"

Bound in at the end: "Guerre d'Amérique. 1780-1783. Journal de campagne de Claude Blanchard", printed in Paris by Librairie J. Dumaine and L. Baudoin in 1881.

Contemporary half blue percaline, smooth spine decorated with a gilt fleur, double gilt fillet at foot, brown shagreen title-piece with rubbing, marbled paper boards with a few scratches, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.

The half-title of the second volume was not bound in.

The pre-original edition bears manuscript...

New edition, partly original, constituting a revised and expanded version of the author’s doctoral thesis.

A few minor spots of foxing. 

Contemporary full fawn calf, smooth spine gilt with decorative friezes and floral tools, slight rubbing to the joints, red shagreen title label, gilt rolls to the spine ends, marbled endpapers, marbled edges, gilt fillets to the board edges, period binding. 

A military physician, the author took part in the Russian campaign and was attached to the Imperial Guard field hospitals in Vilna under the command of Larrey. 

First edition (cf. Barbier, IV, 232. Palau, 260438.)

Contemporary full tawny calf binding, spine in five compartments ruled with gilt garlands and richly decorated with gilt tools, gilt rolls to the caps, a small loss at the foot of the spine, red morocco lettering-piece, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets to the edges, lower corners bumped, speckled edges, binding of the period.

Some light foxing.

First edition.

Minor spotting to the boards.

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers, under plain white provisional covers.

Then French minister to the Court of Saint Petersburg, Louis-Philippe de Ségur (1753-1830) intervened in the constitutional debate that was stirring the National Assembly concerning the attribution of the right to declare peace and war (to the King? to the Assembly?).

New edition, limited to 2,000 numbered copies on Lafuma vellum.

Signed autograph presentation inscription by Henri Barbusse beneath the limitation statement: "A Marcel Granoux fraternellement. Henri Barbusse."

Included are an original photograph of Henri Barbusse (8.9 × 13.8 cm, from the G.L. Manuel Frères studio), showing him full face, together with two typed letters dated 28 April and 2 July 1930, signed by Henri Barbusse, concerning an article he was late in sending and a copy of Le Feu that he promises to inscribe and forward to his correspondent.

The first typed letter also bears two manuscript corrections by Henri...

New illustrated edition with plates hors-texte.

Bindings in half red shagreen with corners, spines with four raised bands gilt with dotted tooling and decorated with double gilt compartments; some rubbing to the spines; two water stains, to the left margin of the upper board of the first volume and to the right margin of the lower board of the second volume; a few marks to the corners; boards of cat’s-eye paper framed with double gilt fillets; marbled endpapers and pastedowns.

At the head of the first volume, a signed autograph presentation inscription by Lazare-Hippolyte-Sadi Carnot to General Henri Joseph Brugère.

First edition, one of 13 numbered copies on imperial Japan paper, deluxe issue.

Spine and boards very lightly and marginally sun-toned, without significance.

Rare and pleasing copy, with full margins and uncut.

First edition, one of the 10 numbered and justified copies on japon paper, the only large-paper issue announced.

Contemporary half brown morocco binding in the Bradel style, smooth spine, marbled paper boards, handmade endpapers, bookplate affixed to the front pastedown, original wrappers and spine preserved, top edge gilt, period binding.

Signed and dated autograph inscription from Jean Puget to his publisher Pierre Briquet: "... en souvenir des jours héroïques..."

Provenance: from the personal library of publisher Pierre Briquet, with his bookplate affixed to the front pastedown.

Exceptionally rare copy featuring...

First edition printed on regular stock.

Small tears to the head and foot of the spine.

Fine presentation inscription, signed by Henri de Montherlant to Georges Bataille.

First edition, one of 170 numbered copies on pur fil.

An agreeable copy preserved under a double wrapper.

Rare and important first edition.

Our copy is sold unbound. A minor worm-trail on all leafs' heads, not affecting text. 

The work describes the dress, headdress, arsenal and equipment of soldiers and officers of the French army; it also addresses the cavalry, dragoons, and hussars.

The chapter devoted to the distinctive uniform of each regiment includes a list of these regiments, some of which took part in the American Revolutionary War. 

First edition (see Sabin 97501).

A light dampstain to the right margin of the opening leaves.

Half brown cloth binding, smooth spine with a brown sheep lettering-piece, boards with marbled paper; a modest later binding.

After distinguishing himself—at times infamously—during the wars of the French Revolution, notably in Vendée, Louis-Marie Turreau [1756–1816] later served in Italy and captured the city of Susa.

He held the post of Ambassador to the United States from 1804 to 1811 and was created Baron of the Empire upon his return. His Aperçu of 1815 offers a bitter critique of the federal government. Turreau’s name is inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe...

First edition of the French translation prepared by Lamole de Tamayo of this monumental publication, long sought after for its exceptionally rich iconography: 107 plates hors texte, including 2 in colour (mostly portraits), 2 folding colour maps, and a very large number of in-text figures and photographs (portraits, views, reproductions of early engravings, types and costumes, portraits, etc.).

Publisher’s bindings in half brown shagreen, smooth spines decorated with gilt fillets and dotted tooling, as well as blind-stamped panels; gilt titles and ornaments in relief on the green percaline boards; publisher’s bindings signed E. Domenech-Barna.

Some rubbing to the spines with...

Edition issued after William Robertson’s History of America (cf. Sabin 38363, which records a work comprising the history of these three explorers under a collective title, printed in 1781).

Bound at the end is: "Kurzgefasste Geschichte des Ferdinand Cortez, Eroberers von Mexico und Franz von Pizarro ersten Entdeckers und Eroberers von Peru", published in Frankfurt by Eichenberg in 1781.

Contemporary early twentieth-century half red shagreen, spine in five raised bands ruled in gilt, minor rubbing to the spine, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.

Some light scattered foxing.

The preface to the work on Cortez notes that publication was...

First edition (cf. Sabin, 64,876).

Spine cracked with small losses; slight marginal tears and losses to the wrappers.

The subject of this dissertation does not, of course, concern the State of the same name (a member of the Confederacy during the Civil War), but the vessel, the CSS Alabama, a sloop of war with combined steam and sail propulsion, built in Great Britain in 1862. It served in the Confederate States Navy until it was sunk on 19 June 1864 following a naval engagement with the Union sloop of war USS Kearsarge off the port of Cherbourg, France.

In the aftermath of the war arose the Alabama Claims, demands for damages brought by the Federal Government of the...

First edition, illustrated with a folding map at the end of the volume (see Fumagalli 730, and Gay, 2674bis (collation of the first two parts only: 292 pp.). 

The third part of this history of the "Ethiopia of the Ancients" is devoted to Christianity, the religion most widely practised in Abyssinia.

Occasional light foxing, chiefly affecting the folding map.

Half blue shagreen binding, spine with five raised bands gilt with dotted tooling and decorated with double gilt panels, slight rubbing to the spine, dark navy percaline boards framed with blind fillets, a small loss of percaline at the foot of the upper board, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, speckled...

First edition, illustrated with two plates, including an engraved portrait frontispiece by S. Desmaretz and Couché after Scheibler, together with an engraved headpiece by De Launay (cf. Quérard, VII, 240; Polak, 7650).

Account of the career of Jean Bart, squadron leader in the French Navy and Knight of the Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis, forming part of the collection devoted to the nineteen engagements of this celebrated seaman, engraved by M. Le Gouaz; followed by historical, biographical and topographical notes on the origins of Dunkirk and the political importance of its port (...). With engraved plates and vignettes. Dedicated to H.E. the Minister of the Navy and the...

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...

First edition, illustrated at the end of the volume with a folding plate showing surgical instruments (cf. Garrison & Morton 2158.1; V. Rozier 3346).

A copy preserved in the original wrappers, in contemporary orange marbled paper without lettering.

Spine split; a light dampstain to the lower margins of the first few leaves.

Percy stresses the importance of immediate care for the wounded on the battlefield. "One of Napoleon's leading surgeons, Percy laid down his principles of the practice of military surgery in the same year he was appointed médecin consultant of the Army of the North. He divised his own instrument for bullet extraction, the tribulcon. He was...

New edition of the French translation of this work, originally published in 1731 in two quarto volumes (see Brunet IV, 456).

This edition is illustrated with 8 folding plates, comprising 3 maps and 5 views.

Contemporary full marbled tan calf bindings, smooth spines richly decorated with gilt floral panels, bronze calf lettering- and volume-pieces, small wormholes to the spines, gilt rolls to the caps, single blind fillet framing the boards, marbled endpapers, gilt fillets to the board edges, red edges, bindings of the period.

Repairs to the joints, a few occasional spots of foxing.

The translator of this French version, written "en un style aisé, clair, même...

A very rare collection of three anonymous political pamphlets, issued without place or publisher in 1783 and 1784, all in first edition and bound together at the time in one octavo volume:

1. Considérations politiques, par M.***. N.p., 1783, title and 77 pp. Conlon 83:1465.
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. N.p., n.d. [1783]...

Substantial collection of theses submitted to the Special School of Medicine of Strasbourg between 1803 and 1808, composed in Latin or French and arranged in reverse chronological order.

Contemporary binding in speckled fawn half sheep, smooth spine decorated with triple gilt fillets, black sheep lettering-piece partly rubbed, vellum tips, yellow edges, corners worn; period binding.

I. ORDINAIRE (Désiré): Dissertation sur l'influence de l'habitude sur les facultés physiques et morales de l'homme (2 ll. unnumbered, 33 pp.). The Fourierist Désiré Ordinaire (1773-1847) was professor of natural history, then academy inspector and rector of the Academies of Besançon...

Folio manuscript from the second half of the 18th century, comprising 2 unnumbered leaves and 258 foliated pages, containing extracts and summaries of royal orders and dispatches of the Conseil de Marine from September 1715 to March 1723. The volume therefore covers the entire period of activity of this institution, created at the beginning of the Regency as part of the polysynody and maintained until its disappearance in 1723.

Contemporary restored full tan calf. Smooth spine decorated with gilt compartments and gilt tools, partly faded, lettering-piece lacking, a gilt rampant lion stamped at the centre of...

Manuscript of unnumbered leaves comprising a digest of ordinances and regulations relating to the French naval troops, most promulgated between 1690 and 1751.

The manuscript is preserved in its original stitched wrappers, in contemporary paper covers with manuscript annotations; tears to the opening leaves affecting the text; housed in a cream card portfolio. 

It contains: Royal regulation of 1690 concerning the levy, pay and discipline of the naval troops. – Royal regulation of 1691 governing the billeting, conduct, march, policing and discipline of the naval troops. – Royal ordinances of 1695 and 1700 on the policing and discipline of the compagnies franches. – Ordinance of...

Fine contemporary manuscript plan in colour depicting the region (now within the Var department) extending from Le Thouar in the north to the Château Sainte-Marguerite in the south, of considerable strategic importance as the eastern defensive line protecting the approaches to Toulon.

Fold marks without tears or loss.

Fine hand-coloured manuscript plan depicting the area (now in the Var department) situated north of the village of La Valette (today La Valette-du-Var), extending to the lower slopes of Mont Coudon (702 m).

Creasing to the manuscript sheet.

Manuscript drawing consisting of a coloured sketch of one of the fort’s bastions, with scale in toises.

Construction of the Fort de Lamalgue, situated on the hill of the same name and intended to secure the landward approaches to Toulon while also protecting Fort Saint-Louis (Mourillon), which had been bombarded and abandoned during the siege of 1707, began in 1764 under the direction of Milet de Monville.

Works continued until 1792.

Traces of folding to the sheet.

Rare illustrated first edition with two large folding plates (Lugeol system; regulatory system) (see Polak 6168).

Lettered spine restored and reattached; pleasing internal condition.

The only edition of this scarce work (the 1845 edition noted by the Bibliothèque nationale appears to be a misreading).

Jean-Gustave Lugeol (1799–1866), who entered the navy in 1813, held the rank of captain in 1843; he took part in most naval campaigns of the Restoration and the July Monarchy; promoted to rear admiral in 1852, he remained on active service until 1864.

Rare first edition.

Our copy is offered unbound, preserved in comb-marbled paper wrappers, red edges.

The sole and scarce edition of this treatise written by a surgeon-major of the Santerre and Touraine regiments.

First edition of these important memoirs covering the years 1747 to 1783 (cf. Sabin 39271).

Contemporary full mottled calf, smooth spine gilt with fillets, roulettes and floral tools, some rubbing with small losses of leather at the foot of the upper board, marbled endpapers, gilt fillets to the edges, marbled edges; period binding.

Upper cap and corners restored.

The duc de Lauzun (1747–1793) accompanied the comte de Rochambeau during the French expedition to America; he recounts this campaign in his Mémoires, pp. 339–375.

The editorial history of this publication deserves notice: the original manuscript having not been recovered, the text—issued some twelve times...

Very rare fully mimeographed first edition of this course prepared for officers of the French Army of the Levant, issued locally under the French Mandate in Syria and Lebanon.

No copy recorded in the CCF. Not in Hage Chahine.

Minor marginal tears to the wrappers, a manuscript ex-libris on the upper wrapper, and a hole in the lower wrapper also affecting the final page but not the text.

The Belgian Jesuit and orientalist Henri Lammens (1862–1937) spent almost his entire life in Beirut; he was the first to apply to the study of the origins of Islam a critical method as rigorous as that used for any historical subject, which earned him much hostility and repeated...

First edition of this rare imprint from the Vivarais.

A single copy recorded in the CCFr (Grenoble).

Contemporary half brown cloth binding, smooth spine without lettering with a small scuff, boards of vat-made paper; a modest 19th-century binding. 

Charles La Font de Savine (1742–1814), Bishop of Viviers and later of Ardèche (1778–1793), was one of only four bishops in office in 1789 to swear the constitutional oath. The "citoyen Savine" was subsequently required to surrender his pectoral cross and all episcopal insignia, together with his letters of priesthood, on 1 December 1793, and to resign his public office as bishop of the diocese of Ardèche; arrested as a suspect...

Rare illustrated first edition, complete with three folding maps printed at the end of the volume: Cercle de Biskra, Zaatcha et les oasis voisines, Plan des attaques de Zaatcha du 7 octobre au 26 novembre 1849 (cf. Playfair 2479. Tailliart 1903.) 

Bound in modern half black shagreen, spine with five raised bands, gilt date at foot, minor rubbing to foot of spine, comb-marbled paper sides, brown paper endleaves and pastedowns, top edge gilt. 

Occasional foxing, manuscript bookplate in violet pencil on a flyleaf.

First edition, printed in a limited number, of this extract from the Mémoires de la Société nationale des antiquaires de France, volume XXXIX.

Only two copies recorded in the CCFr (BnF and BULAC). Not listed in Hage Chahine.

This fascicle is illustrated with one in-text figure and two folding plates; our copy is exceptionally enhanced with an additional hand-coloured plan, featuring manuscript annotations in pencil.

Contemporary half-cloth binding in almond percaline, smooth spine with a central gilt ornament and double gilt fillet at the tail, red morocco leather title label, pebbled paper boards, original rear wrapper preserved.

Archaeologist and...

First edition of the French translation.

Loukia Droulia (849) records this work without having been able to examine it. Not in Blackmer and Atabey, who describe the English edition published the same year (A narrative of Lord Byron's last journey to Greece).

Contemporary full mottled beige calf, flat spine elaborately decorated with gilt garlands and fleurons, red morocco lettering piece, minor rubbing at the foot of the joints, gilt tooling to spine-ends, borders of gilt dotted rules, gilt garlands to the boards also framed in gilt, edges framed in gilt, marbled edges.

A few minor and unobtrusive spots.

Pietro Gamba (1801-1826) was the brother of...

First edition of the French translation (cf. Sabin 26375).

A defence of Catholic principles addressed to a Protestant minister (…) preceded by a notice on the author’s life and virtues. Translated from the English by Prince Augustin Galitzin. Paris, Ch. Douniol [printed by Simon Raçon et Comp.], 1856, 12mo.

Contemporary half navy blue shagreen, spine with four raised bands ruled and panelled in gilt, slight unobtrusive rubbing to the spine, marbled boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.

Scattered foxing.

A work of religious controversy; the preface offers interesting information regarding Prince Galitzin’s activities in the United States.

Bound after it...

Very rare first edition, printed anonymously in London in June and July 1784. Octavo. Sabin 21044. The French Catalogue collectif de France records only two copies, at the Bibliothèque nationale de France and in Rouen. The first edition collates v, 320, viii pp., with table and errata.

Nineteenth-century green half calf with corners, smooth spine slightly darkened and ruled in gilt, marbled paper boards framed with a gilt fillet and with a crowned gilt cipher within a central cartouche, lemon edges. Corners bumped, a few small abrasions to board edges. Bookplate to one pastedown. A few small spots...

First edition (cf. Cordier, Sinica, 1643).

Small tear and minor loss at the head of the spine; covers slightly soiled.

A highly interesting trilingual lexicon, presenting Chinese ideograms alongside their phonetic transcription, published in the immediate aftermath of the French expedition of 1858.

It includes, for example, practical phrases such as how to ask "Quelle est la nature de la rade ?" or how to reply that a general is "très brave ; il ne recule devant rien".

Claude-Philibert Dabry de Thiersant (1826–1898) began his career as a naval officer before turning to diplomacy, a path that led him to hold several consular posts in the Far East...

First edition.

Our copy is offered in loose sheets, unbound.

Very rare first edition of this Mauritian imprint of a charitable lecture delivered during the war in the island’s second city, by the Solesmes Benedictine Dom Paul Chauvin (1866–1937), preacher and prior of the Parisian Abbey of La Source.

Only one copy recorded in the CCF (Rennes).

Bradel-style binding in half brown glacé morocco, smooth spine, date and place gilt at foot, top edge gilt, sides in handmade paper, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers preserved, contemporary binding.

At the head of the title page, an autograph inscription by Paul Chauvin to the Duke and Duchess of Bauffremont (the sixth duke, Pierre-Eugène de Bauffremont, 1843–1917...

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 edition (cf. Quérard II, 140).

Our copy is preserved in its original publisher’s wrappers, under the plain pink provisional cover; the spine is split and faded with losses, and there are small marginal tears to the covers.

A scholar and statesman from Île de France (present-day Mauritius), J.-F. Charpentier de Cossigny (1736–1809) was elected deputy for the island to the Constituent Assembly. He returned there in 1800, sent by Bonaparte to announce the advent of the Consular regime and to serve as Director of gunpowder manufacture in Port Louis.

But because he sought to employ enslaved workers while paying them as free men, he encountered such fierce opposition...

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.

First edition, illustrated with a map of the Mexican states at the time of the Conquest in 1521, by Malte-Brun (see Sabin 7429, Leclerc 1079, Brasseur de Bourbourg, Bibliothèque Mexico-Guatémalienne, p. 27, Numa Broc, Amérique, pp. 45-47).

Originally engraved by Erhard Schieble, this map is presented here as an early facsimile, likely produced by the publisher to complete his copies.

Bound in half havana shagreen, spines with four raised bands decorated with gilt tooling and gilt panels and fillets, orange shagreen title labels, minor rubbing to spines, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, twentieth-century bindings.

Waterstains...

Second edition, partly original, as enlarged (cf. Barbier II, 241: gives "Deslandes". Polak 1130. INED 737. See Sabin 19744 for the first English edition published the same year.)

Full brown sheep binding, smooth spine gilt-ruled and decorated with gilt compartments and floral tools, rubbing to the joints, gilt rolls on the head- and tailcaps partly dulled, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets on the board edges faint in places, red edges, a period binding.

Some repairs to the spine.

Pages 191 to 252 contain the "Mémoire historique sur les Indes Braves, et les Forbans François du Golfe de Darien".

This edition appeared in the same year as the...

First edition, illustrated with 2 engraved portraits on separate leaves by Adam after Du Simitière (Washington and Arnold), and with 1 folding plan (forts, batteries and the post of West Point in 1780) (cf. Sabin 3302; Quérard I, 173).

Contemporary half polished brown calf, smooth spine ruled in triple gilt fillets, gilt decorative rolls at head and foot, orange calf lettering-piece, minor rubbing to spine and joints, marbled paper sides, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.

Occasional foxing, manuscript corrections in black ink on the second page of the introduction.

First edition of the penultimate royal military yearbook issued (cf. Grand-Carteret, Almanachs, 158; Saffroy, Almanachs et annuaires, 306).

This comparatively scarce state was published without interruption from 1744 to 1789.

A transverse fold affecting the upper cover, with a tear to the verso.

Contemporary old red morocco, smooth spine gilt with friezes and fleurs-de-lys, covers framed with triple gilt fillets, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt rules to the edges, corners rubbed, all edges gilt; contemporary binding.

Our copy contains numerous contemporary cancellations and manuscript additions within the text; followed by 15 unnumbered leaves filled...

First edition (cf. Grand-Carteret, Almanachs, 158; Saffroy, Almanachs et annuaires, 306).

Contemporary full old red morocco, smooth spine gilt with friezes and fleurs-de-lys, one joint split at the head, boards framed with triple gilt fillets, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, bookplate laid down on a pastedown, gilt edges to the boards, corners slightly rubbed, all edges gilt; binding of the period.

This rather scarce issue was published without interruption from 1744 to 1789. 

Provenance: from the library of the heraldist Olivier Le Bas, with bookplate laid down on a pastedown.

An attractive copy, handsomely bound in contemporary full red morocco.

First edition of the French translation, established from the second edition.

Our copy, preserved in its original wrappers under a plain provisional cover, is complete with its coloured map, almost invariably lacking.

The only French translation, uncommon, of "A sketch of the military and political power of Russia in the year 1817", an anti-Russian pamphlet composed in the context of the growing opposition between Great Britain and Russia, once the aftermath of the Empire had been settled.

General Robert Thomas Wilson (1777-1849) had served in 1812 as liaison officer with Alexander’s army.

Provenance: copy from the library of Armand-François-Théophile...

First edition, illustrated with a folding plate printed outside the text, of these essays by « M. L. C. D. M. D. L. D. G. D. C. D. M. L. C. D’A [i.e. Monsieur le chevalier Duvernois, maréchal des logis of the guards of the comte d’Artois] ».

Cf. Quérard, Supercheries littéraires, II, 700. Blackmer 1725. Hage Chahine 4990. Atabey 1280.

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers, under plain grey covers, the spine unlettered and bearing traces of manuscript inscription.

Light marginal dampstaining affecting several leaves.

Verdy du Vernois (1738-1814) later became chamberlain to the King of Prussia and the author of several works on the military art, history, and...

First french edition forming volumes 18 and 19 of the Voyages, relations et mémoires originaux pour servir à l'histoire de la découverte de l'Amérique, issued by H. Ternaux-Compans (cf. Sabin, 98793).

Some foxing, light dampstaining to the upper margins of most leaves of the first volume, marginal losses to the spine and boards.

A member of the Society of Jesus and a native of Quito, Don Juan de Velasco withdrew to Italy following the expulsion of his order.

It was there that, in 1789, he composed his Historia del Reino de Quito.

The work comprises three parts: natural history, civil history, and geography.

The present publication...

First edition (cf. Contominas 732; Blackmer 1652; Loukia Droulia 2021-22. Not in Atabey).

Contemporary Bradel binding in full grey marbled paper-covered boards, smooth spine with manuscript title label pasted at head, corners slightly rubbed, red-speckled edges.

Some foxing. 

 "An important work by the German philhellene, who was in fact the key figure in Bavarian philhellenism after Ludwig himself. In Munich in 1816 he founded an institute for educationg young Greeks (the 'Athenaion'). According to St. Clair he was also a member of the Philiké Etaireia ; certanly he called for volunteers in 1821. In 1831 he went to Greece as an unofficial agent of the Bavarian...

First Italian edition; the work had originally appeared as early as 1806 with the Paris imprint of Gratiot, under the more explicit title: "La Guerra de'tre mesi, o l'Ultima campagna di S. M. l'Imperatore Napoleone".

Only three copies recorded in the CCF (BnF, Poitiers and Rouen, all of the 1806 edition).

Contemporary Bradel-style binding in quarter tan calf with corners, smooth spine decorated with gilt garlands, crimson morocco lettering-piece, rubbing to spine and boards with some loss of paper, yellow edges.

Some foxing; small wormholes to the lower right-hand corner of the final three pages, not affecting the text.

Unlike the author’s other works, this...

French edition, issued simultaneously with an English edition by the same publishers. It is a virulent pamphlet directed against Napoleon himself, circulated by one of his best-known opponents: General Jean Sarrazin (1770-1848), who had defected to the enemy on 10 June 1810, having himself conveyed aboard an English brig by a fishing boat from Boulogne.

Full red blind-stamped cloth binding, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets, gilt initials at the foot of the spine, discolouration marks to the spine, blue paper endleaves and pastedowns.

Foxing.
Work illustrated with a portrait of General Kléber as frontispiece.

Sentenced to death in absentia by the Lille...

First edition (cf. Sabin 74178.)

Contemporary red half shagreen, spine with five raised bands ruled in gilt and decorated with gilt floral motifs, gilt initials and date at the foot of the spine, boards framed with blind fillets, minor rubbing to the spine, staining to the boards, marbled endpapers, speckled edges.

A few light foxing spots.

Provenance: from the library of A. Montluc, Consul General of Mexico in Paris, with his gilt initials at the foot of the spine.

Ink stamp of the Mexican Consulate General on the half-title page.

First edition.

Half pearl-grey calf binding, smooth spine decorated with double gilt fillets and gilt floral ornaments, black morocco title label, author’s name in navy blue morocco, boards covered with decorative patterned paper, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, modern binding.

The Centrones (or Ceutrones) were one of the Gallic peoples who controlled the Alpine passes of the Little and Great St Bernard, with Axima (Aime) as their capital.

A few pencil annotations in the margins of certain leaves, minor rubbing to the boards of the binding.

First edition, exceedingly rare, illustrated with 3 folding tables, 6 charming vignettes drawn and engraved by J. Duplessi-Bertaux, and 5 plates by Tardieu: 1 folding plan of Sebastopol, 1 large folding map, and 3 plates depicting medals, coins, and bas-reliefs (cf. Atabey 1034. Absent from Blackmer. No copy recorded in the NUC.)

Contemporary Bradel binding in full green paper-covered boards, smooth spine decorated with gilt rules, minor scuffing to spine and covers, a small snag at the foot of the upper cover, contemporary binding.

Wear to spine ends, one bumped lower corner, occasional foxing, a few dampstains at the foot of certain leaves.

In February 1803, Baron de...

Second edition, partly original as enlarged, illustrated with a lithographed frontispiece and two lithographed plates printed hors-texte.

Bradel binding in full paper boards covered with red shell-patterned paper, smooth spine, red shagreen title label, restored wrappers preserved and mounted on guards, modern binding.

This memoir, published by order of the Royal Academic Society of Savoy, of which the Comte de Boigne was president, notably recounts his travels in India.

Benoît Leborgne, Comte de Boigne, served in India and received from Prince Sindiah the supreme command of his troops, to whom he imparted European discipline and manoeuvres.

With them he won...

Uncommon first edition, issued anonymously: as early as 1817 the second edition bears the author's name (cf. Davois III, 117. Tulard 1194.)

Contemporary half blond sheepskin binding, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets and fleurons, joints split and repaired, blue paper-covered boards with a few scuffs, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, speckled edges.

An interesting account of the Russian campaign, which the author, the Vicomte de Puybusque or Puibusque (1792-1841), experienced as a military intendant: it abounds in little-known details concerning the Grande Armée and the Imperial Guard.

Bound at the end is Thomas Lindley’s: "Voyage au Brésil ; où l'on trouve...

First edition (cf. Cordier, Sinica, 1557.)

Contemporary half black shagreen, smooth spine decorated with triple gilt fillets and gilt floral ornaments, slight rubbing to the spine ends, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, bumped corners, speckled edges.

The sole edition of this survey, which in fact constitutes the French adaptation, by a librarian of Sainte-Geneviève, of three highly detailed articles written by the English diplomat Thomas Francis Wade (1818-1895), then attached to the secretariat of Lord Elgin. 

Their contents were brought together in The Chinese Army : Containing Notices of Its Bannermen, Hánkiun, and Luhying Divisions: With Details...

First edition, published in seven text volumes between 1874 and 1890, the first four by Michel Lévy frères and the final three by Calmann-Lévy, successor to the house of Michel Lévy. One of the very rare copies printed on Holland laid paper, an unrecorded large-paper issue not mentioned in the justification and apparently absent from the bibliographies consulted. Cf. Vicaire VI, 397-398; F. Monaghan, p. 74, no. 1157.

The seven text volumes are in the original wrappers, entirely untrimmed with deckle edges preserved. Small marginal tears and occasional losses to some spines and wrappers.

First edition (cf. Conlon 16:162; not listed by Barbier).

Later half marbled calf binding, spine with five raised bands ruled and decorated in gilt, marbled paper boards, speckled edges.

Restoration to the left-hand margin of the title-page, black ink stains in the margins of pages 4 and 5 and on the final flyleaf, with a few small spots of foxing.

Despite the anonymous author's prefatory remarks, the work appears to be a fashionable abridgement of Pétis de La Croix's book.

First edition, here in its 12mo issue; the 4to edition is more commonly encountered (cf. Sabin 50563. See Gagnon 1217, Lande 656 and Higgs 1032. Not in Kress, Goldsmiths or Einaudi. The NUC records 4 copies of the 4to edition.)

Contemporary half brown sheepskin over boards with vellum tips, spine in five compartments tooled in blind with garland motifs, paper-covered boards, red-speckled edges; an old binding with a later spine.

"A review of the causes of Anglo-French hostilities in America, from a French point of vue, and with the intention of persuading the Dutch correspondent of England's aggressiveness" Cf. James Ford Bell Library catalogue, p. 359.

The...

Rare first edition of the French translation, illustrated with a facsimile plate.

According to the CCF, copies are held only at the BnF, Sainte-Geneviève, the Assemblée nationale and Bayonne.

Contemporary half brown sheep, smooth spine gilt with romantic arabesque tools, some rubbing and small losses to the joints and edges of the boards, marbled paper boards, endpapers of marbled paper, armorial bookplate pasted to a pastedown, speckled edges, contemporary binding.

Some light foxing.

The only French edition, very rare, of this account of the end of the First Carlist War (1833-1839), which concluded with the Convention of Ognate on 29 August 1839, between...

First edition of this provisional account of the Helvetian campaign, from the moment Masséna assumed command (11 December 1798-21 April 1799).

Contemporary grey half cloth Bradel binding, smooth spine, tan longitudinal lettering-piece, marbled-paper boards, endpapers and pastedowns.

Occasional light foxing, a faint dampstain to the upper margins of most leaves, not affecting the text.

Louis Marès (1765-1806), initially a volunteer from the Hérault, transferred to the Corps of Engineers in 1793; wounded at Austerlitz, he died in early 1806 from the effects of his injury.

Rare first edition (subsequent editions incorporated the successive campaigns, ultimately forming a set of five volumes).

Only two copies of this edition recorded in the CCF (Rouen, Tours).

Nineteenth-century binding in cherry long-grain half morocco with corners, smooth spine ruled in gilt, red paper-covered boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.

Minor black marks to the spine, a few light spots of foxing.

The attribution to Thomas Graham, Baron Lynedoch (1748-1843), is traditional; if correct, the work is by a participant in the campaign, who embarked relatively late on his military career: in 1795 he was stationed at Gibraltar, but soon wearied of garrison...

First edition (cf. Palau, 142.350.)

Contemporary full marbled sheep binding, smooth spine decorated with gilt arabesques, gilt tail ornament, green sheep title label with scuffs and small losses, gilt fillets to the spine ends partially rubbed, marbled endpapers, gilt rules to the edges of the boards, worn corners, marbled edges.

Written in a language of remarkable elegance, this survey of pre-Columbian Peru, its ancient civilisations, and the Inca Empire stands, according to specialists, as a model of fine popular scholarship.

The work of Sebastián Lorente (1813–1884), Spanish-born, who taught in Peru from 1842 to 1884.

The edition was printed in France...

First collective edition.

Not recorded in Chahine, nor in any bibliography consulted.

Contemporary full black sheep, spine richly gilt with decorative motifs, joints rubbed, sides elaborately blind-stamped with a wide central panel within a quadruple gilt fillet border, blue moiré silk endpapers and pastedowns, gilt dentelle border to the pastedowns, gilt rules to the edges, all edges gilt, contemporary binding.

Spine restored, dampstaining at the beginning and end of the volume, restored marginal tear to the title page.

This work comprises a collection of brief biographies of figures involved in the conflicts and negotiations surrounding the struggle for...

First edition illustrated with 3 plates (Cf. Rodrigues 1357; Borba de Moraes I, 381; see INED 2496 for the 1774 edition).

Modern binding in brown mottled half calf, spine with four raised bands, gilt rules at head and foot, gilt initials at foot, red calf lettering-piece, marbled paper boards, sprinkled edges.

Stamp of a religious institution on the title page; old bookseller’s label pasted to the facing page.

The Coromandel Coast, European trading settlements, military strongholds, Indian religion, medicine, anatomy, the caste system, Indian manners, clothing, dwellings, gardens, food (and temperance), marriage rites, funerary customs, morality, fauna, flora...

First edition of the French translation, illustrated with a hand-coloured frontispiece depicting a Mahratta soldier and his wife (cf. Brunet, V, 883).

Contemporary Bradel binding in red paper-covered boards, title gilt to spine, some rubbing to spine, bookplate pasted to one pastedown, corners bumped.

Some foxing; the half-title was not bound into this copy.

A former colonel in a Mahratta infantry regiment, the author published his account in the form of letters addressed to an officer in the British Army.

The first English edition appeared in Bombay in 1798 under the title A Letter to an Officer on the Madras Establishment, before being translated...

First edition illustrated with 2 folding tables.

Only two copies recorded in the CCF (BnF and Strasbourg).

Bradel binding in full black paper boards, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets and a gilt fleur-de-lys tool, tan shagreen title label, upper corners slightly rubbed, speckled edges. Slightly later binding.

Offset from an old paper in the left margin of the title page.

Despite its great popularity, the publication of "Histoire de Napoléon" by Philippe-Paul de Ségur (1780-1873), issued in 1824, prompted numerous reactions, responses, and corrections from many participants in the Russian campaign (Gourgaud’s, of extreme violence, remains...

First edition (cf. Rozier 2031.)

Modern half-speckled brown calf over marbled paper boards, smooth spine decorated with double gilt fillets, brown calf title label lettered lengthwise, bookseller's label pasted at the head of a pastedown. Born in Tours in 1750, Nicolas Heurteloup was appointed surgeon trainee on the island of Corsica in 1770.

In 1782, he was appointed chief surgeon of the hospitals of Corsica and, in 1786, was placed in charge of the military hospital at Toulon.

Chief physician in 1790 and principal army surgeon in 1795, he became Inspector General of the Medical Service in 1804 and Surgeon-in-Chief of the Grande Armée in 1808, succeeding...

First edition, illustrated with 1 plate and 3 folding maps printed outside the text (cf. Tulard, 694.)

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers, in soiled temporary covers with angular losses and wear to the spine; internally in pleasant condition despite some foxing.

The only edition, and uncommon, of this report on the operations at Peschiera (1–19 January 1801), which followed the Battle of Marengo and were entrusted to François de Chasseloup-Laubat, Commander-in-Chief of Engineers with the Army of Italy. 

The diplomat Étienne-Félix d'Hénin de Cuvillers (1755–1841) was then serving in the same army as a captain, and later as a squadron leader attached to the...

First edition, one of the rare copies printed on Japan paper, with no mention of such.

Illustrated with a portrait frontispiece and 15 full-page illustrations within the text.

Contemporary half red shagreen binding with corners, spine in five compartments ruled in black, marbled paper boards, black stains at the foot of the upper cover, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt.

Minor rubbing and small losses to the spine, a few light foxing marks. 

Written by one of the defenders of the citadel of Bitche during the Franco-Prussian War, this account constitutes a tribute to Colonel Louis-Casimir Teyssier (1821–1916), who managed to hold the stronghold for seven months...

Rare first edition of this early biography of Agustín Arturo Prat Chacón (1848-1879), Chilean naval officer and national hero, who was killed at the Battle of Iquique shortly after boarding the Peruvian warship Huáscar during the War of the Pacific (1879-1884).

Cf. Palau 110 041. No copy recorded in the CCF.

This pamphlet is illustrated with a lithographed portrait frontispiece.

Some minor foxing, chiefly affecting the wrappers.

Rare first edition.

No copies recorded in the CCF.

Our copy is issued in its original wrappers, in temporary grey paper covers, with a later title label to the spine.

Some losses to the temporary covers, a small hole to the title page also affecting the following four leaves with loss of letters.

A very rare record of the forces engaged on both the Spanish and French sides during the Peninsular War (1808-1814).

It comprises a sequence of 149 tables arranged chronologically, from the state of the regular troops in 1808, prior to the French intervention, through to 10 March 1814. 

Though unofficial in nature, it constitutes an essential source for...