New issue of this musical score, the title page illustrated with a drawing by René Lefebvre depicting the Statue of Liberty rising above a French village.
Fine copy.
One of the very few copies bearing an autograph inscription—fewer than ten are recorded—of this first edition, containing the Marseillaise.
First edition illustrated with an engraved frontispiece by Charles-Étienne Gaucher after Jean-Jacques Le Barbier and four pages of engraved musical score at the end of the volume. La Marseillaise appears here in its true first edition, having first been pre-published in the Almanach des Muses in 1793 and circulated as separate leaves.
Contemporary half-sheepskin binding, smooth spine gilt-decorated with compartments, fleurons and fillets, red morocco title-piece, black pasteboard sides. Several manuscript and pasted ex-libris on the pastedown and endpapers. Spine restored, some foxing. The last two letters of the dedicatee’s name have been trimmed in the binding.
The work is enriched on the half-title with an exceptional autograph presentation by Rouget de L’Isle to a fellow artist of the Revolution: “M de La Chabeaussiè[re] / de la part de l'auteur.”
Rouget de Lisle and Poisson de la Chabeaussière, the recipient of the dedication, both embodied the revolutionary fervour and left their mark on the republican history of France through their writings.
La Marseillaise is presented here alongside other poems and songs. This first edition delivers the celebrated anthem in its original form: six quatrains, as written by Captain Rouget de L’Isle for the Army of the Rhine in April 1792, and proclaimed the national anthem in 1795 by the decree of 26 Messidor Year III.
As lyricists and men of letters, Rouget de L’Isle and La Chabeaussière were zealous servants of the Revolution but also victims of its excesses. At the time of this inscription, in Year V of the Republic, the two men were at the height of their glory: one as the author of the national anthem that thrilled revolutionary France, the other as the writer of the most widely disseminated republican catechism of the Revolution. Indeed, La Chabeaussière composed another major work of revolutionary heritage: a Catéchisme républicain, philosophique et moral, reprinted eighty-two times up to the Third Republic, which earned him a seat on the Commission exécutive de l’instruction publique. Like Rouget de L’Isle, he also achieved success as a lyricist and librettist, notably for the comic operas of Nicolas Delayrac. The history of La Marseillaise from its creation is interwoven with that of La Chabeaussière and of the composer Delayrac, whose heroic drama Sargines ou l’Élève de l’amour presents striking similarities with the anthem.
Neither La Chabeaussière nor Rouget de L’Isle, despite the fame of the Marseillaise, escaped the terrors of the Revolution. Declared “suspects,” they were both imprisoned in 1793, respectively at the prisons of the Madelonettes and of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. After these dark hours, they resumed a more peaceful existence and continued to collaborate actively with the Almanach des Muses, which first published La Marseillaise in volume form.
Upon La Chabeaussière’s death in 1820, the copy embarked on a most romantic history. It still bears the inscription of its second owner, Édouard Gendron: “Ce livre a été acheté en 1821 – à un carrefour près la place de l’école de médecine, parmi un tas de ferraille.”
First publication by its composer of the most celebrated symbol of the French Republic: La Marseillaise. Its precious presentation brings together revolutionary poets whose intertwined destinies left an indelible mark on the history of France.
First edition of this exceptionally rare complete set of twelve dance scores, each comprising a color-printed wrapper and five leaves (title page, four numbered pages of engraved music, and one blank leaf). All covers were lithographed and hand-colored using stencil techniques by Adolphe Cathelin, whose name appears on the title pages.
The musical works are by composers Alexandre Croisez, Alexandre Artus, Eugène Dupuis, Camille Michel, Alphonse Leduc, Émile Waldteufel, Voctir-Auguste Dolmetsch, Félix Joufferoy, and Antony Lamotte.
Contemporary half green calf binding, smooth spine decorated with gilt and blind-stamped fillets and dotted lines, joints rubbed; granite-patterned paper boards framed with double gilt fillets (thick and thin), gilt monogram "C.B." at center of front board, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, bumped corners, marbled edges, bookplate mounted on one pastedown. Contemporary binding.
Some foxing, mainly at the end of the volume.
A handsome and exceptionally rare period-bound collection.
For the first three volumes, first edition, complete with all 84 parts published between February 1842 and October 1843 of this "admirable publication printed on thick vellum paper [...] one of the finest of the 19th century, justly esteemed and comparable to the beautifully illustrated books of the 18th century" (Carteret), (see Carteret III, 143–153; Vicaire II, 234–248).
The first three volumes are bound in full violet morocco, spines with five raised bands bordered with gilt pointillé tooling, compartments richly gilt with double gilt frames, gilt rolls on caps, covers framed with quintuple gilt fillets, gilt monogram MG at the corners, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns framed in gilt dentelle, double gilt fillets on board edges, all edges gilt. Splendid bindings signed by Dunezat, active between 1870 and 1895.
Illustrated by Charles François Daubigny, Ernest Meissonier, Anthelme Trimolet, Adolphe Steinheil, Gustave Staal, Emy, Louis-Léopold Boilly, Charles Edouard de Beaumont, among others.
Texts by Marc-Antoine Desaugiers, Fabre d'Églantine, Pierre-Jean Béranger, André Chénier, Florian, Sedaine, Constance de Salm, Jean-Joseph Vadé, etc., set to music by various composers, including André Grétry, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Étienne Nicolas Méhul, and François-Adrien Boieldieu.
The complete collation is as follows: 1) 5 preliminary leaves (half-title, engraved title-frontispiece, list of songs, introduction by Delloye) and 28 parts of 4 unnumbered leaves each (28 songs, each including a 2-page note, 4 pages of text with illustrations, and 2 pages of music—i.e., 4 unnumbered leaves per song); 2) 5 preliminary leaves and 27 parts of 4 unnumbered leaves each, except for La Parodie de la Vestale, which includes 10 unnumbered leaves; 3) 5 preliminary leaves and 28 parts; 4) 2 unnumbered leaves, engraved frontispiece, xxiv and 224 pages.
The general series wrappers were not bound in this copy, which shows several first-issue points.
Enclosed: bound in violet half morocco with corners, Chansons populaires des provinces de France. Notices by Champfleury. Piano accompaniment by J. B. Wekerlin. Paris, Lécrivain et Toubon, booksellers, 1860, 2 unnumbered leaves, engraved frontispiece, xxiv and 224 pp.
Binding in violet half morocco with corners, spine with five raised bands bordered with gilt pointillé tooling, richly gilt compartments framed in double gilt fillets, marbled paper-covered boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, a few scuffs to board edges and extremities, all edges gilt, an elegant unsigned binding likely attributable to Dunezat, active between 1870 and 1895.
A very handsome set, perfectly bound.
First edition of the vocal and piano score of the opera Déjanire by Camille Saint-Saëns.
A few pencil annotations in the margins of certain staves.
Our copy is presented in a 3/4 shagreen clamshell box, spine with five raised bands framed by gilt garlands and decorated with gilt fleurons, gilt lettering at foot of spine: "Inscribed by composer". Boards, endpapers and pastedowns in marbled paper. Spine of the box slightly faded.
Inscribed, dated and signed by Camille Saint-Saëns to music critic Edouard Beaudu.
"The interposition of the poem between painting and music has therefore proven to be an excellent conduit between the arts thanks to the fact that Hahn scrupulously respected the spirit of the poem while preserving his autonomy in his composition. The link between music and painting reveals itself after the other materials unite with each other; it is in this alliance that an astonishing complementarity then operates, desired on the soothing light of Albert Cuyp" (Nicolas Vardon)
Unpublished and signed autograph score by Camille Saint-Saëns. Two pages of handwritten music for solo voice and piano, on an oblong bifolium with twenty staves. Autograph inscription on the first page signed by Saint-Saëns, with his signature and date ("Nov. 1870") appearing again on the second page.
Trace of vertical fold, with a tiny tear along the fold, a small marginal tear on 1 cm of the first page, without damage to the manuscript.
An exceptional unpublished autograph manuscript of a Persian melody for voice and piano, composed by Camille Saint-Saëns during the Siege of Paris in November 1870, enriched with a autograph inscription: 'A Geneviève Bréton / Hommage de respectueux dévouement' [To Geneviève Bréton / In homage with respectful devotion], signed and dated on the second page 'Nov 1870 C. Saint Saëns'.
The lyrics of the piece were directly inspired by its dedicatee, the fiancée of the painter and tenor Henri Regnault, 'the most musical of all the painters' (Saint-Saëns, École buissonnière), (translation by Edwin Gile Rich), who was the first performer of several other Mélodies persanes.
"The interposition of the poem between painting and music has therefore proven an excellent conductor between the arts thanks to the fact that Hahn scrupulously respected the spirit of the poem while preserving his autonomy in his composition. The link between music and painting is revealed after the other materials unite among themselves; it is in this alliance that an astonishing complementarity then operates, sought upon the soothing light of Albert Cuyp" (Nicolas Vardon)
Je m'en allais à la plage / Avec mon petit panier / Chercher des crab', des coquillages / Et des tas de crustacés
First edition. A title-frontispiece by Du Roy. Title pages in red and black. 7 pages of musical score. A title-frontispiece for the Suitte de la chaire des curez.
Contemporary full vellum binding. Smooth unlettered spine. Spine stitching loosened, causing the quires to protrude. Soiling. Scattered foxing. Dampstain to upper margin extending to around p. 200. Leaves 363 and 361 transposed. Leaves 13 to 49 of the second book, horizontal bookworm damage through the middle of the text, 3cm long, with loss of words, continuing on the last 20 leaves. Large pale yellow dampstain on the last 30 leaves of the second part. The stitching of the second part is very loose.
A practical manual for the profession of parish priest, providing answers to very concrete situations in a priest's life, for ceremonies, rites, exorcisms, parishioners, curses... The work went through many editions.
Collection assembled by an anonymous hand of chromolithographs and engravings. Numerous pages with various frames, Gothic and ornamental, intended to receive engravings. Frontispiece in chromolithography heightened with colors. The papers intended to receive drawings, engravings or chromos are of various colors: blue, green, cream, pink. The collection ends with music sheets that have remained blank.
English publisher's binding in full burgundy shagreen. Smooth spine decorated with a large ornamental Romantic plaque. Boards with a central raised rectangle decorated with a large stamp with the inscription: Album orné, blind-stamped frame. Rich Renaissance frieze in framing paper. Blind-stamped framing frieze and framing fillets with small corner stamps. Endpaper representing a large lace pattern.
This type of collection, intended for families and filled with engravings or drawings, is a beautiful and rare testimony of the Romantic era. Dressed in a rich publisher's binding, it was made to adorn drawing rooms. The pages have one or several frames and therefore one or several engravings that were cut out and then pasted. One finds engravings, lithographs, some in color, 2 drawings, a wash drawing, all on 60 leaves.
Rare testimony of the Romantic era, family or personal keepsake, in a rich English publisher's binding.
NB: This work is available at the bookshop on request within 48 hours.
The rare first edition of the two volumes published respectively in 1724 and 1726. It is illustrated with 2 head-piece vignettes, 8 pages of musical scores, a cabalistic tree printed separately, the Samaritan Alphabet, 2 plates of coins and 2 figures also printed separately.
Copy with arms stamped on the covers and within each compartment from the library of the Abbey of Saint-Victor. The Abbey of Saint-Victor was one of the oldest abbeys in Paris (on the site of the University of Jussieu and the Jardin des Plantes) and one of the great intellectual centers of the medieval West; its rich library was opened to the public in the 18th century with the addition of new buildings. The abbey was destroyed during the Revolution and most of its collections joined the Bibliothèque nationale.
Contemporary bindings in full glazed blonde calf. Raised band spines decorated. Red morocco title labels, volume labels rubbed, as well as the library label at the foot. Headcap of volume I worn with upper joint cracked at head. A loss at the head of volume II; upper joint exposed with a loss at foot. Some corners slightly bumped. Despite the defects, a very handsome copy, with fine tooling and beautiful arms.
Second edition and first published by Cazin, with two volumes added; a first edition in 4 volumes was published in Geneva in 1782. Musical scores at the end of volumes. Only volumes 5 and 6 contain no musical score, the songs being sung to airs already noted in the other volumes, which are identified by the air numbers. 48pp. of musical scores in volume 1; 48pp. in volume 2; 38 in volume 3; 40 in volume 4.
Later brown half-sheep binding (1800). Smooth spine decorated with three fleurons and fillets. Red morocco title-label with roulettes. Red morocco volume label in a roundel. Marbled paper boards. Rubbing to headcaps and joints. Corners slightly bumped.
