On the Road Again

First edition of the French translation, for which no deluxe paper copies were issued.

A handsome copy, complete with its photographic dust jacket showing a tiny tear at the head of the spine, with illustrations.

Inscribed and signed by Julio Cortázar to the writer Christiane Baroche: "Pour toi, Chirstiane, avec toute mon amitié. Julio."

First edition, illustrated with a frontispiece and four plates after life drawings by Voutier, engraved on copper by Normand fils (cf. Loukia Droulia, 429; Blackmer, 1750; not in Atabey).

Half black shagreen binding, spine restored, with four raised bands ruled in triple gilt fillets, aubergine paper boards, boards faded, gilt armorial device stamped to the upper cover, modern bookplate pasted at the head of a pastedown, contemporary binding.

Scattered foxing.

"Voutier went to Greece in 1821 and acted as ADC to Mavrocordatos on the Peta campaign" (Leonora Navari).

Distinguished provenance: copy bearing the arms of King Ernest Augustus I of Hanover (1771–1851), with his library’s red stamp on the verso of the title-page.

First edition of the French translation and notes prepared by Billecocq (cf. Sabin, 41879; Leclerc, 943; Field, 947; Howes, 443; Staton-Trenlaine, Bibliogr. of Canadiana, 597 for the original edition).

Half mottled calf, smooth spine decorated with gilt tools, brown shagreen title-piece, marbled paper boards slightly darkened and faded at the edges, red edges; modern binding.

Stamp on the half-title, a light marginal dampstain affecting the outer margins of the final leaves.

Illustrated with a folding copper-engraved map by P. F. Tardieu, “Des pays situés à l'ouest du Canada”.

“The interest of the work lies in the detailed and relatively objective descriptions it provides of Indigenous life (…) The work is also of great value for its extensive lists of terms used by the Inuit, the Agniers, the Algonquins, the Mohegans, the Chaouanons and the Saulteaux.” Cf. Dictionary of Canadian Biography, IV, pp. 524–525.

First edition, illustrated with four tinted plates, including a frontispiece (cf. O'Reilly & Reitman, Tahiti, 6452).

Contemporary half plum sheep, the spine faded and decorated with gilt garlands and floral tools, some rubbing to the spine, marbled-paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, a few worn spots along the edges.

Scattered foxing, the plates evenly toned.

The work offers a history of the island, written in the aftermath of its annexation following the cession of his domains by King Pomare V. It provides an overview of the voyages of Quirós, Wallis, Bougainville and Cook, a portrait of Tahitian life a century earlier, and a sketch of the island’s development since the arrival of the first missionaries.

Chapter V is devoted to the principal episodes of Captain Cook’s three voyages to Tahiti: encounters with the inhabitants, meetings with local chiefs, the revolt on the island of Eimeo, visits to the surrounding islands... (pp. 107–220).

Joseph Bournichon (1839–1924) was a priest and the author of several edifying monographs.

Third edition, partially revised and corrected, incorporating new material.

Bradel binding in olive-green half percaline, smooth spine, bordeaux morocco-grained shagreen lettering-piece; restored and lightly soiled original wrappers preserved; modern binding.

Some scattered foxing, bookplate mounted on the verso of the front wrapper, traces of adhesive at the head and foot of the endpapers.

The first edition appeared in 1868.

This collection of twenty-six short independent pieces chiefly concerns the Chinese world and its adjacent regions (Indochina and Japan).

First edition (cf. Martin & Walter, 16 491; Monglond III, 630; not in Schefer, Blackmer or Atabey).

Bradel binding in full marbled paper boards, smooth spine with a vertically lettered fawn sheepskin label, red edges; a modern binding.

Some foxing; marginal staining to the upper edges of the final leaves.

Excellent abridgement of General Hénin de Cuvillers’ diplomatic mission to Constantinople (1793–1795).

Upon his return from Turkey, Hénin (born 1755) took part in the Italian campaign of 1796 and was wounded at Caldiero and Arcole.

Appointed in 1802 as assistant to the general staff in Saint-Domingue, he was entrusted by Rochambeau with the colony’s military archives, which he brought back to Paris in 1804.

His military career under the Empire ended in 1813, when he was required to justify himself before the Grenoble court martial following the evacuation of the Simplon, deemed too hasty.

Granted retirement in 1815, he lived until 1841.

The 164 dispatches summarised in this volume provide valuable insights into diplomatic life in Constantinople, relations with the Revolutionary government, news from the Asian trading posts, the situation in the Levant, and maritime and military affairs.

First separate edition, the text having previously appeared in the series Philipp's new voyages and travels (London, 1820–1823) (cf. Cordier, Sinica, 308).

Bradel-style binding in full grey boards, smooth spine, title label, sprinkled edges; a modern binding.

An exceptionally early account of the coastal region between Macao and Canton, published anonymously despite the initials J.R. at the end of the preface (this J.R. served as supercargo on the ship The Friendship).

Exceptional album comprising 54 original caricatures, some captioned, executed in India ink, pencil, and watercolour (including three small pencil sketches on loose leaves), together with several blank leaves.

This entertaining and highly personal album, evidently compiled by an amateur artist, appears to chronicle the various adventures and misadventures of a small cast of recurring characters, all seemingly connected in one way or another with the French Embassy to the Ottoman Porte, as suggested by a piece of official letterhead inserted between two leaves.

Contemporary full ivory vellum with yapped edges, smooth spine ruled in red, a restored split at the head of the spine, red fillets framing the boards, some marking to the covers, comb-marbled endpapers, red edges.

The album also includes one autograph letter signed in black ink, embellished with marginal caricatures, addressed to Mr H. Fournier and opening with "Cher Washington n°2".

The recipient of this satirical, illustrated letter appears to be the diplomat Hugues Marie Henri Fournier (1821–1898), appointed ambassador to Constantinople in 1877.

The adventures of the small group, identified by captions in black pencil, seem to begin in Florence in September 1872 and continue on to Rome.

The album includes, among other scenes, a watercolour depicting the Temple of Vesta.

In December 1872, according to an ink caption, the group—comprising the Vicomtes Bresson, de Mareuil, d'Hauterive, and d'Hérisson—is caricatured in Rome: at the theatre, on the Capitoline Hill, on horseback, and so forth.

A panoramic watercolour likewise satirises the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and its protagonists.

Also portrayed in pencil alongside Fournier are General de Castelbajac and the Baron de Talleyrand.

The album further contains a fine pencil portrait of Khalil Bey.

The renowned Ottoman diplomat and collector, born in Cairo in 1831 and deceased in Istanbul in 1879, had indeed returned to Constantinople in 1872, after his ambassadorship in Vienna (1868), to marry the Egyptian princess Nazli Fazl. In addition to his role in the Crimean War, he is remembered for his celebrated art collection which, sold at auction in 1868, included works by Courbet (among them L'Origine du monde), Ingres, Delacroix, and others.

The Comte d'Osmond and Alfred de Courtois are likewise caricatured.

The album also features a view titled Pointe imaginaire du sérail and a watercolour depicting a game of lawn tennis.

A unique ensemble.

First issue of the series of fifty large hors-texte lithographs drawn from life by Henry John Terry (cf. Vicaire, VII, 1164).

Publisher’s binding in full red cloth, smooth spine decorated with blind-ruled compartments and fillets, light rubbing to the head- and tailcaps, gilt-lettered title on the front board, yellow endpapers, trace of a removed bookplate on one pastedown, one lower corner softened, slight discoloration to the lower left corner of the rear board, occasional marginal foxing, a small loss to the foot of page 119, and minor wormholes at the foot of the last three leaves, not affecting the text.

The fifty striking black lithographs depict the most picturesque views of Haute-Savoie.

Henry John Terry, originally from England, studied in Geneva under Alexandre Calame, the foremost Swiss landscape painter of the nineteenth century, and later settled in the country.

A well-preserved copy in the publisher’s original cloth.

New illustrated edition featuring two lithographed plates out of text and enriched with notes by Francisco de S. Luiz (cf. Brunet I, p. 263; Graesse I, p. 118).

Modern binding in half Havana calf, smooth spine decorated with gilt and black fillets and black floral motifs, black shagreen title piece, marbled paper boards, red edges.

A few light foxing spots, mainly at the beginning of the volume.

This biography, rightly celebrated, met with great success upon publication.

First edition of each volume.

The first work lacks its map, while the second retains it.

Full marbled blond calf binding, smooth spines decorated with gilt floral and scroll motifs, red calf title labels, gilt fillet borders on the covers, gilt roll tooling along the edges, cat’s-eye endpapers and pastedowns, green edges, contemporary binding.

Restorations to the spines, joints fragile, repairs to the title leaves, handwritten notes at the head of the first page of text in each volume.

Second illustrated edition, comprising 15 engraved plates outside the text. (cf. Kayser, Bücher-Lexicon VI, 265.)

Thirteen plates have been delicately hand-coloured at the time, several set against scenic alpine backgrounds; one of the two uncoloured plates depicts traditional alpine cheesemaking tools.

The French text is printed on the verso of the German text.

Very rare suite presented with its original upper wrapper, housed in a modern black box with flat spine, red morocco title-piece, and a large matching morocco label on the upper cover; light and inconsequential surface wear to the boards.

Some text leaves are toned and trimmed short in the margins; one marginal tear to the uncoloured plate; minor foxing in places.

Despite what the title might suggest (as the author explains in his preface), the work is dedicated to Swiss cattle breeds.

A rare and strikingly complete suite.

Very rare first edition.

This printing does not include the two maps later added by the publisher in the second issue, intended to illustrate the itinerary for readers who had not acquired the atlas (corresponding to plates XVIII and XXIV of the atlas), cf. Hage Chahine 3995. Röhricht 480-481. Chadenat 1712.

The text volume is largely unopened and includes one full-page plate.

The atlas volume, housed in a red full-cloth box and slipcase, is complete with all 27 plates (numbered I to XXVI, XVIII [bis]; plates XIX-XX are printed on a single sheet).

A very fine and rare copy in its original condition.

First edition of the French translation (cf. Atabey, 557 (text) and 569 (atlas). Blackmer, 788 (atlas). Hage Chahine, 2105.)

Contemporary half brown shagreen, spines uniformly sunned and faded, raised bands framed with black fillets, marbled paper boards, comb-marbled endpapers, gilt edges; a few lightly rubbed corners, one small defect to the foot of the edges of the fifteenth volume.

Some light foxing in the text volumes.

The atlas volume, folio, is issued in parts under ten beige paper wrappers with printed blue labels; the wrapper of part 6 is lacking; the general map of the Ottoman Empire has been restored in the final part; light foxing to the covers.

The original German edition was published in Budapest in ten volumes between 1827 and 1835. The illustrations comprise thirty-nine maps and plans—principally battle plans—prepared by the translator J. J. Hellert. The text includes eight folding genealogical tables of Ottoman princes and high dignitaries.

Joseph von Hammer, a renowned Austrian orientalist and diplomat, was born in Graz (Styria) in 1774. He entered the Royal Academy of Oriental Languages in Vienna, where he studied Turkish, Persian and Arabic. In 1799 he undertook his first journey to Constantinople; the following year he joined the British admiral Sidney Smith in the campaign against the French in Egypt as interpreter and translator. He attended the grand vizier’s council at Jaffa and the surrender of Alexandria. In 1802 he became secretary to the Austrian legation in Constantinople, from which he travelled into Asia Minor and Greece. Posted in 1806 to the consulate-general at Jassy in Moldavia, he was appointed interpreter at the Viennese chancellery in 1807. In 1817 he rose to the rank of court councillor. After inheriting the estates of the Counts of Purgstall, he added their name to his own and was created baron in 1835. He translated numerous oriental works into German and played a major role in the founding of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, serving as its first president from 1848 to 1849. He died in Vienna in 1856. "Aucun orientaliste avant lui n'a connu plus intimement les peuples musulmans et n'a autant contribué à nous faire connaître leurs mœurs, leur histoire et leur littérature […]. Il passa trente ans à réunir les documents [de son Histoire de l'Empire ottoman], qu'il a tirée de manuscrits orientaux et des archives de Saint-Marc à Venise, de celles de Vienne, et de tous les ouvrages publiés en Europe sur l'Empire ottoman" (Hoefer, XXIII, 259-267). Provenance: S. H. Weiss bookshop in Constantinople, located on the Grande Rue de Pera opposite the Russian consulate (label in each text volume).

Rare work. 

First edition, illustrated with 39 double-page colour maps.

Publisher’s binding of brown textured cloth backed with matching corners, smooth spine without lettering, showing rubbing with some fraying to the cloth; title stamped to the upper board; marbled endpapers; corners worn. Publisher’s binding.

Scattered, insignificant foxing; the table of contents leaf is creased; a dampstain with discoloration and paper loss to the foot of the rear board.

This is the last of the major general atlases of the French colonies to appear before the upheavals of the Second World War. Through both text and cartography, it offers an exceptionally comprehensive survey of France’s overseas possessions, each geographical area being treated in a separate section (North Africa, French West Africa, French Equatorial Africa, Madagascar and the Mascarenes, Indochina, Oceania, the Antilles, the French Mandate in the Levant), concluding with a substantial index.

The son of the explorer Maurice Grandidier, Guillaume Grandidier (1873–1957) was above all a geographer, and — like his father — a specialist on Madagascar.

Laid in: Study map of the principal transport routes of Central-West Africa (southern Sahara), a large folding map (with significant paper loss along one fold).

A substantially posthumous publication, prepared by Ayres de Sá from the notes and papers of the second Viscount of Santarém (1791–1856), who, in addition to his diplomatic and political roles amid the turbulent struggle between Marianist and Miguelist factions in Portugal, was the first historian to develop the study of cartography in a methodical manner.

The work is illustrated with 97 plates in the first volume and 40 plates in the second.

Cherry half-shagreen bindings with corners, spines with five raised bands framed by black fillets and showing some rubbing, marbled paper sides, a scratch to the left margin of the upper cover of the first volume, endpapers and pastedowns with gilt effects, top edges gilt, original wrappers preserved with minor marginal tears and repairs, corners bumped, bookplates pasted on the pastedowns, contemporary bindings.

Exiled to Paris with Dom Miguel in 1834, he continued his research there, leading to significant cartographical publications.

Autograph inscription by the Viscount of Santarém, a descendant of the author, to José Joaquim Ascenção on the half-title of the first volume.

First edition of this second fascicle, printed in Pondicherry by the Rattinamodeliar Press.

Losses to the cracked backstrip and along the board edges, with a few minor spots.

CCFr records copies only at the BnF (the sole institution to hold a complete run), the Collège de France, and Sainte-Geneviève.

The second of the five fascicles of this exceedingly rare botanical publication: they are devoted respectively to Lawsonia alba [or inermis = henna] and to Aristolochia Indica (Indian birthwort).

First edition of the inaugural instalment printed in Pondicherry at the Rattinamodeliar Press.

Losses to the spine and, more lightly, to the board corners; internally a clean and appealing copy.

Recorded in the CCF with copies only at the BnF (the sole institution holding a complete set), the Collège de France, and Sainte-Geneviève.

The first of five parts of this exceedingly scarce botanical publication, devoted entirely to Lawsonia alba [or inermis = henna].

First edition of this rare album illustrated with 18 lithographed plates, including the title-frontispiece (see Inventaire du Fonds Français, VII, 243, no. 21).

This unbound suite is housed in a grey cloth chemise and matching modern slipcase, spine unlettered with two tears at head and tail, plain boards, light soiling to the lower board.

Some scattered foxing.

First edition, illustrated with a single folding plate bearing two figures: a plan of Algiers and its surroundings (cf. Quérard IV, 343 : does not record the plate and gives xlviii pp. for the "pièces à l'appui" indeed, p. xlviii carries, like the final leaf, the printer's address. Tailliart 2420 : does not record the plate).

Minor marginal losses to the spine and boards, a few light spots.

"Causes de la rupture avec Alger. Historique des rapports de la France avec Alger. Les torts des représentants d'Alger dans la Régence pendant ces dernières années. Ultimatum. Blocus. Nécessité d'une enquête ou au moins d'une information spéciale avant d'entreprendre une expédition. On va dépenser beaucoup d'argent sans profit. Cette guerre n'est pas juste ; elle n'est pas utile ; elle n'est pas légale" [Tailliart].

The supporting documents include : the Treaty of Peace between France and the Regency of Algiers, 17 December 1801; the letter from Mustapha-Pasha, Dey of Algiers, to the First Consul, 13 August 1802; the settlement concerning the claims of Messrs. Bacri and Busnach of Algiers, followed by the law of 24 July 1820 ordering its execution; a notice on the African concessions; and a summary of the debates held in both Chambers on Algerian affairs during the sessions of 1820, 1827, 1828, and 1829.

Author's signed presentation on the half-title: "De la part de l'auteur, 3 avril 1830" (scarcely more than two months before the French landing in Algeria).

First edition.

Contemporary half calf in a bronze tone, the spine with four raised bands framed by double gilt rules and gilt pointillé work, together with broad black fillets; joints rubbed, marbled paper sides, marbled endpapers, edges sprinkled; a period binding.

Scattered foxing.

Second edition, partly original as it was revised and enlarged, and the most complete form of this celebrated manual of local law for the island of Réunion (cf. Ryckebusch 2407; Toussaint & Adolphe D439).

The work is illustrated with three folding tables inserted out of text (two in the fifth volume, one in the last).

Contemporary half-sheep bindings in dark green, smooth spines gilt-tooled with dotted ornaments, fillets and garlands, gilt rolls at head and foot, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, sprinkled edges.

Some rubbing to a few headcaps and spines, the upper headcap of the sixth volume torn, restorations to several spines.

Very rare first edition of this splendid photographic album, produced in Cairo in 1871, representing the first illustrated catalogue of the earliest museum devoted to Egyptology.

The photographs by Hippolyte Delié and Émile Béchard depict the rooms and antiquities of the Boulaq Museum, founded in Cairo in 1863 by the eminent Egyptologist Auguste Mariette (1821–1881).

The album comprises forty albumen prints (approx. 24.5 × 18 cm), mounted on thick card leaves set on guards, each accompanied by a letterpress commentary leaf (except plates 4 and 11, which each have two). The prints are mounted on the versos of the plates, the rectos bearing the printed captions.

Contemporary half brown shagreen, spine with five raised bands decorated with blind-tooled compartments and gilt floral tools, minor rubbing to spine and joints, headcaps slightly softened, blind-tooled interlaced borders on the boards, gilt title on upper board, endpapers and pastedowns in white moiré silk with a few light spots, all edges gilt.

Repairs to the spine and one joint at head, a few scattered internal spots.

New edition, embellished at the close of the first volume with a folding plate printed out of text (cf. Palau 17346).

Cherry half-shagreen bindings, spines with four raised false bands decorated with gilt fillets and double gilt panels, gilt lettering at the foot of the spines, slight rubbing to the headcaps, blind-tooled frames on the textured cloth boards, pebble-paper endpapers and pastedowns, a few bumped corners, period bindings.

Rear board of the first volume partially soiled.

New edition prepared under the supervision of the physician Rafael Ángel Cowley Valdés-Machado (1837–1908) and Andrés Pego, gathering three major sources for Cuban historiography: José Martín de Arrate y Acosta’s (1701–1765) Llave del Nuevo Mundo. Antemural de las Indias Occidentales, a meticulous portrait of eighteenth-century Cuban society first published only in 1830; Ignacio Urrutia y Montoya’s (1735–1795) Teatro Histórico, Jurídico, Político, Militar de la Isla Fernandina de Cuba, of which only the first part had appeared in 1795; and finally Antonio José Valdés’s (1770–1824) Historia General de la Isla de Cuba y en especial de la Habana, published in 1811.

Provenance: from the library of Ricardo Quintiliano Garcia, his name gilt-stamped at the foot of the spines; with his presentation inscription to his brother dated 15 July 1877 on the front flyleaf of the first volume.

Rare first edition (cf. Tailliart 2391).

Backstrip skewed and untitled, with a few losses and small tears to the board corners; light dampstaining at the head of the opening leaves, otherwise a clean and pleasing copy.

The author served as a military intendant and published several concise monographs on fortification and military administration.

Second edition, partly original as it was revised and substantially expanded (cf. Ferguson 7152a; Lacassagne 47).

Half black shagreen bindings, spines with four raised bands decorated with gilt rules and double gilt panels, boards framed with a single blind rule over marbled paper, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, sprinkled edges, period bindings.

A few minor spots.

This second edition was issued simultaneously either in a single volume with continuous pagination or in two volumes with separate pagination (our copy, see Ferguson 7152).

Bénigne-Ernest Poret, Marquis de Blosseville (1799–1886), was a legitimist politician and man of letters. He was active in political life throughout the nineteenth century.

At the head of the half-title of the first volume, presentation inscription signed by Bénigne-Ernest Poret, Marquis de Blosseville, to Prosper de Chasseloup-Laubat (1805–1873), then Minister of Algeria and the Colonies (1860–1867).

The latter affixed his armorial bookplate to the pastedowns and stamped the title pages with his ownership seal.

Rare edition printed on laid paper, very likely produced in a small run for Picard bibliophiles (cf. Hage Chahine, 4071).

Listed in the CCF only at Arras, Amiens, and Compiègne.

A few minor spots.

Half cherry morocco binding, spine lightly faded and raised on five bands, a few rubs to the spine, marbled paper sides, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt top edge, a period binding signed by Petit, successor to Simier.

Robert de Clari (c. 1170 – after 1216) was a Picard knight, vassal to the castellan Pierre d’Amiens.

He took part in the Fourth Crusade alongside his lord Pierre d’Amiens. After the deaths in 1205 of his direct suzerains Pierre d’Amiens and Hugues IV de Campdavaine, Count of Saint-Pol, he returned swiftly to Picardy.

From the sack of Constantinople he brought back, among other things, relics which he donated to the abbey of Corbie. He then composed, in French and in Picard, La Conquête de Constantinople, a narrative in one hundred and twenty chapters recounting the Fourth Crusade and its immediate aftermath up to 1216.

He therefore died sometime after this date, though nothing further is known about him.

A pleasant copy in a binding signed by Petit, successor to Simier.

First edition (cf. O'Reilly, 2192.)

Modern Bradel binding in brown half-cloth, forest-green morocco lettering-piece, marbled paper boards, beige endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers retained albeit lightly soiled; binding signed by Boichot.

Illustrated with 49 photographic plates hors texte.

"Minutieuse histoire analytico-chronologique des trente premières années de la Calédonie européenne. Il annonçait une suite qui n'a jamais vu le jour" (O'Reilly).

First edition of this rare work, offering the very first description in French of this small canton, still nominally under Ottoman rule—though in fact largely autonomous—and which appeared as exotic to early 19th-century Westerners as the most remote corners of China.

Illustrated with 13 hand-coloured plates, including a large folding map, two botanical plates, two depicting festivals, three views of churches, and five costume plates. (cf. Atabey 1286. Lipperheide 1443. Not in Blackmer or Colas.)

Contemporary half calf binding, smooth spines decorated with gilt fillets, garlands, and floral tools, red morocco title labels, black morocco volume labels, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, sprinkled edges.

Joints rubbed and split, hinges fragile, scattered foxing.

Jacques-Louis-Claude Vialla, known as de Sommières after his birthplace in the Gard (1764–1849), served as governor of Cattaro (in the then French Illyrian provinces) from April 1811 to April 1812. In this capacity, he was officially commissioned in October to approach Vladika (Prince-Bishop) Petar I of Montenegro (reigned 1781–1830), ancestor of the Petrović-Njegoš dynasty, in an attempt to win him over to the cause of the Empire.

This was the first time an official Western embassy had reached these remote, largely self-sufficient regions. Written at a time when the author, placed on half-pay after the Restoration, needed to earn a living, his account abounds in fascinating detail.

First edition of the earliest of the four works devoted by the deputy Amédée Desjobert (1796–1853) to the situation in Algeria (the second concerns the year 1838 – see below –, the third 1844, and the last 1846) (cf. Tailliart 2333).

Contemporary full tree-calf bindings, smooth spines gilt with garlands, fillets and floral tools, the gilt sometimes a touch dulled, red morocco lettering-pieces, green morocco volume labels slightly faded at the margins, marbled endpapers, gilt fillets to the board edges, marbled edges, modern bookplates mounted to the endpapers, contemporary bindings.

A few small losses to the leather on the boards, the half-title to the first work wanting, a pale marginal stain at the head of several leaves in the second volume, occasional foxing.

A member of the left in the Chamber, Amédée Desjobert opposed by every means the colonisation of Algeria, relying chiefly on arguments countering those advanced by the settlers and the military.

Volume II gathers the following texts, all dating from 1837 and 1838 and concerned with whether Algeria should be retained or abandoned:

• - I. AUBEL: De l'Importance de la question d'Afrique et du choix d'un système de colonisation. Paris, Delaunay, 1837, 2 unnumbered ff., 56 pp. Tailliart 2667.
• - II. BROSSARD (Amédée-Hippolyte de): Mélanges sur l'Afrique. Perpignan, Imprimerie de Jean-Baptiste Alzine, 1838, 2 unnumbered ff., 80 pp. Tailliart 2296.
• - III. DESJOBERT (Amédée): L'Algérie en 1838. Paris, P. Dufart, 1838, 2 unnumbered ff., 184 pp. Tailliart 2334.
• - IV. DUVERGIER DE HAURANNE (Prosper): Chambre des Députés, session de 1838. Discours (...) dans la discussion du projet de loi relatif aux crédits d'Afrique (séance du 6 juin 1838). [Paris], Imprimerie de Mme Vve Agasse, n.d. [1838], 30 pp.
• - V. FORTUNÉ DE LAIDET (Joseph-Guillaume): Chambre des Députés, session de 1838. Discours (...) dans la discussion du projet de loi relatif aux crédits d'Afrique (séance du 8 juin 1838). [Paris], Imprimerie de Mme Vve Agasse, n.d. [1838], 11 pp.
• - VI. LA GRANGE (Édouard Lelièvre de): Chambre des Députés, session de 1838. Opinion sur les projets de loi relatifs aux crédits d'Afrique. [Paris], A. Henry, n.d. [1838], 14 pp.
• - VII. FUMERON D'ARDEUIL (Maurice): Opinion sur le projet de loi relatif au crédit extraordinaire pour le service des possessions françaises dans le nord de l'Afrique. S.l.n.d. [1838], 8 pp.
• - VIII. [BUGEAUD (Thomas-Robert):] Simple document sur l'Afrique. Par un officier attaché à l'Armée d'Afrique, sous le premier commandement de M. le Maréchal Clausel. Paris, Imprimerie de L.-E. Herhan et Bimont, 1838, 15 pp.
• - IX. BUGEAUD (Thomas-Robert): De l'Établissement de légions de colons militaires dans les possessions françaises du nord de l'Afrique, followed by a draft ordonnance addressed to the government and the chambers. Paris, Firmin Didot frères, 1838, 2 unnumbered ff., 53 pp. Tailliart 2700.
• - X. [ROGER (Jacques-François):] Alger. Boutade. Paris, Imprimerie de Bourgogne et Martinet, n.d., 8 pp. A verse piece. Items IV–VIII and X escaped Tailliart.
• A rare group of works and pamphlets either defending or condemning the colonisation of Algeria.

First edition, illustrated at the end of the volume with four hors-texte plates printed on chamois paper.

Not recorded by Brunet, who lists the author’s principal works.

Scattered foxing, including to the boards.

The orientalist Michelangelo Lanci (1779–1867) produced a fascinating blend of genuine erudition and improbable conjectures, shaped by the pre-critical and broadly concordist mindset then prevailing without challenge in the learned circles of pontifical Rome (Lanci being a subject of the Pope).

This largely accounts for the profound neglect into which most of his works have since fallen.

Prisse d’Avennes (1807–1879), who had worked with Champollion on the decipherment of hieroglyphic script, must have received with some surprise these observations drawn essentially from personal interpretations of Old Testament texts.

First edition published anonymously, the work of the Bayonne man of letters Coste d'Arnobat (1732–1808), probably based on accounts provided by English merchants (cf. Barbier IV 1060).

Contemporary half sheep in dark brown, smooth spine tooled with gilt floral motifs, gilt initial “V” at the foot, some rubbing to spine and joints, a small marginal loss at the head of the spine, marbled paper boards, yellow sprinkled edges.

A dampstain affecting the folds of the final ten leaves.

An account of Bambouc, a region of Upper Senegal particularly noted for its gold mines and inhabited by the Mandinka people.

This narrative, later translated into German, offers highly valuable information on the activities and customs of the Malinké of Upper Senegal. Coste appended to it an essay on the Indian castes (pp. 65–113), “d’après les mémoires d’un savant observateur qui a vécu trente ans dans l’intérieur de l’Inde,” followed by two further dissertations on Holland (pp. 117–312) and on England (pp. 315–358), countries he visited in 1774.

Rare first edition of this complete set gathering the three parts of this practical Cantonese manual, accompanied by one of the instructional booklets intended for the Chinese teacher.

The first two volumes are each illustrated with eight plates of ideograms printed hors texte. No copies recorded in the CCFr.

The third volume shows staining at the foot of the spine, a few small spots of foxing, and minor marginal tears with slight losses to the boards of the first volume.

A very uncommon set.

First edition, illustrated at the end of the volume with tables printed on two large folding plates included in the pagination (cf. Ferguson 2165a.)

Contemporary half bordeaux shagreen, the spine very lightly faded, with five raised bands framed by black fillets, marbled-paper boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers marginally soiled and showing small preserved restorations, edges untrimmed, modern binding signed Laurenchet.

Botany Bay, on the eastern coast of Australia, had been chosen in 1787 by the British government as a place of deportation. This study seeks to demonstrate the ineffectiveness of penal colonies at a time when the proposal to establish one in France still had many supporters.

A pleasing copy.

Second edition, partly original as it is considerably expanded (cf. Sabin 59254, Howes 7805, F. Monaghan 1171).

Half black shagreen binding, smooth spine decorated with gilt double fillets and a gilt pastoral motif, a restored tear to the headcap, black paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, contemporary binding.

Scattered foxing.

Provenance: Copy from the library of Marquis Claude-Emmanuel-Joseph-Pierre de Pastoret (1755–1840), with his heraldic device gilt-stamped at the foot of the spine.

First edition (cf. Tailliart 2540).

Quarter shagreen in a dark bottle-green hue with corner pieces, the smooth spine slightly toned and decorated with blind fillets, marbled paper sides, cat’s-eye patterned endpapers and pastedowns, modern binding signed Honnelaître.

A light marginal dampmark at the foot of the half-title and title pages; scattered, unobtrusive foxing.

The author (1781–1852) was a colonial administrator: "Une introduction de trente pages sur les erreurs de la politique suivie à l’égard des Arabes : trop de faiblesse chez nous ; de glorieuses expéditions, mais pas de résultat positif durable. Il attaque Bresson qui a préconisé la formation d’un empire arabe qui ferait la transition entre la barbarie actuelle et une civilisation voisine de la nôtre. Il est partisan de petits beyliks placés sous notre contrôle, indépendants les uns des autres. Il faut faire combattre les Arabes par les Arabes. Nécessité de la force à l’égard des Arabes.

En dernier lieu, réfutation du livre de Blanqui : il lave les colons des accusations lancées contre eux. Exposé de la thèse des colons avec leurs avis et leurs desiderata".

At the head of the half-title, signed presentation inscription from Armand Gabriel Rozey to M. Billi, "homme de lettres à Alger", dated 17 December 1841.

First edition, illustrated with 12 in-text reproductions of coins.

Contemporary half Russian-cherry morocco over marbled boards, smooth spine gilt with a floral tool, date gilt at foot, marbled paste-paper boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt edges at head.

Sole edition, uncommon.

Henri Lavoix (1820–1892) served as curator of the Department of Medals and Antiquities at the Bibliothèque nationale.

At the head of the half-title, which shows heavy foxing, signed presentation inscription from Henri Michel Lavoix to the archaeologist Alban-Emmanuel Guillaume-Rey (1837–1916), a specialist in medieval Syria and in particular the Frankish settlements in the region.

The ink of the inscription has faded; scattered foxing, with heavier foxing to the final endleaf.

A handsome contemporary half-morocco binding.

Rare first edition.

Only two copies recorded in the CCFr (BnF and Lyon).

Modern full grey paper Bradel binding, smooth spine, long paper spine label, sprinkled edges.

At the time of publication, this pamphlet stood far ahead of contemporary thinking and anticipated the formation of the Second French Colonial Empire in Africa: assuming that France would retain and expand its recent conquest of Algiers, the author advances the notion of a French civilising mission among the Black populations of Africa, whom he considers with notable intelligence and openness.

Jean-François-Aimé Peyré (1792–1868) served as a judge at the civil court of Villefranche-sur-Saône.

First edition illustrated with a lithographed portrait of the author by Langlumé as a frontispiece (cf. Atabey 45. See Blackmer 60 and Weber 105 for the enlarged second edition, published the same year with a different frontispiece).

Half cherry calf binding, spine with four raised bands framed with gilt garlands, decorated with blind and gilt tooling, gilt rolls at head and tail, black morocco title-piece, marbled paper boards, endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges, contemporary binding.

Some light foxing, blind-stamped ex-libris of Giannalisa Feltrinelli at foot of first endpaper. Repair to the outer margin of the last two leaves, not affecting the text.

Stay on the island of Elba, return to France, Waterloo, the Villefranche affair, the trial, stay in Switzerland, Constance, Munich, Dresden, Warsaw, Krakow, Galicia, Jassy, separation of the two brothers, Constantinople, Smyrna, Naxos, Athens, Janina, Ali Pasha, flight from Janina, passage through St. Maur Island, Corfu, Cattaro, Ragusa, Trieste, landing at Ancona, visit to Rome, stay in Livorno, Lucca, Genoa, Turin, and return to France.

"First Édition edited by two of his friends from Bacheville's notes (…) The two brothers were accused of conspiracy and fled France after the Restoration. Barthelemy joined Ali Pacha; Antoine travelled to Egypt, Persia and Arabia, to die in Muscat. The engraved frontispiece is a portrait of Antoine. The frontispieces in the two Éditions are not the same; that in the second Édition depicts the brother's separation" [Leonora Navari]. A handsome copy in a contemporary Romantic binding.

Very rare first edition (cf. Monglond VII 661).

Contemporary half brown sheep with corners, smooth spine gilt with floral tools and fillets, rubbing to spine and joints, marbled paper boards, grey endpapers and pastedowns, corners softened, yellow edges.

Pleasant, clean interior.

A shadowy figure who was by turns (and at times simultaneously) a secret agent, Tallien’s associate, a Revolutionary pamphleteer, and a double agent under the Directory and the Empire, Méhée de La Touche (1762–1827) left in 1784 on a covert diplomatic mission to Poland and Russia, from which he was expelled at the end of 1791. The correspondence he publishes here (running from 1788 to July 1791) abounds in valuable information on the social and political situation of these countries at the close of the eighteenth century.

First and only Franco-Chinese edition, illustrated with six etchings reproduced by Frédéric Chevalier.

A single copy recorded in the CCFr (Bulac).

Sole edition of this contemporary curiosity born of the French vogue for all things Oriental: born in 1831, Tin-Tun-Ling (or Ding Dunling) was a Chinese scholar from Shanxi and a political exile in France. Théophile Gautier met him in Paris, grew fond of him, and hired him to teach Chinese to his daughter Judith. Steeped in Far Eastern culture, she delighted in presenting herself as the reincarnation of a Chinese princess. Tin-Tun-Ling then lived in a pavilion built in the Chinese style, set in the garden of the Pré aux Oiseaux – Judith’s home in Saint-Enogat. After Gautier’s death in 1872, Tin-Tun-Ling married a Frenchwoman, Caroline Julie Liégeois, who later accused him of bigamy (he was in all likelihood already married in China); following a trial in 1873, he was nevertheless acquitted. A triple photographic portrait of Tin-Tun-Ling by Nadar survives, taken in 1874, one year before the publication of this work.

This copy is preserved in its original state, in flexible yellow cloth wrappers showing small spots and, as often, minor marginal tears.

First edition of the French translation, expanded with notes by the translator (cf. Loukia Droulia 1180; Quérard II 238 and VII 6, under: \"Pecchio\"; Blackmer 549 and Atabey 396, under: \"Emerson\").

The first volume opens with a frontispiece portrait of Andrea Miaoulis.

Contemporary half bronze calf, smooth spine decorated with gilt rolls and tools now slightly softened, minor rubbing to the spine, marbled paper boards, marbled edges.

Spine restored and lightly rubbed, some scattered foxing.

The original edition appeared in London in the same year. It also included Humphrey’s \"Journal of a visit to Greece\", omitted from the French edition. \"Important philhellenic collection (…) Emerson reached Greece at the end of 1823 and left soon after Byron's death in 1824. In 1825 he returned as a volunteer and was correspondent for the Times, fighting alongside Miaoulis and Makriyannis. The portrait of Miaoulis is after a drawing from life by Emerson. The Italian revolutionary Pecchio had been living in exile in England when he decided to go to Greece for a few weeks because he was 'desirous of paying a visit to the members of the Government'. He rapidly became disillusioned but was honest in his account, which is very interesting\" [Leonora Navari].

A handsome copy, in a contemporary Romantic binding, of this important work on the history of philhellenism.

First illustrated edition, with a frontispiece portrait of the author and a plate of music inserted at the end.

Not listed in Schwab.

Contemporary binding in half polished Havana calf, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets, chain motifs and floral tools, saffron paper boards, marbled edges.

Joints split at foots and slightly at heads, a pleasant copy overall.

An important work by the renowned Austrian orientalist (1774–1856) devoted to ancient Persian poetry, containing a large number of extracts translated into German and an extensive index.

The work, dedicated to the great French orientalist Silvestre de Sacy, was carefully printed in Gothic type; the Persian translations are presented in two columns.

A handsome, large-margined copy in a period binding.

Rare first edition comprising a fine suite of 40 two-tone lithographs by Yuko Watanabe depicting Japanese types, scenes of traditional life, costumes, and more: Ronin, hara-kiri, samurai, the attack on Shogun Nobunaga, a geisha’s visit, young women paying a call, a game of go...

Not in Colas, nor Hiler & Hiler; lacking from the Bn; not in Nipponalia or Cordier. Wenckstern, I, p. 228 (gives the Yokohama address, undated, and mentions two volumes, the second—of which no trace could be found—containing 25 plates).

Bound in full beige cloth, smooth spine without lettering, lithograph mounted on the upper cover; twentieth-century binding.

Minor tears affecting three remargined plates and the final leaf (backed); a few small spots of foxing; small green ink stain touching most of the prints in the margin only, not affecting the image.

First edition of the French translation by Jean Mourier.

Only one copy listed in the CCF (BULAC).

Full burgundy cloth binding, smooth spine with gilt lettering running lengthwise, pink paper pastedowns and endpapers, a modest modern binding.

Some light, insignificant foxing.

Very rare work tracing the origins of the Kingdom of Georgia up to the introduction of Christianity.

Rare first edition illustrated with 31 figures in the text.

Contemporary half blond calf, the spine slightly sunned, with five raised bands decorated with gilt and black fillets, fawn morocco lettering-piece, marbled paper sides, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, sprinkled comb-marbled edges.

Christophe-Edouard Mauss (1829–1914), architect to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, undertook several archaeological missions in the Levant (Salonika, Smyrna, Alexandria) before being sent by the French government to Jerusalem (1862–1874) to restore the Church of Saint Anne.

He was also deeply interested in ancient metrology, on which he wrote several monographs (the final section of the present work provides a notable example).

Our copy is enriched with a substantial autograph contribution by Christophe-Edouard Mauss, mounted on a guard at the front of the volume and addressed to the archaeologist Alban-Emmanuel Guillaume-Rey (1837–1916), a specialist in medieval Syria: Note pour Mr. Rey sur le stade philéterien de 159 m 963,428 ([9] unnumbered ll., unbound, written on one side only, in a medium and very legible hand). This is an early version of an article supplementing the present work and published in 1894 under the title: Note additionnelle sur le stade de 159 m 963 et sur les mesures philétériennes.

Very rare first edition.

Only three copies recorded in the CCF (BnF, Sainte-Geneviève, CNAM).

Half blond calf, spine lightly sunned, with five raised bands decorated with gilt and black fillets, tan morocco lettering-piece, marbled paper boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, mottled comb-marbled edges, original front wrapper preserved; contemporary binding.

The architect of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Christophe-Edouard Mauss (1829–1914), undertook several archaeological missions in the Levant (Salonika, Smyrna, Alexandria) before being sent by the French government to Jerusalem (1862–1874) to restore the Church of Saint Anne. He also developed a keen interest in ancient metrology, on which he produced several monographs (including this one).

Bound after it, by the same author: 

 I. La Pile de Charlemagne et le Sâ du prophète. Le pied d'Egypte et le ratl de Bagdad. Les poids français comparés aux poids anglais. Le ratl wâfy du Musée égyptien du Louvre. Paris, Ernest Leroux, 1897, 2 ff.n.ch., 79 pp.

II. Loi de la numismatique musulmane. Classement par séries et par ordre de poids des monnaies arabes du Cabinet des médailles de Paris. Paris, Ernest Leroux, 1898, 2 ff.n.ch., VIII pp., 48 pp.

At the head of each fascicle, an autograph presentation inscription from Christophe-Edouard Mauss to the archaeologist Alban-Emmanuel Guillaume-Rey (1837–1916).

Very rare first edition of this address delivered on the seventy-eighth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

No copy listed in the CCF. Not in Sabin.

Rear wrapper missing, a few minor marginal foxings.

Born in Pennsylvania, David Lawrence Gregg (1819–1868) was appointed by President Franklin Pierce to negotiate the annexation of the Kingdom of Hawaii with King Kamehameha III, a mission that ultimately failed. The king died on December 15, 1854, and the attempts to integrate Hawaii into the United States were abandoned by his successor, Kamehameha IV.

First edition illustrated with a folding map at the end of the volume (cf. Nipponalia, I, 2061; Innocencio, IX, 208; lacking from Cordier Japonica, Hill and Palau).

Only two copies recorded in the CCFr (Sorbonne and BULAC).

Rare edition of this account of one of the earliest European voyages undertaken to establish commercial relations with Japan, following the success of the American Commodore Perry in 1853.

Spine cracked with loss at foot, traces of adhesive paper at the head and tail of the endpapers, modern bookplate pasted on the verso of the front cover.

First edition illustrated with 24 plates, including 18 views and cross-sections, and 6 folding maps and plans (cf. Tailliart, 1229).

Half brown shagreen binding, spine faded with five raised bands, gilt date at foot, marbled paper boards, brown endpapers and pastedowns, modern binding signed Honnelaître.

First and last leaves lightly and partially soiled.

This volume gathers the official reports of the exploration mission led by Mircher (1820–1878), Vatonne, and Polignac, which departed from Tripoli in 1862 and returned via El-Oued after signing a trade treaty with the people of Ghadamès and the Tuareg. This agreement enabled the inclusion of the locality within Algeria until 1951, when it was returned to Libya. In addition to Mircher’s reports, the work contains a notice on Sudanese trade, an account of the political and social state of the “land of the Negroes,” studies on the terrain and water of the regions traversed by the mission, as well as medical observations collected during the journey to Ghadamès, among others.

First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Revue des arts décoratifs of January 1885.

Unbound copy.

Copies recorded in the CCFr only at the BnF, the Musée des Arts décoratifs, and Troyes.

This offprint gathers the three lectures delivered on 18, 21, and 25 October 1884 by the influential art critic Philippe Burty (1830–1890), a key figure in the emergence of Japonism.

Inscribed by Philippe Burty to the archivist and historian Pierre Margry (1818–1894).

First collective edition on ordinary paper.

Pleasing copy.

Valuable presentation copy signed by Louis Aragon: "A Maurice Druon, pour n'en pas perdre l'habitude. Louis."

 

Extremely rare first edition of the French translation by Luc de la Porte (cf. Lust 24. Cordier, Sinica, 12. Palau 105509. Sabin 27780. Wagner (SW) 7bb. Leclerc (1878) 258. Streit IV, 1999. Alden European Americana 588/37 – 8 copies recorded in the U.S.A. Atkinson 339.)

Contemporary full brown calf binding, spine with five raised bands decorated with double gilt compartments, joints and spine restored, gilt fillets partly faded on the edges, red edges. 17th-century binding.

Minor stain to margin at the beginning of the volume; tear to margin p. 62.

Extremely rare first edition of the French translation of one of the finest missionary accounts of 16th-century China; it includes a significant section on the Americas, notably the recent discovery of New Mexico by Antonio d'Espejo in 1583. It was through this work that Abraham Ortelius was able to complete the American section of his atlas (Sabin 27775).

Manuscript ex-libris on the title page: Cadt. Berdeilh; autograph letter signed by Marie de Berdeilh, dated Mirepoix, January 10, on the front endpaper; and an acknowledgment of debt signed by the same, mounted to front pastedown. Ex-libris of Gaston Héliot, an antiques dealer specializing in Chinese and Japanese curiosities c. 1920–1930.

First edition illustrated with three folding plates.

Half vellum binding, smooth spine, gilt initials at foot, black sheep title label with some rubbing, red sheep year label, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, restored original wrappers preserved, contemporary binding.

Rare Saigon printing. This uncommon directory was published under this title until 1888; in 1889 it became the Annuaire de l'Indo-Chine française.

First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from issues 314 and 318 of the Revue africaine (1923 and 1924).

Half black shagreen binding, spine with five raised bands, gilt date at foot, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, original wrappers and spine preserved, contemporary binding.

Illustrated with 4 plates, including a frontispiece portrait. Tailliart 592.

Rare copy of this meticulous monograph (later reissued under the Champion imprint), documenting the journey Daudet made to Algeria from 21 December 1861 to 25 February 1862, accompanied by his cousin Reynaud.

Drawing on a wealth of sources, the author succeeded in reconstructing the writer’s exact itinerary; the purpose of the work was to respond to Degoumois’s claims in L’Algérie d’Alphonse Daudet : Essai sur les sources et les procédés d’imitation d’A. Daudet (Geneva, 1922), in which he asserted that most of the Algerian descriptions found in Lettres de mon moulin, Tartarin de Tarascon and Contes du lundi were merely borrowed from Eugène Fromentin.

Our copy is enriched with an autograph letter signed by Jules Caillat, dated Paris, 7 June [1924?], most likely addressed to the publisher (bifolium of 4 pp. in-12), sent together with three original photographic plates (those used for the book’s illustrations) and a roll containing a proof of each.

Caillat also discusses the desired print run (350 copies, of which only 300 were available for sale) and the typographical changes required in the transition from periodical articles to book form.

Very rare complete set of this economic and commercial publication, issued from 1879 to 1938, providing the most detailed information on all aspects of trade and production in Cochinchina.

The set includes 78 folding tables (one folding table from the second volume is detached).

According to the CCF, only the BnF holds a series comprising several volumes, and even that collection is incomplete.

Contemporary bindings in half Havana sheep, smooth spines decorated with triple gilt fillets, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.

First edition of the French translation prepared by Jean-Nicolas Jouin de Sausseul (see Quérard VII, 330, who erroneously lists 4 parts; Cioranescu XVIII, 59 618; not in Sabin).

Full mottled fawn calf binding, smooth spines divided into compartments and decorated with gilt fleurons, some rubbing, light brown morocco title labels, green morocco volume labels, gilt rolls slightly faded at the headcaps, single gilt fillet framing the boards, gilt fillets along the edges, bumped corners, red edges, contemporary bindings.

Two small patches of missing leather to the lower cover of the second volume.

The original English edition appeared in 1781 under the title Emma Corbett.

One of the earliest English novels inspired by the loss of the American colonies; it enjoyed great success in Britain. Samuel Jackson Pratt (1749–1814) was a prolific man of letters whose works achieved a popularity comparable to that of Mme Cottin, a writer of a similar period and sensibility.

New edition of the French translation established by Amédée Pichot, partly original as it is enhanced with a historical notice on Lord Byron.

Half blue glazed calf bindings, spines partially faded with four raised bands framed by gilt garlands and richly decorated gilt compartments, navy blue glazed calf title and volume labels, blind-stamped floral tools at head and tail, marbled paper boards, gilt fillets at foot, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges; a few lightly rubbed corners. Romantic bindings of the period.

Our copy contains 13 engraved plates, some serving as frontispieces.

Scattered foxing, a few leaves browned due to paper acidity.

A copy in an attractive decorative and romantic period binding.

First octavo edition illustrated with 92 engravings by Benett, including one folding map in colour: this marks the very first use of polychromy in an illustration for a Jules Verne novel.
Publisher’s Hetzel binding “with the two elephants” in full red cloth, signed by Lenègre, type 3, upper cover signed by Souze, lower cover Lenègre type “e” as described by Jauzac, original blue endpapers, all edges gilt, publisher’s EL catalogue at the end of the volume.
Spine slightly faded as usual, small black marks along the hinges, head- and tailcaps softened as often, a pleasant copy virtually free of foxing.
“Deux ans de vacances” is a Robinsonade featuring fourteen schoolboys from New Zealand.
 

First illustrated edition, with four folding plates bound at the end of the volume (cf. Tailliart 1979).

Contemporary half green calf binding, flat spine faded and yellowed, decorated with a gilt cartouche and ornamental tooling at head and tail, caps trimmed, joints fragile, marbled paper boards, hand-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, sprinkled edges, period binding.

Some foxing.

In fact, this pamphlet was intended as the first of a series, hence the general title; however, only this installment was ever published. The secondary title specifies the subject of the volume: "Relation d'une excursion de Bône à Guelma et à Constantine, par sir Grenville Temple et le chevalier Falbe, délégués de la société établie à Paris pour l'exploration de Carthage. Premier fascicule de l'ouvrage, accompagné d'un recueil d'inscriptions et de quatre planches représentant des monumens antiques, des mosaïques et des peintures à fresque découvertes à Carthage."

The two archaeologists had in fact accompanied the French divisions during the second expedition to Constantine, and their account combines scholarly and military perspectives, characteristic of the early period of French colonization in Algeria.

Provenance: Copy from Honoré-Théodoric d'Albert, 8th Duke of Luynes (1802–1867), with the bookplate of the Château de Dampierre affixed to a pastedown.

First edition illustrated with six folding lithographed plates (cf. Tailliart 1862).

Contemporary full tan sheepskin binding, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets and floral motifs, partially faded, brown morocco title label, some rubbing to the spine, surface abrasions to the boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges, contemporary binding.

Two library ink stamps on the endpaper, a few small spots of foxing inside.

A work serving both as a firsthand account and a collection of documents (from page 109 onward) on the events surrounding the conquest of Algiers.

Pierre-Paul Denniée (1781–1848) was Chief Intendant of the Army of Africa.

An exceptional and hitherto unpublished manuscript, complete in 775 pages, chronicling the journey of the Vicomte Edmond de Poncins through India (cited in Numa Broc, Asie, pp. 376–377, and Afrique, p. 263 (for his explorations of the Pamirs and Ethiopia), and in Thiébaud, pp. 755–756, (for his works on hunting).

This record extends from 12 September 1891, with embarkation at Marseille, through to 12 June 1892, the date of departure from Karachi bound for Marseille.

Contemporary 3/4 green morocco binding, spine in five compartments numerously framed in black with fleurons-gilt tooling, boards framed in black along the leather edges, marbled endpapers; author’s bookplate pasted to the upper pastedown; red top edge.

775 pp. (misnumbered ch. 1–567, 567–774), 1 unnumbered page, 2 unnumbered leaves of table, and a few remaining blank leaves.

Important, unpublished manuscript recounting the travels of the Vicomte Edmond de Poncins across India covering the period from 12 September 1891 (embarkation at Marseille) to 12 June 1892 (departure from Karachi for Marseille).June 1892 (departure from Karachi for Marseille).

Presented in the form of a journal, it is written in brown ink, in a cursive yet legible hand.

The text includes all of the author’s observations on the regions traversed, the routes taken and modes of transport, hunting expeditions, notable acquaintances, and his relations with servants, etc.; it also records that he took photographs during his excursions.

Departing from Marseille on 12 September 1891, Edmond de Poncins took passage on the Peï-Ho, a steamer belonging to the Messageries Maritimes. He travelled in the company of the Governor of Obock, on his way to assume office, and a British general who served as Inspector of Cavalry in India.

The route led via Port Said, Suez, Obock, and Aden. During the passage through the Red Sea, Poncins visited the engine room and conversed in Arabic with one of the stokers. On 23 September, at Aden, he transferred to the Seyne, a vessel of the same company, bound to cross the Indian Ocean. He arrived at Karachi on 29 September. The traveller left the steamer to board a sailing vessel bound for Bombay, where he arrived on 2 October. He remained there until the 8th, when he departed for Poona. On the 16th, he made an excursion to the Carlee Caves, a group of ancient Buddhist temples hewn into the rock. Back in Bombay the following day, he journeyed on to Pachora, whence he explored the Ajanta Caves, famed for their ancient Buddhist sanctuaries carved into the rock. He returned to Bombay on the 21st, proceeded to Mehmadabad the next day, and reached Kaira on the 24th. In the surrounding area, he hunted crocodiles and subsequently quail. On the 27th, he was in Ahmedabad, roughly 450 km north of Bombay, and two days later he arrived at Morvi, lying some 200 km to the east, continuing his travels across the region. Returning to Ahmedabad on 5 November, he went back to hunt in the environs of Kaira. On the 10th, he arrived at Abu Road, where he visited the temples of Mount Abu, before making his way back to Ahmedabad. He then began his journey across India towards Delhi and Calcutta, visiting Ajmere on 21 November, Chitor on the 23rd, and Udaipur on the 25th. On 3 December, he went bear hunting in the surrounding area. On the 7th, he reached Jaipur, and the following day he visited Amber Fort, which overlooks the city. On the 10th, he arrived at Alwar, and on the 12th proceeded to Delhi. Three days later, he visited Agra, before journeying into the Ganges Valley, reaching Cawnpore (Kanpur) on the 17th, Lucknoor (Lucknow) on the 18th, and Benares on 19 December. He arrived in Calcutta on 22 December 1891. He remained there until 4 January 1892, when he departed for an extended hunting expedition in the Sunderbans, a marshy region in the Ganges delta. On 10 February, he returned to Calcutta to prepare for his next expedition. He set out for Assam on 19 February 1892, a region in north-eastern India, lying in the Brahmaputra Valley at the frontier of Bhutan. The following day, he reached Goalundo (present-day Bangladesh), and on the 22nd, Jatrapur (Bangladesh), before embarking on a new hunt through the jungle atop a domesticated elephant. He arrived at Raimana (Assam, India) on 4 March. Over the ensuing days, he hunted large game - including buffalo, elephants, rhinoceroses, and tigers. On the 17th he killed a tiger cat, followed the next day by a doe and a stag, but the larger animals remained elusive. On 19 March, he suffered from heatstroke, yet continued hunting. On the 24th he reached Paglobat, continuing the next day to Dhubri in Assam, where a violent fever struck him down. Once recovered, he made a few more excursions and, on 8 April, left the region, reaching Calcutta on the 10th. On the 14th, he fell ill once more and was robbed by his servant, who was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment. Poncins then left Calcutta to cross the Ganges plain: on 29 April he reached Cawnpore (Kanpur), which he had already visited on his outward journey, and on the 30th he stayed at Kalka. On 1 May he arrived at Simla, situated about 250 kilometres north of Delhi, on the foothills of the Himalayas. After an excursion to Amondah, he was again seized by fever and was forced to return to Kalka, from where he took the train, reaching Rawalpindi (now in Pakistan) on the 16th. From there, he made several excursions into the hills (Murree, Gulmay), but an outbreak of cholera forced him to leave the region. On 5 June he departed Rawalpindi by train and arrived at Lahore the next day. On 8 June he reached Karachi and prepared his belongings to embark on a vessel bound for Marseilles. The journal concludes on 12 June 1892, the date of his departure from Karachi.

Translated extracts: [16 October 1891, between Bombay and Poona, Maharashtra]: “Departure for the Caves of Carlee. Left at 6 a.m. with a tonga [a cart drawn by two ponies] which took me along the road opposite the path leading to the caves. Hired two coolies for my photographic equipment and my gun. We crossed a long plain of rice fields […]. The caves lie one-third up a mountain of 800 feet rising at the end of the plain […]. One passes through a small temple of Siva and stands before the great temple, whose entrance is most impressive […]. To the right and left, large sculpted elephants emerge from the rock up to mid-body; bas-reliefs depict gods with exaggerated forms, larger than life […]. The great hall is a marvel, both in its ensemble and in its details…” (pp. 53–55).

[25 October 1891, near Kaira, south of Ahmedabad, Gujarat]: “Left at 6 a.m. on camelback to hunt crocodiles. Covered 14 miles and reached a village below which the river makes a large, very deep bend. It is the Sabarmati. Shot a large crocodile at 150 metres on the sand. The bullet went straight; it struggled for a moment, then dived and was lost. About ten others in sight dived at the same time. Went down the river and fired at a small crocodile, 60 metres away, basking on a sand islet. It made a great leap and dived into a deep pool, which was red with blood within a few minutes. A native accompanying me did not dare to fetch it. Fired at two or three other swimming crocodiles, without apparent result. At 2 o’clock I returned to my starting point […]. Altogether I must have fired at fifteen and seen fifty in four or five hours…” (pp. 76-77).

[25 November 1891, Udaipur, Rajasthan]: “In the soft haze of the rising sun, the white city appeared, dominated by high walls and the splendid silhouette of the Maharana’s palace […]. Further on, a vast circle of rugged mountains with oddly shaped peaks, here and there marked by forts and stretches of defensive walls. Truly a land of savage feudalism. The Prime Minister’s son, to whom we had announced our arrival, came to fetch us by carriage at one o’clock, placing himself at our disposal. He is a young man of twenty to twenty-two, intelligent in appearance, speaks English well and is courteous. The Maharana is not in Udaipur, residing instead in a bungalow a few miles away on a hunting expedition […]. We shall, moreover, have the honour of being invited to one of H.R.H.’s hunts; in the meantime, we shall visit what there is to see in Udaipur…” (pp. 171–172).

[4 January 1892, West Bengal]: “Set out this morning from Calcutta for Mutlah or Canning. Arrived at 10 a.m. Found my boats. Crossing a country of rice fields, marshes, palms and coconut trees. The train stops at the end of the track, right on the riverbank. The tide is low and, to reach our boats, I have to be carried by my men, who sink up to their knees in a black, sticky, abominable mud […]. Here and there, some native boats. Few birds. By noon the two chimneys of the station disappear from view; ahead there is only the immense marsh. My men, who are Muslim, raised the anchor with a prayer […]. At 4 p.m. we stop at a cluster of huts unmarked on the map, called Fokai Hâttee. I send two men ashore to look for milk or meat. There is none. Meanwhile I photograph my boats, and a group of natives watching a juggler and a bear…” (pp. 291–292).

[1 March 1892, Brahmaputra Valley, Assam]: “In the afternoon my bullock cart [ox-drawn cart] arrived, along with an additional elephant sent by Mr Gordon. My party now consists definitively of three elephants, one bullock cart, seven men for the elephants, one for the oxen, and two for myself…”

[2 March]: “Departed at six in the morning on the second elephant, which I had yet to ride. We took the road to Kaïmana, then turned left into a jungle of tall burnt grasses, as high as the elephants […]. A very large animal was heard a few hundred paces ahead, crushing the grass. Halt. At the sound my mahout [driver] insisted it was a wild elephant, though the noise was identical to that of ours. The rhino passing below was less noisy. What should be done? The government forbids, under severe penalties, the killing of elephants […]. The undergrowth is so thick one could not see two metres; I cannot even see the head of my own. Moreover, wild elephants attack domestic elephants with fury…” (pp. 540–545).

A hunter and explorer, the Viscount Edmond de Montaigne de Poncins (1866–1937) undertook several journeys in Africa and Asia. After his stay in India (1891–1892), he travelled through Central Asia in 1893: departing from Samarkand (Uzbekistan), he crossed the Pamir and Hindu Kush mountains to reach Srinagar (Kashmir); for this journey he was awarded the silver medal of the Geographical Society in 1895. In 1897, he travelled with Prince Henri d’Orléans between Djibouti and Addis Ababa; in 1912, he explored East Africa, from Nairobi to Mount Kenya.

“Poncins is no scholar, but an intrepid traveller and a keen observer […]. Few French explorers have attained such heights in Central Asia…” (Numa Broc, Asie).

He is the author of Chasses et explorations dans la région des Pamirs (1897) and Notes sur le gros gibier de nos colonies (1913).
A precious manuscript, with a fine contemporary binding.
Provenance: Viscount de Poncins, with his engraved bookplate depicting a tent beside a baobab.

First edition of this album of caricatures by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi which he numbered and initialled (copy no. 36, followed by his initial). Printed "in small numbers” (Bartholdi Museum), with only six located in institutions (Colmar Museum, BnF, Harvard, UPenn, NYPL, Rutgers University).

Publisher’s blue cloth binding, smooth spine gilt-lettered along its length, upper board numerously framed in black, anchors and stars stamped in black at the corners, title and date gilt-stamped; lower board numerously framed in black, black stars at the corners and a central anchor, red edges. Slight rubbing to joints, faint mottling to the lower part of the upper board, a few plate tabs slightly split at foot, not affecting the integrity of the binding.

Illustrated with an engraved title-frontispiece, a half-title featuring the head of the Statue of Liberty, and 30 full-page hand-coloured lithographs.

Exceptionally rare copy of Auguste Bartholdi’s caricature album created on board the steamship bound for the United States for the 1876 Philadelphia World’s Fair, where he exhibited part of the Statue of Liberty.

This curious album contains the only caricature of the Statue by Bartholdi ever published: a vignette on the half-title depicting the top of Lady Liberty’s crowned head with her amused eyes emerging above the Atlantic. Moreover, the profits from the album were donated to the Franco-American subscription fund for the statue's construction.

A collection of 59 manuscript letters sent to his family representing approximately 180 pages, mostly octavo, most written on mourning paper, sometimes on letterheads notably from the Ministry of the Navy.

The collection is contained in a modern red cloth box with a black title label.

A Polytechnique graduate and marine artillery officer, Gustave Borgnis-Desbordes (1839-1900) is known for having led, from 1880 to 1883, three expeditionary columns across Upper Senegal and Upper Niger, these operations having enabled the construction of several military forts, a railway and a telegraph line of more than seven hundred kilometers linking Bakel (on the Senegal) to Bamako. He then served in Tonkin (1884-85) as colonel commanding the artillery of the expeditionary corps. He participated in several battles near the Chinese border and had to replace General de Négrier wounded at the battle of Lang Son on March 28, 1885. The hasty retreat of French troops, ordered by Colonel Herbinger, gave rise to a controversy that brought down the Jules Ferry ministry. Borgnis-Desbordes wrote a report that implicated Herbinger, but the latter benefited from an order of dismissal and Borgnis was accused of having slandered him. The present correspondence, which extends from January 1886 to August 1887, evokes the Lang Son affair and the delicate situation in which he found himself: supported by Generals Faidherbe, Brière de l'Isle and de Négrier, Borgnis-Desbordes had against him the artillery generals Virgile and Dard. Despite this, he was promoted to brigadier general on July 25, 1886. The letters evoke the numerous visits he made to friends, military men or connections in the capital, the search for possible support, and contain allusions to political life, mentioning Henri Rochefort, Louise Michel, Clemenceau, General Boulanger... Of the 59 letters, 47 are addressed to his sister Claire (wife of Henry Lethier, engineer of Ponts et Chaussées), 11 to his brother Ernest (1843-1925), Polytechnique graduate, artillery officer and future general, and 1 to his sister-in-law Emilie Lacœille, wife of Ernest. They are almost all written from Paris; some do not include a place and one letter is written from Auxerre (July 1, 1886). Extracts: 1886. "Je mène une vie absurde. Je suis en habit noir tous les soirs. J'ai dîné hier dans une maison où se trouvaient M. Jules Ferry, Jules Réache, etc. Il y avait aussi Mme Jules Ferry, fort jolie femme dans une toilette charmante. Ce soir je dîne au café de la Paix… Mardi je dîne à Vincennes, mercredi je déjeune encore en ville, etc." (I lead an absurd life. I am in black evening dress every night. I dined yesterday in a house where M. Jules Ferry, Jules Réache, etc. were present. There was also Mme Jules Ferry, a very pretty woman in a charming outfit. Tonight I dine at café de la Paix... Tuesday I dine in Vincennes, Wednesday I lunch again in town, etc.) (Paris, January 1886, to his sister). "J'ai vu mon ministre vendredi. Il m'a reçu en me disant : Eh bien ! mon cher colonel, vous voilà revenu de la comédie de St Malo. Puisque vous l'appelez ainsi avec raison, lui ai-je répondu, je n'ai plus rien à vous dire… " (I saw my minister Friday. He received me saying: Well! my dear colonel, here you are back from the comedy of St Malo. Since you call it that with reason, I replied, I have nothing more to say to you...) (Paris, February 14, to his sister). "Au Sénégal, tout commence à aller mal; mes prédictions se réalisent : le désordre va augmenter, la situation va devenir inextricable. On a envoyé tout dernièrement un gouverneur inintelligent et malhonnête; je crains qu'on ne pense à moi pour remettre en état les affaires militaires; je me cache, je fais le mort : je ne veux pas être sous les ordres de ce monsieur… Je ne sais pas ce qu'ils veulent faire à la Chambre; cela m'inquiète peu. Mon rapport me semble avoir fini d'occuper les gens. Tous depuis M. de Mun jusqu'à Clemenceau radotent; j'estime autant Baily et Camelinat que Baudry d'Asson ou Cassagnac. Tous ces gens-là sont stupides et méchants, ou ridicules et niais. Je me moque de ce qu'ils peuvent dire sur des affaires militaires dont ils ne sont pas susceptibles de parler…" (In Senegal, everything is beginning to go wrong; my predictions are coming true: disorder will increase, the situation will become inextricable. They recently sent an unintelligent and dishonest governor; I fear they might think of me to restore military affairs; I hide, I play dead: I do not want to be under the orders of this gentleman... I don't know what they want to do in the Chamber; that worries me little. My report seems to have finished occupying people. Everyone from M. de Mun to Clemenceau rambles; I esteem Baily and Camelinat as much as Baudry d'Asson or Cassagnac. All these people are stupid and wicked, or ridiculous and foolish. I mock what they can say about military affairs which they are not capable of discussing...) (s.l.n.d., to his sister). "Je reviens de chez le général Faidherbe auquel il a bien fallu me recommander. C'est un appui fragile que j'ai là; le pauvre général souffre beaucoup en ce moment. Quoiqu'il en soit, il m'a promis de faire pour moi ce qu'il pourrait. Ce sera peu de choses, l'influence des deux hommes, Général Faidherbe et Amiral Aube, l'un sur l'autre, étant aussi grande que celle d'un missionnaire sur un musulman. Je suis, paraît-il, très vivement battu en brèche. On me trouve trop jeune de grade… Le général Brière de l'Isle se remue pour moi, mais il passe, lui aussi, pour le serviteur damné de J. Ferry, et par suite son intervention ne pourra m'être utile, je le crains du moins beaucoup. J'ai vu Dislère ce matin [Paul Dislère (1840-1928), son ancien camarade de promotion à l'Ecole Polytechnique, à l'époque directeur des Colonies au ministère de la Marine]… Il ne peut non plus changer le vent qui est décidément contre moi. Il devient de plus en plus clair que la politique s'en mêle…" (I return from General Faidherbe's to whom I had to recommend myself. It's fragile support that I have there; the poor general suffers greatly at the moment. Whatever the case, he promised me to do what he could for me. It will be little, the influence of the two men, General Faidherbe and Admiral Aube, on each other, being as great as that of a missionary on a Muslim. I am, it appears, very vigorously attacked. They find me too young in rank... General Brière de l'Isle stirs himself for me, but he too passes for the damned servant of J. Ferry, and consequently his intervention cannot be useful to me, I fear it very much at least. I saw Dislère this morning [Paul Dislère (1840-1928), his former classmate at the Ecole Polytechnique, at the time director of Colonies at the Ministry of the Navy]... He also cannot change the wind which is decidedly against me. It becomes increasingly clear that politics is involved...) (Paris, May 22, to his sister). "M. Herbinger vient de faire une dernière plaisanterie en mourant en ce moment. Je vais être traité d'assassin, sans aucun doute. Et il y aura bien quelque médecin pour expliquer qu'il est décédé à la suite d'actes d'héroïsme qui ont miné sa constitution. Et que le colonel Desbordes a été assez aveugle et assez niais pour ne pas le voir… Bien que cette mort, au moment actuel, soit fâcheuse pour moi, je suis d'avis que M. Herbinger a fait un acte très sensé en décampant pour l'autre monde. C'est ce qu'il avait de mieux à faire. Que Dieu ait son âme !" (M. Herbinger has just played a final joke by dying at this moment. I will be treated as an assassin, without doubt. And there will surely be some doctor to explain that he died following acts of heroism that undermined his constitution. And that Colonel Desbordes was blind enough and foolish enough not to see it... Although this death, at the present moment, is unfortunate for me, I am of the opinion that M. Herbinger performed a very sensible act by decamping for the other world. It's the best thing he had to do. May God have his soul!) (Paris, May 27, to his sister). "Mon affaire continue à ne pas aller… Le général de Négrier a bien voulu faire une démarche pour moi auprès du chef du personnel, l'amiral Olry; il n'en a tiré aucune assurance. Le général Brière se remue tant qu'il peut, et d'autant plus qu'il considère ma nomination comme une sorte de compensation qui lui est due pour tous les ennuis et toutes les injures dont il est gratifié à cause de M. Herbinger. Mais il n'a pas, non plus, grand succès. Je sais que le général Faidherbe a plaidé ma cause auprès du ministre, mais également sans pouvoir obtenir une réponse… Ajoute à cela que les généraux d'artillerie Virgile et Dard travaillent contre moi, que Rochefort est un véritable spectre pour nos ministres, que Clemenceau ne peut pas être mon ami, que j'ai fait jouer toutes mes batteries, lesquelles sont représentées par mes généraux, mais que je n'ai pas de députés et de sénateurs dans mon sac…" (My affair continues not to go well... General de Négrier was kind enough to make an approach for me to the head of personnel, Admiral Olry; he drew no assurance from it. General Brière stirs himself as much as he can, and all the more so as he considers my nomination as a sort of compensation that is due to him for all the troubles and all the insults he is gratified with because of M. Herbinger. But he also has no great success. I know that General Faidherbe pleaded my cause to the minister, but equally without being able to obtain a response... Add to that that the artillery generals Virgile and Dard work against me, that Rochefort is a true spectre for our ministers, that Clemenceau cannot be my friend, that I have brought all my batteries into play, which are represented by my generals, but that I have no deputies and senators in my bag...) (Paris, June 1, to his sister). "J'ai enfin vu ma nomination à l'Officiel. Il paraît qu'elle était signée depuis plus de huit jours. On attendait le moment qui serait le moins pénible à Mr Rochefort, Mademoiselle Louise Michel, et aux journaux de droite et d'extrême gauche. Ils ont fait un mauvais calcul. L'expérience le prouvera. J'ai fait des visites aujourd'hui. Ça n'est pas amusant. J'ai vu l'amiral Peyron… Il m'a donné le conseil d'aller voir M. de Freycinet [président du Conseil et ministre des Affaires étrangères]… Il a été fort aimable avec moi… Je ne me suis payé qu'une petite malice. Il m'a parlé de la campagne du Tonkin, et il m'a félicité de ma bonne mine. Je lui ai répondu que la campagne du Tonkin était une expédition pour des jeunes filles. Il n'a pas insisté. Mais je suis certain qu'il a trouvé ce jugement un peu dur pour des gens qui ont fait de l'affaire du Tonkin un épouvantail…" (I finally saw my nomination in the Official Journal. It appears it had been signed for more than eight days. They were waiting for the moment that would be least painful for Mr Rochefort, Mademoiselle Louise Michel, and the right-wing and extreme left newspapers. They made a bad calculation. Experience will prove it. I made visits today. It's not amusing. I saw Admiral Peyron... He gave me the advice to go see M. de Freycinet [President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs]... He was very kind to me... I only allowed myself a small mischief. He spoke to me about the Tonkin campaign, and he congratulated me on my good appearance. I replied that the Tonkin campaign was an expedition for young girls. He didn't insist. But I am certain he found this judgment a bit harsh for people who made the Tonkin affair a bugbear...) (Paris, July 26, to his sister). 1887. "Je ne sais pas encore officiellement où je suis envoyé en Inspection, mais d'après ce que j'ai entendu dire ce matin, je vais avoir à visiter la Réunion, Madagascar, la Nouvelle-Calédonie. C'est un voyage de plus de six mois, et moi qui déteste ce genre d'exercice, ça me fait un plaisir que je vous laisse à penser…" (I don't yet know officially where I am sent on Inspection, but from what I heard said this morning, I will have to visit Réunion, Madagascar, New Caledonia. It's a journey of more than six months, and I who detest this kind of exercise, it gives me a pleasure that I leave you to imagine...) (Paris, May 7, to his sister-in-law Emilie).

Manuscript of 83 leaves of this French–Bunda dictionary, probably unpublished and unsigned.

This manuscript is certainly the first French–Bunda vocabulary (cf. Gay 3068 and Brunet I-1544).

Half red shagreen binding, spine with four raised bands ruled in black, gilt date at foot, minor rubbing to spine, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, contemporary binding.

Edition published one year after the original, illustrated with four fine copper-engraved plates by Charles Eisen depicting Nordic types (Icelandic women, a bear hunt, Samoyeds, a Laplander in a sleigh) engraved by Le Mire, one folding map by Bellin, thirteen maps, plans, or views (eight of them folding) engraved by Croissey, as well as a charming engraved title vignette and a headpiece by Le Gouaz.

See Sabin, 37616; Chadenat, 1633; Boucher de la Richarderie, I, 380.

Full mottled calf binding, smooth spine richly gilt in compartments decorated with gilt fleurons and geometric motifs, sometimes slightly rubbed, red morocco label, restorations to spine and joints, gilt roll tooling on the caps, red-speckled citron edges, gilt fillets on the board edges; late eighteenth-century binding.

A tall, wide-margined copy.

Provenance: copy from the Château de Menneval, with an engraved bookplate mounted on the pastedown.

First edition of the French translation prepared by A. J. B. Defauconpret (see Brunet III, 555; Quérard IV, 230; not in Field).

The work is illustrated with 20 charming aquatint plates, 6 of them hand-coloured, and a folding plan. The English first edition contained only 13 aquatints.

Contemporary Bradel bindings in full sand-coloured paper boards, red morocco spine labels for title and volume numbers (partly faded), flat spines gilt with a central floral tool, light rubbing to spines, upper caps slightly worn, two corners bumped, entirely uncut. Period bindings.

Pleasant, clean internal condition.

Johnson was a British officer in India who chose to return to England by land. His narrative offers numerous observations on the social life, customs, religion, and dress of the peoples he encountered along the way.

Second edition; the first having been destroyed by the author himself. Cf. Louandre et Bourquelot, III, p. 149: "Il y a eu de cet ouvrage une première édition anéantie par l'auteur avant toute émission, et dont il n'est peut-être pas échappé un exemplaire." "(L'auteur) s'est efforcé de rendre avec fidélité les impressions qu'il a éprouvées, et les renseignemens qu'il a obtenus ont été puisés aux sources les plus respectables."

Half calf bindings in light brown, smooth spines decorated with double gilt fillets, black morocco title and volume labels, a small hole at the foot of the spine of the first volume, marbled paper boards, upper corners slightly rubbed, sprinkled edges, contemporary bindings; the atlas volume is in original wrappers.

Some minor losses and small tears to the corners of the atlas, which also shows light restorations.

The latter is complete with its large folding map with coloured boundaries and its ten lithographed plates: eight views and two hand-coloured costume plates.

The eight picturesque views depict scenes near Jönköping, Stockholm, Rosendal, Drottningholm, Ornös (Arendt Pehrson’s house), Falun (the opening of the mine), Wexiö, and Solfvitsborg; the two remaining plates show Dalarna costumes at Leksand and Småland costumes at Wörend.

Some scattered foxing.

First edition of the French translation prepared by Joseph Lavallée.

The atlas volume is illustrated with 16 plates (portrait, views, birds, insects), 12 engraved music plates (printed on 6 leaves), and a large folding map on thick paper (cf. Quérard, I, 6; British Museum (Natural History), I, 8 for the atlas only; Pritzel, 6 for the original English edition).

Bound in contemporary half calf, smooth spines gilt-tooled with floral ornaments, rolls and motifs, sometimes slightly faded, orange calf title and volume labels, marbled paper boards, a few rubs and minor defects along the joints, sprinkled red edges; the atlas volume in contemporary half brown calf, smooth gilt-tooled spine with a few small losses at foot, some rubbing to joints and boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.

Our copy is complete with the Finnish bath plate, often lacking.

Third edition, the second issued under this title, partly original as it includes several new memoirs and the general tariff of Holland.

See Sabin 47557. Cioranescu 35613. Kress 3019. Not in Goldsmiths or Einaudi. See INED 2306 for the "Grand trésor historique et politique du florissant commerce des Hollandois" (1712).

Amsterdam, Du Villard, Changuion, 1718, 8vo,

Full mottled tan calf, spine with raised bands decorated with gilt fillets, garlands and floral tools (partly faded), red morocco title label, gilt rolls at the head and tail, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillet on board edges, red edges, one lower corner bumped, others slightly rubbed, contemporary binding.

Second, enlarged edition of these rather protectionist reflections, which prompted Dupont de Nemours to write a refutation (Lettre à la Chambre de commerce de Normandie).

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers, now covered with modern marbled paper, red edges.

The second part is entitled Plan d'une banque nationale de France, ou d'une caisse générale de recettes & paiements des deniers publics & particuliers, and bears the Jersey imprint, 1787. Frère I, 210 (for the first edition of 1787).

First edition of the French translation (cf. Gay 368).

Rare copy preserved in its original wrappers, complete with the accompanying atlas volume containing 7 maps, including 2 large folding ones.

Some light foxing, a few marginal tears to the wrappers of the atlas volume.

The English geographer Hugh Murray [1779-1846] devoted many years to enlarging and completing this work begun by the English orientalist John Leyden [1775-1811].

First edition, illustrated with a frontispiece portrait of Magellan and four maps and plans depicting the Strait of Magellan (cf. Sabin, 16765; Leclerc, 1971; Chadenat, 552).

Our copy does not include the appendix published in 1793. "A work difficult to find with the second part" (cf. Chadenat).

Full brown calf binding, spine with five raised bands framed by gilt fillets and decorated gilt compartments, gilt rolls on the caps, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, red edges, gilt fillets along the edges, modern binding in period style.

An engaging account of this region of South America, containing the following illustrations: Carta Esferica de la parte sur de la America Meridional, año 1788. – Carta reducida des estrecho de Magallanes, año 1788. – Primer plano de varios puertos del estrecho de Magallanes, levantados el año de 1786. – Segundo plano de varios puertos del estrecho de Magallanes, levantados el año de 1786.

Fine copy formerly belonging to naval captain Gaston de Rocquemaurel (1804–1878), second-in-command to Dumont d’Urville during the South Pole and Oceania expedition from 1837 to 1840, with his signature on the title page.

Handsome example of a binding executed in imitation of the eighteenth century.

Rare first edition of three scientific reports from the zoological exploration mission of Guy-René Babault (1883-1963), corresponding member of the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle, carried out in present-day Kenya and Uganda in 1913. 

The set comprises: Volume 1: Insectes coléoptères. Cicindelidae, by Guy Babault. – Volume 2: Insectes coléoptères. Fam. Carabidae. Subf. Anthiinae, by G. Bénard. – Volume 3: Étude d'une collection d'oiseaux de l'Afrique orientale anglaise et de l'Ouganda, by A. Menegaux, with field notes by Guy Babault. 

The first volume includes illustrations in the text and one hand-colored entomological plate with tissue guard and facing leaf of legends; the second volume contains one hand-colored entomological plate with tissue guard and facing legends; the third and final volume features six hand-colored ornithological plates with tissue guards, together with a large folding colored map bound at the end. 

Spine and boards marginally faded or sunned, internally well preserved. 

Second edition, illustrated with 33 plates outside the text, including 23 in black and white, 8 on tinted background, and 2 folding plates in colour (panorama of the city of Ballarat; map of the gold deposits), cf. Ferguson VII, 18716.

No copy recorded in the CCF.

The list of plates, p. xv, mentions only 27, as it groups together the reproductions of documents relating to the 1854 uprising.

Publisher’s binding in full grey cloth, flat spine and covers decorated in black and gilt, headcaps worn, endpapers and pastedowns in brown paper, inner hinges split, slightly shaken copy, a tear with paper loss along the inner hinge of the lower board, some light foxing.

The first edition of this early monograph on the city of Ballarat (State of Victoria) was published in 1870.

The town had only been founded in 1850 on the site of a former Indigenous encampment, and its spectacular growth owed much to the exploitation of gold deposits.

It is today the third largest city in the State.

The work is also of great importance for the history of the Eureka Stockade of 1854–55. William Bramwell Withers (1823–1913), born in England, emigrated to Natal in 1849, then to Victoria in 1852. Having become a journalist in Melbourne, he settled permanently in Ballarat only in 1885, fifteen years after the publication of his book.

Edition decorated with a portrait frontispiece, 24 plates, and a folding map at the end of the volume.

Publisher’s full blue cloth binding, blind-stamped, smooth spine gilt-tooled, blind-stamped illustrations on the front cover, gilt dentelle framing on the pastedowns, gilt edges. A handsome copy in its publisher’s binding.

First edition, illustrated with a large folding lithographed map of the Indochinese peninsula in color, cf. Cordier, Indosinica, p. 1000.

Contemporary half green goatskin, spine faded and decorated with triple gilt fillets, marbled paper boards with losses, a corner loss at the foot of the upper cover extending to the following pages without affecting the text, endpapers and pastedowns of combed paper, corners rubbed, binding of the period.

A marginal tear to the map.

Rare publication of the "Revue indo-chinoise," issues 82-87.

In 1898, Laos was incorporated into the Indochinese Union at the initiative of Paul Doumer, Governor-General of Indochina from 1897 to 1902.

Manuscript ex-libris on the title-page.

First edition consisting of a collection of editorials published in La Censura in 1849 and 1850, presented by Tomas Aznar Barbachano and Juan Carbó.

Cf. Sabin, 55255. Not in Leclerc.

Front cover and spine lacking, rear cover preserved but detached, soiling to the title-page.

Very rare (no copy in French public collections).

First edition, of which no copies were issued on deluxe paper.

Illustrated, complete with the two folding maps at the end of the volume.

Inscribed by René Grousset: "A monsieur Benoist-Méchin en témoignage de profonde reconnaissance" and additionally signed by Geneviève Grousset.

Accompanied by a one-page autograph letter signed by René Grousset to Jacques Benoist-Méchin, in which he thanks him for his interventions on behalf of his son-in-law and daughter, whom he saved.

First edition, illustrated throughout the text.

Some foxing, light rubbing without consequence to the spines, small losses of green paper on the endpapers.

Contemporary manuscript ex-donos on the endpapers as a gift.

Publisher’s full blue cloth, smooth spines decorated with black Greek key motifs, black Greek key borders on the boards, upper boards adorned with a marine illustration, publisher’s black monograms stamped on the lower boards, green paper endpapers and pastedowns, wrappers preserved.

Rare first edition of the French translation prepared by Butel-Dumont.

Full brown sheep binding, smooth spine decorated with gilt and tooled compartments, modern red morocco title-piece, restored defects and wear to the spine, one joint split at foot, marbled endpapers, gilt fillets to board edges, rubbed corners, contemporary binding.

Our copy lacks the map of Acadia, extremely rare and present only in a few examples. Sabin 35958. Leclerc 732.

Bookplate of the Marquis de Bassano pasted on an endpaper.

First edition on ordinary paper.

Half black shagreen binding, spine with five raised bands framed by gilt garlands, gilt date at foot, marbled paper boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt top edge.

Scattered foxing, a few reading marks in red and blue pencil in the margins of certain paragraphs, printed stamp of the Armand Colin bookshop on the title page.

First edition, of which no copies were printed on deluxe paper.

Half black shagreen binding, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt garlands, gilt date at foot, marbled paper boards, combed paper endpapers and pastedowns, gilt top edge, original wrappers preserved.

Scattered foxing, some reading marks in red and blue pencil in the margins of certain paragraphs, ink stamps of the Etienne Vion bookshop and stationery in Amiens on the title page, a library shelfmark at the head of the title page.

First edition on ordinary paper.

Half black shagreen binding, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt garlands, marbled paper boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt top edge, original covers and spine preserved.

Scattered foxing mostly affecting the edges.

First edition on ordinary paper.

Half black shagreen binding, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt garlands, gilt date at foot, a small tear at the foot of the spine, marbled paper boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt top edge.

Scattered foxing.

First edition of this uncommon work, originally written in French.

Illustrated with two engraved frontispieces and two folding maps bound at the end of the first volume.

Bradel binding in bottle-green half cloth, flat spine gilt with a central floral tool and double gilt fillet at foot, marbled paper-covered boards, black morocco title label; modern binding signed Boichot.

Three of the four original wrappers preserved, occasional scattered foxing.

Prince Emmanuel Mikhailovich Galitzine or Golitsyn (1804–1853) was a member of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society.

Partly original edition, expanded with a preface and entirely unpublished fragments.

Bound in contemporary half black shagreen, spines with five raised bands decorated with gilt garlands, gilt dates at the foot, marbled paper boards, comb-marbled endpapers, gilt edges.

Some foxing, mainly at the beginning and end of the volumes.

Complete with the folding table bound at the beginning of the second volume.