Play and Toys

Exceedingly rare first edition. A sole copy in the U.S. (Newberry), out of only five listed on OCLC with the correct first edition pagination (British Library, BnF, Allard Pierson, Lucerne).

True first edition of Philidor’s chess book housed in a contemporary armorial binding of a noble chess player: Charles Theodore, Elector Palatine of the Rhine.

Later forming part of the library of famous chess player Lothar Schmid, chess grandmaster and arbiter of the 20th century, who assembled the largest and most prestigious private c

Original colour print printed on laid paper and signed in the plate lower right.

Original engraving produced for the illustration of La Gazette du Bon Ton, one of the most beautiful and influential fashion journals of the 20th century, celebrating the talent of French designers and artists at the height of the Art Deco era.

Rare vintage polychrome "Happy Families" card game titled "The Trades," complete with all 42 cards, from the 1930s.

Comic portrayal of seven trades: Ramona (heating engineer), Lebouif (cobbler), Lavinasse (innkeeper), Boudingras (pork butcher), Courtepaille (farmer), Potard (pharmacist) and Dubifteck (butcher).

Without its original box, some traces of use, such as rubbed corners, and some foxing spots on the back of the cards. Good general condition.

Amusing vintag

Rare first edition of a lottery manual claiming to reveal the predictions of famous occultist Joseph Balsamo, Count of Cagliostro. Published during Cagliostro's imprisonment by the Inquisition, it is the first known of its kind using his name, and most certainly the only one printed during his lifetime.
We are able to trace only two copies in libraries (BnF and Kress Library).
Numerous illustrations including a frontispiece showing Cagliostro giving lottery predictions, as well as 15 plates containing 90 vignettes depicting dreams, each associated with a lottery number. Also contains a folding leaf on the influence of sunrise and su

Different issue from the one dated An XI (1803), which itself is not firmly established as the true first edition (cf. Monglond VI 139–140; Quérard VI 326).

The work is illustrated with an etched frontispiece entitled « Frémissez ! voilà du joueur le sort inévitable !! » depicting a gambler blowing his brains out in a gaming room, amid general indifference.

Our copy is preserved in its original publisher’s wrappers, with a blank marbled paper provisional cover showing small losses at the corners.

A pleasing copy.

First edition printed in small numbers of this offprint from the Mercure de France published on May 15, 1920. OCLC does not locate any copies in North America and only three in Eu­rope (Bnf, Bibliothèque Doucet, Uni­versitätsbibliothek Basel).
Covers with frayed margins, second cover partially shaded, one small piece of paper missing from the right margin of a page due to the fragility of the paper.
Signed and inscribed copy to paint­er Bernard de Blois: “En sympathie de voisin de logis et d'esthétique. Canudo 1922.” [”In sympathy as a neighbor of lodgings and aesthetics. Canudo 1922.”]
Extremely rare first edition of the li­bretto of t

Erotic playing card with hidden image, unknown manufacturer, produced in France around 1860. Lithograph colored with pochoir, blank verso.
When held up to the light, the card reveals an erotic scene: the lady is amusing herself with a dildo.
A curiosity!

Description of 60 Patience games with figures in red and black indicating the placement of cards. Red border on all pages. Title page in a cartouche framed with Renaissance ornaments, in black, red and sepia. Beautifully printed work.
Publisher's ochre boards. Renaissance style ornamental compositions on the covers. Red edges. 
Superb copy, in near mint condition.

New edition, after the original published in 1738.

269 numbered figures at mid-page.
Contemporary full marbled sheep binding. Decorated spine with raised bands. Red morocco title label. Upper joint cracked at head, and a small crack at tail over 0.5cm. 3 corners very bumped and worn. 3 traces of surface wear on lower board. Good copy.
Didactic treatise on Backgammon, a game of Chinese origin that was very popular in Europe under the name of Trictrac, and which features numerous games. The rules of the game remained unchanged until 1931, the date at which the Americans modernized the game rules.