"A poet can survive anything but a misprint."
Oscar Wilde
First edition of a poetry collection printed in a very small number of copies.
No copy recorded in the CCF. A single copy held in WorldCat (National Library of Australia).
Light, scattered foxing.
Half brown percaline Bradel binding, smooth spine, date and place gilt at the foot of the spine, marbled paper boards, original wrappers preserved, corners slightly rubbed, contemporary binding.
Rare first edition of this work by the author, one of 150 numbered copies on antique paper, the only issue after three deluxe copies.
Some light foxing.
No copies recorded in the CCF. Only three copies listed in WorldCat.
This slender booklet brings together pieces belonging to the earliest poetic experiments of Félix-Conrad Laventure (1902–1995), who was also known for his political career in ministerial, legal, legislative and municipal life (he served as Mayor of Port-Louis and as a minister).
His first verses appeared in 1921 (in Le Mauricien and L'Essor, of which he later became editor, and where in 1924 he published a critical study of...
First edition of this anthology of French poetry compiled by the former French headmistress of an American boarding school, comprising 128 poems by the foremost French poets, from Malherbe to Victor Hugo, which the editor assigned to her pupils during her tenure.
Publisher’s full violet cloth, spine lightly faded, headcaps slightly frayed, upper cover blocked in gilt at centre with a swan, brown endpapers and pastedowns, hinges slightly split.
On the front free endpaper, a violet stamp bearing the name “Consuelo”. This very likely refers to Consuelo Suncin Sandoval (1901–1979), the Salvadoran artist who married Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in 1931 and was one of the muses of the...
Very scarce first edition of David’s first work, dedicated to Léonville l’Homme and Edgar Janson (cf. Toussaint & Adolphe A. 1411).
Spine lacking; copy cockled.
Illustrated edition with drawings by D. Rahoult and numerous wood engravings by E. Dardelet (Vicaire I, 812–813; Carteret III, 95–96).
Preface by George Sand. Grenoble, Rahoult et Dardelet, 1864–1874, issued in two parts bound in one volume, large quarto.
Half brown morocco over corners, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt fleurons and blind tooling, minor rubbing to the spine, covers of marbled paper framed with double gilt fillets, surface wear to the boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt top edge.
The first part, issued in nine instalments between 1859 and 1864, consists of a poem in local patois on the flooding of Grenoble in 1733, first...
First edition illustrated with 2 engraved plates of this rare anonymous collection of poems, recently and definitively attributed to the poet from Réunion Antoine de Bertin (1752-1790), and believed to constitute his earliest works (cf. Seth, Poète créoles, 304. Ryckebusch, Bibliographie… Réunion, 750. Conlon 71: 879.)
Contemporary-style half black sheep with corners, spine with five raised bands ruled in blind, comb-marbled paper boards, some rubbing to the covers, corners bumped, modern binding.
They were never included in subsequent editions of his Œuvres complètes.
Bertin alludes to his island in his “Vers à Jeannette. A l'Orient” (p. 68): « …Mais...
Extremely rare first edition of this poem composed to mark the capture of Ulm (15–20 October 1805), during the Austrian campaign.
No copy recorded in the CCF.
The only copy we have located is held by the Biblioteca musicale Gaetano Donizetti in Bergamo.
Francesco Zacchiroli (1750–1826), a native of Ferrara, is best known for his Description de la galerie royale de Florence (1783), although he was also a prolific writer of both verse and prose.
Traces of a label to the upper left corner of the front wrapper, a few minor spots of foxing.
Rare first edition of this poem, printed on bluish paper and composed by Tissot in honour of the birth of the King of Rome, the Emperor’s son.
Not in Quérard.
Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers, under a modern marbled paper cover. Not in Quérard. A fine copy.
Rare first edition of d'Alègre’s French translation (cf. Brunet V, 25. Barbier II, 596.)
Contemporary full marbled calf, spine in five raised bands richly gilt in compartments with floral tools, red shagreen lettering-piece, marbled endpapers, gilt fillets to board edges now almost rubbed away, red-speckled edges, contemporary binding.
Restorations to spine and joints, marginal dampstain at the foot of about ten leaves, annotations and a pen drawing on a flyleaf.
This is the second translation of this masterpiece by the Persian poet and philosopher Saadi, one of the great Sufi masters of the thirteenth century.
The first, by André Du Ryer, dates from 1634.
It...
Rare first edition of this occasional piece (a second edition was issued with the Paris imprint), cf. Monglond IV, 232.
Contemporary Bradel-style binding in blue paper over boards, smooth spine ruled in gilt with double fillets, marbled paper-covered boards, a few scuffs to the spine and boards.
From November 1795, François de Neufchâteau (1750-1828) served as Commissioner of the Executive Directory to the Central Administration of the Vosges, where he devoted himself to the development of agriculture in the department, a pursuit that always remained his foremost interest.
Copy from the library of the lawyer Charles Fournerat (1780-1867) of Ancy-le-Franc, bearing his...
A very rare Brescia imprint, dedicated to Prince Eugène and celebrating Napoleon’s successes in the German campaign of 1805.
No copy recorded in the CCF.
A dampstain to the upper right corner of the leaves.
Contemporary cream paper-covered boards, smooth spine without lettering with tears, boards soiled, title within a black frame on the upper board and address likewise on the lower board, tears with losses on the lower board, contemporary binding.
However, dated 26 November of that year, it could not yet include the victory of Austerlitz. Niccolo Bettoni (1770-1842) was a prominent figure of Italian typography at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and...
Rare and sought-after first edition.
Half-black shagreen binding, spine in four compartments, marbled paper boards, pebbled endpapers and pastedowns, speckled edges, contemporary binding.
Some occasional light foxing as usual.
Rare copy in strictly contemporary binding.
First separate edition of Plain Language from Truthful James, which first appeared as an article in The Overland Monthly in September 1870.
Issued as a printed envelope-folder containing nine lithographed caricature plates by John Hull, each accompanied by a poem.
No copy recorded in the CCF.
Small angular tears to the envelope, with some staining to the lower margin.
Originally intended as a fierce satire on the racial prejudice of Irish-American workers against the numerous Chinese immigrants competing for railway construction jobs, the piece was widely misread as mocking the immigrants themselves.
The Jewish writer and poet Francis Brett...
Celebrated edition entirely engraved both images and text, richly illustrated with 6 engraved titles, a frontispiece and an engraved half-title for volume I, together with 243 figures, 473 vignettes and tail-pieces engraved by Fessard.
The illustration of the first three volumes is the work of Monnet, and in the last three by Fessard after Bardin, Bidauld, Caresme, Desrais, Houel, Kobell, Le Clerc, Leprince, Loutherbourg, and Meyer. The text is entirely engraved by Montulay and Drouet within decorative borders.
First edition, one of the rare copies printed on laid paper.
This 4-page issue features a comic strip by Steinlen: "La mauvaise aventure de Maigriou."
Includes literary contributions by Charles Cros (“Pour en avoir le coeur net”), Charles Chincholle (“Les jours d’absinthe”), George Auriol (“La saint Charlemagne”), François Coppée (“L’esclave ivre”), ...
A well-preserved copy.
Le Chat Noir was a weekly magazine founded by Rodolphe Salis and Emile Goudeau, published from 1882 to 1897, with the aim of promoting the famed cabaret of the same name, of which it served as a living memory. It featured the texts performed during the shows. The publication also stands as a...
Autograph letter dated 3 June 1941, signed and addressed to Frédéric Lefèvre, comprising 40 lines in blue ink on two pages of a bifolium, written from Lyon.
Folds from original mailing, envelope present.
During these troubled times, Frédéric Lefèvre was difficult to reach for his friend Francis Carco: "J'ai appris par Raymond Millet - qui me donne ton adresse - que tu es à Vichy ! On m'avait dit que tu étais retourné à Paris... [...] c'est pour cette raison que je ne t'ai pas envoyé mon dernier livre mais je dois recevoir des exemplaires prochainement et le premier sera pour toi."
Francis Carco discusses...
First edition of Pierre Drieu la Rochelle's first book, one of 150 numbered copies on Hollande laid paper, the only deluxe copies.
Precious autograph inscription signed by Pierre Drieu la Rochelle : « to Charles Maurras this anxious testimony. Pierre Drieu la Rochelle ex. sergeant in the 146th Infantry. October 1st, 1917. »
Important testimony of the young Drieu la Rochelle's admiration – then in full intellectual development – for the « master of Martigues » to whom he sends this copy of his war poems composed in 1916 after being wounded at Verdun.
Demobilized and...
Autograph note signed by Victor Hugo in ink on a newspaper cutting:
"Par le Ph.[are] de la L[oire] d'aujourd'hui j'apprends que je suis un traître j'en prends acte"
This modest yet powerful note is emblematic of the mythic Hugolian tradition of the "copeaux", or little "shavings" of paper. As an outlet, a catharsis for this overflow of thoughts and agitation, the writer accumulated ill-fated fragments: "Hugo's writing also has its wild, untamed side. Hugo was a graphomaniac: for him, writing was an imperious gesture, bound to no place or hour. Words, phrases...
First edition of this important and very rare magazine, complete with 4 issues in 3 volumes.
Complete collection of this luxurious Surrealist magazine, edited and funded by Lise Deharme and characterized by its emphasis on photography. Covers illustrated by Man Ray, illustrations in black.
Contributions by Salvador Dali, Hans Arp, Dora Maar, Oscar Dominguez, Brassaï, Lee Miller, Jacques Lacan, James Joyce, Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes, Ilarie Voronca, Nathalie Barney, Benjamin Fondane, Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, Alejo Carpentier, Eugène Jolas, Lise Hirtz [Lise Deharme], Raymond Queneau, Claude Sernet, Roger Vitrac, Robert Desnos, Jean Follain, Léon-Paul Fargue, Pierre...
Autograph quatrain and tercet from Cocteau's youth, comprising fourteen stanzas signed by Jean Cocteau, with fifteen lines written in black ink and titled "Pour Abel Bonnard".
This manuscript poem, bearing two autograph corrections by Jean Cocteau, was later published in the collection "Le Prince frivole," issued by Mercure de France in 1910—the poet’s second published work.
On the verso of the bifolium, Cocteau drafted an early version of the poem: the title, the first line, and the very beginning of the second, with a slight variation from the final version.
This manuscript of Le Prince frivole was long thought to be lost: “Le...
Autograph letter signed by the dandy count, 46 lines written in black ink recto-verso, on Hotel de France de Pau letterhead, addressed to a poet friend.
Fold marks inherent to postal handling.
The poet expresses surprise at his friend's reproaches: "Pourquoi parlez-vous du mal que je pourrais vous faire ?... Alors il faudrait bien essayer, pour ne pas vous désobéir mais il me semble que je m'y mettrai sans conviction." (Why do you speak of the harm I could do to you?... Then I would have to try, so as not to disobey you, but it seems to me I would do so without conviction.) and leans rather toward a misunderstanding of his words: "Est-ce donc ainsi que vous...
Autograph poem by Théodore de Banville, unsigned, entitled "Les exilés," comprising 20 lines in black ink with deletions and corrections.
Vertical and horizontal fold marks from mailing.
In the upper right-hand corner, the poet has written: “envoi de livre à Don Bernardo Calderon.”
This four-quatrain poem appears to be unpublished and was seemingly not included in the collection "Les exilés" published in 1867.
«Ce livre, pleurant sur la gloire
Et sur le bonheur envolé,
Renferme toute notre histoire?
Qui donc n'est pas un exilé ?
[...]
Heureux celui qui sous la mer,
Penchant son triste front blémi,
Poursuit sa route aride et nue
En...
Posthumous first edition of Mallarmé's chronicles for the journal La Dernière mode. Preface by S. A. Rhodes.
3/4 morocco binding, spine with five raised bands, gilt title, decorative paper covers, marbled endpapcers and pastedowns. Bound as issued, top edge gilt, binding signed by Maylander. Spine and top of the front cover faded, and small trace of adhesive to one of the flyleaves.
A rare copy of the only first edition of Mallarmé published in the U.S. - bringing together chronicles from his great magazine of wit and opinion, The Latest Fashion, every page of which he wrote himself under various pseudonyms of both genders. Mallarmé wrote about the latest women's...
Autograph quatrain and tercet from Jean Cocteau's youth, comprising fourteen stanzas penned in black ink across 15 lines on grey paper bearing the poet’s silver monogram in the upper left corner.
Two pencil corrections in the poet’s hand.
This poem presents a variant of the version published in the collection "Le prince frivole," released by Mercure de France in 1910, Cocteau’s second published work; “Versailles dont on a tant dit” (appearing as “Le vieux parc dont on a tant dit” in the printed edition).
New edition following the original of 1573. A handsome edition well printed in italics. It contains the Christian poetry, absent from the 1600 edition. Copy enhanced with a portrait of the author from around 1820.
Full glazed blonde calf Restoration binding signed at foot F. Bozérian jeune. Spine with raised bands decorated with 5 fleurons, fillets and roulettes on the bands. Date at foot in blind. Boards ruled in blind with frame roulette composed of interlaced circles. Interior Greek key border. Edges gilt. A small fragment missing from head. Some traces of rubbing. Paper very fresh, the engraving has caused slight uniform foxing on the title page. A handsome copy.
The volume...
"It's war!" we shouted that night, over and over again. The terrible word brought us bad luck... It was 1913: the following year, we were packing our kits again. This time, for real. And not all the guests came back." p. 335
First edition, one of only 6 copies printed on Hollande, this being copy no. 1 of the deluxe issue.
Bound in navy blue morocco backed boards with corners, spine very lightly sunned with raised bands, gilt date at foot, marbled paper-covered boards and endpapers, edges untrimmed, top edge gilt, covers and spine preserved. Binding signed Lavaux.
A fine copy with wide margins, attractively bound.
Bookplate...
