Politics in Writing

First edition, one of 70 numbered copies on pur fil paper, the deluxe issue after 2 reimposed on pur fil vergé hors commerce reserved for Jacques Hébertot and 13 on holland paper.
A handsome and rare copy of this response by Albert Camus to Jean-Paul Sartre's "Les mains sales".

First edition and first printing of Lucien Laforge’s pacifist illustrations, one of 400 deluxe copies on special matte red paper from the Barthélémy paper mills, the only deluxe issue announced.
Some light wear, otherwise a very good copy of this fierce anti-militarist pamphlet in which runs "comme le grésillement du fer rouge marquant à vif la chair pâle et grasse du Bourgeois repu de morts" (Paul Vaillant-Couturier in L'Humanité).

First edition, one of 350 numbered copies on deckle-edged paper, ours specially printed for General Koenig.
Bradel binding in full white cardboard simulating vellum, spine with four compartments decorated with panels outlined in red, red fillet frame on boards, front cover preserved, top edge red.
Precious autograph inscription from Marcel Bleustein, who took the pseudonym Blanchet during the Resistance, to General Koenig, the great victor of the battle of Bir Hakeim: "Pour monsieur le général Koenig, en témoignage de ma grande admiration et de mon respectueux attachement. Son ancien officier de presse Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet le 24 Nov. 1948" [For General Koenig, as a...

New deluxe edition printed by Didot on deluxe vellum paper. Includes two superb engravings by Moreau, engraved by Giraud. Critical edition with preface, annotations, and Plutarch's Life of Phocion in Amyot's translation.
Copy bearing the crowned cipher of Louis-Philippe stamped on both boards. Once on the throne of France, Louis-Philippe abandoned the arms of the Duke of Orléans in favor of his crowned cipher, a symbol of his role as constitutional monarch. Later in his reign, the crown would even be removed, leaving only the bare cipher.
Later Restoration binding in red long-grain morocco, attributable to Simier, Louis-Philippe's bookbinder (Louis-Philippe had several copies bound...

Original colour lithographed poster depicting Jean Jaurès as an elephant sitting on a chair and holding a bottle of “water from the Jordan”. Until then portrayed as a dog – caricaturists mocking his aggressiveness – Jean Jaurès is here, for the first time, represented as an elephant. It is a question here of highlighting his potbelly and his pachyderm silhouette, but we can, nevertheless, highlight the great dignity of this massive personality with a high gaze. The water from the Jordan is held on one of his hoofs and alludes to the rumour that he had his son baptised in the scared river, thus acting against his anticlerical policy. Despite the caricaturist's desire to...

First edition, one of 17 numbered copies on alfa mousse, the only deluxe copies.
Fine and rare copy.
Henri Alleg describes here his three years spent in preventive detention at Barberousse, the civil prison of Algiers, among his fellow fighters.

First edition of this special issue dedicated by the Fidel Castro's Cuban State to Ernesto Che Guevara, who passed away a month earlier after being executed by the Bolivian army.
Tribute issue illustrated with many photographs of Che.
Text in Spanish.

A very beautiful copy despite some small minor folds on the last sheets.
Rare issue that participated greatly to the hagiography of Che, who still today remains the Christ of anti-capitalist revolutionaries and third-worldists.

Victor HUGO
Les Misérables
A. Lacroix & Verboeckhoven & Cie, Bruxelles 1862, 14,5x22cm, 10 bound volumes.

First edition without statement published concomitantly with the Pagnerre's Paris edition.
Bound in half blue sheepskin, spine in four compartments decorated with double gilt fillets, blue paper plates, marbled paste-down and endpapers, mottled edges, English bindings of the time.
Scattered foxings, title page of the third volume slightly and marginally soiled, paper plates a little rubbed and a few tears on some edges, some joints repaired.

First edition of the French translation, for which no deluxe paper was printed.
A pleasant copy.
We include the second volume, covering the period 1979-1994, published in 2005.
Rare handwritten signature of Alexandre Solzhenitsyn on the title page.

Complete run of the first twenty years of the newspaper Libération, founded in 1973 by Jean-Paul Sartre, Serge July, Philippe Gavi, Bernard Lallement and Jean-Claude Vernier.

6,200 issues in pristine condition (never opened).

This unique collection comprises 6,200 issues of Libération in impeccable condition (never opened), and is absolutely complete – including all the “numéros zéros”, promotional issues, special reports, thematic supplements (including the entire series of the celebrated “Sandwich” issues), and the commemorative twentieth anniversary album – from Monday 5 February 1973 to Monday 3 January 1994.  
The collection...

First edition, one of 50 numbered copies reimposed on Japan Imperial paper, ours being one of the few hors commerce copies, deluxe edition after 1 unique copy on Japan Imperial and 19 old Japan.
Illustrated work, as frontispiece, with a portrait of Charles Maurras consisting of an original drypoint by Edouard Chimot and original lithographs by Wassily Schoukhaeff.
Half chocolate brown morocco binding with corners, spine with five raised bands, gilt date at foot, black roulettes on headcaps, black fillet frame on wood-effect paper boards, wood-effect paper endpapers and pastedowns, covers and spine preserved, top edge gilt, perfect unsigned binding.
Very handsome copy...

First edition, one of 80 numbered copies on Holland paper, the deluxe issue.

A fine copy.

Original photograph of Ravachol flanked by gendarmes, period albumen print mounted on card with a red border, bearing the handwritten caption « Ravachol à Montbrison » at the foot.

This image was taken by Auguste Berthon, a photographer based in Saint-Étienne, on the eve of Ravachol’s execution, during a walk in the prison yard at Montbrison. This promenade is mentioned in the surveillance reports of the Conciergerie: « Le détenu a été conduit à la promenade à 8 heures, a déjeuné à 9 heures et est retourné à la promenade de 10 heures à midi où il était encore lorsque nous avons été remplacés. » (11 May 1892)
Very skilful...

Autograph manuscript of 12 pages on squared sheets, written in blue ink, with numerous passages underlined.
A previously unpublished set of reflections by Jean-Paul Sartre on social structure and bourgeois ideology, probably written in 1952 as part of a projected screenplay on the revolutionary period. This series of interior dialogues on the nature of individual and collective power constitutes an early draft of the ideas later developed in his 1960 masterpiece, Critique of Dialectical Reason. Through the example of the French Revolution and the Terror, Sartre questions the role of the citizen and of property, drawing on the writings of Kant, Marx...

First edition for which no grand papier (deluxe) copies were printed.
Small marginal pieces missing at the top of the first board, a clear remnant of adhesive paper at the bottom of the first endpaper.
Copy complete with the facsimile at the end of the volume.

Precious handwritten inscription signed by Gabriele d'Annunzio to Natalie Clifford Barney: « à miss Barney et au Temple de l'Amitié attentive, cette légère torpille ‘sine litteris' est offerte par la ‘tête d'ivoire'. Gabriele d'Annunzio » (“To Miss Barney and the attentive Temple of Friendship, this light ‘sine litteris' torpedo is offered by the ‘ivory head'. Gabriele...

Autograph letter signed on four pages, dated 12 November 1851. 124 lines in black ink.

This letter is presented in a chemise and slipcase with paper boards decorated with abstract motifs, green morocco spine, green suede doublure, slipcase with morocco spine and matching paper boards signed by Thomas Boichot.

Unpublished autograph letter on progress, signed by Pierre-Joseph-Marie Proudhon, major figure in French social thought, and  “the father of...

First edition, one of 10 numbered copies on Japan paper, the deluxe issue.
Bradel binding in half chocolate-brown morocco with bands, smooth spine, date gilt at foot, marbled paper boards, brown endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers and spine preserved, gilt edges, binding signed Honnelaître.

First edition displaying all the distinctive features of its publication: it presents no capital letters except at the beginning of paragraphs and it is the very first work to have been printed with Voltaire's spelling. Our copy is complete with its errata leaf, which is often missing.
Later bindings (19th century) in full red morocco, Jansenist spines with five raised bands, dates and places gilt at foot, boards struck at center with large gilt typographical fleurons, double gilt fillets on leading edges and headcaps, pastedowns lined with blue morocco presenting a wide gilt decorative border, monogrammed bookplates mounted on the pastedowns of each volume, following endpapers of...

First collective edition, for which no deluxe paper copies were issued, one of the press service copies.
Preface by Louis Aragon.
Precious autograph inscription signed by Louis Aragon to his friend Charles Dobzynski, whose wedding witness he was, along with Elsa Triolet: "A Dob, Louis."

 

First edition, one of 40 numbered copies on vélin pur fil paper, the tirage de tête (deluxe copies).

Full morocco, covers and spine preserved, slipcase, elegant binding signed by Semet & Plumelle.

Provenances: mostly from Robert Desprechins' library with his ex-libris drawn by Jean Cocteau, and by Louis de Sadeleer with his engraved ex-libris.

A very nice copy beautifully bound morocco signed by Semet & Plumelle.

First edition, one of the press service copies.
Precious signed autograph inscription from Paul Éluard to Benjamin Fondane.
Spine with three small expertly repaired tears, of no consequence.
A moving dedication from poet to poet, written on the eve of the war during which the two friends would contribute together to poetic resistance journals such as l'Honneur des poètes.
The deportation and death of Fondane in 1944, along with many other artist and poet friends, would profoundly affect Éluard, who composed in their memory a magnificent poetic tribute, "Eternité de ceux que je n'ai pas revus," listing the names of each of the departed:
"Visages...

First edition, one of 13 numbered copies on Or Turner paper, large paper copy, the fewest copies.
Rare and nice copy with double cover.