Published correspondences

First edition, one of 50 numbered copies printed on pure Lana vellum, the only large paper copies.
Fine copy.
Text established, presented and annotated by Anne Borrel and Jean-Pierre Halévy.

Magnificent and unpublished handwritten letter signed by Fernand Léger about American jazz and colours, addressed to Gaston Criel, author of a pioneering essay on “Swing.”
The painter looks back on his exile in the United States from 1940 to 1945, talks about Louis Armstrong and of his captivating discovery of experimental jazz in New York, in the company of the Afro-American painters of the Harlem Renaissance.

29 lines in black ink, written on one leaf.

The hand-written letter is presented under a half forest green morocco chemise, green paper boards with a stylised motif, endpapers lined with green lamb, slip case lined with...

Significant letter written by René Magritte to André Bosmans, dated 9 January 1965 and signed with his initials. 35 lines in black ink on one leaf with the heading “René Magritte 97, rue des Mimosas, Bruxelles 3 Téléphone 15.07.30”. Several words crossed out and passages underlined. 

Published in the Lettres à André Bosmans 1958-1967, Seghers I. Brachot, 1990, pp. 407-408
A letter that is both comical and of great philosophical depth, in which the Surrealist painter René Magritte tackles the question of the imagination and inspiration. In it there is a very pertinent analysis of the issues of aesthetics and of modern thinking, while the painter...

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...

One of the most magnificent letters by Fernand Léger

A fabulous handwritten letter by the painter Fernand Léger, written on the front line during the Battle of Argonne, addressed to the Parisian art trader Adolphe Basler.
92 lines in black ink, four pages on a double leaf, dated 28 May 1915 by Léger.
The handwritten letter is presented with a half forest green morocco chemise, green paper boards with a stylised motif, endpapers lined with green lamb, slip case lined with the same morocco, the piece is signed by Goy & Vilaine.
The letter was chosen for Cécile...

Paris, Nicolas Simart, 1734, and Rollin fils, 1737. Six duodecimo volumes.

First official edition, largely in first printing, of the Recueil des lettres de Madame la marquise de Sévigné à Madame la comtesse de Grignan, sa fille, edited by Denis-Marius Perrin under the supervision of Pauline de Simiane, the author's granddaughter. The first four volumes were published by Nicolas Simart in 1734; the final two, completing the collection, by Rollin fils in 1737. The set contains 614 letters, all addressed to Madame de Grignan.

Two engraved portraits...

Touching handwritten letter signed by Georges Bataille to Denise Rollin, 37 lines in pencil, small water stain in the top right not affecting the text.
Georges Bataille tries to reassure his companion Denise Rollin: “Je t'en supplie. Il ne faut pas t'inquiéter, mais pas du tout.” “I beg you. You must not worry, not at all.” She moved to Vézelay where Bataille would soon join her. He stayed in Paris where the bombings did not disrupt Parisian lives at all: “Tu n'imagines point à quel point les petits dégâts qu'on voit paraissent insignifiants à côté de la place intacte qu'il y a de tous les côtés. Pendant toute l'alerte, j'ai déjeuné bien tranquille avec mon chef de...