Quest for the Holy Grail(s)

Extremely rare first edition, probably printed in Prussia, of this essay written directly in French by Baron de Bielfeld (1716–1770), inspector of Prussian universities and a friend of Frederick the Great since the time when he was still Crown Prince of Prussia.

GV 1700–1910, vol. 111, p. 374. Not in Conlon (who only cites the Amsterdam edition of the same year). No copy located in the U.S.A.

Full red morocco with gilt decoration, smooth spine elaborately tooled in the grotesque style, gilt rolls on the caps, triple gilt fillet border on the covers, gilt fillets on the edges, star-patterned gilt paper endpapers and doublures, gilt dentelle border on the inside covers, all edges gilt, contemporary binding.

Small black spots on the boards, a few insignificant scattered foxmarks.

The author clearly intended this work to flatter his sovereign by showing how the princes of the House of Brandenburg, and particularly “the monarch who now occupies the throne,” had “the glorious maxim of granting their subjects full freedom of thought and generous protection to all talents.”

A fine copy, bound in a Parisian binding from one of the capital’s finest workshops, preserved in near-perfect condition.

First edition, one of 30 numbered copies on Holland paper, the deluxe issue.
Bound in full ebony morocco, smooth spine decorated with small inlays of garnet morocco and pearl-grey box calf, the latter framing the author’s initials and the title; the first numeral of the date, given in Roman numerals, appears within a square of pearl-grey box calf. Morocco boards framed with wide panels of chocolate suede, the upper cover with a large granulated paper panel lettered with the title and date of the edition set in garnet morocco, the initials framed by a rectangle of paper taken from a map of Haute-Savoie; bluish paper endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers and spine preserved, top edge gilt; housed in a chemise with a rhodoid-backed spine and slipcase trimmed with ebony morocco. Binding signed by Pierre-Lucien Martin and dated 1964.

These “memoirs-autobiography” by Simone de Beauvoir trace her life from her success at the agrégation prepared with Jean-Paul Sartre to the Liberation of Paris in August 1944.

A superb and celebrated binding, produced in a few copies, each differing slightly, by Pierre-Lucien Martin, one of the masters of twentieth-century French bookbinding.

« Hierbei sollst du meiner gedenken, denn alles habe ich ernstlich gemeint. R. W. »
[At this you shall remember me, for I have meant everything seriously].

Personal diary handwritten by Maurice Béjart, written in a 1969 diary celebrating the centenary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi.
52 handwritten leaves, written in red and blue pen in a spiral-bound notebook. This diary features amongst Béjart's very rare, privately owned manuscripts, the choreographer's archives being shared between his house in Brussels, the Béjart foundation in Lausanne and the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie.
The choreographer Maurice Béjart's diary written during the year 1969. An extremely rare collection of thoughts, questions and introspections from the point of view of Hinduism and Buddhist wisdom, which Béjart adopts following his first trip to India in 1967.
The diary is an emblematic testimony of the indo-hippie era of the 1960s, spiritual and artistic renaissance that inspired numerous ballets of the choreographer (Messe pour le temps présent, Bhakti, Les Vainqueurs).
A selection from this diary was published by Maurice Béjart in the second volume of his memoirs (La Vie de Qui ? Flammarion, 1996).
During the year 1969, Béjart wrote daily notes in a diary published in memory of Mahatma Gandhi. Fascinated by Hindu mysticism since his trip to India in 1967, he filled in this spiritual journal with numerous mantras and prayers (“Krishna guide my chariot, the light is at the end of the path. OM”; “Buddha is everywhere”; “Let God enter, but how to open the door”) and he calls upon the Hindu deities as well as the Bodhisattvas Mañju?r? et T?r? – soothing figures of the Buddhist pantheon. Béjart's “Indian period” was particularly rich in choreographic masterpieces, the progress of which can be followed in his diary (Baudelaire at the beginning of the year, the first performance of the Vainqueurs in Brussels and the Quatre fils Aymon in Avignon, as well as the filming and screening of his Indian ballet Bhakti). At the crossroads of New Age and the hippie movement, Béjart's “conversion” is symptomatic of an era that refuses progress and has a thirst for spirituality: “Calcutta is not India, but our western face. It is not religion or traditional thinking that is to blame, but capitalism. India, a rich country before colonisation.” The Beatle's visit to the guru Maharishi's ?shram and Ravi Shankar's concert at Woodstock in 1969 marks the beginning of a real western passion for Indian music and culture, which was decisive in Béjart's ballets at the time.
In Béjart's eyes, India presents itself as a place where art and ancestral traditions have not suffered the perversions of positivity. In his creations he seeks to express the spirit of a culture that intimately links the body and the spirit, and in which dance plays a major cosmic and spiritual role. Included in his ballets were Indian dance systems and Vedic songs that were discovered thanks to Alain Daniélou – in 1968 he opened the Messe pour temps présent with a long vînâ solo that lasted fifteen minutes: “Béjart is in his Hindu quarter-hour. And over there, Hindu quarter hours, can last for hours...” commented Jean Vilar, director of the Avignon festival. A wave of Indian fashion also passes through the costumes of the Ballet du XX^e siècle company: large silk trousers, tunics, jewellery and oriental eyes. In the diary, Béjart states that there is “no truth without yoga,” an art discovered from an Indian master that can be found in many of his ballets in the form of dance exercises on the barre. He also decides to make Bhakti “an act of Faith” by filming himself the ballet choreographer, and during the summer he prepares the Vainqueurs, an unusual meeting between Wagner and traditional Indian ragas.
Beyond the prolific artist, we also discover the choreographer's troubled personality in the diary, in the grips of doubt and melancholy: “vague state of physical weightlessness and moral emptiness. Lethargy or laziness. Weakness. Dizziness. Drowsiness. Unconsciousness.” Despite successes, Béjart will try to calm his fragile state by meditation and the teachings of Indian prophets and brahmins, which can be found throughout the pages of this diary (Ramana Maharshi, Swami Ramdas, the Dalai-Lama, Apollonius of Tyana).
His sometimes thwarted romances with his favourite dancer Jorge Donn monopolise him and plunge him into anxiety – on the eve of the Vainqueurs premiere, he writes, “Before dress rehearsal. Chaos. [Jorge] Donn disappeared. Tara absent. Me lost.” Torn between enjoyment and self-control, he tours at a frantic pace with his company Ballet du XXe siècle, first to the Netherlands, then to Milan, Turin and Venice in Italy: “I leave Venice completely enslaved to laziness, to sex and to ease, and yet a strange well-being of the brute who drank and fucked.” However, these happy moments did not go so far as to satisfy Béjart, for whom “Joy has a dead aftertaste” despite the “life of work and discipline” that he establishes during this richly creative year. At the end of his life, Béjart will look back with humour on his Indian escapades and the resolutely sombre tone of his diary: “I can't stop myself laughing at this idiot who cries and who moans, even though he created a great number of ballets [...] When I think that at the end of this diary in 1969 I was firmly considering retirement!”
An extremely rare document retracing the meeting of the East and the West in Maurice Béjart's personal life and choreographic work. This diary embodies an era of counter-culture and cultural syncretism that had long-lasting effects on avant-garde European ballet.

The first edition of this review headed by Pierre Guégen, Eugène Jolas, Joseph Csaky and Frédéric Joliot.
Numerous contributions, including from Le Corbusier, Henry Miller, Raymond Queneau, Eugène Jolas, Léonce Rosenberg, Jacques Audiberti, Jean Hélion, Armand Robin, Paul Guth, Roger Caillois, Joë Bousquet, Jean Follain, Jules Monnerot, Léopold Sédar Senghor, Pierre Klosssowski, Michel Leiris, Aimé Césaire, and others.
Number 20 of Volontés contains a first edition, the entire “Cahier d'un retour au pays natal [Notebook on a Return to my Native Land]” by Aimé Césaire, a foundational and fundamental text of the “Négritude” movement.
Two plates worn, otherwise a good and rare set, lacking the extremely rare final number, the 21st, printed in April 1940, which is missing from most collections.

First edition, complete with all 12 issues of this luxurious and short-lived review founded and directed by Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen, one of the exceedingly rare copies on japon, the only deluxe paper, with four states of the colour engravings.

Bound in half sand-coloured cloth, morocco lettering pieces, marbled paper boards, spines and wrappers preserved for each issue, a fine copy with wide margins.

Our copy indeed contains the four colour states reserved for the deluxe issue, printed on various papers, of each of the 23 photogravures in Arts & Crafts, Symbolist, Renaissance, Art Nouveau, and Classical styles, after Maxwell Armfield, Henri Saulnier Ciolkowski, Léonard Sarluis, Bernardino Luini, Giovanni Antonio Bazzi, Gustave Moreau, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Pollaiolo, Correggio, Piero della Francesca, Rubens, Jose de Ribera, Francisco Goya, Mederhausen Rodo, Cardet, and statues and steles from the museums of Naples and Athens.

The elegant cover design is by George Auriol, master of Art Nouveau typography.
Contributions by Laurent Tailhade, Émile Verhaeren, Renée Vivien, Colette Willy, Joséphin Peladan, Jean Moréas, Henri Barbusse, Arthur Symons, Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen, J. Antoine-Orliac, Paterne Berrichon, Jules Bois, Jean Bouscatel, Tristan Derème, Léon Deubel, André du Fresnois, Maurice Gaucher, René Ghil, Henri Guilbeaux, J.-C. Holl, Tristan Klingsor, Ernest La Jeunesse, Gabriel de Lautrec, Abel Léger, Legrand-Chabrier, Louis Mandin, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Francis de Miomandre, John-Antoine Nau, Maurice de Noisay, Julien Ochsé, Edmond Pilon, Ernest Raynaud, André Salmon, Valentine de Saint-Point, Robert Scheffer, Tancrède de Visan...

A very handsome and extremely rare copy on japon, of the first French homosexual review.

First edition, one of 12 numbered copies on Hollande, the only deluxe issue. 

Complete with the folding map at the end.

Full fawn morocco binding, five raised band spine, date at foot, comb-marbled paper pastedowns framed with a rich gilt roll, comb-marbled endpapers, gilt fillet to headcap, gilt fillet to leading edges, gilt roll to headcaps, original wrappers and spine preserved, all gilt deckled edges, housed in a fawn morocco-edged slipcase. Binding signed by Semet & Plumelle. 

Provenance: From the libraries of Dr André Chauveau, Lucius Wilmerding, and RBL, with their bookplates affixed.

A splendid deluxe copy of exceptional rarity. 

First edition, illustrated with drawings by the author.

Minor foxing to the upper cover, slight creasing to the upper outer corners of the final leaves.

A survey of various aerial navigation devices, their construction, the history of aviation, microlights, gliders, flying bicycles, and toy airplanes.

A rare work by Henry de Graffigny, who inspired the character of Roger-Marin Courtial des Pereires—an eccentric genius inventor—in *Mort à Crédit* by Louis-Ferdinand Céline.

Rare and fragile original French satirical leaflet dated August 1944.
Vertical and horizontal folds.
This rare document begins by stating sarcastic titles and last wishes of Adolf Hitler:
“Hitler, known as Adolphe to the Nazis and Dodofe to the Gretchens of my former Reich of Krauts, declares the following:On the verge of vomiting my soul to the devil, afflicted with dysentery accentuating the brown color of the flaps of my shirt, having my buttocks in disarray (the result of the kicks up my arse picked up on all the fronts of Europe)...”
This mock testament, written in August 1944, delivers a sarcastic commentary on the Axis powers' imminent downfall and lists the beneficiaries of Adolf Hitler's “bequests”:
The testament ends with this peremptory statement: “Made at ... on ... August 1944 in full mental, cerebral and physical decomposition. Dodofe Hitler king of the Little Funnies.”
A very rare anti-Nazi leaflet from the final days of World War II.

To our knowledge unpublished autograph letter signed by Ernest Hemingway to Roberto Herrera Sotolongo, 2 pages in blue ink on both sides of a sheet, and envelope postmarked September 19, 1953 with his autograph return address ("E. Hemingway...") on the back.

The letter begins in Spanish and continues in English, before ending with a few Spanish words signed "Mister Papa".

A magnificent letter from Hemingway to his Cuban friend and secretary, recounting his 1953 safari in Kenya. Hemingway reveals the true outcome of the hunt for the black-maned lion, a central theme of his posthumous novel True at first light (1999) later published as Under Killimanjaro (2005).

The writer shares his encounters with a giraffe and an impala, as well as unpublished spear hunts with the Masai, reconnecting with the emotions of his first African adventure twenty years earlier which had inspired classic parts of the Hemingway canon – The Green Hills of Africa, The Snows of Kilimanjaro and The Short happy life of Francis Macomber.

He also recalls a family tragedy: a rare attempt at reconciliation from his third child Gigi, who was suffering from gender dysphoria.

First edition, 15 issues in 15 separate installments, abundantly illustrated with black and white photographs. Complete with the special issue "Hommage à Picasso" (No. 3, 1930) and the index for the year 1929, published as a separate 8-page stapled booklet.

Some spines slightly faded not affecting the text, occasional minor foxing along the margins of certain covers.

Complete series of this legendary and non-conformist magazine founded by Georges Bataille, which gave voice to "fields of art and knowledge unrecognized by official culture or considered controversial: popular literature, jazz, cabaret, advertising, everyday life" (Annie Pirabot), along with so-called primitive art and objects.

New edition bearing a false statement of 128th edition.

Half heather red morocco binding, spine with five raised bands set with black fillets, gilt fillet frame on boards of Africanist-patterned paper, almond green paper endpapers and boards, original wrappers preserved, restorations to boards, top edge gilt, binding signed by Boichot.
Autograph inscription signed by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry on the half-title page: "Pour madame Capietto. En souvenir de quelques passages à Alger et, cette fois ci, d'une semaine bien mélancolique. Et avec toute mon amitié.
Antoine de Saint Exupéry." (For Madame Capietto. In memory of some visits to Algiers and, this time, of a very melancholy week. And with all my friendship. Antoine de Saint Exupéry.)







 

First edition featuring the celebrated original color stencil "Aidez l'Espagne!", printed on Arches paper by Joan Miró.
With literary contributions by Christian Zervos on Pablo Picasso's "Guernica", as well as texts by Jean Cassou, Georges Duthuit, Pierre Mabille, Michel Leiris, Paul Éluard, René Char...
Illustrated with numerous reproductions of works by Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró’s "Le faucheur".
Some rubbing and small tears to the spine, as often, a vertical crease to the rear wrapper, otherwise a fresh and well-preserved copy.

Exceptional illuminated manuscript of 35 poems by Stéphane Mallarmé, probably copied by Joris-Karl Huysmans on watermarked Hollande laid paper, after pre-first editions of the poems published in journals. Most of the poems are preceded by a separate title-page noting the source from which it is taken.

The manuscript includes a fine charcoal portrait of Mallarmé as a frontispiece by Charles Tichon, after a photographic portrait by Van Bosch. The portrait was published in the Mallarmé issue of Empreintes (Bruxelles, L’Écran du Monde, n° 10-11). Another version was published in 1889 (Caprice Revue, 2e année, n° 60). 

 two floral compositions in gouache and watercolor illustrating the poems Les Fleurs and Apparition, as well the calligraphed author's name as a title-page. Although unsigned, the illutrations are attributed to Louise or Marie Danse.

Bradel binding, contemporary cream silk boards with floral motif, two embroidered green silk markers with floral motif, gilt semis patternerd flyleaves and pastedowns, slightly faded red edges. Dampstains on the lower part of the lower board, rubbed corners, a few silk threads loosened on the spine, rubbed boards. 

Outstanding manuscript of 35 poems by Stéphane Mallarmé, written shortly before the first collected edition of his poetry of which only 47 copies were ever printed (Poésies, photolithographed, Revue indépendante, 1887). This carefully calligraphed collection is attributed to the hand of writer Joris-Karl Huysmans, a great admirer of the poet who is said to have given the manuscripts to his friend Jules Destrée.

New edition and first printing of the su­perb illustrations by Pierre Bonnard, one of 20 numbered copies on japon, the only deluxe paper issue.
Half blue percaline bradel binding with corners, smooth spine adorned with a central gilt fleuron and double gilt fillet at the foot, chocolate brown shagreen ti­tle label with minor scuffing, french curl on Turkish patterned paper boards, cov­ers and spine preserved, contemporary binding signed Carayon. Spine slightly browned, corners slightly dulled.
Our copy is housed under a half moroc­co chemise with five raised bands, “ill. de P. Bonnard” stamped in gilt at foot of spine, boards of tiger patterned paper, and a slipcase bordered with blue Moroc­co with boards of tiger patterned paper signed T. Boichot.
Illustrated with 68 drawings by Pierre Bonnard, the second cover is also illus­trated with a drawing by Félix Vallotton for the edition of Poil de Carotte pub­lished by the same publisher two years earlier.
A rare and pleasant copy in a contempo­rary binding by Carayon.

Rare example of this propaganda leaflet published by the Nazi Occupier, which became the most iconic image of the Resistance. This smaller version of the famous Affiche Rouge features the poster on the recto and a paragraph on the verso castigating « l'Armée du crime contre la France » ("the Army of Crime against France"). It opens with accusations against the « rêve mondial du complot juif » ("the global dream of the Jewish conspiracy") and claims that « si des Français sabotent, pillent et tuent (...) ce sont toujours des juifs qui les inspirent » ("if Frenchmen sabotage, loot, and kill (...) it is always Jews who inspire them").
A discreet horizontal crease, otherwise superb condition for an ephemeral document.

Accompanied by the rare brochure entitled 'L'armée du crime' ('The army of crime') in the format of a newspaper illustrated with 14 pages of photographs.
A trace of horizontal fold. A fine copy.

Original drawing in graphite and blue and pink colored pencils signed by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, on a sheet of watermarked paper "Navarre". Horizontal fold.

One of Saint-Exupéry's quirky characters in a suit and bow tie, spawn from the baroque and overflowing imagination of the Little Prince's author. The writer-aviator-artist very rarely signed his graphic works.




 
 
 

Autograph letter most probably unpublished signed addressed by Juliette Drouet to her lover Victor Hugo, four pages written in black ink on a bifolium. 
Transverse folds inherent to mailing, fold joining the two leaves reinforced with a fine strip of pasted paper barely perceptible.
Absent from the very complete online edition of Juliette Drouet's letters to Hugo by the Centre d'Études et de Recherche Éditer/Interpréter (University of Rouen-Normandy).
Very beautiful declaration of love and admiration by Juliette Drouet, the day after Hugo's plea defending his son. Charles Hugo had been brought before the assizes, and condemned despite his father's intervention, for having valiantly castigated the execution of Claude Montcharmont.
Hugo's great love addresses this letter in troubled times, where father and son find themselves at the forefront of the scene for their abolitionist positions. Scandalized by the execution of Montcharmont, a 29-year-old poacher from Morvan, Charles Hugo publishes an article in l'Événement which earns him a trial for contempt of respect due to the laws: the Second Republic already exists only in name, and the press is subject to frequent attacks, further aggravated here by the notoriety of the Hugos. Victor wants to defend his son and delivers a plea that remains famous: "Mon fils, tu reçois aujourd'hui un grand honneur, tu as été jugé digne de combattre, de souffrir peut-être, pour la sainte cause de la vérité. A dater d'aujourd'hui, tu entres dans la véritable vie virile de notre temps, c'est-à-dire dans la lutte pour le juste et pour le vrai. Sois fier, toi qui n'est qu'un simple soldat de l'idée humaine et démocratique, tu es assis sur ce banc où s'est assis Béranger, où s'est assis Lamennais !" (My son, you receive today a great honor, you have been judged worthy to fight, perhaps to suffer, for the holy cause of truth. From today, you enter into the true virile life of our time, that is to say into the struggle for the just and the true. Be proud, you who are but a simple soldier of the human and democratic idea, you are seated on this bench where Béranger sat, where Lamennais sat!)
Despite Hugo's historic intervention, Charles is condemned to six months in prison and 50 francs fine - a decision that Juliette bitterly castigates, overwhelmed by anguish at the outcome of the trial: "J'ai beau savoir que cet arrêt inique est non seulement supporté avec courage par vous tous, mais accepté avec orgueil et avec joie par le plus directement intéressé dans cette malheureuse condamnation, la fatigue et l'inquiétude que j'ai éprouvé pendant toute cette interminable journée d'hier m'a laissée une douloureuse courbature physique et morale" (However much I know that this iniquitous verdict is not only borne with courage by all of you, but accepted with pride and joy by the one most directly concerned in this unfortunate condemnation, the fatigue and anxiety I experienced during all that interminable day yesterday has left me with a painful physical and moral ache). 


12 juin jeudi matin 7h

Autograph letter signed by Honoré de Balzac, addressed to his friend, the writer Charles de Bernard. One page written in black ink on a bifolium. On the verso of the second leaf appears the address of the recipient [Charles de Bernard du Grail], written in Balzac’s hand, along with postal stamps and the seal bearing the arms of the Balzac d’Entraigues family, which the author had appropriated.

A few minor holes not affecting the text; fold marks as usual from mailing.

Published in his correspondence (Paris, Calmann Lévy, 1876, CXIV, pp. 252–253).

Balzac wrote this letter four days after his very first meeting — and first kiss — with Madame Hanska in Neuchâtel, following many months of epistolary correspondence.

« J’ai été très heureux ici. Je suis très content de ce que j’ai vu, le pays est délicieux ; mais vous savez que Jupiter a deux tonneaux et que les dieux n’ont point de faveurs qui soient pures. » ["I have been very happy here. I am most pleased with what I have seen; the country is delightful. But you know that Jupiter has two jars, and the gods grant no favours that are untainted."]

« Car les volontaires des Forces Françaises de l'intérieur [...] tous également fiers d'avoir libéré leurs provinces sans appui direct des forces débarquées estiment n'en avoir pas assez fait et se sont lancés, dans un élan spontané vraiment admirable [...] à la poursuite des hitlériens qu'ils veulent reconduire qu'au Rhin. [...] Un bon nombre se servent de véhicules de réquisition ou de récupération. Tel est le cas du 8^e Dragons, groupe de reconnaissance motorisé de la colonne formée par les F.F.I. de Corrèze, qui arrive à Paray-le-Monial, le 7 septembre, en même temps que le 2^e Dragons. Le Chef d'escadron Merlat qui le commande se met aussitôt à disposition du lieutenant-colonel Demetz qui l'incorpore d'emblée à son groupement. » (For the volunteers of the French Forces of the Interior [...] all equally proud of having liberated their provinces without direct support from the landed forces believe they have not done enough and have launched themselves, in a truly admirable spontaneous surge [...] in pursuit of the Hitlerians whom they want to escort back to the Rhine. [...] A good number use requisitioned or recovered vehicles. Such is the case of the 8^th Dragons, motorized reconnaissance group of the column formed by the F.F.I. of Corrèze, which arrives at Paray-le-Monial on 7 September, at the same time as the 2^nd Dragons. Squadron Leader Merlat who commands it immediately places himself at the disposal of Lieutenant-Colonel Demetz who incorporates him straightaway into his group.)

First edition, no limited issue printed, of this exhibition catalog. This solo exhibition of Perrriand's works was held at the Musée des arts décoratifs from February 5 to April 1, 1985.
Scuffing on lower right-hand corner of second cover faded.
With a lot of illustrations, a nice copy.

Signed and dated inscribed copy by Charlotte Perriand to Michel Troche: "... que d'efforts conjugués...Vive l'amité. Charlotte" (...what a combined effort... Long live friendship. Charlotte).
 

"For a few months now, we have been witnessing a regularised passive hunt for patriots, too highly noticed, it seems, at a time when risking their own life and that of their family's was not a shopfront item.
The odious thing about this way of acting is that it is strangely reminiscent of the Hitlerians. We dishonour, then we wait and see. Regardless of the esteem in which a person is regarded, a police visit always leaves a hint of ambiguity, it is believed. Vigilance more than ever, solidarity.” (7 December 1945 addressed by René Char to Francis Ponge)

The first and only edition of this legendary “Céreste Affair” poster printed by René Char with a very few copies and posted in the small village of Céreste, the heart of his resistance network. Paper slightly yellowed, some small marginal tears not affecting the text. 
Extremely rare, this poster is absent from all institutions and auction houses. The Bibliothèque Nationale de France itself only has a reproduction offered by Pierre-André Benoit.
The famous placard marks the end of the loving and combative relationship between René Char and the village of Céreste which was nevertheless Captain Alexandre's HQ and the birthplace of one of his most moving romantic adventures with his lover nicknamed “la Renarde” (the Vixen).

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 the ballet Skating-Rink set on a roller-skating rink, created by the Ballets Suédois with choreogra­phy by Jean Börlin and music by Ar­thur Honegger, as well as costumes, curtain and stage designs by Fernand Léger.
This Futurist poem-libretto is di­rectly inspired by Charlie Chaplin's The Rink (1916), using the events in the skating rink as a metaphor for the hectic life in modern cities with its mechanical, almost ritual repeti­tions and its vicious circle of attrac­tion and rejection.
Canudo's inscription dates from 1922, the year of the ballet's creation at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées by the Ballets Suédois. The troupe had been founded by the Swedish art collector Rolf de Maré after the model of Di­aghilev's Ballets russes. “The action of this 'Ballet aux patins', subtitle given by Canudo to his poem-libret­to, takes place in Paris in the hall of the popular ballroom Tabarin trans­formed into a skating rink for roll­er skates. Skating practised in large skating rinks such as the Skating Pal­ais on Avenue du Bois de Boulogne, had conquered the popular balls and café-concerts as early as 1875, but it returned in force in the 1910s after the ball-bearing revolution” (Josiane Mas). The dynamism of this activi­ty had won over the Italian Futurists and also inspired popular culture like Chaplin's The Rink, which Canudo certainly watched during a leave of absence from the French army where he had enlisted – like Apollinaire – during WW1.
The rare first edition of Canudo's poem is the real starting point of the Gesamtkunstwerk of Skating-Rink – the text that inspired its musical compositions, costumes and chore­ographies. Its title “for the music of...” clearly suggests a work in progress for which the artists have not yet all been chosen: Arthur Honegger, a famous member of the “Groupe des Six”, was commissioned to write the music in 1921 and did not finish the orchestration until 5 days before the ballet premiered. Canudo encour­aged every contributing artist to study Chaplin's film, which is reflect­ed in numerous aspects of the pro­duction: the figure of the “Madman” in Canudo's poem becomes a color­ful, cubist Tramp under the brush of Fernand Léger, with a high hat, a jack­et with uneven tails and trousers with one striped and one checked leg. His movements choreographed by Börlin were based on Chaplin's part, with comic acrobatics and countless laps of the skater – a metaphor for the be­witching rhythm of industry and the daily hustle and bustle of the modern city. To the chagrin of critics, these new concepts of dance and perform­ing arts combined modernity and the popular life inspired by the New World: “Despite their national foci, what made Skating Rink and Parade modern were their American refer­ences: both looked to Hollywood – Skating Rink to Charlie Chaplin, Parade to The Perils of Pauline; both made references to jazz, and both referred albeit in indirect ways to American mechanical modernity. The motivation behind their evident ad­miration for the United States was the desire that France and other Europe­an countries might emulate American modernity and, through attaining its promised financial rewards, use them to create a better life.” (Ramsay Burt, Alien Bodies. Representations of Mo­dernity, “Race” and Nation in Early Modern Dance, 2002).
This text created by a key figure of the Parisian avant-garde for the Ballets suédois in 1920 called for the conver­gence of the arts – literature, painting, dance and music – transforming the stage into a pure Cubist and Futurist manifestation.
Extremely rare, all the more with an autograph inscription by Ricciotto Canudo.

First edition of this complete suite of 18 numbered intaglio plates enhanced in colour, on 'J. Honig & Zoonen' laid paper, depicting 72 merchants accompanied by captions beneath each figure.
First printing, subsequent editions will feature individually numbered figures surrounded by a border.

Bound in half sienna morocco with corners, smooth spine, title stamped in gilt throughout, tiger patterned paper boards, combed paper endpapers and flyleaves, first cover retained, gilt head.
 
Extremely rare and the earliest known suite of prints depicting itinerant merchants and pedlars in Spain. Each figure is accompanied by the profession or advertisement shouted by the vendor in Castilian dialect.

First edition printed in 36 copies with a frontispiece portrait of the author, one of 30 numbered copies on vellum, the only issue after 1 Japan and 5 Holland paper copies.

Admirably printed, this extremely rare bibliophilic object is particularly precious for its complementarity with the first edition of Voyage au bout de la nuit.

Handsome copy presented in a full beige cloth chemise (with light dampstaining at foot) which appears to be the publisher's slipcase.

Bookplate affixed to verso of front cover.

"1st July Tilsit
I have just received, my dear Aimée, your letters from the 19th and 20th of June. It feels as though I am by your side, experiencing all the anxieties that have tormented me in similar situations. My eagerness to learn of the event is extreme. The courage you display as it approaches truly reassures me and dispels the deep worries I could not shake off some time ago.
[...]
You must, my dear Aimée, focus on taking good care of your health so that when I arrive in Paris, I find you fully recovered from your confinement, and we can enjoy Savigny together for the rest of the beautiful season. For the affairs here are taking such a turn that I can hope to embrace you within two months at the latest. [...]
It seems to me, my dear friend, that I have never given you cause for such fears, but enough on this matter.
Let us speak a little of our Joséphine. She shows an intelligence far superior to her age, for which I am grateful for all her kindness and the good humor she shows you.
I send her, for this reason, endless affection. A thousand tender thoughts to our dear mother. Reassure her about the health of Desessart, Beaupré, and all that concerns her, and remind me to the memory of my sister-in-law; announce to her that her brave and esteemed husband enjoys perfect health.
Farewell, my dear Aimée, receive the embraces of your loving and faithful husband. L. Davout"

Autograph letter dated and signed by Edgar Degas, addressed to the dealer Charles Deschamps, director of Durand-Ruel’s London branch. Three pages in ink on a bifolium.
Minor marginal tears not affecting the text, folds from mailing.
Recently returned from New Orleans, Degas writes to his London dealer to announce the imminent arrival of a delicate composition of dancers, Le Foyer de la danse à l’Opéra de la rue Le Peletier, now held at the Musée d’Orsay: "In the meantime you will receive the little picture you saw in progress and which you had the idea of selling to Mr. Huth - May you succeed! [...] As for the price, it seems to me that £150 to £200 is fair" Deschamps fulfilled the painter’s wishes and sold the painting to Louis Huth, financier and patron of Whistler, for £140. The canvas would later enter the distinguished collection of Isaac de Camondo.
Degas turned towards London at a time when the English art market offered relief from the collapse that followed the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. He placed great hopes in this expanding British market, fuelled by lucrative blockbuster exhibitions drawing millions of visitors; Degas’s canvases were shown in eight exhibitions of the Société des Artistes Français. Although he often mentions financial difficulties in his correspondence "At the end of the month I have quite a lot to pay. If some money came in, I would be delighted [...] - Take care of me, my dear Deschamps, I would be most obliged - Tell me also if the season is not too far advanced. I fear it is" his career across the Channel was flourishing and his sales profitable. The painter does not fail to salute the "French colony" of expatriate artists, Giuseppe de Nittis and his close friend James Tissot, whose financial success provided Degas with an example of how effectively a French painter’s work could be marketed in England. Unlike Tissot, however, Degas refused to adapt to market taste, focusing instead on defending the Impressionist cause in France and abroad.
He also devotes a passage to a voracious collector of his works, the baritone Jean-Baptiste Faure, patron of his celebrated series of canvases on the Paris Opéra and owner of Manet’s Déjeuner sur l’herbe: "I ought to have been in London some time ago, according to what I said. I am not there because the picture for [Jean-Baptiste] Faure is not finished, and I would not like to meet him there without being able to give him better news, and I hardly have time to dawdle if I want not to arrive on the 1^st of September with nothing to deliver to him". Ironically, Faure would later reproach Degas for leaving his canvases unfinished (!) and even sue him a few years afterwards.
 
A rare and exceptional letter tracing the history of one of Degas’s celebrated works and his dealings with dealers and collectors, on the eve of the first Impressionist exhibition to be held the following year.

Autograph letter signed by Camille Pissarro, one page on a folded bifolium. A few tears along the horizontal and vertical fold lines, not affecting the text; small paper loss to the margin of the blank leaf.
Unpublished letter from Camille Pissarro, written in an especially graceful hand, addressed to his friend the painter Maximilien Luce.

“This little edition, said to be very accurate, is a true typographical jewel, and perhaps the most beautiful one ever printed in the Hebrew language.”

First edition first issue for which no grand papier (deluxe copies) were printed, one of the rare service de presse (advance copies).
Some very discreet restorations to spine, paper browned, some discreet traces folds at the bottom of some leaves.

A handsome copy, as issued. The book is housed in a slipcase signed by Julie Nadot, reproducing the original design of the cover and spine.

This first edition of L'Étranger was printed on 21 April, 1942 with a run of 4,400 copies: 400 advance copies (service de presse), 500 copies without statement and 3,500 copies with false statements from the second to eighth “edition”.
The advance copies, not intended for sale, do not include the indi­cation of price [25 francs] on the back of the cover.