Printed in small numbers, illicitly passed out, sought-after, forgotten, found again, major works or confidential texts... Some of these works are extremely rare today ; here are a few of them.
Very rare and sought-after first edition of one of the most important autobiographical works in the history of French literature, masterpiece and major work by George Sand.
Beige half sheepskin bindings, spine with four raised bands gilt tooled and framed in gilt and black, gilt tooling at top and bottom of spines, marbled paper boards, original wrappers preserved for each of the volumes, elegant imitation bindings.
Provenance: Pierre Boutellier, with his ex-libris on the front pastedown of the first volume.
Presentation copy signed by George Sand to his great friend the poet Maurice Rollinat, on the half-title of the first volume.
Pleasant and extremely rare copy, exceptionally containing a signed inscription by George Sand, almost free of any foxing and housed in uniform romantic style bindings.
Collection of documents formed of 33 original contemporary silver halide print photographs, a reproduction of a press clipping from La Voix du Nord and three mimeographed technical plans, united in a black binder with a label with the inscription «Production Report «press» – press-forming of the ½ spheres of Ct Cousteau's diving saucer – February 1964.» Handwritten title page.
Signed, handwritten presentation: «Avec les amitiés du reporter photographe Wallemme Raoul» «With love from the photojournalist Wallemme Raoul.»
Very beautiful and unique collection, testifying to the genius of the making of the Deep Star 4000, a diving saucer invented by Commander Cousteau.
The reproduction of the press clipping glued at the beginning of our collection explains: «The French Office for Underwater Research in Marseille will build, on behalf of an American firm, a diving saucer, the ‘S.P. 4000,' which can descend to a depth of 4000 metres. This machine, whose full-scale model has just been produced, must be completed in May 1964. It will be able to carry out its first trials the following month, before leaving for the United States where
it take the name ‘Deep Star.'»
In 1964, the French Office for Underwater Research, led by Commander Cousteau, entrusted the company Arbel de Douai with the work of forming the hemispheres in Vasco Jet 90 steel intended for the manufacture of the diving saucer «S.P. 4000.» The 33 photographs collected in this album of internal archives recount all the stages of this conception. We see the metalworkers at work, dressed in suits worthy of science-fiction; the last shot immortalised the team posing proudly in front of photojournalist Raoul Wallemme's camera.
It is the American company Westinghouse Corp who, under Cousteau's leadership and the French Office for Underwater Research, will manufacture the submersible. For certification purposes, the Vasco sphere manufactured by the Douai workshops will not be used by the American firm, who will prefer another model used by the US Navy. It will finally be used on another machine, the S.P. 3000 or Cyana. «In September 1971, a trial dive, luckily without crew, went wrong. Cyana, hanging on a cable and weighted with a heavy weight, is submersed off Sicily to a depth of 3 200m. A shackle opens, releasing the cable. The saucer remains unable to move, a few metres from the bottom. The sinking point is immediately marked by an ultrasonic beacon that can only beep for one month. A race against the clock begins: it is necessary to rearm the Archimède and urgently equip it with shears inspired by a charcutier's ham slicer! Fourteen days after the sinking, while the beacon still emits weakly, the Archimède finds the Cyana and cuts the cable that holds it prisoner. It was the deepest ever successful rescue!» (Ifremer website).
The Cyana carried out more than 1 300 dives from Ifremer's different oceanographic vessels (Jean Charcot, Le Suroît, Le Noroît, Nadir, L'Atalante) and opportunity vessels (Castor, Ravello).
Superb and unique testimony of French metalworking know-how at the service of Commander Cousteau and the pioneers of oceanography.
First edition. Title page in red and black. Title vignette with the arms of Dauphiné flanked by 2 angels. Manuscript inscriptions from the 16th century in the margins of the title page, the one at the bottom of the page recalling the history of Humbert bequeathing Dauphiné to the eldest son of the King of France. On the last leaf, manuscript ex libris, as well as on the verso of the first blank leaf: Je suis l'abbé de Pinet et de Cours ["I am the abbot of Pinet and Cours"].
Title inside the volume in the upper margin: Statuta Delphinatus. Gothic printing in 2 columns of 45 lines. Brunet, J.-C. Manuel du libraire et de l'amateur de livres (5th ed.) II, 1812. As Brunet specifies, 2 blank leaves at the end, one separating the 2 parts. 2 copies in the Harvard Hollis catalog (Harvard Law School Library and Brown University), nothing in the catalogs of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, one copy located at the Caen library.
Full chamois binding, 17th century. Jansenist spine with raised bands. Red morocco title label. Holes and worm damage on the spine. Extensive worm damage on the boards. Visible stitching along the inner hinge. Title page browned, some stains. A dampstain on the verso of the title page, and various traces of brown dampstains throughout the volume. From leaf XVI of the second part, wormholes affecting some letters.
In 1349, the Dauphin Humbert II, without heir, bequeathed Dauphiné to the eldest son of the King of France, who would henceforth bear the title of Dauphin as sovereign of this province. Louis XII, son of Charles VII, would be the first Dauphin. Going to Dauphiné would be the first responsibility of the future King of France. From 1447, the Dauphin Louis went to his lands where he resided for 10 years. Louis decided to govern this province and modernized it by having a register of the rights, privileges and freedoms of Dauphiné compiled, the delphinal register. This register would be the basis of the statutes of Dauphiné found in this customary. In 1461, Louis the Dauphin became Louis XI upon the death of his father. All the customs of Dauphiné were compiled in 1482 in Grenoble. The first part of the work reflects this. The second part, largely in French, is the result of the meeting of the three estates forming Dauphiné and which met in Tours where Louis XII resided. The text is a response to their requests and grievances, establishing new edicts for Dauphiné.
There is found at the end, as Brunet stipulates, a piece dated March 1508, so the publication cannot be earlier: "Actu[m] quarta martij. Anno d[omi]ni M. cccccviij".
First edition, of which only 500 copies were issued. With an etched frontispiece portrait of Théophile Gautier by Emile Thérond.
With a substantial prefatory letter by Victor Hugo.
Red morocco binding, gilt date at the foot of spine, marbled endpapers, Baudelairian ex-libris from Renée Cortot's collection glued on the first endpaper, wrappers preserved, top edge gilt.
Pale foxing affecting the first and last leaves, beautiful copy perfectly set.
Rare handwritten inscription signed by Charles Baudelaire: “ à mon ami Paul Meurice. Ch. Baudelaire. ” (“To my friend Paul Meurice. Ch. Baudelaire.”)
An autograph ex-dono slip by Victor Hugo, addressed to Paul Meurice, has been added to this copy by ourselves and mounted on a guard. This slip, which was doubtless never used, had nevertheless been prepared, along with several others, by Victor Hugo in order to present his friend with a copy of his works published in Paris during his exile. If History did not allow Hugo to send this volume to Meurice, this presentation note, hitherto unused, could not, in our view, be more fittingly associated.
Provenance: Paul Meurice, then Alfred and Renée Cortot.
