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.
Autograph letter dated and signed by Jacques Mesrine, dated Saturday September 22, 1976, 67 lines in blue ink on one page recto verso addressed to his love of the time, Jeanne Schneider, thanks to whom the manuscript of Instinct de mort was discreetly smuggled out of prison.
Jacques Mesrine, then incarcerated at Fleury-Mérogis prison and deprived of human warmth, is enthusiastic about all the visits he receives in the visiting room, thus dispelling the myth of the antisocial bandit devoid of human feelings: "And after that they'll say I'm a savage! No, quite the contrary, and people who have had contact with me want to see me again. This gave me immense pleasure and do you know what happened next... she's also going to ask to see you. Apparently I'm missed by the nurses 'mister smile' that's the secret."
He particularly appreciated the visit from the nurse at La Santé prison who would also be their wedding witness with Jeanne Schneider and whom he praises: "... an enormous surprise! You'll never guess who came to see me! My nurse from La Santé... yes my darling... that charming lady with white hair whom you had seen in the visiting room at La Santé and who is to be our witness at our wedding [...] She's an exceptional woman, a former military nurse and quite well-placed in the ministry. During my 2 and a half years at La Santé I considered her like a mother, this woman is so devoted it's unthinkable. Woe to anyone who would touch a single hair on her head."
Public enemy No. 1 takes the opportunity again to break this reputation as a bloodthirsty beast that sticks to him: "If journalists knew that all the nurses entered my cell alone and with complete confidence, we'd be far from the 'beast' and hostage-taking à la Buffet. Nurses have always been sacred to me. They are untouchable like quite a few other people, but those journalist faggots don't know that; because they're not in my thoughts and that's regrettable sometimes."
Jacques Mesrine the rebel is surprised to find himself appreciating his prison solitude: "Do you know that I'm beginning to like it here... What calm you know manou, my isolation, I bear it insofar as I have peace. In detention it's not proven that I would have it. It's my reactions I'm afraid of... and the mentality of so-called crooks is increasingly disgusting! [...] in my isolation, there's good and bad... but personally, I don't want to complain... because there's no reason to do so." and ends his letter with paternal considerations for his daughter who is not very assiduous at school and for whom he worries: "I'm going to find out if Sabrina has been regularly attending her classes... I hope so because if the opposite were the case... no mercy this time... But what worry this kid can represent and what powerlessness I have to control her being here!"
Rare and very fine letter from Jacques Mesrine overflowing with reverence for the nursing profession and regrettable detestation for that of journalists.
"Ce soir je suis très mal foutu... il est 19 heures et je me couche juste après la fin de ta lettre... de rien de grave... juste une grande fatigue (à rien faire)" ["Tonight I feel really awful... it's 7 PM and I'm going to bed just after finishing your letter... nothing serious... just very tired (from doing nothing)"]
"Comme cela la puce veut prendre la religion juive... encore une idée à elle... oui je sais elle a fait croire à ses copains qu'elle était juive... car eux l'étaient...si cela l'amuse je la laisse libre... mais ça démontre aussi un dédoublement de personnalité..." ["So the little one wants to take up the Jewish religion... another one of her ideas... yes I know she made her friends believe she was Jewish... because they were... if it amuses her I leave her free... but it also shows a split personality..."]
"Aujourd'hui j'ai eu la visite du juge Madre. Tu aurais rigolé, car il a eu droit à tout mon vocabulaire... il en perdait la parole (j'ai pris mon pied (sic)) A un moment il me dit "mais c'est quand même moi qui commande... Réponse de ton bibi : "Ici pédé" c'est moi ton patron". Il était vert et les flics se marraient comme des perdus." ["Today I had a visit from Judge Madre. You would have laughed, because he got my full vocabulary... he was speechless (I had a ball) At one point he tells me 'but I'm still the one in charge... Your boy's response: 'Here, faggot, I'm your boss.' He was green and the cops were laughing like crazy."]
and against all submission to any form of power or violence:
"Le pire que l'on puisse faire à un juge, c'est lui enlever toute autorité devant les autres et crois moi il l'a bien compris. Il était venu avec 5 anti-commandos... L'un avait la bombe de gaz à la main... au cas où? Loin d'être impressionné... cela me rend con..." ["The worst thing you can do to a judge is to remove all his authority in front of others and believe me he understood it well. He had come with 5 anti-commandos... One had the gas canister in his hand... just in case? Far from being impressed... it makes me crazy..."]
"Là ma puce je vais prendre mon lit en marche...Ton vieux voyou pose ses lèvres sur le tiennes en une douce caresse d'amour. je t'adore petite fille... car nous sommes réellement le "couple" et plus encore. Bonne nuit chaton." ["There my little one I'm going to take to my bed... Your old rogue places his lips on yours in a sweet caress of love. I adore you little girl... because we are truly the 'couple' and even more. Good night kitten."]
Complete collection in 36 issues (including three double issues) bound in three volumes - First year: 12 issues, from 8 February 1885 to 6 January 1886 - Second year: 12 issues, from 8 February 1886 to 15 January 1887 - Third year: 12 issues, from February 1887 to January 1888.
Illustrated with 4 full-page lithographs by Fantin-Latour: L'Évocation d'Erda - Odilon Redon : Brünnhilde - Jacques-Emile Blanche : Tristan et Isolde and Le pur-simple.
Three quarter brown morocco binding, smooth spine titled in gilt, marbled paper boards, marbled paper endpapers and pastedowns, orignal wrappers preserved, binding signed by Dupré.
Numerous contributions from some of the most prominent writers, critics, poets and musicians of the late 19th-century, including Wagner himself: Charles and Pierre Bonnier, Jules de Brayer, Alfred Ernst, Joris-Karl Huysmans, Fourcaud, René Ghil, Stuart Merrill, Stéphane Mallarmé, Catulle Mendès, Éphraïm Mikhael, Pierre Quillard, Jean Richepin, Émile Hennequin, Charles Vignier, Charles Morice, Paul Verlaine, Villiers de l'Ilse Adam, Teodor de Wyzewa, Stewart Chamberlain, Gerard de Nerval (Souvenirs sur Lohengrin), Jean Ajalbert, Gabriel Mourey, Adolphe Jullien, Tola Dorian, Swinburne, Evenepoel, Franz Liszt...
A very valuable complete collection of this avant-garde journal, both literary and aimed at presenting Wagner's works through a new aesthetic.
First edition, one of 20 copies on Arches paper, most limited deluxe issue (tirage de tête).
Like all copies on Arches, it is wrapped in a double dust jacket in yellow and white, and bears the rare sanguine vignette drawn and engraved by Hans Bellmer.
Preface by Jean Paulhan.
Our copy is housed in a custom clamshell box featuring an original design signed by Julie Nadot.
Beautiful first edition copy of this masterpiece of erotic literature, in its most limited deluxe issue.
Complete autograph manuscript dated and signed of the article “Note sur la Solution du problème monétaire anglo-indien”. 5 pages in black ink on a leaf and a bifolium; 4th page signed and dated: “Léon Walras Vers chez les Blancs sur Lausanne, 3 juillet 1887”. The 5th page was added later and includes numerous autograph corrections and added remarks.
◇ Autograph manuscript of the reviewed version of the last page. A page dated and signed “Léon Walras Vers chez les Blancs sur Lausanne, juillet 1887.”
◇ Autograph manuscript with the economist's calculations, 4 pages on 2 leaves.
◇ Autograph manuscript of the English translation for the last part, a page written by Walras on the verso of an envelope addressed to him.
◇ Typescript of the transcription by William Jaffé, typed on 4 leaves of thin paper with corrections and crossed out sections by Jaffé.
◇ Note on the solution of the Anglo-indian monetary problem. Two copies of the proofs, one twice signed by Walras with numerous autograph corrections and notes by Walras.
◇ “Note sur la solution du problème monétaire anglo-indien”, offprint of the Revue d'économie politique, November-December 1887. A sizable tear not without lack of text.
Unique set of manuscripts, typescripts, translations, corrected proofs and offprints of one of Léon Walras' first forays into international economics. This work helped the economist gain recognition among English-speaking peers at a time when their language was becoming the official scientific standard instead of French.
“L. Walras [was] one of the first to recommend the use of a price index to guide monetary policy. Its multiple standard provides the information that determines interventions intended to eliminate variations in the value of money. This multiple standard is nothing more than a price index used for specific purposes. The usefulness of such an index, which was far from universally accepted at the time when L. Walras demonstrated its usefulness, is now recognized.” (Jacoud Gilles. “Stabilité monétaire et régulation étatique dans l'analyse de Léon Walras” in Revue économique)
Second edition with some parts in first edition as it was revised.
Spine slightly browned, first cover marginally soiled, a charm at head of first endpaper, handsome interior condition.
Rare.
New edition of the French translation based on the latest English edition, with some parts in first edition.
Half brown sheep bindings, smooth spines decorated with black and gilt fillets, gilt friezes at head and foot of spines, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges, Romantic bindings.
Some surface scratches on the boards and minor rubbing to the spines, headcaps of the first two volumes with small losses.
A rare and handsome copy of this work which serves as the first detective novel in literary history.
William Golding is considered one of the most important precursors of anarchist and utilitarian thought, he is the father of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, better known as Mary Shelley.
First French edition, after the first edition published in 1608 in Mainz, where the author worked as a teacher. Illustrated with a title-frontispiece, allegory of the 7 deadly sins represented by monsters, Christ in medallion at the top with his feet on a seven-headed dragon.
Contemporary beige morocco, spine elaborately decorated in gilt, sides with central gilt armorial stamps, full quartered arms on the lower plate, boards elaborately framed in gilt using the same tools as the spine, with gilt cornerpieces, gilt edges, traces of laces. Upper spine restored, as well as spine-ends. Brown stain to second board, 1cm in diameter. Leaf 553, a hole to the lower margin, a few pale traces of foxing, some rubbed spots.
A very fine copy in an elaborately decorated early 17th-century Italian armorial morocco binding with the arms of the Duke of Magenta, Alfonso Brentano.
The Panarion is a curious encyclopedia of mental illnesses viewed as immoral behavior and classified according to biblical vices and virtues. The author examines 83 vices and 75 virtues, and adds a biblical remedy for each. Originally, the Panarion listed known heresies. One of the first works on moral psychology.
