Rarest Books (Untraceables)

First edition (cf. Grand-Carteret, Almanachs, 158; Saffroy, Almanachs et annuaires, 306).

Contemporary full old red morocco, smooth spine gilt with friezes and fleurs-de-lys, one joint split at the head, boards framed with triple gilt fillets, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, bookplate laid down on a pastedown, gilt edges to the boards, corners slightly rubbed, all edges gilt; binding of the period.

This rather scarce issue was published without interruption from 1744 to 1789. 

Provenance: from the library of the heraldist Olivier Le Bas, with bookplate laid down on a pastedown.

An attractive copy, handsomely bound in contemporary full red morocco.

A very rare first edition.

Répertoire bibliographique des livres imprimés en France au XVIe siècle. Aix, vol. I, p. 36:5. Lindsay & Neu, French Political Pamphlets 1547–1648. A single copy recorded in WorldCat (Chicago, Newberry Library).

Our copy is offered disbound, in sheets, preserved in plain marbled paper wrappers, with an early manuscript label on the upper cover.

Répertoire bibliographique des livres imprimés en France au XVIe siècle. Aix, vol. I, p. 36:5. Lindsay & Neu, French Political Pamphlets 1547–1648. A single copy recorded in WorldCat. A rare example bearing on the title an early contemporary manuscript annotation: “du 11 avril...

Limited first edition printed in a small number of copies, extracted from the "Bulletin de l'Institut égyptien", series V, vol. X.

Illustrated booklet with 4 figures in the text and 2 plates outside the text. 

Only one copy recorded in the CCF. 

A tear to the foot of the spine, covers marginally soiled and also bearing small black stains, internally in good condition.

A publicist and collector, then secretary to the Council of Ministers, Ahmad Zaki Basha (1867-1934) was, between 1892 and 1934, one of the most dynamic figures of Egyptian cultural life: a polyglot, translator, bibliophile, philologist, and man of learning, keenly interested in modernity and...

First separate illustrated edition, with a large folding map printed on a separate sheet and hand-coloured in outline bound at the end of the volume.

This geographical study is in fact an extract from Volume II of the first French translation by Stanislas Julien of the Da Tang Xiyu Ji (Record of the Western Regions of the Great Tang), the literary account of Xuanzang's nineteen-year journey (626–645, during the Tang dynasty), from Chang'an across Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent.

The two-volume work had previously been published by the Imprimerie impériale in 1857 and 1858.

Spine split, restored with minor losses, some foxing.

First edition, illustrated with a folding plate printed outside the text, of these essays by « M. L. C. D. M. D. L. D. G. D. C. D. M. L. C. D’A [i.e. Monsieur le chevalier Duvernois, maréchal des logis of the guards of the comte d’Artois] ».

Cf. Quérard, Supercheries littéraires, II, 700. Blackmer 1725. Hage Chahine 4990. Atabey 1280.

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers, under plain grey covers, the spine unlettered and bearing traces of manuscript inscription.

Light marginal dampstaining affecting several leaves.

Verdy du Vernois (1738-1814) later became chamberlain to the King of Prussia and the author of several works on the military art, history, and...

First edition, printed in a very small run as a separate issue.

No copies recorded in the CCFr or WorldCat.

Our copy is presented in its original wrappers, preserved under the original cream paper dust wrapper.

Oxford antiquary and numismatist, William Sandys Wright Vaux (1818–1885) was also closely associated with the Oxford Movement.

On the front cover, autograph inscription from William Sandys Wright Vaux to Count Melchior de Vogüé (1829–1916), the renowned French archaeologist.

A fine and substantial group relating to the Vaudreuil family, of considerable importance in the history of the French colonies, both in Canada and in Saint-Domingue.

The work is illustrated, at the beginning of the volume, with a folding genealogical table printed hors-texte.

Contemporary full marbled sheep binding, spine in six compartments gilt and tooled with floral motifs, red morocco title-piece, rubbing to the joints and restorations to the spine, gilt arms stamped at the centres of the boards, minor losses and abrasions to the boards, marbled endpapers, gilt fillets to the edges partially faded, marbled edges, an early binding.

The folding plate at the beginning...

Rare first edition of this poem, printed on bluish paper and composed by Tissot in honour of the birth of the King of Rome, the Emperor’s son.

Not in Quérard.

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers, under a modern marbled paper cover. Not in Quérard. A fine copy.

First edition (cf. Contominas 732; Blackmer 1652; Loukia Droulia 2021-22. Not in Atabey).

Contemporary Bradel binding in full grey marbled paper-covered boards, smooth spine with manuscript title label pasted at head, corners slightly rubbed, red-speckled edges.

Some foxing. 

 "An important work by the German philhellene, who was in fact the key figure in Bavarian philhellenism after Ludwig himself. In Munich in 1816 he founded an institute for educationg young Greeks (the 'Athenaion'). According to St. Clair he was also a member of the Philiké Etaireia ; certanly he called for volunteers in 1821. In 1831 he went to Greece as an unofficial agent of the Bavarian...

Second edition, partly original as revised and enlarged, illustrated with a folding map at the end of the volume.

Slight corner wear to the boards, otherwise a well-preserved copy with internal foxing.

The author takes a very broad view of the Serbs, seemingly including all Slavic populations of the Balkans.

First edition, forming the sixteenth volume of Voyages, relations et mémoires originaux pour servir à l'histoire de la découverte de l'Amérique, published by H. Ternaux-Compans. Cf. Sabin, 94852.

Bound in half green sheepskin, spine with four raised bands, gilt date at the foot, marbled paper boards, endpapers and pastedowns of laid paper, upper corner with a minor tear; twentieth-century binding.

Foxing, one stain on the half-title page.

This volume contains: Letters from Don Juan de Zumárraga, elected Bishop of Mexico, to the King. — Documents relating to the disputes between the first Audiencia of New Spain, presided over by Nuño de Guzmán, and the Bishop...

First edition, forming the tenth volume of Voyages, Relations et Mémoires Originaux pour servir à l'Histoire de la Découverte de l'Amérique, published by H. Ternaux-Compans (cf. Sabin, 94854).

Some foxing, front board tending to detach, minor losses to the spine and at the corners of the boards.

This volume contains the Itinerary of the Voyage of the Fleet of the Catholic King to the Island of Yucatan, undertaken in 1518 under the command of Captain General Juan de Grijalva, first published in Italian in Venice in 1522.

It is followed by 19 other previously unpublished pieces relating to the history of Mexico, including: A Brief Account of New...

First edition (cf. Cordier, Sinica, 1282).

Contemporary flexible grey cloth, smooth unlettered spine slightly faded, blind-ruled borders to the boards, title lettered in gilt at the centre of both boards, a label bearing a handwritten inscription pasted to the upper left-hand corner of the front board, yellow paper pastedowns and endpapers, sprinkled edges.

George Thomas Staunton (1781–1859), an English diplomat and Orientalist, accompanied his father on a mission to China as early as 1792 and thus acquired a sound knowledge of the language at a very young age. In 1810, he published the Ta Tsing leu lee under the title Fundamental Laws of China. The...

Rare first edition (cf. Tulard 275 and 1453).

Contemporary half tan goatskin binding, spine with four false raised bands decorated with gilt chains and a central fleur, gilt initials at foot, marbled paper boards, corners rubbed and canvas-tipped, late 19th-century binding.

Scattered foxing.

The only edition, extremely scarce as issued in a small print run and not offered commercially, like most of the works of the Dutch historian Sirtema van Grotestins (1791–1874), who was based in France.

The two figures whose memoirs he published were Dutchmen of contrasting political destinies: while the former refused to serve Louis Bonaparte, the latter went so far as to join...

First Italian edition; the work had originally appeared as early as 1806 with the Paris imprint of Gratiot, under the more explicit title: "La Guerra de'tre mesi, o l'Ultima campagna di S. M. l'Imperatore Napoleone".

Only three copies recorded in the CCF (BnF, Poitiers and Rouen, all of the 1806 edition).

Contemporary Bradel-style binding in quarter tan calf with corners, smooth spine decorated with gilt garlands, crimson morocco lettering-piece, rubbing to spine and boards with some loss of paper, yellow edges.

Some foxing; small wormholes to the lower right-hand corner of the final three pages, not affecting the text.

Unlike the author’s other works, this...

First edition of this advance extract from "Annam – Numismatic Studies", an ouvrage not due to appear until 1905.

A rare and pleasing copy, despite 

Autograph presentation inscription from Albert Schroeder to Jean-Calixte-Alexis Auvergne, Resident-Superior in Annam from 1897 to 1898, and again from 1901 to 1904.

First edition issued as offprint no. 13 for the year 1849 from the "Journal Asiatique".

Not recorded by Lorenz.

Our copy is preserved in the original plain blue wrappers, title pencilled on the upper cover.

Some foxing.

Rare and important first edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Journal asiatique for the year 1849.

Heavy foxing throughout.

Original wrappers, illustrated with a folding plate inserted at the end of the volume.

In the mid-nineteenth century, this traditional alphabet used for the Tamazight languages attracted very little interest among Orientalist scholars.

Rare first edition. 

Some occasional foxing.

Contemporary-style bradel binding in full blue marbled paper-covered boards, smooth spine, printed wrappers preserved, modern binding.

The author (not to be confused with the diplomat André Grasset de Saint-Sauveur, who died in 1830) was in 1836 the guest of Count Mikhaïl Semionovitch Vorontsov (1782-1856), Governor-General of New Russia and namestnik of Bessarabia since 1823.

Under his administration, Crimea and Odessa in particular experienced rapid development, and he was the first to introduce steamships on the Black Sea in 1828. This brief account provides an interesting testimony to the condition of these southern...

First edition of this important pre-Revolutionary economic pamphlet. (See INED 3994. Stourm 152. Not in Kress, Goldsmith, or Einaudi.)

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers and plain paper covers.

A marginal waterstain to the left edge of the leaves.

"Ruelle, an advocate of physiocratic economic principles, demonstrates that the burden of taxation ultimately always falls upon landowners. He argues for the necessity of consolidating all taxes into a single direct income tax. Combined with unrestricted freedom of trade, this tax would constitute the only means of restoring the finances of the State. A critique of public borrowing and a defence of property." See...

First edition.

Only three copies recorded in the CCFr.

Spine restored with some losses remaining, sun-faded boards, scattered foxing.

The sole edition: despite his surname, Dr Roberts appears to have been French, and it was at the request of the French Minister of Public Instruction that he undertook this journey through Central Asia, of which India formed but one stage.

A very rare first edition of this atlas only, comprising a folding map and 46 plates mounted on guards depicting a total of 135 figures.

Contemporary Bradel-style binding in black half-cloth over marbled boards, spine damaged at the foot, title label partially rubbed away along its length, boards with scuffs and losses to the marbled paper covering, bumped corners, minor wear to the edges.

An exceptionally rare standalone atlas from this landmark monograph on the Chibcha, or Muisca, civilization.

First edition of the French translation (see Palau 246 379–80).

Spine restored, small losses at the corners of the boards.

An Italian-born naturalist and explorer, Antonio Raimondi (1826–1890) landed in Peru in 1850 and thereafter devoted himself to the study of his adopted country: through numerous expeditions, he gathered extensive data on the carbon strata of the Peruvian coastline, analysed and quantified the guano of the Chincha Islands and the potassium nitrate of Tarapacá, travelled through the gold-bearing provinces of Carabaya and Sandia, navigated the Río Marañón, the Ucayali and the Amazon — the principal eastern rivers — and drew plans of the cities of Cajamarca...

First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Journal asiatique.

Alongside his diplomatic career, Paul-Pascal-Henri Pognon (1853-1921) devoted himself to Mesopotamian archaeology in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq.

Combining field discoveries, acquisitions from local antiquities dealers and official survey missions, he assembled Semitic inscriptions whose meaning he deciphered through painstaking translation work. A specialist in Assyrian, Syriac and Aramaic, he produced numerous scholarly publications that became important works of reference.

In 1883, he attracted considerable attention with the discovery of two important inscriptions on...

First edition, with only three copies recorded in the CCF (Institut, Nîmes and Besançon).

Copy from the library of the biologist Jean-Louis-Armand Quatrefages de Bréau (1810-1892), bearing his ink stamp at the head of the half-title.

An appealing copy despite a small tear at the foot of the spine.

First edition.

Sabin 62880. Not in Leclerc.

Contemporary half red shagreen, spine rubbed and decorated with five raised bands, gilt initials at the foot, marbled paper-covered boards, combed paper endpapers and pastedowns.

First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Revue de l'Orient, de l'Algérie et des colonies, published in the February 1857 issue.

According to the CCFr, copies are recorded only at the BnF, the BULAC and the Académie de médecine.

Our copy is preserved in its original stitched wrappers, with plain blue temporary paper covers, unopened.

Some foxing.

This pamphlet surveys all the animals mentioned in the Quranic surahs.

The author, Antoine-Paulin Pihan (1810-1879), who was proficient in Arabic, Turkish and Persian, was merely a proofreader in the Oriental typography department of the Imprimerie Impériale. Yet the number of...

First edition, published in seven text volumes between 1874 and 1890, the first four by Michel Lévy frères and the final three by Calmann-Lévy, successor to the house of Michel Lévy. One of the very rare copies printed on Holland laid paper, an unrecorded large-paper issue not mentioned in the justification and apparently absent from the bibliographies consulted. Cf. Vicaire VI, 397-398; F. Monaghan, p. 74, no. 1157.

The seven text volumes are in the original wrappers, entirely untrimmed with deckle edges preserved. Small marginal tears and occasional losses to some spines and wrappers.

First edition of this Arabic grammar, one of the earliest works printed by the Propaganda Press, whose own printing office had only been established in 1627 by Pope Urban VIII through the consolidation of several typographical collections, notably the Medici Arabic presses.

Contemporary full stiff vellum, smooth spine, title and date lettered in black ink, small wormholes to one joint and the left margin of the upper cover, sprinkled edges, contemporary binding.

A wormtrack runs through most of the leaves, occasionally affecting a few letters of the text.

The Franciscan friar Tommaso Obizzino (1585-1632), a native of Novara, produced several manuals for the study of the...

First edition (cf. Conlon 16:162; not listed by Barbier).

Later half marbled calf binding, spine with five raised bands ruled and decorated in gilt, marbled paper boards, speckled edges.

Restoration to the left-hand margin of the title-page, black ink stains in the margins of pages 4 and 5 and on the final flyleaf, with a few small spots of foxing.

Despite the anonymous author's prefatory remarks, the work appears to be a fashionable abridgement of Pétis de La Croix's book.

First edition.

Not recorded by Vicaire or Bitting.

Contemporary-style half red shagreen binding, spine with five raised bands, very slightly sunned, marbled paper-covered boards, marbled endpapers, original wrappers and spine preserved, modern binding signed by Laurenchet.

Restored marginal tear to page 43 with a slight loss affecting a few letters of the text.

Signed autograph presentation inscription by Emile Mouchon on the half-title: "A la Société impériale d'agriculture de Lyon, hommage empressé".

First edition of this letter which in fact sets forth a concrete political programme.

Absent from Starace.

Contemporary Bradel binding in half saffron buckram, smooth spine, rubbed brown sheep title-piece, marbled paper boards.

Bookplate with date and place inscribed in ink at the head of a flyleaf.

Provenance: from the library of Prince Roland Bonaparte (p. 222 of the catalogue of his library, 1891) with his engraved bookplate pasted onto an endpaper.

Rare first edition, one of 300 copies printed (cf. Palau 159 501).

Not recorded by Pardo de Tavera; only two copies listed in the CCF (BnF and Cujas).

The bibliography of the eminent Chilean historian José Toribio Medina Zavala (1852-1930) is extensive, though he is chiefly known for his works on Chile and Latin America. He also took an interest in other Spanish possessions, as shown by this short monograph, which appears to be the only early study devoted to the subject.

Small tears to spine and along the margins of the wrappers, with a few marginal tears to some leaves owing to the poor quality of the paper.

Contemporary manuscript copy of the important unpublished memoir written in Tonkin in 1841 by the Spanish Dominican Domingo Martí (1811–1852), devoted to the lives and martyrdom of twenty-seven Servants of God who died between 1838 and 1840 during the anti-Christian persecutions carried out under the reign of Emperor Minh Mạng.

Small quarto (15 × 19.8 cm). 6 unnumbered leaves, 2 blank leaves, 117 numbered leaves with a few pagination errors...

First edition of this provisional account of the Helvetian campaign, from the moment Masséna assumed command (11 December 1798-21 April 1799).

Contemporary grey half cloth Bradel binding, smooth spine, tan longitudinal lettering-piece, marbled-paper boards, endpapers and pastedowns.

Occasional light foxing, a faint dampstain to the upper margins of most leaves, not affecting the text.

Louis Marès (1765-1806), initially a volunteer from the Hérault, transferred to the Corps of Engineers in 1793; wounded at Austerlitz, he died in early 1806 from the effects of his injury.

First French edition, complete with its engraved plate at the end of the volume: "Air mauresque" (see Gay 1352).

Bookseller’s resale label from the antiquarian bookseller Challamel affixed to the foot of the title page.

Bound in contemporary half brown calf, smooth spine with gilt and blind tooling, black morocco title and date labels, some rubbing to the spine, marbled paper boards, handmade laid paper endleaves and pastedowns, speckled edges, corners slightly worn, upper corner missing on one, binding slightly later.

Some foxing, dampstaining affecting the lower margin of the first 70 leaves.

The work was first published in London in 1811 under the title...

First edition illustrated with 19 lithographed plates in colour or printed on tinted grounds (including a plan), with captioned tissue guards.

Only two copies recorded in the CCF (BnF and Musée de l'Homme).

The sole edition of this report, in fact written by the duke’s secretary, A. Gory.

La Butte-Ronde lies near the Luynes family estate at Dampierre (though in fact within the commune of Saint-Forget): the learned archaeologist who was the eighth duke (1802-1867) could hardly fail to take an interest in excavations carried out on the site, which brought to light a Gallo-Roman fanum. The pamphlet enjoyed only confidential circulation, and the duke’s death, in that same...

First edition of this thesis submitted for the agrégation examination (surgery and obstetrics section) and defended at the Faculty of Medicine of Paris on 19 July 1872.

Illustrated with 21 figures in the text.

Wrappers partially soiled, occasional foxing.

Just Lucas-Championnière (1843-1913) spent almost his entire career in the obstetrics departments of Parisian hospitals and was a pioneer in the field of antisepsis. 

Signed autograph inscription from Just Lucas-Championnière to Paul Bert on the half-title page.

Very rare first edition, published in Munich in 1819, illustrated with a frontispiece and five hors-texte lithographic plates by Carl Friedrich Heinzmann, bearing the signature “Carl Heinzmann fec. 1819”. Cf. Quérard, IV, 424; Pfeiffer, 220.

Modern Bradel-style binding in full grey paper-covered boards, smooth spine with longitudinal red morocco lettering-piece. Original plain blue-grey wrappers preserved. Some foxing, lower wrapper soiled.

One of the plates bears a Latin dedication to Maximilian I Joseph, King of Bavaria, celebrated as “father of...

Very rare first edition illustrated with a folding map bound at the beginning of the volume and 44 plates.

No copy recorded by the CCFr.

Publisher's original full indigo-blue cloth, smooth spine decorated in gilt with dotted tooling and floral ornaments, covers framed with a blind rule, corners lightly bumped.

An amateur repair with adhesive tape to the upper right corner of the first text leaf, a few spots of foxing, chiefly affecting the edges.

The author served as secretary to the very first Brazilian mission sent to China (1880).

First edition illustrated with 7 plates printed outside the text.

A snag with loss to the front wrapper, foxing throughout, dampstain to the rear wrapper.

A commentary on the bilingual Phoenician and Greek inscription engraved on one of the two Cippi of Melqart, dating from the 2nd century BC and presented in 1782 to Louis XVI by the Grand Master of the Hospitallers.

It was then housed at the Bibliothèque Mazarine and has been preserved at the Louvre since 1864.

First collective edition.

Not recorded in Chahine, nor in any bibliography consulted.

Contemporary full black sheep, spine richly gilt with decorative motifs, joints rubbed, sides elaborately blind-stamped with a wide central panel within a quadruple gilt fillet border, blue moiré silk endpapers and pastedowns, gilt dentelle border to the pastedowns, gilt rules to the edges, all edges gilt, contemporary binding.

Spine restored, dampstaining at the beginning and end of the volume, restored marginal tear to the title page.

This work comprises a collection of brief biographies of figures involved in the conflicts and negotiations surrounding the struggle for...

First bilingual edition, with the Spanish text and its French translation printed on facing pages.

Not recorded by Sabin; see no. 38614 for the "Memorandum".

Contemporary pink half cloth, smooth spine lettered in gilt, gilt date at foot with a small tear, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, wrappers preserved, contemporary binding.

Spine slightly faded.

This work constitutes a supplement to the "Memorandum" published by Lafragua in 1857, which contained the correspondence exchanged between Mexican and Spanish diplomats during a particularly critical period in Mexican history, spanning the fall of the Santa Anna dictatorship and the Liberal victory under Juárez...

First edition.

Only three copies recorded in the CCF (BnF, Besançon and Strasbourg).

Minor spotting to the covers, a pleasant copy.

Andrés Poey y Aguirre (1826–1919) was the founder and director of the Physical and Meteorological Observatory of Havana.

At the head of the upper cover, autograph inscription from Andrés Poey to the chemist Edmond Becquerel (1820–1891).

A rare first edition unrecorded by Sabin.

Contemporary-style half bottle-green morocco-grained shagreen binding, spine slightly faded with five raised bands, marbled paper boards, endpapers and pastedowns of marbled paper, original front wrapper preserved, modern binding signed Laurenchet.

Scattered foxing, final page of the table of contents sunned.

Rare first edition of this occasional piece (a second edition was issued with the Paris imprint), cf. Monglond IV, 232.

Contemporary Bradel-style binding in blue paper over boards, smooth spine ruled in gilt with double fillets, marbled paper-covered boards, a few scuffs to the spine and boards. 

From November 1795, François de Neufchâteau (1750-1828) served as Commissioner of the Executive Directory to the Central Administration of the Vosges, where he devoted himself to the development of agriculture in the department, a pursuit that always remained his foremost interest.

Copy from the library of the lawyer Charles Fournerat (1780-1867) of Ancy-le-Franc, bearing his...

First edition illustrated with 2 folding tables.

Only two copies recorded in the CCF (BnF and Strasbourg).

Bradel binding in full black paper boards, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets and a gilt fleur-de-lys tool, tan shagreen title label, upper corners slightly rubbed, speckled edges. Slightly later binding.

Offset from an old paper in the left margin of the title page.

Despite its great popularity, the publication of "Histoire de Napoléon" by Philippe-Paul de Ségur (1780-1873), issued in 1824, prompted numerous reactions, responses, and corrections from many participants in the Russian campaign (Gourgaud’s, of extreme violence, remains...

First edition.

Contemporary-style half tawny calf over marbled paper boards, smooth spine decoratively tooled in blind with double fillets and floral ornaments, bookplate mounted on pastedown, wrappers preserved, speckled edges, modern binding.

A few letters erased in the text on page 35.

Exceptionally rare collection of puns and jeux de mots based on homonymy and paronymy.

The CCFr records only a similar title, though not corresponding to ours: Encyclopédie pittoresque du calembour, printed in Paris without date and comprising 127 pages with illustrations (BnF, Institut, Grenoble), which appears to be an enlarged later edition of our work. In any case...

Very rare first edition.

According to the CCFr, copies are recorded only in Dijon and Nîmes.

Our copy is offered disbound, with a few foxing spots and a small wormhole in the left margin of all leaves, not affecting the text.

Having observed that the water supplied to Dijon was unwholesome, the author argues that the waters of the River Ouche, being of good quality, could be used for consumption.

Jean Fournier, doctor of the University of Montpellier, was successively salaried physician to the city of Dijon, physician to the Estates of Burgundy, and naval physician in the ports of Brest and Lorient.

First edition of the second work in a set of four, published by a royal army officer between 1783 and 1788, focusing on a remedy claimed to cure numerous ailments. The remedy was prepared from a plant whose name the author deliberately withheld.

Bound in contemporary marbled paper over flexible cardboard, with wear and losses to the spine, labels pasted on the spine, and minor paper losses to the boards.

Printed stamps on some leaves.

The substance was both widely condemned as an excessively harsh purgative and praised—even by practitioners—for its apparent relief to gout sufferers.

An analysis conducted by Cadet and Parmentier failed to identify the plant used...

First edition in book form of the first part (the second did not appear until 1916), comprising 1,080 proverbs, together with 100 Betsimisaraka proverbs collected by Joël Laimijay and translated only into Hova; the work had previously appeared in a periodical.

Cf. Grandidier II, 10,041.

Publisher's half cherry-red pebble-grain cloth binding, smooth spine ruled in gilt, a few small stains to spine, boards covered in embossed violet cloth, corners rubbed, speckled edges.

The complete work was reissued in 1929-1930, 1957 and 1960. Hugues Berthier's copy (1869-1958), chief colonial administrator, with his ink stamp. Berthier served as Secretary-General of the...

First edition, adorned with numerous tables including 8 folding at the end of the volume, and illustrated with 62 figures in the text.

Publisher’s Bradel binding in full burgundy cloth, smooth spine lettered in gilt on the upper cover, upper headcap lacking, lower headcap worn, upper cover framed with blind-stamped typographical motifs at the corners, blue-grey endpapers and pastedowns, upper corners rubbed.

A marginal loss to the right margin of pages 97-98, not affecting the text.

A treatise on hydrography and maritime topography, the first of its kind in Brazil, intended for fourth-year students of the Brazilian Naval School.

The author, the naval officer...

First edition with a folding plate at the end of the volume.

Spine and boards with losses, front cover starting to come loose, black stains to the upper cover.

At the express request of Napoleon III (who remains the dedicatee of the work despite the printing date), the archaeologist Léon Heuzey (1831-1922) undertook in 1861 his second archaeological mission to Macedonia (he had already carried out excavations there in 1855): the Emperor, then engaged in writing his Jules César, took a particular interest in the battlefields of his hero in the East (notably that of Pharsalus).

The mission took place in a difficult geopolitical context and had to be curtailed...

Rare first edition, illustrated at the beginning of the volume with an engraved line plate.

Publisher's Bradel binding in full boards covered with pink paper, smooth spine darkened, cherry-red calf lettering-piece, boards soiled.

Only three copies recorded in the CCF (BnF, Institut, Sainte-Geneviève).

The sole edition of this short monograph devoted to what was then the only known representation of this Hellenistic monarch, who ruled successively over Pontus, the Bosporus and Armenia.

The numismatist Louis Allier de Hauteroche (1766-1827) had himself served as French consul at Heraclea Pontica at the end of the eighteenth century.

Difficulties with the...

Very rare first edition (cf. Hage Chahine, 4007.)

The CCF records copies only at the BnF and the Saulchoir.

Bradel-style binding in brick-red half cloth, smooth spine with longitudinal black morocco lettering-piece, marbled paper boards.

An archaeologist and Orientalist, Baron Emmanuel Guillaume-Rey (1837-1916) was the author of several works on the history of the Near East, notably on Crusader military architecture in Syria and Latin rule in the East.

An attractive copy.

First edition, one of the rare copies printed on Japan paper, with no mention of such.

Illustrated with a portrait frontispiece and 15 full-page illustrations within the text.

Contemporary half red shagreen binding with corners, spine in five compartments ruled in black, marbled paper boards, black stains at the foot of the upper cover, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt.

Minor rubbing and small losses to the spine, a few light foxing marks. 

Written by one of the defenders of the citadel of Bitche during the Franco-Prussian War, this account constitutes a tribute to Colonel Louis-Casimir Teyssier (1821–1916), who managed to hold the stronghold for seven months...

Rare first edition.

No copies recorded in the CCF.

Our copy is issued in its original wrappers, in temporary grey paper covers, with a later title label to the spine.

Some losses to the temporary covers, a small hole to the title page also affecting the following four leaves with loss of letters.

A very rare record of the forces engaged on both the Spanish and French sides during the Peninsular War (1808-1814).

It comprises a sequence of 149 tables arranged chronologically, from the state of the regular troops in 1808, prior to the French intervention, through to 10 March 1814. 

Though unofficial in nature, it constitutes an essential source for...

First edition printed in a small number of copies of this offprint from the August 1858 issue of the Annales de philosophie chrétienne, vol. XVIII, p. 85.

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers, housed in the publisher's contemporary plain paper covers.

Minor marginal losses to the covers.

Only three copies recorded in the CCFr (BnF, Sorbonne, BULAC).

One of the author's earliest publications. Victor-Honoré Guérin (1821-1891) was entrusted with a mission to Palestine and the island of Rhodes in 1854.

During two subsequent missions to Palestine [1863 and 1870], he visited more than 1,500 localities, towns and villages, thereby acquiring an...

First French edition of the translation (Cf. Gay 3573. Chadenat 5378 for the original English edition of 1805. See also Brunet, Table, 19960 and Graesse, III, 155).

Bound in half tan calf, smooth spine decorated with quadruple gilt and blind fillets, gilt tailpiece, marbled paper boards, speckled edges, binding slightly later.

Minor rubbing to the binding.
A member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Griffiths visited Constantinople, Smyrna, and Mytilene, then the island of Chios and the ruins of Croesus's palace at Sardis, the ancient capital of Lydia. He then traveled to Konya, Aleppo, and Basra; from there, he descended the Persian Gulf, passed through Muscat, and...

Rare first edition.

Only 3 copies recorded in the CCFr: Paris (BnF and Assemblée nationale); Rouen.

Contemporary-style half olive calf over marbled boards, smooth spine ruled in gilt, cherry morocco lettering-piece, marbled paper sides, pastedowns and endpapers of vat paper, red edges, modern binding.

This work constitutes a refutation of Astolphe de Custine’s "La Russie en 1839" (Paris, 1843, 4 vols. 8vo), which portrayed the country as backward while challenging the tsarist regime: « Avec une légèreté incroyable, avec une impudence qui n’a pas de nom, et l’intention manifeste de calomnier, d’offenser et d’injurier l’empereur et l’impératrice, il entre dans...

First edition, printed in a limited run, of this extract from the Revue britannique of February 1880.

Only three known copies in the CCF (BnF, INHA, and Sorbonne).

This copy is presented in its original wrappers, with a blank temporary cover.

Pamphlet adorned with in-text black-and-white illustrations.

In Greek mythology, the Cabeiri were minor deities worshipped in mystery cults across several regions of Greece, particularly on the islands of Samothrace, Lemnos, and Imbros.

These deities, little understood even by the Greeks themselves, were remnants of an Aegean past influenced by Phoenician culture, yet they later became protectors of...

First edition.

Bradel binding in full blue paper-covered boards, smooth spine, red morocco title label.

Only two copies recorded in the CCF (BnF and Bibliothèque Thiers).

This rare text constitutes an extract from a larger work which appears not to have been published, the opening title bearing Chapter 15, Des Places fortes, and an advertisement on p. 139 indicating Chapter 16, De la Stratégie.

The work concludes with an interesting list of French fortified places, with an indication of the garrisons required for their defence.

Son of the celebrated René-Louis de Girardin d'Ermenonville, Lieutenant-General Count Alexandre-Louis-Robert de...

New edition, partly original, published anonymously (see Sabin 20,288).

Disbound copy, preserved in a modern marbled paper wrapper.

Abbé Louis Genty (1743–1817) is better known for his Influence de la découverte de l’Amérique sur le bonheur du genre humain, published in 1788, but this Dissertation appears here in a form close to its first draft.

First edition of the French translation, printed on laid paper (cf. Loukia Droulia 1536. See Blackmer 663 for the original English edition).

Modern bradel binding in full green paper boards, smooth spine, olive green sheep title-piece.

A waterstain to the upper corner of the first 10 leaves of the volume.

"This is the first in Gell's series of rapid \"itineraries\" which contain information organized among plotted routes. The material for this itinerary was collected during Gell's travels in the Morea in 1805-6" [Blackmer].

First edition, printed in a very small number of copies, of this offprint from the Comptes rendus de l'Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres.

Illustrated pamphlet with 13 figures in the text and a double-page folding map.

Only two copies recorded in the CCF (BnF and Bibliothèque Mazarine).

The archaeologist Joseph-Etienne Gautier (1861-1924) conducted numerous excavation campaigns throughout the Middle East (Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia, etc.).

A rare and attractive copy.

First edition.

Two small losses at the foot of the spine and on the front cover, the final gathering was improperly trimmed, resulting in a few minor marginal losses without serious consequence.

Joseph-Hélodore Garcin de Tassy (1794-1878) was a French orientalist and specialist of India.

He studied Oriental languages under Silvestre de Sacy and, together with him, was one of the founders of the Société Asiatique in 1822. He was appointed to the Chair of Indology at the École spéciale des Langues orientales in 1828 and was elected to the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in 1838. Initially renowned for his studies of Islam and his translations from Arabic...

Original edition of this auction catalogue from the sale held on Friday 10 and Saturday 11 May 1872, describing 294 lots.

A tear at the foot of the final leaf.

The catalogue is illustrated with 2 hors-texte engraved plates (line engravings).

Of Baden origin, the numismatist Ludwig Wilhelm Fröhner (1834–1925) settled in Paris in 1859: he became one of the close friends of Napoleon III and assisted him in the preparation of his History of Julius Caesar (1865–1866), which helped him obtain both French naturalisation (1866) and a desirable post at the Louvre.

The Franco-Prussian War of 1870 proved disastrous for him: he lost all his positions and even any prospect...

Paris, Teissier et Cie, undated [circa 1868-1870]. Folio, 38 leaves mounted on guards, 32.5 x 49.5 cm.

An exceptionally rare collection, probably unique in this form, comprising thirty-eight proofs and working states of lithographed Masonic plates, most designed to be viewed across a double page. Numbered in red pencil from 1 to 40 in a discontinuous sequence including several bis plates. Caillet and Dorbon describe the Rameau d'or d'Éleusis, to which...

First edition of these extremely rare statutes of an Indo-British lodge established in Calcutta since 1860.

No copy recorded in the CCF or in WorldCat.

Minor losses to the spine and corners of the boards, with one tear at the head of the upper cover skilfully restored.

Extremely rare first edition of the statutes of an Indo-British military lodge established in Calcutta.

Losses to the rubbed spine, covers reinforced, internally in pleasing condition.

No copy recorded in the CCFr or on WorldCat.

First edition illustrated with a portrait, 15 plates, and a large folding map printed in colours showing the routes.

Contemporary-style green half shagreen, spine with five raised bands lightly sunned, marbled paper boards, wrappers mounted on guards and preserved, skilfully restored at the corners, modern binding.

Rare first edition illustrated with 2 out-of-text plates, hand-coloured at the time, depicting Morlach costumes (cf. Conlon 78:960. Not recorded by Quérard.)

Our copy is preserved in its original stitched wrappers, under the period plain grey covers (spine lacking, covers with tears and detached, corners bumped, a few foxing spots, final endpaper stained at foot).

We have encountered another copy of this work illustrated with a single folding plate containing 3 figures.

Pages 78 to 85 contain a song in the Morlach language, with a French translation printed opposite.

Rare collection of 16 hand-coloured engravings, comprising a frontispiece and 15 plates, illustrating the virtues of soldiers and young men during the Consulate period.

Contemporary half bronze calf binding, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets, dotted tools and floral ornaments, minor rubbing to the spine, brown morocco title label, boards, endpapers and pastedowns of marbled paper, ex-libris pasted on the front pastedown.

An attractive copy.

Rare first edition.

Our copy is offered in the original unbound state, with paper losses to the final leaf and a light waterstain affecting the opening leaves.

By General Duhesme (1766-1815), then serving with the army entrusted with the conquest of the Kingdom of Naples.

First edition of this thesis, illustrated with 4 plates.

Modern black half-calf binding, smooth spine decorated with double gilt fillets, marbled-paper boards.

A few minor spots of foxing; stamps of the Library of the Paris Faculty of Medicine on the plates and title page.

Not recorded by V. Rozier. 

The author served as chief surgeon to the First Battalion of Foot Grenadiers of the Consular Guard.

He invented an adjustable inclined bed, an instrument for the treatment of compound fractures of the lower jaw, a compression device for use in cases involving severed arteries, and an apparatus designed to transport seriously wounded men over long distances...

Second edition, embellished with several figures in the text and illustrated with 5 albumen photographic plates, mounted on heavy paper and inserted on guards.

Contemporary half black shagreen, spine with five raised bands decorated with blind fillets, headcap rubbed, joints worn, marbled paper boards, speckled edges, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.

This was the first published work of Abbé Louis Duchesne (1843-1922), who would go on to revolutionize both the methodology and conclusions of ecclesiastical history.

Written in collaboration with the future Byzantinist Charles Bayet (1849-1918), it is the result of their stay at the French School at Athens.

This...

First edition of this rare catalogue for the sale of the antiquities collection of Claude-Madeleine Grivaud de La Vincelle (1762-1819), deputy head of accounting at the Chamber of Peers, archaeologist, and numismatist.

497 lots are described.

Late nineteenth-century bradel binding in half blue cloth, smooth spine, brown shagreen title label lettered lengthwise, marbled paper boards.

Some minor foxing, otherwise a pleasant copy.

Rare first edition.

No copies recorded in CCF or WorldCat.

A copy preserved in its original wrappers with printed green covers, showing a few marginal losses to the corners; internally in pleasing condition.

A rare document relating to a dispute arising from the wreck, off Saint-Domingue on 9 April 1834, of the vessel Courrier de la Vera-Crux (laden with bales of cotton), involving the Bordeaux shipowners Balguerie et Cie, the insurers Aguirrevengoa and Uribarren, the captain, and the various consignors. Appended is a copy of the grounds and operative part of the judgment of the Commercial Court.

At the head of the upper cover, signed autograph inscription...

First edition of this important royal declaration partially reversing the compulsory deportation measures established by the declarations of 8 January and 12 March 1719.

Responding to repeated complaints from colonial governors, the royal government henceforth resolved that only voluntary emigrants should be sent to populate the colonies.

Our copy is offered disbound.

First edition printed in a small number of copies of this offprint from the Mémoires de la Société des antiquaires de France, vol. XX.

The work is illustrated at the beginning of the volume with two folding plates engraved by Charles Oury after drawings by Delamare, gathering several figures.

Contemporary half black shagreen, spine with four raised bands decorated with blind fillets and gilt fleurons, minor rubbing to the joints, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, speckled edges, contemporary binding.

Foxing.

A former student of the École Polytechnique and an officer, Delamarre (1793-1861), who adopts a particle on the title-page for greater...

First edition.

The veterinarian Henri-Mamert-Onésime Delafond (1805–1861) devoted particular attention to contagious diseases of livestock, focusing especially on anthrax and contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, and published several successive monographs on these subjects throughout his career; he became director of the École d’Alfort in 1860, shortly before his death.

Light foxing; a dampstain affecting the index leaves; minor losses at the corners of the boards.

Provenance: from the library of the veterinarian Jean-Henry Magne, with his manuscript ex-libris at the head of the upper cover.

First edition.

Not in Hage Chahine.

Some light foxing, imperial colportage stamps on certain pages.

Son of the former Consul General in Smyrna, Céleste-Etienne David (1802-1875) also pursued a diplomatic career (Cuba, Venezuela, etc.).

Included: "Notice biographique sur M. C.-E. David, ancien ministre plénipotentiaire, etc." Extract from volume XII of the Biographie des hommes marquants du XIXe siècle, by V. Lacaine and Ch. Laurent. (n.p., 1860, 4 pp.)

Second edition, issued in a limited printing of 75 copies.

Restored unlettered spine, wrappers somewhat soiled, a few light foxing spots.

This work, the first of the three-part series Le Mariage indigène dans les colonies et les protectorats de la France, stands apart from the usual writings of magistrate Claude-Arthur Daguin (1849-1944), whose publications had previously focused almost exclusively on Nogent-en-Bassigny and its surrounding region.

First edition, printed in a small number of copies, issued as an offprint from the Bibliothèque de vulgarisation du Musée Guimet, vol. XXXVI. 

Essentially a concise introduction to the Daodejing (Tao te King in EFEO transcription).

Spine rebacked, with losses; corner losses to the wrappers, which are tending to detach; internally in pleasing condition.

Rare, but sold as is.

First illustrated edition, featuring at the end of the volume 12 charming hand-coloured copper engravings depicting fashionable hairstyles and costumes (10), as well as furniture (2).

Contemporary binding in half midnight-blue calf, smooth spine decorated with lozenge tools and gilt fillets, gilt tail ornament, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, marbled edges.

The work is also illustrated with a portrait of Bonaparte as a frontispiece and one plate hors-texte.

Foxing, black ink stains to page 81.

This work, intended for an American readership, as stated in the Preface ("L'espèce de journal dont nous offrons ici le premier essai, ne contiendra que rarement...

Rare first edition of this study tracing the origins of An Ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States North-West of the River Ohio, adopted on 13 July 1787 by the United States Congress to organize the Northwest Territory, the first new territory incorporated into the young nation, of which Pennsylvania formed the eastern boundary.

Small losses to the unlettered spine, a dampstain to the upper margin throughout the volume, affecting the text only very marginally.

No copy recorded by the CCF. Sabin 14,327.

Edward Coles (1786-1868) also served as the second Governor of the State of Illinois from 1822 to 1826.

First edition of this exceedingly rare literary fantasy (cf. Cioranescu, XVIII, 19 432.)

Our copy is preserved in its original temporary marbled paper wrappers, red edges.

A few small tears to the spine, lacking the half-title.

A literary meteoric figure, François-Antoine Chevrier (1721-1762) was chiefly renowned for dipping his pen in vitriol and thereby exposing the flaws and vices of the theatrical world of his time.

Scarce first edition, privately printed in a small number of copies, issued separately from volume VII of the Annuaire de la Société météorologique de France.

According to the CCFr, copies are held by the BnF, the BIUS Pharmacy Library, the Muséum, and Besançon.

Our copy remains in its original wrappers, preserved in its plain blue paper provisional cover.

A few minor spots of foxing, not affecting the text.

Gaspard-Adolphe Chatin (1813-1901) was Professor of Botany at the École de Pharmacie, of which he became Director in 1873.

"His remarkable researches on plant anatomy, organogenesis, physiology, the composition of sap, the respiration of fruits, and the...

Second edition, issued with the date of the original, which bears the imprint of Michallet in Paris (cf. Willems 1899. Blackmer 325 (our edition) and 326 (third, 1679). Atabey 222 (third edition).

Illustrated with a frontispiece and, at the end of the volume, a large folding view of the battle of Khotin.

Full polished brown calf, spine with five raised bands, decorated in blind with fillets and panel compartments, gilt rolls to the spine ends, covers framed with triple fillet and blind palmette tools, comb-marbled endpapers, gilt garland frame to the pastedowns, double gilt fillets to the edges, red-speckled edges, gilt garland frame to the pastedowns, 19th-century...

Rare first edition.

Losses to the spine, restored, foxing mainly at the beginning and end of the volume, manuscript ex-libris at the head of the upper cover.

The author emphasises the particular status of land ownership under Islamic rule, and proposes the establishment of a free zone on the coasts of Cyrenaica.