Romanticism

First edition.
Fine complete copy in two volumes.
On the first volume, the sale prices are inscribed in margins in pencil, some markers in blue or red colored pencils in margins of certain references.

First edition, one of 75 numbered copies on Holland paper, the only deluxe copies.
Covers lightly sunned without consequence.
A full-margined copy.
Work illustrated with 11 engravings.

First edition and first printing of the engravings.
Contributions by Théophile Gautier, Laurent-Jan, Léon Gozlan, Auguste Lireux and Jules Hetzel under the pseudonym P.-J. Stahl among others.
Contemporary publisher's binding in full black shagreen. Smooth spine decorated with 3 ornate compartments, blind and gilt fillets. Large rocaille composition on boards, thick triple fillet frame. Interior frieze. White watered silk endpapers. All edges gilt. Perimeter of watered silk endpapers brown-stained. Tailcap of volume 2 with a loss. Traces of rubbing. Thin scratch on the upper board of volume 1, lower board of volume 2. Some very occasional foxing on clean white paper. The binder inverted volumes 1 and 2, and volumes 3 and 4 (the error stemming from the fact that the 4 series are not numbered by volume). Very handsome copy.
Work illustrated with a general frontispiece, 14 vignettes including one repeated and 320 plates, all wood-engraved.
References: Vicaire, III, 953-955; Brivois pp.168-171; Carteret, III-260-264: "Cet ouvrage est fort rare en belle condition."
Remarkable copy of superb freshness in full contemporary Romantic binding.

First edition.
Bradel binding in red half-cloth, smooth spine lightly browned decorated with a gilt floral motif, gilt date and double fillet at foot, brown shagreen title label, pebbled paper boards.
Some minor foxing, a brown stain in the upper corner of the title and half-title pages, half-title page entirely shaded.

First edition. A frontispiece by Boulanger engraved by Lacoste. Copy extra-illustrated at the back of the half-title with an albumen photographic portrait (ca 1865), mounted and trimmed to margin.
Armorial copy of Charles de Mandre, D'or à la fasce d'azur et D'azur à une bande d'or, accompagnée de sept billettes du même, posées quatre en chef et trois en pointe. Charles Demandre had, in his youth, some literary and poetic inclinations and, throughout his life, welcomed the writers and artists of his time to La Chaudeau. His library was sold in Paris, Maison Silvestre, 28 rue des Bons-Enfants, salle n° 1, au premier, from January 31 to February 9, 1887. The catalogue was compiled by Lorédan Larchey: Catalogue des livres et autographes composant la bibliothèque de feu M. Ch. de Mandre (Paris, A. Claudin, 1887, in-12,

First edition, one of 40 numbered copies on Holland paper, the only deluxe copies after 1 vellum, 5 chine, 9 japan and 15 whatman according to Clouzot.
Half red long-grain morocco binding, smooth spine decorated with double gilt fillets, gilt date at foot, pebbled paper boards, marbled paper endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers preserved, binding signed by Goy et Vilaine.
Handsome copy handsomely bound.

Victor HUGO
Les Misérables
A. Lacroix & Verboeckhoven & Cie, Bruxelles 1862, 14,5x22cm, 10 bound volumes.

First edition without statement published concomitantly with the Pagnerre's Paris edition.
Bound in half blue sheepskin, spine in four compartments decorated with double gilt fillets, blue paper plates, marbled paste-down and endpapers, mottled edges, English bindings of the time.
Scattered foxings, title page of the third volume slightly and marginally soiled, paper plates a little rubbed and a few tears on some edges, some joints repaired.
The first edition of Les Misérables was legally created by three different publishers, Pagnerre in France, Lacroix in Belgium and Steinacker in Germany, under the aegis of the official publisher A. Lacroix, Verboeckhoven & Cie.
The question of the prevalence of one edition over the other has long stirred the bibliophilic world and bibliographers remain divided on this thorny issue. Carteret and Vicaire, for example, ensured that the Paris edition should be preferred, whereas Vanderem and Clouzot placed the Belgian edition first. More than just a matter of chronology, this bibliographical dispute reveals the complexity of the concept of the first edition and the symbolic importance its holds for literary history and, in particular, for this masterful work which is among the most important in world literature.
Strangely, without this question really being settled, the Brussels edition is commonly described as pre-Paris, whereas the Leipzig edition is simply ignored. Les Misérables would, therefore, be published on 30 or 31 March with Lacroix and 3 April with Pagnerre.
The arguments of this Belgian precedence are, however, all refutable, and from 1936, Georges Blaizot had demonstrated its fragility.
The first argument is based on a letter by Victor Hugo addressed to Lacroix from 1865 and in which the poet himself called the Belgian edition “princeps” “first”: “Typographiquement, il faut se régler en tout sur l'édition belge princeps des Misérables, en dilatant plutôt qu'en resserrant” “Typographically, it is necessary to be totally attuned with the first Belgian edition of Les Misérables, expanding rather than tightening” he wrote on the subject of the Travailleurs de la mer which will be published in 1866. Yet, Hugo's designation is by no means a bibliographical indication, as Georges Blaizot explains, denouncing the abusive interpretation of P. de Lacretelle and Dr Michaux: “ Le poète précise un point, un seul, très simple, très clair, très précis : l'édition belge princeps (c'est-à-dire la première parue des éditions belges) doit servir de type aux éditions futures. Il dit cela, il dit bien cela, il ne dit que cela.” “The poet specifies one point, one, very simple, very clear, very precise: the first Belgian edition (i.e. the first published of the Belgian editions) must serve as a type for future editions. He says that, he says that clearly, he says only that.” (Georges Blaizot in Le Bulletin du bibliophile et du bibliothécaire, 1936). Indeed, a more modern in-12 edition will follow the famous in-8 edition in October of the same year.
The second argument is more significant. It is based on a letter by Adèle Hugo to her husband recounting the extraordinary affair of the French publication four days before the scheduled date.
This letter will be partially reproduced in 1904 in the complete works published by Meurice and Simon, with the supposed date of “[31 March 1862]”. In it, Adèle recounts the reasons for the French publishing haste: “Auguste [Vacquerie] nous apprend que Les Misérables paraissent sous trois jours. Étonnement mêlé de satisfaction. Auguste me raconte qu'ils comptaient faire paraître Les Misérables le 7 avril ; que le matin [Noël] Parfait était accouru effaré chez [Paul] Meurice lui dire qu'il sortait de voir aux mains de [Paul] Siraudin, un exemplaire des Misérables qu'il avait acheté la veille à Bruxelles.” “Auguste [Vacquerie] tells us that Les Misérables will be published in three days. Astonishment mixed with satisfaction. Auguste tells me that they intended to publish Les Misérables on 7 April; that in the morning [Noël] Parfait had run in alarm to [Paul] Meurice to tell him that he went out to see a copy of Les Misérables in the hands of [Paul] Siraudin that he had bought the day before in Brussells.”
This testimony and the dating of the letter in these publisher's notes are no doubt at the origin of the assertion that the Belgian publication came first. In fact, it is undeniable that on this date, the French edition has not yet been published since the printer Claye will not deposit the two Parisian volumes at the National Archives until the next day, 1 April 1862. The Lacroix edition would therefore, in this sense, be the true “first”.
Adèle's letter was not, in fact, written on 31 March, but over three days: “commencée dimanche (donc le 30 mars) et finie aujourd'hui [mardi] premier avril” “started Sunday (therefore 30 March) and finished today [Tuesday] first of April”. She would therefore assume the existence of paper bound volumes in Brussels from 29 March (and certainly not on 30 March, which was a Sunday). Yet, at the same time, Hugo and Lacroix were in the midst of epistolary negotiations to settle this delicate issue of the next publication date: “ Mon cher maître, écrivait Lacroix le 30 mars, nous avons tout combiné pour le 4 avril, […] il faut qu'à Paris l'ouvrage paraisse aussi cette semaine” “My dear sir, Lacroix wrote on 30 March, we have everything together for 4 April, [...] the work must also be published in Paris this week”. For his part, Hugo, on 1 April, warned his publisher: “on prétend que le livre qui ne peut […] paraître à Paris que le 7, paraîtra le 3 partout ; de sorte que Paris, cœur du succès, serait servi le dernier. Ce serait là une faute incalculable. Paris servi après tout le monde, c'est le succès attaqué à sa source” “it is claimed that the book, which cannot [...] be published in Paris until the 7th, will appear everywhere on the 3rd; so that Paris, the heart of success, would be served last. This would be an incalculable mistake. Paris served after everyone else is attacking success at its source”.
While in Paris, Meurice, Vacquerie and Pagnerre speed up the French publication to counter the Belgians who “ont tenté de jouer un tour” “tried to play a trick” on the French, as Adèle reports to her husband, in Guernsey; Hugo raises the tone with his publisher by hammering home the importance of the French edition: “ la simultanéité, bien ; mais s'il devait y avoir une priorité, c'était pour Paris” “simultaneity, fine; but if there were to be a priority, it would be Paris”.
What about the Brussels publication in March? There is no other mention, other than Siraudin's affair (told by Adèle who takes it from Vacquerie recounting Parfait's words to Meurice) that seriously confirms this theory. The Belgian newspapers, the Parisian clan's main concern: “les journaux de Paris ne se soucieraient pas d'annoncer ce livre […] après les journaux belges et de devenir leur déversoir et leur succursale” “the Paris newspaper would not worry about announcing this book [...] after the Belgian newspapers and becoming their outlet and their branch”, did not yet form any link to this highly anticipated book, other than Indépendance Belge which announced in turn on 30 March: “En vente chez tous les libraires” “For sale in all bookshops” and on 1 April: “Demain paraît enfin la première partie des Misérables” “Tomorrow the first part of Les Misérables is finally published”. In accordance with Hugo's editorial strategy, the first extracts of the work will not be published until 2 April, notably in Le Temps, which the day before announces the simultaneous publication in France and Belgium on 4 April, and in Le Journal des Débats, where the article signed Jules Janin was in fact written by Meurice, due to the urgency described by Adèle: “Je ne puis parler du livre ce soir puisque je ne le connais pas, dit Janin, faites vous-même la chose, Meurice.” “I cannot speak about the book this evening since I don't know it, said Janin, do it yourself, Meurice.”.
Was there then really a Belgian publication in March, or were the few copies that probably circulated before the official and simultaneous publication in France and Belgium an isolated and insignificant accident? Studying Hugo's correspondence shows that as a result of a bad “trick” by the Belgians, it is simply a question of a confusion of dates attributable to... Victor Hugo himself. It is indeed Hugo who sent false intentions of simultaneous publication on 7 April to Vacquerie and Meurice, while he had rushed Lacroix for everything to be ready on 4 April. Thus, he sowed doubt and misunderstanding among the two publishers. (cf. Bernard Leuilliot, Victor Hugo publie les Misérables, p. 240)
The first two volumes, titled Fantine, will finally go on sale on 3 April, in France, Belgium, and also in Germany, and in several other countries that received copies printed by Lacroix. Probably, it was one of these advance paper bound copies to be shipped to Latin America that Siraudin obtained. Lacroix informed Hugo precisely on 30 March: “tout est tiré, tout était broché et les expéditions pour l'étranger en partie faites” “everything is printed, everything was paper bound and the shipments for foreign countries in part made”.
There is therefore no reason to assume any anteriority from one edition to the other. And it is in perfect harmony that Adèle, Charles, Paul de Saint-Victor, Vacquerie, Lacroix and Pagnerre will celebrate, on the evening of 3 April at Meurice's, the “ éclatante victoire simultanée en tous pays, le jour même de la mise en vente à Paris, à Bruxelles, à Londres, à Milan, à Naples, à St. Pétersbourg” “the brilliant simultaneous victory in all countries, the very day of release in Paris, in Brussels, in London, in Naples, in St. Petersburg” as Lacroix writes that very evening to the writer who had just become part of publishing history.

The success is such for these first two volumes that, as Victor Hugo feared, the Pagnerre's print run (6,000 copies according to Hovasse and 7,000 according to L.C. Michel in la revue anecdotique on 15 April 1862) sold out very quickly: “Le 6, on eût battu toutes les librairies de la rive gauche et de la rive droite, pour en trouver un exemplaire” “On 6 April, we would have scoured all the bookshops on the left bank and the right bank to find a copy”. Therefore, 1,000 copies of the 5,000 copies for Brussels intended for the Belgian and foreign market were obtained to create a false French “second edition”, which is in reality the Belgian first edition with a new title page. However, from 10 April, Pagnerre is obliged to undertake a new print run, which will be ready on the 17th thanks to the imprints carefully produced by the printer Claye during the first print run. Only the title pages were produced “on the mobile” in red and black with antique capitals “un des joyaux de son matériel typographique” “one of the jewels of its typographic material”. In all, if we are to believe the probably overly optimistic figures (according to Hovasse) from La Revue anecdotique and the publishers' correspondence, the different print runs of this first part will be almost 15,000 copies at the Parisian address and 12,000 at the Brussels address, with the addition of 3,000 copies printed in Leipzig at Steinacker. The latter, published in small format, also from 3 April, would undoubtedly deserve greater attention, because in addition to participating in the first editions, they respond to an urgent request from Hugo to immediately offer an inexpensive edition to allow everyone to access his work, such as the one introduced by Lacroix shortly after. On the other hand, the second and third parts will be published with a slight delay, on 15 May in Paris, and between 16 and 19 May in Brussels, due to an unfortunate steam engine accident (cf. letter from Lacroix to Hugo on 11 May 1862). Fortunately, on 30 June, Brussels and Paris will be perfectly synchronised to publish the last four volumes.
However, the concept of the first edition is not only a matter of date. Those who defend the Belgian theory highlight that it is to Brussels that the corrections of the proofs are sent and that, as Vicaire paradoxically affirms, Pagnerre is only the “custodian” of the genuine and sole publisher, Lacroix et Verboeckhoven & Cie.
From 1936, Georges Blaizot retorted in Le Bulletin du bibliophile that Pagnerre in no way took Lacroix's work on deposit, but that he “a véritablement établi, imprimé et vendu une édition des Misérables” “genuinely established, printed and sold an edition of Les Misérables”. Reducing Pagnerre to a territorial relay actually requires the complexity of the editorial affair of this major work to be ignored, the stake of which is not merely a financial matter for the exiled poet.
With Napoléon le Petit and Les Châtiments, Hugo demonstrated to the imperial power that the banishment of man in no way weakened the power of his word. On the contrary, this island exile could only echo that of an illustrious predecessor. The State's only weapon is therefore censorship. And it is the sword of Damocles that will henceforth control the publication strategies of Hugo and his publishers. In 1856, the publication of Les Contemplations was thus the dress rehearsal for Les Misérables: collaboration of publishers, simultaneous publication in France and in Belgium, only one correction of proofs... Hugo even thought of dividing the publication to dupe the censorship: “La 1ère livraison paraît ; c'est le premier livre, Aurore, une géorgique, une bucolique, une églogue. On se jette dessus avec d'autant plus d'avidité qu'on craint que l'ouvrage ne soit interdit et que c'est presque du fruit défendu. Que fera le gouvernement ? Arrêtera-t-il cela ? quoi ! ce livre, Aurore : cette poésie fleur de mauve et rose tendre ? – il serait inouï, fabuleux, grotesque, ineffable de ridicule ; et en même temps que les frais de la tentative du côté des éditeurs seraient six fois moindres, l'odieux de l'instruction serait pour l'empire dix fois plus grand.” “The first delivery is published; it is the first book, Aurore, a georgic, a bucolic, an eclogue. We hurl ourselves on it with all the more greed given that we fear that the work will be forbidden and that it is almost forbidden fruit. What will the government do? Put a stop to it? What! this book, Aurore: this tender purple and pink flower poetry? – it would be incredible, fabulous, grotesque, outrageously ridiculous; and at the same time the cost of the attempt on the side of the publishers would be six times less, the unbearable instruction would be ten times greater for the Empire.”
These precautions, undoubtedly unnecessary for the wise collection of poems that is Les Contemplations, will be the matrix of the publication of Les Misérables, a huge alarm call against the inequalities which could only fuel the anger of the Imperial Institution.

It was therefore necessary that Hugo's great work descend upon the world in one big wave. If censorship prevented the work from being published in Paris, it would come from everywhere else, and if the borders were closed, it would already be in the capital. Multiple printing, synchronisation and division of the work were the key to the success of this skilful game of cat and mouse. Added to this threat was the more mundane threat of counterfeiting that had to be taken aback. One month after the release of Fantine, the first two volumes of the novel, nearly ten pirate editions were circulating in Europe
Albert Lacroix would have liked to undertake this epic alone and distribute his copies in France, as he did for the rest of the world. Hugo, despite Hetzel's insistence – who had been courting him for a long-time to obtain this Holy Grail – had explicitly chosen this unknown and inexperienced young Belgian publisher, to the detriment of his usual partners. Lacroix and Verboeckhoven are the only publishers and they make it known on every volume, Belgian or French. Thus, the title pages of the Parisian edition are inscribed “éditeur : Lacroix et Verboeckhoven & Cie” “Publisher: Lacroix et Verboeckhoven & Cie”. And La Revue Anecdotique comments: “L'édition française originale de Paris n'a été faite que pour éviter les formalités de douane.” “The first French edition from Paris was only made to avoid customs formalities.”
However, the reality is more complex and if Lacroix had not been able to impose its address at the foot of the title pages of the Parisian edition, it is because Pagnerre is not merely a relay of the Belgian publisher. On the contrary, Pagnerre is, in fact, the first holder of the publication rights of Les Misérables.
Indeed, in 1832, Hugo signed a first agreement with the publisher of Notre-Dame de Paris, Gosselin, promising his next “roman en deux volumes in-8” “two-volume, in-8 novel”. Then in 1848, together they specified, by a new contract, the title of this novel: Les Misères “dont le rythme [d'écriture] est devenu celui d'une période d'achèvement” “whose [written] rhythm has become that of a period of completion” (Leuilliot, p.18). However, the revolution in 1848, then the poet's exile, put an end to the “ livre des Misères” “book of Misery”, the imminent publication of which Charles Hugo announced in L'événement on 31 July 1848. Thus, when twelve years later, Hugo resumed his work with these words: “14 février (1848) (ici le pair de France s'est interrompu, et le proscrit a continué :) 30 décembre 1860 Guernesey.” “14 February (1848) (here the peer of France is interrupted, and the outcast continued:) 30 December 1860 Guernsey.”, he is still linked to his former publisher, whose successor is none other than Laurent Pagneer.
The heir to the Gosselin-Renduel house is no stranger to Victor Hugo since he was one of the three associates (with Hetzel and Lévy) who published Les Contemplations and is still the publisher of Hugo's son, François-Victor.
Therefore, Victor Hugo sold his novel to Lacroix, provided that he negotiates with Pagnerre to purchase the rights to Gosselin and Renduel's successor. “J'ai vendu aujourd'hui Les Misérables à MM. A. Lacroix et Verboeckhoven et Cie, de Bruxelles, pour 12 années moyennant 240.000 fr. argent et 60 000 fr. éventuels. Ils acceptent le traité Gosselin-Renduel. Le contrat a été signé ce soir.” “Today I sold Les Misérables to Messieurs A. Lacroix and Verboeckhoven and Co. of Brussels for 12 years for 240,000 francs cash and a further potential 60,000 francs. They accept the Gosselin-Renduel agreement. The contract has been signed this evening.”. However, rather than sell his rights, Pagnerre preferred to exchange with Lacroix his 1832-1848 agreement for the exclusive distribution right in France. The symbolic value of Pagnerre's edition does not in any way give way to that of Lacroix, and the Parisian publisher is linked to the very origins of the novel through its history.
As for the proofs, they were corrected on the Belgian print at Lacroix's will, despite Hugo's insistence: “Songez quel avantage il y aurait pour vous à m'envoyer les épreuves de l'édition de Paris” “Think of the benefit there would be for you in sending me the proofs to the Paris edition” (Letter to Lacroix on 12 January 1862). Even if Lacroix pretends to ignore this proposal, the fact remains that the right sheets must be sent to Meurice to perfect the work: “Il importe que l'édition parisienne soit page à page et ligne à ligne identique à l'édition belge. La rapidité et la sûreté des corrections sont à ce prix, et de cette façon Meurice pourra donner les bons à tirer. Autrement, je serais obligé de demander la dernière épreuve de chaque feuille.” “It is important that the Parisian edition be page by page, and line by line, identical to the Belgian edition. The speed and safety of the corrections are at this price, and in this way Meurice can send the goods to print. Otherwise, I would have to request the last proof of each sheet.”
Finally, an archive of the Victor Hugo collection tells us that the author had explicitly asked Lacroix about the proof of the title page with the two editions, Brussels and Paris, being placed facing each other on one common title page: “Je crois qu'il faudrait mettre sur deux colonnes en regard Paris Pagnerre | Bruxelles A. Lacroix en répétant cela sur la double édition de Paris” “I think that we should put Paris Pagnerre | Bruxelles A. Lacroix on two facing columns, repeating this on the Paris double edition”.
However, even if Lacroix did not (voluntarily?) accept the proposition (although he took into account the other corrections on the page), the meaning of this note is clear: for Hugo, there are not two editions, but only one, the printing of which had to be divided into two strategic places for reasons that were political (the risk of censorship of this masterful book), social (the international distribution of a work with universal scope) and economic (the risk of counterfeit of the greatest novel of the 19th century).
In 1936 Georges Blaizot concluded that the two editions were twin sisters. In that, he refuted the old rumour claiming that, in the Parisian edition, “un certain nombre de phrases ayant paru dangereuses pour la France, ont été modifiées” “a certain number of phrases that seemed dangerous to France have been changed” (Vicaire). This belief, however, is attributable to an unfortunate error by Victor Hugo himself who, on 24 December 1865, wrote to Verboeckhoven: “Il va sans dire encore que si un mot ou une ligne semblait dangereuse pour Paris, il faudrait l'éliminer, comme on a fait pour Les Misérables, édition Claye” “It goes without saying that if a word or a line seemed dangerous to Paris, it would have be eliminated, as was done for Les Misérables, Claye edition”. Yet Georges Blaizot highlights that this was an incorrect memory of Victor Hugo and that, thanks to careful rereading by Meurice and Vacquerie, who “tenaient avant tout à ce que l'édition de Paris ne fût pas inférieure à l'autre” “were above all concerned that the Paris edition was not inferior to the other”, there was no unilateral cut. “Victor Hugo aura ignoré ou oublié ce détail” “Victor Hugo will have ignored or forgotten that detail” (Dr Michaux quoted by G. Blaizot).
However, there are many differences (which escaped the attention of these bibliographers) between the two editions, but this was not to the detriment of the Parisian version, quite the contrary. It is indeed his best friend and factotum Paul Meurice, who, during Hugo's eighteen years of exile, was responsible for the publication, proofreading and corrections of Victor Hugo's works in France and, therefore, the Pagnerre edition of Les Misérables, on which the writer communicated his final, not light, but substantial, corrections. These corrections will also be sent to Lacroix, but too late, and the Belgian publisher warned Hugo that these will only appear in the second edition.
Thus, the Pagnerre edition was enriched with two modest but significant reflections that are lacking in the Brussels edition, in the important Waterloo chapter: “ Le fond de ce prodigieux capitaine, c'était l'homme qui, dans le rapport au Directoire sur Aboukir, disait : Tel de nos boulets a tué six hommes ; Tel point du champ de bataille dévore plus de combattants que tel autre, comme ces sols plus ou moins spongieux qui boivent plus ou moins vite l'eau qu'on y jette. On est obligés de reverser là plus de soldats qu'on ne voudrait. Dépenses qui sont l'imprévu.” “The foundation of this wonderful captain was the man who, in the report to the Directory on Aboukir, said: Such a one of our balls killed six men; Such a point of the battlefield devours more fighters than another, as these more or less spongy soils that drink more or less quickly the water that we throw on to it. We are forced to give back more soldiers than we would like. Expenditure that was unexpected.”.
More than twin sisters, therefore, the two prints are one and the same editorial work that carries and embodies the ubiquity of their tremendous author. Alone on his rock, and yet omnipresent, Hugo invades the public, poetic and political space with a universal romantic tragedy that crosses continents (no less that nine translations in progress from April 1862). A true slap in the face for the Empire Napoleon III, Victor Hugo's work immediately and irretrievably became a founding secular myth, illustrating the republican motto of 1848 and 1879: Liberté – égalité – Fraternité (Freedom, Equality, Fraternity).

Edition established by Henri Martineau and decorated with original illustrations by Tcherkessof, Cosyns, Noury, Dufour, Gandon and Jacob-Hians, one of 125 numbered copies on Holland paper, deluxe copy after 15 Japan.
Half dark blue morocco bindings with corners, faded spines with four raised bands, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, covers and spines preserved, top edges gilt.
Each volume is complete, as stipulated in the justification page, with the suite of illustrations placed at the end.
Handsome set, despite the faded spines, complete in 11 volumes and with the suite of illustrations for each volume.

Very rare and sought-after first edition, according to Clouzot, printed in only 300 copies.
Full red morocco binding, spine with five raised bands decorated with black fillets, gilt date at foot, gilt roulettes on headcaps, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, frame of gilt dentelle on pastedowns, double gilt fillets on edges, top edge gilt, original wrappers preserved, full marbled paper slipcase with marbled paper lining, perfect binding signed by Thivet, a binder who worked during the last quarter of the 19th century.
Bookplate pasted on one pastedown, bibliophilic notes in pencil on an endpaper by a previous owner of the work.
Handsome copy of one of the rarest "Romantics," complete with the frontispiece on China paper, drawn and engraved by Célestin Nanteuil.

Reprint of the so-called Keepsake edition published by Renduel in 1836. Furne had bought out the Renduel bookshop and quickly exploited its stock. The illustration contains a portrait of Victor Hugo as frontispiece, 2 title vignettes (these illustrations are new) and 11 steel engravings printed on strong paper by Johannot, Boulanger, Raffet, Rogier & Rouargue engraved by Finden, Staines... It is well printed in airy typography with large margins, and close to the original published in 1831. These two volumes that could be purchased separately formed the head of collection of the new collected edition at Furne, which explains the presence of Victor Hugo's portrait. Half-title before the titles, but which do not display, as for most copies of 1840: Oeuvres complètes de Victor Hugo.
Full straight-grained wine-colored morocco binding of the period with the cipher C.F. stamped in blind on the covers. Smooth spine decorated with long rococo tools and fillets. Gilt title and volume number. Covers with a wide border with fillets and rococo tools and the central cipher C. F. Wave fillet on the leading edges, interior frieze. White moiré endpapers. Edges gilt. Pale and yellow foxing scattered on paper that has remained white. The engravings are browned by the framing of the tissue guards, which are themselves browned. Spines have become uniformly blond. Traces of rubbing.
Fine copy. Notre-Dame de Paris, moreover like all the great novels of the period, is very rare in full contemporary binding, especially in straight-grained morocco.

The first edition, of which there were no deluxe copies, of this thesis submitted for the doctorate in letters.
Handsome copy.
Autograph inscription dated 1985 and signed by Jean Raimond to Professor Guy Degen: "... ce livre (ou péché de jeunesse) sur un romantique anglais "mineur"..." ["... this book (or sin of youth) on a 'minor' English romantic..."]

First edition.
Half caramel morocco with small corners, spine with four raised bands decorated with black fillets, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, bookplate pasted on one pastedown, top edge gilt, covers and spine (sunned and with some lacks) preserved. Discreet restorations to joints.
Fine copy handsomely bound.
Precious autograph inscription signed by Victor Hugo to Constant Laurent.

Autograph letter signed addressed to the painter Jean-Pierre Granger and dated April 24, 1826, one page written in black ink, with the correspondent's address on the verso.

15 lines in a beautiful slanted handwriting on a folded sheet.

The celebrated Empire painter recommends to his colleague: "a young man who seems very interesting to me and too young to enter my studio. Dear Grand Diable, please do me the favor of taking good care of him in yours and when he has spent some time copying, if it does not inconvenience you, I will take him back with pleasure and well on his way."
Jean-Pierre Granger was first a pupil of Jean-Baptiste Regnault before joining Antoine-Jean Gros in Jacques-Louis David's studio. In 1800, he became laureate of the first Rome Prize for history painting with Antiochus renvoie son fils à Scipion (Paris, École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts) while his fellow student Jean-Dominique Ingres received the second prize.

Extremely important edition, comprising a large number of works appearing here in their first edition. The complete set of these 27 volumes is rare (Clouzot). The titles present in first edition are: Mattea, Lettres d’un Voyageur, La Dernière Aldini, Les Maîtres mosaïstes, L’Uscoque, Spiridion, Les Sept Cordes de la lyre, Gabriel, Pauline, and Un hiver à Majorque.
Illustrated with a portrait of the author at the head of the first volume.

Bound in contemporary half brown sheep, spines uniformly faded, with four raised bands decorated with double gilt panels, double gilt fillets at head and foot, marbled-paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges, a few very lightly rubbed corners, contemporary bindings. Some occasional foxing, a light dampstain affecting the final leaves of the twenty-first volume.

A very rare complete set, in contemporary bindings.

First edition illustrated with a frontispiece by Tony Johannot engraved by Andrew, Leloir and Best and mounted on China paper.
Full dark blue Russian morocco binding, spine with four raised bands set with gilt garlands, spine also decorated with triple gilt compartments and ornamented with gilt typographical motifs, gilt friezes at head and foot, gilt date at foot, gilt roulettes on headcaps, triple gilt fillet frame on covers enhanced at corners with gilt typographical motifs, raspberry watered silk endpapers and pastedowns, seven-fold gilt fillet frame on pastedowns, following endpapers of pebbled paper, bookplate pasted on an endpaper, gilt fillets on leading edges, superb romantic pastiche binding signed Noulhac.
Some foxing.
Copy magnificently bound in Noulhac's romantic pastiche binding.

First edition, one of 100 numbered copies on pur fil paper, the only deluxe copies.
Handsome copy.

Illustrated edition with 34 original color compositions by Albert Robida engraved by Bertrand and printed in 115 numbered and nominative copies on vélin du Marais.
Full red morocco binding, spine with four raised bands studded with black dots and decorated with triple compartments (two gilt and one black), covers framed with triple gilt fillets and a black morocco fillet, marbled paper endpapers and pastedowns, pastedowns decorated at corners with stylized gilt floral motifs enhanced with brown mosaic morocco pieces forming their petals, covers and spine preserved, all edges gilt, red morocco-edged slipcase, marbled paper boards, white felt lining, elegant contemporary binding dated 1903 and signed Meunier.
A very handsome copy superbly executed.

Les Français peints par eux-mêmes. Encyclopédie morale du dix-neuvième siècle – Le Prisme [with] Les Anglais peints par eux-mêmes [The French painted by themselves – The English painted by themselves]
First edition, one of the grand papier (deluxe) copies with two states of the illustrations for the 8 volumes of Les Français peints par eux-mêmes: one in black on tinted paper, and one enhanced by hand using the so-called “coloris gommé” technique with watercolour and varnish on white paper. Les Anglais peints par eux-mêmes includes the engravings in black. No deluxe copies in colour have been made for this rare set of Les Français.

Bound in half brown morocco, spine in five compartments enhanced with stipple engraving and double gilt panels richly decorated with gilt floral motifs framing a mosaic medallion of green morocco with a gilt rose stamped in the center, cartouches at the top decorated with a gilt garland framing the place and publication date, some light minor rubbing on some compartments, gilt fillets on the marbled paper boards, comb-patterned endpapers, top edges gilt. Elegant late nineteenth century bindings signed Durvand-Thiret.

Complete with all engravings along with added engravings, i.e. 930 engravings including 415 in colour. Title pages dated 1841 for all volumes of Les Français except for volume 5 of Les Parisiens and volume 3 of La Province dated 1842. Les Français peints par eux-mêmes has 415 engravings in black (including that of Napoleon on horseback) instead of the 405 announced and 415 in colour including a double page map of France in volume III of the Province. The English volume illustrated by Kenny Meadous is complete with 100 plates in black.

This unique set contains in total almost a thousand black and coloured engravings and more than 1500 in-text illustrations.
Famous gallery of woodcut portraits depicting the social classes of the 19th century by the greatest artists of the time: Gavarni, Daumier, Delacroix, Grandville, Johannot, Bellangé, Charlet, Daubigny, etc... The portraits are all accompanied by original texts from the most famous Romantic authors, including: Balzac, Nodier, Gautier, Nerval, Gozlan, Janin, Karr, etc...
Scarce foxing affecting mainly the Prism and the Anglais.

The texts and illustrations of the book paint a lively picture of inhabitants and their trade in metropolitan France and its colonies. It sets the tone for panoramic literature – a new genre coined by Walter Benjamin in Charles Baudelaire. A lyric poet at the height of capitalism. In addition to these portraits of the Français, “the contribution of a whole areopagus of great and small authors and illustrators” (S. Le Men, “La 'littérature panoramique' dans la genèse de la Comédie Humaine: Balzac et Les Français peints par eux-mêmes”, L'Année balzacienne 2002/1 (No. 3) CAIRN) includes some of the most renowned authors and cartoonists of the time, each of whom made an original creation for the project.

This protean fresco was directed by editor Léon Curmer, already known for the publishing success of Paul et Virginie between 1836 and 1838. Curmer is represented here by an article, “L'éditeur” in volume IV written by Elias Regnault. The latter takes example in Louis-Sebastien Mercier's Tableau de Paris, published in 1781, whose vision is even further extended by the representation of French provinces in Les Français. Thanks to Curmer the work finds an even deeper meaning: “the editor has widened his frame, and instead of letting a few fleeting portraits get lost in the immense daily whirlwind that engulfs all things, he has sought to bring together the most salient physiognomies of that time.” (S. Le Men, Ibid.)
Curmer selected the authors and illustrators closest to the ones they depict: “It is therefore a question of calling upon authors and illustrators who are well selected according to the 'types' they will have to portray.” (S. Le Men, Ibid.).
Les Français was published in fascicules – a common format at the time, allowing for a greater investment by the public whose opinion and subscription would count for the orientation of future articles. Readers were called upon to contribute, as shown by the “Correspondance des Français” preserved in our copy of Prisme, where the editor responds to readers' suggestions for articles: “Le Coiffeur [hairdresser] de M. Paul Tén... is a most spiritual article. We regret that the Coiffeur type having already been published we cannot accept it.” (Prisme, Issue 84)

The book is lavishly illustrated in the text with vignettes and culs-de-lampe, but it is above all the full-page figure in a landscape opposite the page of the text (so-called “types”) which constitute a novelty in the history of the illustrated book.

These portrayals in traditional settings and various occupations are close to the science of physiology popular at the time. Studying social groups, it aims to determine a representation of an individual who would be the prime example of his group, inevitably leading to a form of caricature.
This “project of a moral encyclopaedia which summarises the whole of society” (Léon Curmer) is the accomplished testimony of an era. Curmer's contemporaries found in the work “a sort of collective self-portrait in which “Paris” and “the provinces” follow one another, and in which each group will be able to recognise itself in one issue or another. (Ségolène Le Men, Ibid.). From its conception its main objective was to capture a fleeting present that lives according to the Baudelairian fashion, in order to “make a portrait of contemporary manners, amusing for the present, instructive for the future.” (Ségolène Le Men, Ibid.)

An important and rare copy of a masterpiece of the romantic illustrated book. A deluxe edition with Le Prisme with the addition of Les Anglais peints par eux-mêmes set in perfect uniform and mosaic bindings signed Durvand Thivet.

New translation by A. Mazuy. The 3 volumes are illustrated with a portrait of Ariosto as frontispiece and 85 wood-engraved figures printed on China paper and mounted on strong paper. They are numbered from 1 to 85. The 3 volumes properly contain the placement sheets for the engravings at the end and the errata. This beautiful illustration, a romantic vision of the chivalrous Middle Ages, is the work of Meissonnier, Baron, Français, Girardet...
Contemporary full glazed calf binding in violet. Smooth spine decorated with Rocaille tools in long and mirror patterns. Gilt title. Boards stamped in blind with a large ornamental plate in Renaissance style. Gilt framing fillets. Interior frieze. Lemon-yellow endpapers. Tissue guards present. Some occasional scattered foxing on an otherwise clean set, the tissue guards often browned or foxed. Signs of rubbing. Cracks on one lower joint at foot. Spine uniformly blue-green.
Very handsome copy, rare in this condition.
The work is completed with several studies by the translator, notes on chivalric romances, oriental traditions, chronicles, songs of the trouvères and troubadours. An index of proper names in Orlando Furioso.

First edition, a Service de Presse (advance) copy.
Paper yellowed, two fold marks at foot of first cover.
Autograph inscription dated and signed by Victor Bernard to Pierre Loewel

Pléiade Library edition printed on Bible paper.
Publisher's full grained green sheepskin binding, blue top edge, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets.
Fine copy complete with its glassine wrapper, dust jacket and soft slipcase.

La Pléiade library edition printed on Bible paper.
Publisher's binding in full green grained sheep, blue top edge, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets.
Handsome copy complete with its acetate cover, dust jacket and slipcase.

First illustrated edition with 50 vignettes by Charles Jacque. Chronological table at end.
Half red straight-grained morocco binding, late 19th or early 20th century. Raised-band spine decorated with 4 fleurons and roll-tooling on bands and headcaps. Top edge gilt. Original wrappers preserved. Front wrapper with restorations. Uncut throughout, full-margined, of superb freshness.
Very handsome copy. Rare in this condition.
Popular and entertaining history of Napoleon. In narrative form, the narrator tells how as a child, he witnessed the arrival of two soldiers who, by means of a magic lantern, recounted Napoleon's story to him. The vignettes thus correspond to the magic lantern projections. Soulié's narrative was later included in a compilation in 1854 under the title: Droll Stories of Napoleon. In Soulié's narrative, the romantic myth of Napoleon unfolds vividly, along with the ideal he represented for the romantic generation.

First edition, one of 10 numbered copies on Japan paper, deluxe copy.
Contrary to what bibliographers indicate (Clouzot, Carteret and Vicaire), the print run on this paper does not appear to be 15 copies but indeed 10 as mentioned on the justification page. This paper was moreover, upon publication, at 40 francs, the most expensive, China paper being only 20 francs and Holland 15.
Half chocolate brown morocco binding, spine with five raised bands, gilt date at foot, pebbled paper boards, combed paper endpapers and pastedowns, bookplate pasted on a pastedown, original wrappers preserved, top edge gilt, binding signed P. Goy & C. Vilaine.
Handsome copy.

Second edition, luxurious reprint of the illustrated first edition published in 1834. 16 plates (views of the Rhine, monuments...), including a frontispiece and bust portrait of the author and 12 steel vignettes. The illustration by D. Roberts is finely engraved and particularly successful. Printed on tinted vellum, the plates on heavy vellum.
Publisher's full black shagreen binding. Raised spine richly decorated, gilt title and date. Gilt decoration on boards with a central amphora and rococo frame. Interior frieze. All edges gilt. A copy of beautiful freshness.
Autograph signature of Xavier Marmier as bookplate on verso of first endpaper.
Novel illustrated by a journey on the Rhine, composed of various Rhenish legends. A particularly romantic vision of the Rhine.

First edition.
Half black Russian morocco bindings, smooth spines decorated with gilt romantic arabesques, gilt dates at foot, marbled paper boards, pebbled paper endpapers and pastedowns, top edges gilt, slipcases edged with black morocco, pebbled paper boards, elegant romantic pastiche bindings signed Champs.
Bookplate pasted on an endpaper of the first volume, the facing page bearing this manuscript notation in pen: "édition princeps".
Fine copy, free from foxing, in an attractive romantic pastiche binding by Champs.

First edition of this work which is one of the “rarest and most sought-after Romantics” (cf Clouzot).
Binding in half burgundy Russian morocco, spine decorated with a gilt cartouche adorned with gilt and black typographic motifs, marbled paper boards, caillouté marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, romantic pastiche binding.
Printed stamp of the bookbinder-seller on the title page.
Half-title page mounted on guards and minor marginal tears restored on some pages.
Rare.

New edition, one of 40 numbered copies on Whatman, the only deluxe copies announced.
Half red morocco binding, spine with five raised bands, date at foot, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers preserved, top edge gilt on deckled edges, binding signed by P. Goy & C. Vilaine.
Precious signed autograph inscription from Victor Hugo: "A mon cher Théodore de Banville. Victor Hugo." ["To my dear Théodore de Banville. Victor Hugo."]
Precious inscription from the master to one of the pillars of the Parnassian school.

Rare first edition, printed in 500 copies, of the French translation of this Indian tale established by Gérard de Nerval and G. Méry on ordinary paper, only 2 copies would have been printed on colored paper in deluxe format.
Modern half black sheep binding, smooth Jansenist spine. Title and date in gilt. Black, gold and brown paper boards. Uncut copy, full-margined. Scattered foxing. Good copy.

Edition illustrated with vignettes and ornaments in 2 colors by André Domin, one of 50 numbered copies on Japan paper, deluxe copy.
Fine copy enhanced at the end of the volume with a duplicate suite of the illustrations.
Music by Félicien David at the end of the volume.

Illustrated edition with 8 original full-page engravings after Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret by Le Rat. 120 numbered copies on vélin satiné, our copy one of 100 nominative.
Beige morocco by Marius Michel, mint green morocco doublures, framed with a gilt floral frieze decorated with inlaid morocco pieces and fillets on the boards, moiré silk endpapers, original wrappers preserved, double gilt fillets on the edges, all edges gilt, case lined with morocco, moiré paper boards, superb binding signed Marius Michel.
Bookseller's ticket label glued on a guard.
Our copy includes a suite of 8 full-page etchings.
A very nice copy superbly set by Marius Michel in doubled morocco.

Edition illustrated with 40 original etchings by Gustave Leheutre engraved by Eugène Delâtre and printed in 117 numbered copies on Arches laid paper, this copy printed for Jean Borderel.
This is the only work illustrated by the painter.
Full chocolate brown morocco binding, spine with four raised bands, blind-tooled roulettes on headcaps, moss green morocco doublures with important floral decoration of cyclamens in mosaic work in green, red, lilac, violet morocco, gilt and blind tooling, almond and gilt watered silk endpapers, following endpapers of combed paper with pasted monogrammed bookplate, covers and spine preserved, blind fillet on leading edges, all edges gilt, slipcase with chocolate brown morocco entry, marbled paper boards with some rubbing, superb mosaic binding signed Marius Michel.
Trace of bookseller's description label having offset on the endpapers.
One of the rare copies complete with the table of engravings, illustrated with two original etchings by Gustave Leheutre, which was published after the book's release and is often lacking.
Provenance: from the libraries of Jean Borderel and Raphaël Esmerian with their bookplates, that of Jean Borderel gilt-stamped at the foot of the front pastedown.
Very handsome copy superbly bound by Marius Michel in doublure and mosaic morocco.

Edition illustrated with 40 original watercolors by Charles Léandre engraved by Eugène Decisy, one of 40 numbered copies on Arches vellum, deluxe edition after 35 on Japan blanc.
Full red morocco binding, spine with four raised bands set with black fillets, gilt date at foot, gilt roulettes on headcaps, frame of gilt fillet on the pastedowns in full mint green morocco, red watered silk endpapers, following endpapers of pebbled paper, all edges gilt, covers and spine preserved, slipcase with morocco entry, pebbled paper boards, brown felt interior, superb contemporary binding signed by Semet & Plumelle.
Our copy contains both states of all the illustrations and the decomposition of one plate.
Very fine copy perfectly executed in morocco doublure by Semet & Plumelle.

First edition of Benjamin Delaroche's translation. Notes and commentary by Walter Scott, Thomas Moore, etc. Printed on fine laid paper. The copy has been extra-illustrated with 39 steel engravings from the album "Women of Byron," a type of collection very fashionable at the time, as there were also "Women of Balzac," "Women of Walter Scott," and "Women of Shakespeare," in which the heroines of the novels were depicted in engravings by English artists, considered masters of the genre during this period. Life of Byron by John Galt.
Contemporary half polished navy calf binding. Spine with 4 flat raised bands decorated with fillets and compartments, roulettes at head and tail. Gilt title and volume number. Navy marbled paper with wave pattern. Marbled edges. Traces of rubbing. Overall the paper is in very fine condition, with occasional light foxing at the tissue guards, in the margins of the engravings, at the beginning or end of volumes. Traces of an old label in the last compartments. Corner fold to second board of volume 4.
Handsome copy.

Second collected edition of Victor Hugo's works published by Furne after the Renduel edition of 1833-1836; it is illustrated with 35 steel engravings. Les contemplations published in 1856 (first edition with a mention of second edition) was added to this edition. The Furne edition spans from 1840 to 1846. Le Rhin indeed appears in first collected edition at this date.
This edition, originally published in installments, was verified and corrected by Hugo himself. It was initially intended to form only 12 volumes (which are most often found alone); volume 9 bis was added later where Ruy Blas is reprinted, and the 3 volumes of Le Rhin following. Furne had bought out the Renduel bookshop, the first publisher of Hugo's complete works from 1832 to 1840, as Hugo's writings then stood.

Contemporary half tawny shagreen binding. Spine with raised bands decorated with 4 fleurons in blind-tooled compartments. Gilt titles and volume numbers. Light traces of rubbing. Some pale scattered foxing on an overall very fresh set, on white paper, very attractive. The binder did not number the entire set, only the works occupying several volumes.

Handsome set, very homogeneous.
Details: Volume I: Odes et ballades. XLV+387 pages, frontispiece and 1 plate
Volume II: Odes et ballades - Les orientales. 446 pages, frontispiece and 1 plate
Volume III: Les feuilles d'automne - Les chants du crépuscule. 423 pages, frontispiece and one plate
Volume IV: Les voix intérieures - Les rayons et les ombres. 434 pages, frontispiece and one plate
Volume V: Notre-Dame de Paris 1. 372 pages, frontispiece, title and 3 plates
Volume VI: Notre-Dame de Paris 2. 426 pages, frontispiece and 6 plates. (This second volume is dated 1850, while the first is dated 1844)
Volume VII: Cromwell, drame en cinq actes. 500 pages, frontispiece and 4 plates
Volume VIII: Hernani - Marion de Lorme - Le Roi s'amuse. 513 pages, frontispiece and 4 plates
Volume IX: Lucrèce Borgia - Marie Tudor - Angelo. 449 pages, frontispiece and 4 plates
Volume X: La Esmeralda - Ruy Blas - Les Burgraves. 390 pages
Volume XI: Han d'Islande. 583 pages
Volume XII: Bug-Jargal - Le Dernier jour d'un condamné. VI+443 pages
Volume XIII: Littérature et philosophie mêlées. 406 pages.
Volume XIV: Le Rhin 1. 381 pages,
Volume XV: Le Rhin 2. 446 pages
Volume XVI: Le Rhin 3. 352 pages
Volume XVII: Les Contemplations. Autrefois 1830-1843. Statement of second edition. 359 pages
Volume XVIII: Les Contemplations. Aujourd'hui 1843-1856. 408 pages.
Volume X was published after Volume XII and bears the volume number IXbis on the half-title, Volumes XI and XII bear the volume numbers X and XI, always on the half-titles.

First edition.
Bound contemporary brown half-shagreen. Spine decorated with gilt fillets. Gilt title. Traces of rubbing to edges. Scattered foxing. A good copy.
This translation of Poe was published a few months before Baudelaire's first collection of poems, Les Fleurs du mal.
While we know how much E.A. Poe owes to Baudelaire, whose superb translation is known to even surpass the original work, we often overlook Baudelaire's own literary debt to his American model. More than an exercise in translation, Baudelaire found in reading Poe's extraordinary stories the very soul of his poems, which we still being written at the time.
Following the success of his first translation of Les Histoires Extraordinaires in 1856, Baudelaire added a unique preface to his Nouvelles histoires extraordinaires, which goes far beyond a simple presentation of Edgar Allan Poe's "dark and strange genius", and proves to be a true tribute to Poe by his humble translator who was about to become one of the greatest poets in history.
"From the bosom of a greedy world, starved of materialities, Poe darted into dreams. Smothered as he was by the American atmosphere, he wrote at the head of Eureka: "I offer this book to those who have put their faith in dreams as in the only realities!" [...] Poe, an Aristocrat by nature even more than by birth, a Virginian, a Southern man, a true Byron lost in a bad world, always retained his philosophical impassivity, and, whether he was defining the nose of the rabble, mocking the fabricators of religion, or mocking libraries, he remains what the true poet was and always will be, - a truth dressed in a bizarre way, an apparent paradox, who doesn't want to be elbowed by the crowd, and who runs to the far east when the fireworks go off at sunset." (Baudelaire in his foreword to his Nouvelles histoires extraordinaires)
Henry de la Madelène, a writer and friend of Baudelaire's, made no mistake when he urged his contemporaries to discover the poet through his translations of Poe: "Read them carefully, and you will at once have the secret of Baudelaire's soul and the secret of his works".

Third original edition: "In reality, an entirely new work, completely rewritten by Stendhal and expanded by one volume" (cf Clouzot).
The second edition was in fact only a reissue, after a few weeks, of the original edition with a new title page bearing publisher Colburn's address and mention of "second edition". This "third edition" is therefore the true second original edition, much more complete than the first.
Covers slightly and partially browned without gravity, some minor foxing.
Very rare copy as issued in original wrappers.

First edition very scarce according to Clouzot.
Nice copy in its original wrappers.
Second volume with coated ex-libris "Fortis and Fidelis" engraved by Desnoyers.
Rare signed handwritten inscription by Astolphe de Custine on top of first volume to the Duchesse de Blains.

First edition.
Contemporary half tawny sheep binding with small corners, smooth spine decorated with triple gilt fillets, navy blue morocco title label, pebbled paper boards, yellow edges speckled with red.
Some minor foxing, bibliophile's printed stamps at head of half-title page and page 99, engraved bookplate pasted to verso of front board with library classification note in black ink that has spread onto facing page.

First edition.
Half brown calf binding with corners, smooth spine decorated with gilt typographical motifs, gilt friezes at head and foot, navy blue calf title label, gilt fillet on marbled paper boards, speckled paper endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges, contemporary binding.
Handsome copy attractively bound in contemporary binding.

First edition.
Half red shagreen binding, spine with four raised bands decorated with gilt fillets and ornate triple gilt compartments with gilt stars at their centers, red paper boards marginally faded, speckled paper endpapers and pastedowns, contemporary binding.
Some foxing.
Very rare copy complete with its 46 engraved plates and 4 folding maps at the end of the volume.

First edition, one of 50 numbered copies on Arches paper, deluxe issue.
Handsome copy.
Autograph inscription dated and signed by the publisher, Henri Martineau, to Professor Alajaouine.

New edition, one of 25 numbered copies on alfa paper, the only deluxe copies.
Handsome copy.

First edition of this issue devoted to English romanticism.
Light marginal foxing to covers.
Texts by Lord Byron, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, Thomas de Quincey, Percy Bysshe Shelley...; and contributions by Robert Kanters, Jean Rousselot, Raymond Lasd Vergnas, René Lalou...

First collected edition with some parts in first edition. Illustrated with two engraved and repeated titles and 4 out-of-text figures engraved on copper by Frilley, Cousin and Durand after Tony Johannot, Pujol, Devéria and Henri Monnier, on China paper laid down. Another edition by the same publisher in 3 volumes in-12, with unpublished pieces occupying the entirety of the third volume.
Contemporary half-glazed cherry red calf binding. Spine with false flat raised bands decorated with a large central blind stamp, with 2 compartments with multiple frames. Black glazed calf title and volume labels. Scattered foxing, one gathering browned pp. 250 to 256 in volume 1. A wide brown stain in margins of the last leaves of table in volume 2. The first leaves of both volumes with dry moisture traces in top margin. 3 corners slightly bumped. Leaf 15 in volume I shorter in right margin. Traces of rubbing at head.
Handsome copy in a strictly contemporary binding.
"This first, beautiful and excellent collected edition of the poetical works, presenting many unpublished poems, is preferred by most collectors of first editions." Clouzot (Guide du bibliophile français, XIXe siècle).

First edition, one of 20 numbered copies on China paper, deluxe copy,
Four minute marginal lacks and small corner tears to the covers.
Handsome full-margined copy as issued.

Pléiade library edition printed on Bible paper.
Publisher's full green grained sheep binding, blue top edge, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets, handsome copy complete with its cellophane wrapper, dust jacket and slipcase.

First volume of the Delloye-Lecou collected edition, published in seven volumes from 1837-1839.
Contemporary half aubergine calf binding, smooth spine decorated with gilt dentelles, fillets and romantic motifs, all edges marbled.
Corner restoration to third leaf, one accident and lack to head of spine.

New edition, with some parts in first edition as expanded with a preface, one of 30 numbered copies on Holland paper, deluxe copies after 6 on Japan paper.

 

Full chocolate brown morocco binding, spine with five raised bands, gilt roulettes on headcaps, quadruple black fillets framing the boards, black fleurons at corners, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, triple gilt fillets framing the pastedowns, covers and spine preserved, double gilt fillets on leading edges, top edge gilt on deckled edges, contemporary binding signed by Stroobants.

Bookplate pasted at head of one pastedown.

Very fine copy perfectly executed by Stroobants.

First edition with the cover dated 1852.
Bradel binding in burgundy half-cloth, smooth spine, rubbed tawny shagreen title-label, date gilt at foot, marbled paper boards, original wrappers preserved, top edge gilt, binding stamp-signed in blind Guellier.
Some light foxing.
Rare.
Provenance: from the library of Eugène Richtenberger with his engraved bookplate pasted on a pastedown.

Autograph letter to Count Etienne Maurice Gérard from the painter Paul Delaroche, one watermarked folded leaf.
The painter, who received the Legion of Honor in 1828, sends his birth certificate to Count Gérard, then chancellor of the legion: "cet acte est fait au nom d'Hippolyte Delaroche, qui est le nom véritable de Mr Delaroche, celui de Paul étant un surnom d'enfance qu'il a conservé jusqu'à présent." ["this act is made in the name of Hippolyte Delaroche, which is Mr Delaroche's real name, Paul being a childhood nickname that he has kept until now."]

Long autograph letter signed by the archaeologist and curator of antiquities at the Louvre Museum, Adrien de Longpérier, to a journalist, 4 pages on a folded sheet.
In this fascinating letter about Eugène Delacroix, the curator of Egyptian antiquities Longpérier castigates a journalist, author of a harsh critique of the painter's ceiling at the Galerie d'Apollon in the Louvre: "mais quand il s'agit seulement d'un plafond, fait pour une galerie roccoco, quand du reste j'ai reconnu que cet ouvrage produit un excellent effet décoratif que le ton général est parfaitement adapté à la place et qu'outre cela le tableau contient un certain noombre de détails traités avec un véritable talent, je ne vois pas la nécessité d'aller attaquer très vivement très rudement non seulement l'oeuvre mais encore la personne de l'artiste" ["but when it concerns merely a ceiling, made for a rococo gallery, when moreover I have recognized that this work produces an excellent decorative effect that the general tone is perfectly adapted to the place and that besides this the painting contains a certain number of details treated with real talent, I do not see the necessity of going to attack very vigorously very harshly not only the work but also the person of the artist"]. Delacroix had created a composition entitled Apollon terrassant Python for the gallery built under Louis XIV and newly restored under the Second Republic. In the midst of the Romantics' quarrel, Longpérier also mentions Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres, himself the author of a ceiling at the Louvre (L'apothéose d'Homère): "Comme vous avez l'imprudence de mettre le plafond d'Homère en parallèle avec celui d'Apollon, vous n'eussiez pas pu empêcher que, dans la discussion, on ne s'en prit à votre vénérable ami. Croyez vous que si Ingres, qui aime si peu la discussion, vous eu su un bien grand gré de ces horizons que vous lui eussiez procurés ? [...] Imaginez-vous que vous ayez fait le sacrifice d'une somme assez considérable pour fonder un journal, et que je vous apporte un article violent contre M. Ingres ? (Je dis : imaginez, car je suis, moi, un admirateur de M. Ingres et n'ai en aucune manière envie de le critiquer) [...] Iriez-vous donner aide à celui qui voudrait le combattre ?" ["Since you have the imprudence to put Homer's ceiling in parallel with that of Apollo, you could not have prevented that, in the discussion, people would attack your venerable friend. Do you believe that if Ingres, who so dislikes discussion, would have been very grateful to you for these horizons that you would have provided him? [...] Imagine that you had made the sacrifice of a considerable sum to found a journal, and that I bring you a violent article against M. Ingres? (I say: imagine, for I am myself an admirer of M. Ingres and have no desire whatsoever to criticize him) [...] Would you go to aid the one who would want to fight him?"]. Ingres, the painter representing the classical school, had his preference, unlike Delacroix the Romantic, whose style he did not appreciate but whose human qualities he nevertheless recognized: "J'ai reconnu que c'est un homme très doux, très poli, fort instruit et fort modeste [...] Je parle de l'homme ; quant à ses oeuvres, elles sont plus ou moins bonnes. Il y en a même de fort mauvaises" ["I have recognized that he is a very gentle man, very polite, well educated and very modest [...] I speak of the man; as for his works, they are more or less good. There are even some very bad ones"]. Longpérier speaks at length about the restoration work at the Louvre led by the architect Félix Duban, who supervised the renovation of the Galerie d'Apollon and other major projects: "Je verrais avec grand plaisir que vous fissiez sentir le mérite de la restauration de la galerie d'Apollon, de la façade du jardin de l'infante, de la façade d'Henri IV sur le quai et du plafond de la Salle des sept cheminées décoré, avec tout de goût, de figures peintes. Le public, dirigé par des journalistes peu instruits, a critiqué bien à tort l'emploi de ces grandes figures si harmonieusement colorées" ["I would see with great pleasure that you would make felt the merit of the restoration of the Galerie d'Apollon, of the façade of the Infanta's garden, of Henri IV's façade on the quay and of the ceiling of the Room of Seven Chimneys decorated, with such taste, with painted figures. The public, led by poorly informed journalists, has wrongly criticized the use of these large figures so harmoniously colored"].

Illustrated edition with 144 original color compositions by Georges Lepape, one of the numbered copies on Rives laid paper.
Handsome set despite minor soiling to the bottom edges of the slipcases.

Autograph signed telegram from painter Gustave Moreau to architect Edouard Corroyer, also a member of the Académie des beaux-arts.
"Cher et honoré Confrère, Je suis bien sensible à votre si admirable et si gracieuse attention et je vous en remercie de tout coeur. Croyez à tous mes sentiments les meilleurs et les plus affectueux.
Gustave Moreau
Samedi matin 7 heures" ["Dear and honored Colleague, I am very touched by your admirable and gracious attention and thank you with all my heart. Please believe in all my best and most affectionate sentiments.
Gustave Moreau
Saturday morning 7 o'clock"]

Signed autograph letter by the painter Théodore Rousseau, one page on a folded sheet.

“My dear Sir,

I shall do my utmost to send you my painting today; by early tomorrow morning it will be fully framed, ready to hang. Believe me, if I kept you waiting, it was not out of vanity; I had a difficult task to complete in a limited time. until tomorrow morning, and thank you for all the kindness I have experienced from the administration. Yours entirely devoted,
Th. Rousseau”

Autograph letter signed by Victor Hugo dated 13 May 1856 following an unpublished letter from Madame Victor Hugo to Madame David d'Angers dated 11 May. 4 pages on a folded sheet with watermark "Barbet Smith Street Guernesey".
Published in Correspondance de Victor Hugo, Paris, year 1856, p. 246
In this letter imbued with the apparitions and specters that haunt the recently published Contemplations, Victor Hugo addresses the widow of his great friend the sculptor David d'Angers, fervent republican and artist particularly admired by the Romantics. In the midst of a mystical crisis, Hugo speaks to the shadow of the sculptor to whom he dedicated sublime poems in Les feuilles d'automne as well as Les rayons et les ombres and requests from his widow his favorite portrait, a marble bust once sculpted by David d'Angers.

After the expulsion of the exiles from the island of Jersey, Victor Hugo purchased Hauteville House thanks to the success of Contemplations and sadly learned of the death of a dear friend. He writes to the sculptor's widow on the same sheet as his wife Adèle, also connected with the family of David d'Angers, creator of a medallion in her likeness: "You are the widow of our great David d'Angers, and you are his worthy widow as you were his worthy wife".
The renowned sculptor had already formed bonds at Nodier's first romantic salon at the Arsenal and visited Hugo almost daily in the late 1820s in the Bonapartist and good-natured atmosphere of rue Notre-Dame des Champs, in the company of the Devéria brothers, Sainte-Beuve, Balzac, Nanteuil and Delacroix. In 1828, the writer had happily posed in David d'Angers' studio on rue de Fleurus, for a medallion then a bust which had been followed by two sublime poems celebrating the sculptor's talent in Les Feuilles d'Automne and Les rayons et les ombres. Of all his numerous portraits, he cherished above all others his marble bust signed David d'Angers and does not hesitate to request it from his widow: "Before long, perhaps, madame, my family will ask you to return this bust which is my figure, which is little, but which is a masterpiece by David, which is everything. It is him even more than me, and that is why we want to have it among us".
From these posing sessions with the sculptor arose fruitful aesthetic and political conversations where their common aversion to the death penalty was affirmed. They witnessed the chaining of galley slaves who were joining Toulon from Paris, described by Hugo in two chapters of Dernier jour d'un condamné. A victim of exile like Hugo, David d'Angers had returned to Paris before joining the world of the dead: "My exile is like neighbor to his tomb, and I see distinctly his great soul outside this world, as I see his great life in the stern history of our time". The "great life" of David d'Angers was devoted to shaping the effigies of illustrious men, through a subtle balance of resemblance and idealization. The sculptor finally takes his place in Victor Hugo's personal pantheon, he who had adorned the pediment of the true Pantheon of great men where the writer rests today: "David is today a figure of memory, a renown of marble, an inhabitant of the pedestal after having been its craftsman. Today, death has consecrated the man and the sculptor is statue. The shadow he casts upon you, madame, gives your life the form of glory".
It was indeed in the shadow of great men that Hugo lived his exile in Jersey, far from the tumult of the capital and in the silence punctuated by sea spray striking the windowpanes. Hugo had plunged into the occult and spoke to the departed: "David is one of the shadows to whom I speak most often, shadow myself", he declares, recalling the final poem of Contemplations, "Ce que dit la bouche d'ombre", dictated to the poet through the spiritualist process of "turning tables". Then at the height of their popularity, the tables were practiced in all the salons of Paris, even at the emperor's at the Tuileries and at Compiègne. Three years earlier, he had been moved to be able to converse with his departed daughter, Léopoldine, and had erected a poetic monument to her, the Contemplations, whose triumph the Hugos were enjoying: "I am happy that the book of Contemplations was read by you. You found there our dear memories and our common aspirations. Exile has this good thing, that it sets the seal on man and preserves the soul as it is". His nocturnal conversations soon extended to a cohort of illustrious figures, who communicated with the Hugo family through the creaking of a pedestal table. During almost daily séances, Hugo had invoked the soul of Chateaubriand, Dante, Racine, Hannibal, André Chénier, Shakespeare, Molière, Aristotle, Lord Byron, Louis XVI, Napoleon I, and even Jesus Christ: "it is only toward the shadows that I turn, for there lies glory, pride, greatness of souls, light; and there is now more life in the dead than in the living" he confides to the sculptor's widow. David d'Angers had achieved the eternity to which they both aspired through words and matter, remaining forever present in his memories and the marble portraits he sculpted for him.

Through the lines, reveals itself the poet of the Contemplations, the bereaved man still wounded by the disappearance of his daughter Léopoldine and his dear friend. Hugo here delivers himself to a magnificent movement of epistolary lyricism, the Angevin sculptor having left to posterity the most beautiful portraits of the writer. Many years later, Victor Hugo himself was placed with great pomp in the Pantheon of great men, whose pediment his friend David d'Angers had adorned.


"Guernesey, 13 mai

Edition illustrated with 29 original compositions by François Schommer (including the cover), one of 75 deluxe numbered copies on Japan or Marais laid paper, ours on Japan paper, deluxe issue.
Full blue morocco binding, spine very lightly sunned with five raised bands set with gilt dots and decorated with gilt interlaced designs, date and place gilt at foot, gilt roulettes on headcaps, wide frame of fifteen gilt fillets in interlaced pattern on boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, frame of gilt fillets in interlaced pattern on pastedowns, double gilt fillets on edges, covers preserved, top and fore edges gilt, engraved bookplate pasted on one pastedown, elegant English binding very slightly later dated 1913 and signed Zaehnsdorf, Hungarian binder established in London.
Each illustration, in double state in our copy, was engraved with burin and etching by Léon Boisson.
Handsome copy perfectly executed in a very slightly later English binding.

New edition partly original because augmented by the correspondence of Balzac and Madame de Berny, one of the few numbered and justified copies by the publisher on Holland papere , head print.
Book decorated with inset illustrations.
Back and boards slightly and marginally insolated without gravity, pleasant copy at all margins.

Pléiade library edition printed on Bible paper.
Publisher's binding in full green grained sheepskin, blue top edge, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets, complete with its glassine, dust jacket and soft slipcase.

First edition, one of 70 numbered copies on Marais laid paper, deluxe issue.
Preface by Henri Martineau and Jean Fabre.
A small repaired tear at head of one joint, otherwise a handsome copy.

First edition, one of 15 numbered copies on Marais vellum, the only deluxe copies.
A handsome copy.

First edition, one of 50 numbered copies on Alfa paper, only large papers.
Some small foxinges without gravity affecting the margins of certain pages, otherwise pleasant copy.
autograph dedication of the author auotgraphe signed by Ernest Sellière to André Lautier.

First edition, of which there were no deluxe copies.
With a frontispiece portrait of a young Honoré de Balzac.
A fine copy.

First edition printed in small numbers of this print apart from the Contemporary Review.
Bradel binding in half percaline sand, smooth back with handwritten label containing the name of the author and the title of the book, paper boards in the tank, preserved cover, Contemporary binding.
Precious autograph signed by the Count of Marcellus to Alfred de Vigny.

First edition, mention of second edition.
Our copy is presented in a case and shirt with a green canvas back and marbled paper boards.
We enclose the cover of the catalog of the sale of the library of George and Maurice Sand in 1890 on which was pasted the descriptive sheet of our copy with its hammer price in pencil.
Exceptional autograph shipment signed by Victor Hugo to Georges Sand.
"But what did they think of each other, these two outstanding personalities of literary life in the 19th century? Because they never met these two, yet they were perfectly contemporary: Victor Hugo (1802-1885), George Sand (1804-1876).
Certainly there were the ups and downs of life: George Sand did not really publish until 1832, at a time when Victor Hugo was already aware of his glory; and then there was the exile of Victor Hugo from 1851 to 1870, but that does not explain everything!
At the beginning, they are not really part of the same coterie: Victor Hugo, Pair of France, support of Louis-Philippe on one side, George Sand socialist on the other. They do not really appreciate each other even if George Sand has a certain annoyed admiration for Victor Hugo, called grandiloquent: "the most talkative of sublime poets" while Hugo him, finds bluntly that "Sand does not know how to write"!
Then, with the coup d'etat of Napoleon III, Victor Hugo evolves politically; he quickly overflows George Sand on his left, goes into exile while George Sand accommodates internal exile. Their relationship heats up only very, very weakly: "George Sand has talent, that's all". In exile Victor Hugo publishes "Les Châtiments", a very critical work which is obviously prohibited in France. George Sand would like Victor Hugo to be less intransigent in his writings so as to be published.
The publication of "Contemplations" in 1856, much less controversial, is welcomed by George Sand and marks a new phase in their relations.
In fact, their first letter contact does not concern literary life. Nini the little girl of George Sand dies in 1855, Victor Hugo still very marked by the death of his daughter Léopoldine sympathizes; the loss of a loved one brings them together.
Here they are friends, George Sand becomes a "genius", she will often be invited to Guernsey ... without further action, their relationship will never be familiar.
Victor Hugo supports him during the publication of the Beaux Messieurs de Bois Doré (1858), but George Sand gets angry when he refuses the amnesty of 1859 while on her side she seeks to soften the situation of the proscribed.
When “Les Misérables” was published (1862) Victor Hugo sought the support of George Sand, but this support was lacking. Victor Hugo is saddened, George Sand will say that he prefers the poetry of Victor Hugo to his prose work.
On the return from exile, with the Commune, here is a new misunderstanding; Victor Hugo argues, George Sand is horrified: legalist and shocked by the violence, she condemns in extremely harsh terms this Paris Commune.
Nevertheless, from there, these two support and defend themselves as soon as one or the other is attacked.
In 1876, it was Victor Hugo who delivered the famous funeral praise of George Sand: "I mourn a dead woman, I salute an immortal ..."
The relationships of George Sand and Victor Hugo have therefore evolved a great deal during their lives. It is undoubtedly a reflection of their personal development, but perhaps their entourage, political ideas or the opinion that the other had of his own work also interfered with literary criticism; even our great personalities are under influence!
"Victor Hugo and George Sand, what if they had met?" »This is a fictional play by Danièle Gasiglia.
But maybe, as Danièle Bahiaoui suggests: “Both of them in the same room, it's one too many! »» (Blog "We in Boischaut Sud" conference by Danielle Bahiaoui, Arnaud Laster and Danielle Gasaglia)
Provenance: Maurice Sand (Venet Ferroud, Paris, February 24-March 3, 1890, lot 418), H.-Bradley Martin (engraved ex-libris), Philippe Zoummeroff. (Piasa sale, Paris, April 2, 2001, lot 112).

First edition, one of 50 numbered copies on Holland paper for each volume, the only deluxe copies after 20 Japan.
Preface by Maurice Barrès, work illustrated with three portraits of Stendhal as frontispieces.
Handsome copy complete with the frontispiece in duplicate state for each volume as stipulated for copies on Holland paper.

New edition, illustrated with a frontispiece portrait and 10 steel-engraved plates by Johannot, Geoffroy. Translation by Amédé Pichot.
Contemporary glazed navy half-calf binding signed at foot (signature illegible). Smooth spine decorated with a long mirrored tool with central ornament. Title and volume number gilt. Decorative fillets on covers. Beautiful marbled paper in blue, white and gold. Top edge gilt. Spine slightly darkened. Some corners slightly bumped. Light traces of rubbing. Paper of superb freshness, uncut, completely free of foxing (except in the margins of some engravings due to tissue guards which have not been removed); rare condition.
"New edition augmented with a historical notice on Lord Byron, all unpublished pieces and notes by Moore, Walter-Scott, Campbell, Guiford, Jeffrey, E. Brydges, Coleridge, Southey, Wilson, Hobhouse, Hunt, Dallas, Milman, Lockhart, Bowles, Heber, Medwin, Gamba, Croly, Ugo Foscolo, Ellis, Kennedy, Parry, Bulwer, Galt, Nathan, Lady Blessington, Mrs. Shelley. Contained in the definitive edition recently published in London". Besides the poetical works, Miscellanies, Speeches, correspondence, and the famous novella: The Vampire.

First edition. The half-titles all bear the heading: Oeuvres complètes de Lamartine. A steel portrait at the frontispiece, 2 folding maps of the Mediterranean and Syria.
Bound in slightly later red half-shagreen. Spine with raised bands decorated with cold-stamped roulettes and thick fillets, as well as gilt fillets. Joints of volume 1 cracked at foot over 2cm. Rubbing, notably to the boards. One corner bumped, without loss. Scattered foxing on title pages and margins. On the second volume, trace of pale dampstaining to upper margin throughout. The folding table of Arab tribes is torn along one fold, without loss. Owner's name at foot: M. Troulé.
Remarkable for its description of landscapes and sites, Lamartine's journey is a seminal text in the literature of traveling writers. The work marked Lamartine's beginnings in prose and all his writing is like an intimate diary. Presented in the form of a journal, the work also brings together portraits, notes, poems, dialogues. In his enthusiasm, Lamartine clearly distinguished Lebanon. The book is a vast panorama of the Orient so dear to the Romantics, and even the political vision is not absent from it.

First edition.
Small scattered foxings, otherwise pleasant copy.

New edition of this tribute to Stendhal by Prosper Mérimée, one of 1200 numbered copies on alfa paper, the only issue with 10 Madagascar and 20 pur fil.
Some foxing mainly at the end of the volume.

First edition published in the author's complete works.
Our copy exceptionally contains two engraved portraits, one serving as frontispiece.
Full red morocco binding, spine with five raised bands, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, decorative gilt board-edges with gilt dentelle, all edges gilt, double gilt fillets on leading edges, very elegant signed binding by Cuzin.
Very fine copy, without statement of edition, perfectly established in full Cuzin binding.

First collected edition, partly original, by far the most important and most sought-after (cf. Clouzot), with Chateaubriand having revised and reworked a large part of his writings.
This set also contains in first edition several texts including Les Natchez, Le Dernier Abencérage, Le Voyage en Amérique, and Moïse (placed at the end of vol. XXII and often lacking).

Each volume illustrated with a frontispiece by Charles Thompson.

Bound in contemporary navy blue half shagreen, spines with five raised bands, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns. A few spots of foxing.

Together with these collected works, uniformly bound: a volume entitled Œuvres diverses (collecting several political pamphlets in first edition); Le Congrès de Vérone (2 vols., Delloye, 1838); Essai sur la littérature anglaise and Milton’s Paradise Lost (both Gosselin, 1839).

In the volume Œuvres diverses, important presentation inscription signed by François-René de Chateaubriand to Monsieur (Henri) Bayart on the half-title of La nouvelle proposition relative au bannissement de Charles X et de sa famille.

This inscription, dating from the writer’s final years, is addressed to Henri Bayart (1825–1892), godson of the Duchesse de Berry and brother of Sophie-Josèphe Bayart, a close friend of François-René and his wife. The Chateaubriands and the Bayart family formed bonds of friendship and business during the Hundred Days and remained close until the end of their lives. As staunch legitimists devoted to the Bourbon cause, they even attempted the impossible in seeking to have the writer appointed governor to the young Comte de Chambord, claimant to the French throne. When writing this inscription, probably around 1843, Chateaubriand was at the twilight of his political and literary life; close to the Comte de Chambord, then exiled in England, the Bayarts once again tried to intercede on his behalf, sending Henri Bayart, without success, to persuade the last Bourbon heir to invite the ageing writer into his circle.

A rare and fine set in uniform bindings, containing numerous first editions and enriched with an important presentation inscription.

First edition and first printing of the 320 wood engravings. Publication of the 4 volumes from 1846 to 1848, which explains why they are found separately.
Contributions by Théophile Gautier, Laurent-Jan, Léon Gozlan, Auguste Lireux and Jules Hetzel under the pseudonym P.-J. Stahl among others.
Contemporary half black shagreen bindings. Flat false raised bands spine decorated with ornate compartments. Gilt titles and volume labels. Gilt edges. Blind ruling frame on boards. A. Gaillard at foot. Roulettes on bands. Very fine gold and grey decorative endpapers. Pale scattered foxing on very white paper.
Work illustrated with a general frontispiece, 14 vignettes including one repeated and 320 plates, all engraved on wood.
References: Vicaire, III, 953-955; Brivois pp.168-171; Carteret, III-260-264.
"Important work, presenting an original work drawn anew by the artist from his lithographs; the whole gives a good idea of Gavarni's talent and the customs of his time.
This work is very rare in fine condition." Carteret.

First edition.
Full green sheep bindings, strictly contemporary. Smooth spines richly decorated with Restoration-era tools. Black sheep title and volume labels. Large decorative blind stamp on boards and gilt ruling frame. Ruling on edges. Spines uniformly faded. Signs of rubbing. 2 corners slightly bumped. Scattered foxing, quite pronounced on the second title page and some pages, mostly in the outer margins, the whole showing rather clean. One tear p. 179 in volume 1, without loss.
Handsome copy in full decorated Romantic binding.

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.

First edition published anonymously for the first volume, third edition statement for the second volume.
Half old rose sheep binding, smooth spine lightly faded decorated with gilt garlands, minor rubbing to spine, scuffing to marbled paper boards, contemporary binding.
The second subscription list of the "Pélerin" is absent from our copy.
Occasional light foxing.

First edition, one of 25 numbered copies on Lana rag paper, the only deluxe copies.
Handsome full-margined copy.

First edition, without false statement of edition, which is quite rare for this work. The half-titles bear the heading: Complete Works, as the 2 volumes were indeed part of the staggered publication over several years of Lamartine's works, each volume being available for separate purchase, a common practice at the time.
Contemporary full tobacco calf binding. Smooth spine with 4 romantic tools in mirror arrangement. Brown calf title and volume labels. Blind-ruled frame and gilt fillet. Light scattered foxing. Upper joints rubbed. Traces of rubbing. Handsome copy in full contemporary binding.
Epic poetry recounting how an angel, in love with a mortal woman, takes human form at the moment she is about to be carried off into slavery by giants. Verlaine found in this book "unprecedented things of beauty." "The new episode that M. de Lamartine publishes today is full of both grandeur and grace, and reveals in the author an energy, a virility that we were far from expecting. Neither the Meditations, nor the Harmonies, nor Jocelyn promised what we find in the Fall of an Angel." Gustave Planche. Revue des deux mondes. 1838.

First illustrated edition with a frontispiece on China paper and 24 hors-texte plates as well as numerous vignettes by Tony Johanot. Fine Romantic illustrated work.
Publisher's binding in full red shagreen with special tools. Spine richly decorated with a large ornamental panel along its length, the publisher's name at foot. Upper cover with a special panel depicting the author in chains, large rocaille ornamental border tools, blind fillets. Lower cover decorated with a large central tool and rocaille border tools. Interior frieze. Gilt edges. White moiré silk endpapers. Spine gilt slightly faded, otherwise light scattered foxing, mainly on the endleaves and at the beginning, then in the margins. Small brown stains on the lower cover.
Very handsome copy in its rich publisher's binding.
My Prisons is the memoir of a man incarcerated by arbitrary power. Following the Neapolitan and Piedmontese revolution against the Austrian occupiers, all prominent figures including Silvio Pellico were imprisoned for ten years at Spielberg in Moravia. Once published, the text achieved great success due to its pious character, Pellico having found hope only through the Catholic religion. The work also contains poetry.

First edition bringing together unpublished texts, notably 'Le refus' by Honoré de Balzac.
Some foxing.
Half glazed brown calf binding, spine slightly faded with four raised bands decorated with gilt and black fillets, two joints cracked at foot, gilt monogram of Alcide de Beauchesne at tail of spine, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, contemporary Romantic binding signed by Closs.
Other contributions by Jules Janin, Roger de Beauvoir, Alcide de Beauchêne, Eugène Sue, Théodore Muret...
Work illustrated with a frontispiece portrait of Delphine Gay.
Provenance: from the library of Alcide de Beauchesne with his gilt monogram stamped at tail of spine.

First edition.
Half wine-red shagreen binding, spine with four false raised bands decorated with compartments formed by quadruple fillets. Signs of rubbing. Light dampstains to upper margins of some leaves, otherwise very clean throughout. Good copy.
A novel that is both biographical and fictionalized, in this work Lamartine evokes the founding event of his artistic and amorous life, his encounter with Julie-Charles, the Elvire of the Méditations.

First edition of this historical novel written by Antony Thouret while incarcerated in the prisons of Saint-Waast.
Binding in half morocco green morocco, smooth back decorated with a central and gilded floral pattern, golden date tail, marbled paper plates, guards and contreplats of handmade paper, blankets (dirty and doubled) preserved, binding of XIXth posterior of a few decades at work.
Rare book illustrated with a portrait of the author and an off-text figure engraved on wood by Eugene Forest.
Our copy is enriched by a signed autograph letter of three pages Antony Thouret to his publisher Ladvocat in which it is particularly question a second edition of the book which will be enriched with a second preface, some scenes main and a quantity of interesting notes.

Pléiade library edition printed on Bible paper.
Publisher's binding in full green grained sheep, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets, blue top edge, complete with its glassine, dust jacket and slipcase.
Handsome copy.

Fourth edition.
Half green Russia morocco bindings with small corners, smooth spine decorated with double gilt fillets, single gilt fillet framing the green paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, corners slightly bumped, yellow edges, contemporary bindings.
Pen ownership inscription on endpapers.
Some minor foxing.
Rare.

Second edition featuring an important original notice by Sainte-Beuve.
Bradel bindings in half brown cloth, smooth spines decorated with gilt floral motifs, gilt friezes at foot of spines, navy blue Russian morocco title labels, brown paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers with small corner lacks preserved, pasted bookplates of Joseph Dumas on pastedowns.
Foxing mainly at beginning and end of volumes.