Copies inscribed by the author, i.e. a handwritten dedication to a close friend. As moving accounts of the genesis of the book and the writer's links with the people of his time, inscriptions are a unique record of the author's life.
First edition of this work published in Toulouse, cradle of aeronautics.
Precious and rare signed autograph inscription by Clément Ader to René Fonck, « l'As des As » of French aviation, who achieved the highest number of aerial victories during the First World War: « à monsieur René Fonck membre du Comité de Direction de l'Aéro-Club. En souvenir du 2 mars reconnaissant hommage. »
This remarkable dedication was most likely written on 2 March 1922 on the occasion of a banquet held by the Aéro-Club de France at the Palais d'Orsay, celebrating the award of the Commander's insignia of the Légion d'honneur to Clément Ader, the first Frenchman who, as early as 1890, attempted flight with his prototypes named « Éole » and « Zéphyr ». This final tribute marked the pinnacle of the career of this brilliant inventor, from whom the French army had nonetheless turned away after the unconvincing demonstration flight of his « Aquilon » at Satory in 1897.
A rare and desirable copy, enriched with an exceptional signed autograph inscription from the father of aeronautics to René Fonck, the military hero of French and Allied aviation, nicknamed « l'As des As » during the First World War with seventy-five confirmed victories to his credit.
First edition for which no grand papier (deluxe) copies were printed.
Small marginal pieces missing at the top of the first board, a clear remnant of adhesive paper at the bottom of the first endpaper.
Copy complete with the facsimile at the end of the volume.
Precious handwritten inscription signed by Gabriele d'Annunzio to Natalie Clifford Barney: « à miss Barney et au Temple de l'Amitié attentive, cette légère torpille ‘sine litteris' est offerte par la ‘tête d'ivoire'. Gabriele d'Annunzio » (“To Miss Barney and the attentive Temple of Friendship, this light ‘sine litteris' torpedo is offered by the ‘ivory head'. Gabriele d'Annunzio”
Very beautiful testimony to the friendship between Gabriele d'Annunzio and Natalie Clifford Barney, who probably met through the painter Romaine Brooks, temporary lover of the “ivory head” but also of the Amazon for more than fifty years.
In 1909, Natalie Clifford Barney acquired the Temple of Friendship at 20 Rue Jacob and set up her literary salon, which would be held every Friday and would welcome the greatest literary and artistic personalities of the time: Salomon Reinach, Auguste Rodin, Rainer Maria Rilke, Colette, James Joyce, Paul Valéry, Pierre Louÿs, Anatole France, Robert de Montesquiou, Gertrude Stein, Somerset Maugham, T. S. Eliot, Jean Cocteau, Max Jacob, André Gide, Nancy Cunard, Peggy Guggenheim, Marie Laurencin, Paul Claudel, Adrienne Monnier, Sylvia Beach, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Truman Capote, Françoise Sagan, Marguerite Yourcenar... and, of course, Gabriele d'Annunzio whom she greatly admired.
She paid tribute to him by devoting a chapter of her Aventures de l'esprit (1929) to him: “D'Annunzio, a precious little old ivory object, works with the constancy of a monk who watches over his God.”
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.
