"Because in the end, you won't remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain." (attributed to Jack Kerouac)
New edition, with no deluxe copies printed.
A very good copy.
Henry de Monfreid's handwritten signature on the half-title.
First edition of this travel narrative with reproductions of the photographs Jack London took during his voyage, including one in color as frontispiece. Copy from the first printing.
Publisher's light blue binding, with a color depiction of the sailing ship “Snark” on the front cover, title and author in gilt on the front cover, smooth spine with gilt title, author and publisher. Very slight rubbing to the binding, otherwise a very fine copy.
New edition, expanded from the novel entitled Amélina, épisode de la conquête et de la colonisation des Espagnols dans l'île d'Haïti (Tours, 1841), which comprised only the first narrative.
The following two, set respectively in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, are by a certain A***, who has not been identified.
Contemporary Romantic binding in full brown calf, smooth faded spine decorated with gilt Romantic arabesques, covers framed with gilt fillets and gilt Romantic arabesques, white moiré silk endpapers and pastedowns, corners bumped, gilt fillets to the board edges, all edges gilt.
Restorations to spine, a few minor spots of foxing.
...Autograph inscription signed by Joseph Kessel and addressed to the Geneva autograph collector Claude Arnaud, on a loose leaf.
Fold mark from having been enclosed in an envelope.
First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Annales de la Société belge de microscopie, vol. II, p. 55.
Spine split, unlettered, with title in manuscript; small losses and marginal nicks to the wrappers.
Illustrated at the end of the volume with 2 fine plates of foraminifera by E. Vanden Broeck, lithographed in two tones by G. Severeyns.
Not in the BnF. Unrecorded by Sabin, Leclerc, or Nissen.
At the head of the title-page, signed presentation inscription from Ernest Vanden Broeck: "A Monsieur Gustave Dollfus, hommage affectueux", together with several autograph corrections in the text.
Geologist...
A substantially posthumous publication, prepared by Ayres de Sá from the notes and papers of the second Viscount of Santarém (1791–1856), who, in addition to his diplomatic and political roles amid the turbulent struggle between Marianist and Miguelist factions in Portugal, was the first historian to develop the study of cartography in a methodical manner.
The work is illustrated with 97 plates in the first volume and 40 plates in the second.
Cherry half-shagreen bindings with corners, spines with five raised bands framed by black fillets and showing some rubbing, marbled paper sides, a scratch to the left margin of the upper cover of the first volume, endpapers and pastedowns...
New edition.
Our copy is preserved in its original temporary binding, with marbled-paper wrappers. (cf. Sabin 6327.)
Marbled-paper spine lacking, abrasions to the marbled-paper covers, and a dampstain to the upper left corner of the volume, gradually diminishing through the text.
We follow the attribution given by Hoefer and Sabin for this uncommon pamphlet, a critique of the theories of Cornelijs de Pauw. Its authorship remains uncertain: Pierre Poivre (1719-1786) has been proposed, as has Antoine-François Pernety (1716-1796), probably through confusion with his Dissertation sur l'Amérique et les Américains of 1769; both attributions continue to find favour...
First edition of this extremely rare botanical monograph, written by the great navigator following the scientific expedition sent to the Black Sea and the Greek islands aboard La Chevrette, during which he was entrusted with observations in natural history and archaeology (it was during this mission that the Venus de Milo was unearthed).
Cf. Pritzel, 2480.
Late 19th-century brown half cloth, smooth spine with library shelf label at foot and red morocco lettering-piece, marbled paper boards, corners slightly rubbed, speckled edges.
Bound in at the end are three short monographs, all in first edition and published in 1842, the year of d'Urville's death, dealing...
Edition not recorded by Sabin, 47516, who cites the first edition printed by the Imprimerie Royale [title, IV-196 pp.]. Not in JCB.
Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers, with plain temporary covers.
A few small spots of foxing.
A collection of diplomatic documents relating to the negotiations preceding the Treaty of 1763, concerning the boundaries of Acadia and Louisiana, the cession of Canada, and the fisheries of Newfoundland and the West Indies.
First edition, illustrated with 18 figures in the text.
Spine and covers slightly sunned and faded, with small losses along the edges; a pleasant copy internally despite occasional minor foxing.
From 1895 onwards, René Dussaud (1868-1958) undertook several archaeological missions in Syria, a field to which he would devote much of the rest of his career.
Signed presentation inscription by René Dussaud on the half-title to the archaeologist Emmanuel-Alban Guillaume-Rey (1837-1916), an Orientalist and archaeologist specializing in medieval Syria.
Typed letter dated 16 September 1971 and signed by Joseph Kessel, responding favourably to a request from the Geneva autograph collector Claude Arnaud.
"Monsieur, je vous remercie de votre lettre, et c'est avec plaisir que je vous adresse cette signature."
Accompanied by the original typed envelope.
First edition of the French translation, illustrated with 18 engraved plates, 10 of them hand-coloured (cf. Blackmer 87; Atabey 68; Contominas 39; Monglond VII, 654-655).
The 18 plates include the two plates of musical notation and the large folding map at the end of the second volume.
Contemporary green half sheep, darkened smooth spines ruled in gilt, with a narrow gilt roll at foot, marbled paper boards, speckled edges.
Some foxing, light rubbing to the joints, a few gatherings browned.
First and only edition of Auguste du Coudray's French translation of this account of a journey through Greece, written in the form of letters. Jacob Levin Salomo, known as Jakob...
First edition, illustrated at the end of the second volume with a folding map outside the text (cf. Gay 3608. Numa Broc 307).
Contemporary cherry-red half calf bindings, spines with four false raised bands ruled in gilt and black, red paper-covered boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, speckled edges.
Scattered foxing, restorations to the joints and spines, a light dampstain to the lower margins affecting approximately the final two-thirds of the first volume.
A follower of Saint-Simon, Maurice Tamisier (1810-1875) travelled to Egypt in the aftermath of the 1830 Revolution with a small group led by Père Enfantin, who, following his imprisonment, hoped to unite in...
First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Recueil des notices et mémoires de la Société archéologique de Constantine de l'année 1873.
Not in Tailliart.
Front wrapper detached then reattached, losses to the spine, small chips to the corners.
Scarce work illustrated with 14 plates printed hors texte and numbered I–XII (including plates VI bis and ter). Not in Tailliart.
A volunteer in the Corps of Engineers from 1841 onward, Baptiste-Charles Brunon (1821–1888) spent most of his military career in Algeria; after the 1871 war he returned to oversee the Engineering Corps in Constantine.
First edition illustrated with seven folding plates.
Contemporary half vellum binding, smooth spine with gilt initials at foot, brown morocco title label, red morocco date label, marbled paper boards with some rubbing, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, speckled edges.
Rare Saigon printing, and the last year to appear under this title.
This uncommon directory was published under this title until 1888; in 1889 it became the Annuaire de l'Indo-Chine française.
Rare first edition (cf. Tailliart 1697, Playfair 554, Polak 5050).
Spine clumsily restored with small losses, slight marginal tears to the covers, a few scattered foxmarks.
The crew of the "Béarnaise," consisting of about thirty men, seized the citadel of Bone without firing a single shot.
First edition, completed at the end of the volume with a folding table printed off text (cf. Sabin 28336; Howes 318).
Bound in full flexible beige boards, the manuscript spine title clumsily restored with an adhesive strip and now largely faded; sprinkled red edges.
A dampstain affecting the upper right corner of the opening leaves; a few scattered foxmarks.
The folding table bound at the end of the volume is not recorded by Sabin. It summarises the key geographical data for each state (natural resources, population in 1790 and 1810, universities and colleges, representation in Congress, etc.).
Father Giovanni Grassi of the Society of Jesus spent several years in...
First edition of the French translation (cf. Sabin, 43416; Smith, Pacific Northwest Americana, 6381; Pilling, Bibl. of the Algonquian Languages, 327; Hoefer, XXXII, 566-567).
Illustrated with a portrait of the author after Sir Thomas Lawrence as frontispiece to the first volume and, at the end of each volume, three engraved maps showing the route from Fort Chipewyan to the Arctic Sea in 1789 and to the Pacific Ocean in 1793, together with the portion of North America lying between the 40th and 70th degrees north latitude and the 45th and 180th degrees west longitude.
Handsome half red shagreen bindings, flat spines ruled in gilt with quintuple fillets, traces of former...
First edition, illustrated at the end of the volume with three folding maps (cf. Tailliart 3080; Playfair 4334).
The original colour map, frequently lacking, has here been supplied in photomechanical reproduction, while the two others are later insertions.
Full brick-coloured sheep binding, unlettered spine with five raised bands showing traces of rubbing, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers preserved; modern binding.
Minor foxing, pencil annotations on the initial endpapers and in the margins of several passages, with a handwritten note in blue ink "états de service" at the head of the front endpaper, followed by a brief pencilled biography...
An extremely rare first edition of this valuable statistical survey of Bolivia; absent from both Palau and Sabin. Only one copy recorded in the CCFr (BnF).
Chuquisaca, Imprenta de Sucre, 1851, octavo,
Contemporary half brown sheep, smooth spine decorated with double gilt fillets, marbled paper boards with losses, worn corners and edges, blue-speckled edges; a modest binding of the period.
Copy slightly trimmed.
José Maria Dalence (1782–1852), a jurist and prominent political figure of the independence period (1825), here provides one of the most precise demographic, ethnographic, and economic portraits of the young nation.
First edition.
A single copy recorded in the CCFr (Roanne).
Contemporary half green calf, smooth spine cracked and with losses, marbled paper boards, original printed wrappers preserved, binding of the period.
Lower board tending to detach.
The Venetian historian Ronaldo Fulin (1824–1884) produced numerous publications and original studies based on the exceptionally rich holdings of the Archivio di Stato of Venice.
The question addressed in this communication is linked to the presumed relations between Columbus and Venice (see the accompanying letters).
Copy from the library of the celebrated Americanist Henry Harrisse (1829–1910), a specialist...
Complete autograph manuscript of 50 pages, written on the recto of each leaf and containing numerous deletions and revisions.
The manuscript was published in the December 1872 issue of the Bulletin de la Société de Géographie.
Full red shagreen binding, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt fleurons and double gilt panels adorned with floral tools, double gilt fillets on the boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt dentelle border on the pastedowns, gilt edges on the boards, corners rubbed, contemporary binding.
The leaves are numbered 1 to 50 in the upper left corner; an earlier numbering, struck through, appears in the upper...
First edition of the French translation prepared by F. Soulès of "An account on the present state of Nova Scotia", originally published in 1786.
Our copy is offered unbound.
Pages 31 to 39 are devoted to fishing practices.
First French edition, translated from the third English edition (Sabin, 30036.).
Each volume features a steel-engraved frontispiece.
Covers soiled, front boards detached, minor losses and tears to board margins, some foxing, cracked spines with losses; our copy in wrappers is housed in a modern brown full-cloth slipcase.
The second volume also includes a section on "Passage to Montreal and Quebec" (pp. 317-342) and "The Character of the Canadians" (pp. 331-332, 339-342).
Manuscript ex-libris signed Delecey de Mécourt on the front covers.
Rare first edition of this uncommon atlas, featuring 9 maps printed in colour, either on single sheets, double-page, or folding.
Bound in modern half dark blue calf, smooth spine with gilt rules at head and tail, title in long, boards of handmade paper, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.
Minor foxing to the versos of some maps, three discreet repairs using small adhesive pieces to the margins of three maps and the title page.
Printed note on the verso of the title page: "Institut national de géographie, Bruxelles".
The maps depict: General View of the East Indies, Java and Madura (detached from the volume), Sumatra and the Riouw Archipelago, Banka and Billiton...
First edition of the French translation.
Contemporary half vellum binding, smooth spine gilt with a small fleur-de-lis ornament at the foot, black shagreen title label, marbled paper sides.
The sole edition of this version (a portion had already been made available to the French public in 1837 under the title Histoire de la fondation de la Régence d'Alger). Alphonse Rousseau (1820–1870), first interpreter at the French General Consulate in Tunis, later served as Consul General.
Modern Pierre Libaude bookplate pasted to a free endpaper; a few minor spots.
Rare first edition (see Cordier, Japonica 583; Nipponalia I, 2073. Neither of these bibliographies mentions the map. Polak 8448).
Contemporary half cherry-red calf, spine slightly faded, with four raised bands gilt with dotted tools and fillets; light rubbing to the spine, red paper-covered boards, corners slightly bumped, speckled edges.
Occasional light foxing; a pale dampstain affecting the opening leaves and the folding double-page map showing the plan of the Strait of Shimonoseki.
This work relates the Anglo-French naval campaign of 1862–1863, by Alfred Roussin (1839–1919), a naval officer who commanded the frigate...
Very scarce first edition of the Armenian translation, illustrated with a lithographed frontispiece and title-frontispiece printed on tinted heavy stock by Weger (Leipzig), together with several in-text figures reproducing seals.
The CCFr records only copies of the French edition (indeed, the same year 1871 saw the publication of a first French translation; a second French edition was issued in Paris in 1888, at which time a German version was also printed at the Leipzig address).
Bradel binding in half brown percaline, smooth spine gilt-ruled and tooled with a gilt frieze, marbled paper boards, endpapers soiled, corners rubbed, edges sprinkled in blue.
Some minor...
Rare first edition (cf. Tailliart 3062).
A disbound copy preserved in a plain brown paper wrapper, the titles handwritten in ink on the spine and upper cover, with a faint marginal dampstain to the title-page.
Edmond Doutté (1867–1926) was a sociologist, orientalist and Islamic scholar — fluent in both Arabic and Berber —, a multifaceted French intellectual and, above all, a French explorer of Islam and the Maghreb in his time, to whom Marcel Mauss paid tribute ("explorateur complet, géographe, géologue, naturaliste, anthropologue, ethnographe, sociologue, historien, linguiste, agent d'information")
First edition of this Latin work devoted to the history of the ancient Mediterranean: Sardinia and the influences of Greece, North Africa, the Syrtes and Numidian tribes, the history of the tyrant of Syracuse, the Balearic Islands, Corsica, the island of Rhodes, and more (cf. Adams, L-704. See Durling, 2796, which records only later editions).
Restored full brown calf binding, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt tools now largely softened, blind fillets and gilt corner ornaments framing the boards, central gilt medallion enclosing a device in Greek characters, manuscript inscription on the fore-edge, early binding.
Ink numbering at the head of the verso of the...
First edition, printed in a small run, of this offprint from the Journal des savants.
Work illustrated with a finely engraved plate printed outside the text.
Some scattered foxing internally and to the wrappers.
Appointed in 1820 to the chair of archaeology at the Sorbonne, succeeding Quatremère de Quincy, Désiré Raoul-Rochette (1789–1854) was chiefly known for his expertise in Greek antiquity. He also served as curator of the Cabinet des médailles.
On the upper cover, authorial presentation inscription from Désiré Raoul-Rochette to the physician and botanist Henri Dutrochet (1776–1847), the discoverer of the phenomena of exosmosis and...
Complete first edition, in eleven bound volumes (ten text volumes and one atlas) of Auguste Pavie’s monumental work on former French Indochina, enriched with an autograph inscription signed by the author and accompanied by the large map of the Mission.
Published in Paris by Ernest Leroux, with the assistance of Augustin Challamel for the Atlas, between 1898 and 1919, the work appeared under the auspices of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, the Colonies, Public Instruction, and Fine Arts.
The set comprises the section Géographie et voyages, volumes I to VII, published between 1901 and 1919, illustrated with 52 maps and portraits hors texte...
First edition, illustrated with a large folding colour map printed out of text (cf. Tailliart 2645).
Bradel binding in half blue percaline, the smooth spine slightly sunned, the brown skiver lettering-piece lightly rubbed, marbled-paper boards, blue endpapers and pastedowns showing a few small spots, corners softened, top edge sprinkled.
A few light spots.
The only edition of this comprehensive survey of the state of Algeria, published after the death of Jules Ferry (17 March 1893), the driving force behind the senatorial commission that had commissioned the work. It serves as a reminder that Ferry was a staunch advocate of France’s colonial expansion and of the mission...
First edition, published in Paris by Bossange frères in December 1823, illustrated with an engraved frontispiece and four engraved portraits drawn from life by Olivier Voutier himself and engraved on copper by Normand fils. Cf. Loukia Droulia, 429; Blackmer, 1751; not in Atabey.
Contemporary half black shagreen, sympathetically restored spine with four raised bands ruled in triple gilt fillets, aubergine paper-covered boards, gilt armorial stamp to the upper cover. Boards...
First edition of the French translation and notes prepared by Billecocq (cf. Sabin, 41879; Leclerc, 943; Field, 947; Howes, 443; Staton-Trenlaine, Bibliogr. of Canadiana, 597 for the original edition).
Half mottled calf, smooth spine decorated with gilt tools, brown shagreen title-piece, marbled paper boards slightly darkened and faded at the edges, red edges; modern binding.
Stamp on the half-title, a light marginal dampstain affecting the outer margins of the final leaves.
Illustrated with a folding copper-engraved map by P. F. Tardieu, “Des pays situés à l'ouest du Canada”.
“The interest of the work lies in the detailed and relatively objective...
First edition, illustrated with four tinted plates, including a frontispiece (cf. O'Reilly & Reitman, Tahiti, 6452).
Contemporary half plum sheep, the spine faded and decorated with gilt garlands and floral tools, some rubbing to the spine, marbled-paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, a few worn spots along the edges.
Scattered foxing, the plates evenly toned.
The work offers a history of the island, written in the aftermath of its annexation following the cession of his domains by King Pomare V. It provides an overview of the voyages of Quirós, Wallis, Bougainville and Cook, a portrait of Tahitian life a century earlier, and a sketch of the island’s...
Third edition, partially revised and corrected, incorporating new material.
Bradel binding in olive-green half percaline, smooth spine, bordeaux morocco-grained shagreen lettering-piece; restored and lightly soiled original wrappers preserved; modern binding.
Some scattered foxing, bookplate mounted on the verso of the front wrapper, traces of adhesive at the head and foot of the endpapers.
The first edition appeared in 1868.
This collection of twenty-six short independent pieces chiefly concerns the Chinese world and its adjacent regions (Indochina and Japan).
First edition (cf. Martin & Walter, 16 491; Monglond III, 630; not in Schefer, Blackmer or Atabey).
Bradel binding in full marbled paper boards, smooth spine with a vertically lettered fawn sheepskin label, red edges; a modern binding.
Some foxing; marginal staining to the upper edges of the final leaves.
Excellent abridgement of General Hénin de Cuvillers’ diplomatic mission to Constantinople (1793–1795).
Upon his return from Turkey, Hénin (born 1755) took part in the Italian campaign of 1796 and was wounded at Caldiero and Arcole.
Appointed in 1802 as assistant to the general staff in Saint-Domingue, he was entrusted by Rochambeau with the colony’s military...
First separate edition, the text having previously appeared in the series Philipp's new voyages and travels (London, 1820–1823) (cf. Cordier, Sinica, 308).
Bradel-style binding in full grey boards, smooth spine, title label, sprinkled edges; a modern binding.
An exceptionally early account of the coastal region between Macao and Canton, published anonymously despite the initials J.R. at the end of the preface (this J.R. served as supercargo on the ship The Friendship).
First issue of the fifty large hors-texte lithographs drawn from life by Henry John Terry (cf. Vicaire, VII, 1164).
Publisher’s binding in full red cloth, smooth spine decorated with blind-ruled compartments and fillets, light rubbing to the head- and tailcaps, gilt-lettered title on the front board, yellow endpapers, trace of a removed bookplate on one pastedown, one lower corner softened, slight discoloration to the lower left corner of the rear board, occasional marginal foxing, a small loss to the foot of page 119, and minor wormholes at the foot of the last three leaves, not affecting the text.
The fifty striking black lithographs depict the most...
New illustrated edition featuring two lithographed plates out of text and enriched with notes by Francisco de S. Luiz (cf. Brunet I, p. 263; Graesse I, p. 118).
Modern binding in half Havana calf, smooth spine decorated with gilt and black fillets and black floral motifs, black shagreen title piece, marbled paper boards, red edges.
A few light foxing spots, mainly at the beginning of the volume.
This biography, rightly celebrated, met with great success upon publication.
First edition of each volume.
The first work lacks its map, while the second retains it.
Full marbled blond calf binding, smooth spines decorated with gilt floral and scroll motifs, red calf title labels, gilt fillet borders on the covers, gilt roll tooling along the edges, cat’s-eye endpapers and pastedowns, green edges, contemporary binding.
Restorations to the spines, joints fragile, repairs to the title leaves, handwritten notes at the head of the first page of text in each volume.
Paris, Arthus Bertrand, undated [1861]. One text volume and an atlas.
Very rare first edition of Voyage dans le Haouran et aux bords de la mer Morte, exécuté pendant les années 1857 et 1858.
The text volume, largely unopened, is illustrated with one plate. The atlas, preserved in a full red cloth box and slipcase, is complete with 27 plates, numbered I to XXVI with an...
Paris, Bellizard, Barthès, Dufour and Lowell, 1835-1843. Eighteen octavo text volumes and one folio atlas.
First edition in French of Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall's Histoire de l'Empire ottoman depuis son origine jusqu'à nos jours, translated by J.-J. Hellert "from the German, using the author's notes and under his supervision". Publication began in 1835, the same year in which the ten-volume German original was completed, making this the first transmission into French of Hammer's monumental history of the Ottoman Empire. Atabey, 557 for the text and 569 for the atlas; Blackmer, 788 for the atlas; Hage...
First edition of the French translation, one of 25 numbered copies on pur fil, the only copies printed on deluxe paper.
Blood red morocco binding, gilt title lengthwise, gold stingray boards framed in morocco, gilt decorative paper endleaves, original wrappers preserved, top edge gilt, an elegant binding signed Boichot. Front free endpaper slightly toned, otherwise a handsome untrimmed copy.
...
First edition of this remarkable album devoted to the Island of Elba, published in Paris by Dusacq & Cie in 1862 and printed by Lemercier. Large folio, loose sheets: 4 pp. of text comprising the Notice historique et archéologique sur l'Ile d'Elbe, 1 lithographed dedication leaf and 18 lithographed plates, including the title-frontispiece. The views were drawn from nature by André Durand and lithographed with the collaboration of Eugène Cicéri. The Bibliothèque nationale de France likewise records the work as comprising 18 numbered plates, including the frontispiece.
First edition.
Contemporary half calf in a bronze tone, the spine with four raised bands framed by double gilt rules and gilt pointillé work, together with broad black fillets; joints rubbed, marbled paper sides, marbled endpapers, edges sprinkled; a period binding.
Scattered foxing.
Exceptionally rare first edition of this remarkable photographic album, printed in Cairo by Mourès & Cie, the press operated by Antoine Mourès. Produced under the direction of Auguste Mariette, it constitutes the first illustrated photographic catalogue of the Boulaq Museum, the first Egyptian museum devoted to Pharaonic antiquities and the direct predecessor of the present Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
The work comprises forty albumen prints (approximately 24.5 × 18 cm), mounted on heavy card leaves hinged on guards. Each photograph is accompanied by a printed descriptive leaf - with the exception of plates 4 and 11, which are accompanied by two - the photographs being...
New edition and the first printing of Jacques Tardi’s illustrations.
Publisher’s white boards, smooth spine.
A handsome copy.
Presentation inscription, dated and signed by Jacques Tardi to Joëlle Passani, with an original black-felt drawing depicting a sorrowful-faced Bardamu in a small vignette.
New edition, embellished at the close of the first volume with a folding plate printed out of text (cf. Palau 17346).
Cherry half-shagreen bindings, spines with four raised false bands decorated with gilt fillets and double gilt panels, gilt lettering at the foot of the spines, slight rubbing to the headcaps, blind-tooled frames on the textured cloth boards, pebble-paper endpapers and pastedowns, a few bumped corners, period bindings.
Rear board of the first volume partially soiled.
New edition prepared under the supervision of the physician Rafael Ángel Cowley Valdés-Machado (1837–1908) and Andrés Pego, gathering three major sources for Cuban historiography: José...
Rare first edition (cf. Tailliart 2391).
Backstrip skewed and untitled, with a few losses and small tears to the board corners; light dampstaining at the head of the opening leaves, otherwise a clean and pleasing copy.
The author served as a military intendant and published several concise monographs on fortification and military administration.
Second edition, partly original as it was revised and substantially expanded (cf. Ferguson 7152a; Lacassagne 47).
Half black shagreen bindings, spines with four raised bands decorated with gilt rules and double gilt panels, boards framed with a single blind rule over marbled paper, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, sprinkled edges, period bindings.
A few minor spots.
This second edition was issued simultaneously either in a single volume with continuous pagination or in two volumes with separate pagination (our copy, see Ferguson 7152).
Bénigne-Ernest Poret, Marquis de Blosseville (1799–1886), was a legitimist politician and man of letters. He was active in...
Rare edition printed on laid paper, very likely produced in a small run for Picard bibliophiles (cf. Hage Chahine, 4071).
Listed in the CCF only at Arras, Amiens, and Compiègne.
A few minor spots.
Half cherry morocco binding, spine lightly faded and raised on five bands, a few rubs to the spine, marbled paper sides, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt top edge, a period binding signed by Petit, successor to Simier.
Robert de Clari (c. 1170 – after 1216) was a Picard knight, vassal to the castellan Pierre d’Amiens.
He took part in the Fourth Crusade alongside his lord Pierre d’Amiens. After the deaths in 1205 of his direct suzerains Pierre d’Amiens and...
First edition (cf. O'Reilly, 2192.)
Modern Bradel binding in brown half-cloth, forest-green morocco lettering-piece, marbled paper boards, beige endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers retained albeit lightly soiled; binding signed by Boichot.
Illustrated with 49 photographic plates hors texte.
"Minutieuse histoire analytico-chronologique des trente premières années de la Calédonie européenne. Il annonçait une suite qui n'a jamais vu le jour" (O'Reilly).
First edition of this rare work, offering the very first description in French of this small canton, still nominally under Ottoman rule—though in fact largely autonomous—and which appeared as exotic to early 19th-century Westerners as the most remote corners of China.
Illustrated with 13 hand-coloured plates, including a large folding map, two botanical plates, two depicting celebrations, three views of churches, and five costume plates. (cf. Atabey 1286. Lipperheide 1443. Not in Blackmer or Colas.)
Contemporary half calf binding, smooth spines decorated with gilt fillets, garlands, and floral tools, red morocco lettering-piece, black morocco...
First edition of the earliest of the four works devoted by the deputy Amédée Desjobert (1796–1853) to the situation in Algeria (the second concerns the year 1838 – see below –, the third 1844, and the last 1846) (cf. Tailliart 2333).
Contemporary full tree-calf bindings, smooth spines gilt with garlands, fillets and floral tools, the gilt sometimes a touch dulled, red morocco lettering-pieces, green morocco volume labels slightly faded at the margins, marbled endpapers, gilt fillets to the board edges, marbled edges, modern bookplates mounted to the endpapers, contemporary bindings.
A few small losses to the leather on the boards, the half-title to the first work wanting, a...
First edition, illustrated at the end of the volume with four hors-texte plates printed on chamois paper.
Not recorded by Brunet, who lists the author’s principal works.
Scattered foxing, including to the boards.
The orientalist Michelangelo Lanci (1779–1867) produced a fascinating blend of genuine erudition and improbable conjectures, shaped by the pre-critical and broadly concordist mindset then prevailing without challenge in the learned circles of pontifical Rome (Lanci being a subject of the Pope).
This largely accounts for the profound neglect into which most of his works have since fallen.
Prisse d’Avennes (1807–1879), who had worked with Champollion...
Autograph manuscript signed of Victor Hugo’s “Ballade du fou,” sung by the jester Elespuru in his play Cromwell (IV, 1). Two pages on a folded leaf backed with green glazed paper.
Exceptional autograph manuscript of Victor Hugo’s most celebrated poetic song, performed by the jester Elespuru in his resounding drama Cromwell.
Both grotesque and exalted, this piece embodies the freedom of Romantic drama championed by Hugo in the play’s famous preface: as noted by the Bibliothèque nationale de France, this song “is the only passage in the play as equally famous as its...
First edition published anonymously, the work of the Bayonne man of letters Coste d'Arnobat (1732–1808), probably based on accounts provided by English merchants (cf. Barbier IV 1060).
Contemporary half sheep in dark brown, smooth spine tooled with gilt floral motifs, gilt initial “V” at the foot, some rubbing to spine and joints, a small marginal loss at the head of the spine, marbled paper boards, yellow sprinkled edges.
A dampstain affecting the folds of the final ten leaves.
An account of Bambouc, a region of Upper Senegal particularly noted for its gold mines and inhabited by the Mandinka people.
This narrative, later translated into German, offers highly...
First edition, illustrated at the end of the volume with tables printed on two large folding plates included in the pagination (cf. Ferguson 2165a.)
Contemporary half bordeaux shagreen, the spine very lightly faded, with five raised bands framed by black fillets, marbled-paper boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers marginally soiled and showing small preserved restorations, edges untrimmed, modern binding signed Laurenchet.
Botany Bay, on the eastern coast of Australia, had been chosen in 1787 by the British government as a place of deportation. This study seeks to demonstrate the ineffectiveness of penal colonies at a time when the proposal to...
Second edition, partly original as it is considerably expanded (cf. Sabin 59254, Howes 7805, F. Monaghan 1171).
Half black shagreen binding, smooth spine decorated with gilt double fillets and a gilt pastoral motif, a restored tear to the headcap, black paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, contemporary binding.
Scattered foxing.
Provenance: Copy from the library of Marquis Claude-Emmanuel-Joseph-Pierre de Pastoret (1755–1840), with his heraldic device gilt-stamped at the foot of the spine.
First edition (cf. Tailliart 2540).
Quarter shagreen in a dark bottle-green hue with corner pieces, the smooth spine slightly toned and decorated with blind fillets, marbled paper sides, cat’s-eye patterned endpapers and pastedowns, modern binding signed Honnelaître.
A light marginal dampmark at the foot of the half-title and title pages; scattered, unobtrusive foxing.
The author (1781–1852) was a colonial administrator: "Une introduction de trente pages sur les erreurs de la politique suivie à l’égard des Arabes : trop de faiblesse chez nous ; de glorieuses expéditions, mais pas de résultat positif durable. Il attaque Bresson qui a préconisé la formation d’un empire...
First edition, illustrated with 12 in-text reproductions of coins.
Contemporary half Russian-cherry morocco over marbled boards, smooth spine gilt with a floral tool, date gilt at foot, marbled paste-paper boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt edges at head.
Sole edition, uncommon.
Henri Lavoix (1820–1892) served as curator of the Department of Medals and Antiquities at the Bibliothèque nationale.
At the head of the half-title, which shows heavy foxing, signed presentation inscription from Henri Michel Lavoix to the archaeologist Alban-Emmanuel Guillaume-Rey (1837–1916), a specialist in medieval Syria and in particular the Frankish settlements...
Very rare first edition (cf. Monglond VII 661).
Contemporary half brown sheep with corners, smooth spine gilt with floral tools and fillets, rubbing to spine and joints, marbled paper boards, grey endpapers and pastedowns, corners softened, yellow edges.
Pleasant, clean interior.
A shadowy figure who was by turns (and at times simultaneously) a secret agent, Tallien’s associate, a Revolutionary pamphleteer, and a double agent under the Directory and the Empire, Méhée de La Touche (1762–1827) left in 1784 on a covert diplomatic mission to Poland and Russia, from which he was expelled at the end of 1791. The correspondence he publishes here (running from 1788 to July 1791)...
First edition of the French translation, expanded with notes by the translator (cf. Loukia Droulia 1180; Quérard II 238 and VII 6, under: \"Pecchio\"; Blackmer 549 and Atabey 396, under: \"Emerson\").
The first volume opens with a frontispiece portrait of Andrea Miaoulis.
Contemporary half bronze calf, smooth spine decorated with gilt rolls and tools now slightly softened, minor rubbing to the spine, marbled paper boards, marbled edges.
Spine restored and lightly rubbed, some scattered foxing.
The original edition appeared in London in the same year. It also included Humphrey’s \"Journal of a visit to Greece\", omitted from the French edition. \"Important...
First edition of the French translation by Jean Mourier.
Only one copy listed in the CCF (BULAC).
Full burgundy cloth binding, smooth spine with gilt lettering running lengthwise, pink paper pastedowns and endpapers, a modest modern binding.
Some light, insignificant foxing.
Very rare work tracing the origins of the Kingdom of Georgia up to the introduction of Christianity.
Rare first edition illustrated with 31 figures in the text.
Contemporary half blond calf, the spine slightly sunned, with five raised bands decorated with gilt and black fillets, fawn morocco lettering-piece, marbled paper sides, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, sprinkled comb-marbled edges.
Christophe-Edouard Mauss (1829–1914), architect to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, undertook several archaeological missions in the Levant (Salonika, Smyrna, Alexandria) before being sent by the French government to Jerusalem (1862–1874) to restore the Church of Saint Anne.
He was also deeply interested in ancient metrology, on which he wrote several monographs (the final...
Very rare first edition.
Only three copies recorded in the CCF (BnF, Sainte-Geneviève, CNAM).
Half blond calf, spine lightly sunned, with five raised bands decorated with gilt and black fillets, tan morocco lettering-piece, marbled paper boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, mottled comb-marbled edges, original front wrapper preserved; contemporary binding.
The architect of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Christophe-Edouard Mauss (1829–1914), undertook several archaeological missions in the Levant (Salonika, Smyrna, Alexandria) before being sent by the French government to Jerusalem (1862–1874) to restore the Church of Saint Anne. He also developed a...
Very rare first edition of this address delivered on the seventy-eighth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
No copy listed in the CCF. Not in Sabin.
Rear wrapper missing, a few minor marginal foxings.
Born in Pennsylvania, David Lawrence Gregg (1819–1868) was appointed by President Franklin Pierce to negotiate the annexation of the Kingdom of Hawaii with King Kamehameha III, a mission that ultimately failed. The king died on December 15, 1854, and the attempts to integrate Hawaii into the United States were abandoned by his successor, Kamehameha IV.
First edition illustrated with a folding map at the end of the volume (cf. Nipponalia, I, 2061; Innocencio, IX, 208; lacking from Cordier Japonica, Hill and Palau).
Only two copies recorded in the CCFr (Sorbonne and BULAC).
Rare edition of this account of one of the earliest European voyages undertaken to establish commercial relations with Japan, following the success of the American Commodore Perry in 1853.
Spine cracked with loss at foot, traces of adhesive paper at the head and tail of the endpapers, modern bookplate pasted on the verso of the front cover.
First edition illustrated with 24 plates, including 18 views and cross-sections, and 6 folding maps and plans (cf. Tailliart, 1229).
Half brown shagreen binding, spine faded with five raised bands, gilt date at foot, marbled paper boards, brown endpapers and pastedowns, modern binding signed Honnelaître.
First and last leaves lightly and partially soiled.
This volume gathers the official reports of the exploration mission led by Mircher (1820–1878), Vatonne, and Polignac, which departed from Tripoli in 1862 and returned via El-Oued after signing a trade treaty with the people of Ghadamès and the Tuareg. This agreement enabled the inclusion of the locality within Algeria...
First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Revue des arts décoratifs of January 1885.
Unbound copy.
Copies recorded in the CCFr only at the BnF, the Musée des Arts décoratifs, and Troyes.
This offprint gathers the three lectures delivered on 18, 21, and 25 October 1884 by the influential art critic Philippe Burty (1830–1890), a key figure in the emergence of Japonism.
Inscribed by Philippe Burty to the archivist and historian Pierre Margry (1818–1894).
First edition of the French translation by the Parisian jurist Luc de La Porte, doctor of law (cf. Cordier, Sinica, 12; Sabin 27780; Palau 105509; Alden, European Americana, 588/37; Leclerc [1878], 258; Streit IV, 1999; Atkinson, 339).
Paris, Jérémie Périer, 1588.
Two parts bound in one octavo volume: 12 unnumbered leaves, 112 leaves, 323 leaves - with errors in foliation - and 25 unnumbered leaves of table and errata.
Rare and sought-after first edition, first issue.
Includes the subscribers' list and the foreword, later removed when the remainder of this edition passed into the hands of another publisher, Dion-Lambert. It also features the pagination error in volume two: page 164 instead of 364.
Black half-morocco bindings, smooth spines with double gilt fillets and double blind-stamped compartments, black paper boards...
Saigon, Imprimerie coloniale, followed by Imprimerie Rey, Curiol & Cie, Imprimerie commerciale Rey, Ménard & Legros, L. Ménard and F.-H. Schneider, 1886-1911. Twenty-seven separately issued reports bound in six quarto volumes, covering the years 1884-1910.
A rare complete annual run for the twenty-seven years from 1884 to 1910 of the Situation commerciale issued by the Saigon Chamber of Commerce, one of the principal printed statistical sources for the study of the colonial economy of...
First edition of the French translation prepared by Jean-Nicolas Jouin de Sausseul (see Quérard VII, 330, who erroneously lists 4 parts; Cioranescu XVIII, 59 618; not in Sabin).
Full mottled fawn calf binding, smooth spines divided into compartments and decorated with gilt fleurons, some rubbing, light brown morocco title labels, green morocco volume labels, gilt rolls slightly faded at the headcaps, single gilt fillet framing the boards, gilt fillets along the edges, bumped corners, red edges, contemporary bindings.
Two small patches of missing leather to the lower cover of the second volume.
The original English edition appeared in 1781 under the title Emma...
New edition of the French translation established by Amédée Pichot, partly original as it is enhanced with a historical notice on Lord Byron.
Half blue glazed calf bindings, spines partially faded with four raised bands framed by gilt garlands and richly decorated gilt compartments, navy blue glazed calf title and volume labels, blind-stamped floral tools at head and tail, marbled paper boards, gilt fillets at foot, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges; a few lightly rubbed corners. Romantic bindings of the period.
Our copy contains 13 engraved plates, some serving as frontispieces.
Scattered foxing, a few leaves browned due to paper acidity.
A copy in...
First octavo edition illustrated with 92 engravings by Benett, including one folding map in colour: this marks the very first use of polychromy in an illustration for a Jules Verne novel.
Publisher’s Hetzel binding "aux deux éléphants" in full red cloth, signed by Lenègre, type 3, upper cover signed by Souze, lower cover Lenègre type “e” as described by Jauzac, original blue endpapers, all edges gilt, publisher’s EL catalogue at rear.
Spine slightly faded as usual, small black marks along the hinges, spine-ends softened as often, a pleasant copy almost free of any foxing.
“Deux ans de vacances” is a Robinson Crusoe-like novel featuring fourteen schoolboys from New Zealand.
...
First edition of the third series of Andersen’s tales. Two parts in one volume, published respectively on 30 March and 23 November 1872, each bearing an inscription by Andersen. He mentions the first in his diary (H. C. Andersens dagbøger, vol. IX, p. 247) and the second is recorded by Henry Tuxen (Anderseniana, vol. 4, 1958-59, p. 155).
Red cloth half binding, flat spine faded with gilt title and ruled in black, black cloth boards. First board with a slight lenghtwise crack, spine-ends and corners rubbed, small lack of material at the margin of the first board.
Unpublished complete autograph manuscript, dated and signed, written by the Vicomte Edmond de Poncins between 12 September 1891 and 12 June 1892. 775 pages, incorrectly numbered 1-567 and then 567-774. Small folio (21 x 34.5 cm).
Contemporary half dark green shagreen with corners, spine with five raised bands ruled in black and decorated with blind compartments and central gilt floral tools, lettered in gilt "Notes sur l'Inde, 1892". At the beginning of the volume, the author himself gives the slightly different title "Notes sur les Indes". Green boards framed with blind rules, comb-marbled...
Edition published one year after the original, illustrated with four fine copper-engraved plates by Charles Eisen depicting Nordic types (Icelandic women, a bear hunt, Samoyeds, a Laplander in a sleigh) engraved by Le Mire, one folding map by Bellin, thirteen maps, plans, or views (eight of them folding) engraved by Croissey, as well as a charming engraved title vignette and a headpiece by Le Gouaz.
See Sabin, 37616; Chadenat, 1633; Boucher de la Richarderie, I, 380.
Full mottled calf binding, smooth spine richly gilt in compartments decorated with gilt fleurons and geometric motifs, sometimes slightly rubbed, red morocco label, restorations to spine and joints, gilt roll...
First edition of the French translation prepared by A. J. B. Defauconpret (see Brunet III, 555; Quérard IV, 230; not in Field).
The work is illustrated with 20 charming aquatint plates, 6 of them hand-coloured, and a folding plan. The English first edition contained only 13 aquatints.
Contemporary Bradel bindings in full sand-coloured paper boards, red morocco spine labels for title and volume numbers (partly faded), flat spines gilt with a central floral tool, light rubbing to spines, upper caps slightly worn, two corners bumped, entirely uncut. Period bindings.
Pleasant, clean internal condition.
Johnson was a British officer in India who chose to return to...
Second edition; the first having been destroyed by the author himself. Cf. Louandre et Bourquelot, III, p. 149: "Il y a eu de cet ouvrage une première édition anéantie par l'auteur avant toute émission, et dont il n'est peut-être pas échappé un exemplaire." "(L'auteur) s'est efforcé de rendre avec fidélité les impressions qu'il a éprouvées, et les renseignemens qu'il a obtenus ont été puisés aux sources les plus respectables."
Half calf bindings in light brown, smooth spines decorated with double gilt fillets, black morocco title and volume labels, a small hole at the foot of the spine of the first volume, marbled paper boards, upper corners slightly rubbed, sprinkled...
First edition of the French translation prepared by Joseph Lavallée.
The atlas volume is illustrated with 16 plates (portrait, views, birds, insects), 12 engraved music plates (printed on 6 leaves), and a large folding map on thick paper (cf. Quérard, I, 6; British Museum (Natural History), I, 8 for the atlas only; Pritzel, 6 for the original English edition).
Bound in contemporary half calf, smooth spines gilt-tooled with floral ornaments, rolls and motifs, sometimes slightly faded, orange calf title and volume labels, marbled paper boards, a few rubs and minor defects along the joints, sprinkled red edges; the atlas volume in contemporary half brown calf, smooth...
First edition of the French translation (cf. Gay 368).
Rare copy preserved in its original wrappers, complete with the accompanying atlas volume containing 7 maps, including 2 large folding ones.
Some light foxing, a few marginal tears to the wrappers of the atlas volume.
The English geographer Hugh Murray [1779-1846] devoted many years to enlarging and completing this work begun by the English orientalist John Leyden [1775-1811].
