Young Heroes, Old Heralds…

Edition illustrated with two frontispieces, one of them a portrait of Fénelon, and twenty-four full-page plates, one for each of the twenty-four books of the Avantures de Telemaque. Copy printed on thick Dutch laid paper.

Bound in full red straight-grain morocco, covers framed with dotted borders, smooth spines decorated with seven dotted fillets, gilt titles and volume numbers, dotted rule on board edges, gilt inner roll-tooled borders, marbled paper pastedowns, all edges gilt. Some very slight rubbing and soiling to bindings, spines sunned, some foxing, offsetting from the plates onto the half-titles.

Bookplate of Thomas Pares (1716-1805), a lawyer in...

Illustrated edition with 13 colour plates on brown paper by Arthur Rackham tipped in with captioned tissue guards, together with 14 black-and-white illustrations in the text by Rackham, including a frontispiece portrait of Alice, one of the very rare 20 copies on japon, signed by Arthur Rackham on the limitation page, copy from the deluxe issue. A few name copies on the same paper were also issued.

Publisher’s full vellum binding, flat spine lettered in gilt with a gilt illustration of the Cheshire Cat, upper cover stamped in gilt with the title and an illustration of two fantastic...

First edition, an advance (service de presse) copy.
Covers and spine very skillfully repaired.
Handsome autograph inscription from Pierre Drieu La Rochelle to Henri Béraud.

Autograph letter signed by George Sand, addressed to her friend Stéphanie Bourjot, daughter of Étienne Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire. Four pages written in blue ink on a folded bifolium bearing George Sand’s monogram. Fold marks as usual.
 
This letter was partially published in Correspondance, vol. XIV, no. 7846.
A beautiful and partly unpublished letter in which George Sand discusses Marie Pape-Carpantier’s book and the education of her young maid, Marie Caillaud : « It is an excellent book, which I use to teach my young maid to read. She is extraordinarily intelligent, and this book opens her mind to all sorts of...

Three original childhood photographs of Maurice Béjart, and his birth announcement 
[after 1927] | 12.2 x 17.2 cm| three photographs and a card
Three original photographs of Maurice Béjart as a child beside his mother, taken in Mougins.
We attach the birth announcement, dated 1 January 1927, printed with his name “Maurice Jean Berger.”
Provenance: Maurice Béjart's personal archives.

Original colour print printed on laid paper and signed in the plate lower right.

Original engraving produced for the illustration of La Gazette du Bon Ton, one of the most beautiful and influential fashion journals of the 20th century, celebrating the talent of French designers and artists at the height of the Art Deco era.

First edition, with no deluxe copies printed.

Publisher's full blue cloth binding, smooth spine, copy complete with its photographic dust jacket, showing minor tears at the head and tail of the spine without loss.

Text by Françoise Dolto, photographs by Alecio de Andrade.

Inscribed and signed by Françoise Dolto and Alecio de Andrade on the front free endpaper.

First edition, one of 50 numbered copies on chiffon vélin paper, the only deluxe copies aside from a few out-of-commerce copies also printed on chiffon vélin.

A fine copy.

"On June 28, 1970, I attended the first New York Gay Pride March. The date marks the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots, which launched the LGBTQ+ liberation movement in the U.S. We left from Christopher Street, a gay cultural mecca in Greenwich Village, and walked up 6th Avenue to Central Park. To end the day, a kissing contest was held in the middle of the park! It was a great moment of joy, love and freedom. This couple, who kissed for hours under an umbrella, obviously didn't care about photographers" (Interview with Clément Thierry, 2021)

First edition, this one the no. 1 of 25 numbered copies on Japon, most limited deluxe issue.

Bound in grey half morocco, smooth spine, marbled paper boards, mould-made endpapers, original wrappers preserved, pastedown bookplate, top edge gilt, contemporary binding signed by L. Pouillet.

A rare and handsome copy in an attractive contemporary binding.

First edition, one of 200 numbered copies on vélin alfama du Marais paper, the only large-paper copies.
A fine copy, complete with its dust jacket.

Pedigree was first serialized in the Brussels weekly Le Face à Main.

Taken to court by several people who recognized themselves in the novel, Simenon revised it for a new edition in 1948, leaving blank the passages challenged in the lawsuits. The Pléiade edition restored the full text in 2009.

A rare deluxe copy of this autobiographical novel. 

First edition, on ordinary paper, of Philippe Jaccottet's French translation.

Very slight, insignificant rubbing to the joints.

A fine copy of this work, which was adapted for the screen by Volker Schlöndorff in 1966.

First edition, with the beautiful relais wrapper illustrated by Vallotton.

Mounted at the head, an autograph letter of 3pp. and 50 lines to Henri Mazel, concerning the three-act drama La fin des Dieux, with a postscript on Poil de carotte. Mazel was a critic, writer and poet, founder of the review L'ermitage, and would leave a memorable testimony on Renard's work in his essay Le mercure.

Binding signed Pouillet at the top of the first free endpaper, in half red morocco with corners, smooth spine richly adorned with gilt and blind-tooled compartments and fleurons. Gilt top edge. Original wrappers and spine preserved. Light rubbing along the outer...

New edition, front and rear pastedowns and free endpapers signed by Gérard Grée.

Publisher's binding with pictorial boards, smooth spine, light rubbing to spine-ends, illustrated endpapers and boards.

Superb original blue pencil portrait of Martine by Marcel Marlier, drawn within the tondo on the first free endpaper, surrounded by his presentation inscription: "For Andrée Alcaraz with all my sympathy. August 86 M. Marlier"

"This eternally well-behaved little girl, forever aged around ten, invented for Éditions Casterman in 1954 by the author Gilbert Delahaye and the illustrator Marcel Marlier, whose pencil stroke has been so...

First complete edition.

It is illustrated with two frontispieces, twenty-four full-page engravings, and a folding map of Telemachus's travels. The portrait of Fénelon serving as frontispiece to the first volume is signed Baillieul and Duflos; the second frontispiece, together with the plates, is signed Bonnart fils and Giffart, while the map is drawn by Rousset and engraved by Berey. A few head-pieces, bandeaux, and ornamental initials. 

Bindings in full red morocco signed Chambolle-Duru, richly decorated covers, spine with five raised bands ruled in gilt, gilt panels and fleurons between the bands, author, title, volume number, place and date lettered in gilt on...

First edition, one of 75 numbered copies on Montval paper, the deluxe issue.
A pleasing wide-margined copy.

First edition, one of the press copies.

A few spots of foxing to the centre of the spine.

Presentation inscription signed by Raymond Queneau to Marcel Mithois.

Illustrated edition with colour drawings by Chas Laborde, one of the numbered copies printed on wove paper.

A pleasing copy.

On the half-title page, a signed autograph inscription from Colette: "A monsieur F. Porlier. Colette.", Colette having added after Claudine s'en va :  bon vent !

Illustrated edition with colour drawings by Chas Laborde, one of the numbered copies printed on wove paper.

A pleasing copy, notwithstanding a crease mark to the lower right corner of the upper cover.

Fine signed presentation inscription by Colette: "A monsieur F. Porlier ce vieux péché littéraire que je n'aime plus beaucoup. Colette."

Third duodecimo edition, dated the same year as the first edition and, according to McEachern, published in Paris by Duchesne, illustrated with 5 fine plates by Eisen, two in the first volume and one as frontispiece to each of the other volumes. Title-pages printed in red and black. As called for, the first volume has no half-title, unlike the other three volumes. From the watermark "Romanet" "fin", McEachern infers an actual publication date of 1774 or later. The Caillaud mill of the Romanet paper manufactory was, however, active from at least 1760, and editions dated 1762 are known bearing this watermark. We leave this question for specialists to resolve. 

Contemporary...

First edition, one of 100 copies numbered on pur fil du Marais, the deluxe issue.
A handsome copy, despite a few insignificant foxing spots at the head of the upper cover.

In 1955, the book was splendidly adapted for the screen by Jean Delannoy, starring Jean Gabin, Robert Dalban, Serge Lecointe, Anne Doat and Jimmy Urbain.

Second edition with some parts in first edition (with 5 added tales), Félix Vallotton's illustrations in first issue, one of 20 numbered copies on japon, only deluxe issue.
Bradel binding, brown 3/4 cloth, smooth spine with floral motif stamped in gilt at center, twice ruled in gilt at foot, slightly chafed morocco title-label, marbled paper boards, original covers and spine preserved, contemporary binding signed Carayon.
Small clear stains to the top edge of first board, one corner slightly rubbed, a spot of foxing at foot of the first few pages. 
Illustrated with 50 drawings by Félix Vallotton.

Rare and handsome copy housed in a contemporary binding by...

"On June 28, 1970, I attended the first New York Gay Pride March. The date marks the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots, which launched the LGBTQ+ liberation movement in the U.S. We left from Christopher Street, a gay cultural mecca in Greenwich Village, and walked up 6th Avenue to Central Park. To end the day, a kissing contest was held in the middle of the park! It was a great moment of joy, love and freedom. This couple, who kissed for hours under an umbrella, obviously didn't care about photographers" (Interview with Clément Thierry, 2021)

Original photograph mounted on rigid cardboard, showing Fernand Destouches, father of writer Louis-Ferdinand Céline (top right) posing alongside his brothers René, Georges and Charles - from top to bottom and left to right.
Edges of the rigid cardboard slightly bumped.
 
This portrait of the four Destouches brothers in uniform with laurel collar, dates from their happy schoolboy years at the Le Havre lyceum. The photograph, a true incarnation of a carefree and bygone past, must undoubtedly have held importance in the eyes of the four brothers, who would reproduce as adults the exact pose of this childhood portrait for a second, family portrait, preserved in the collection of...

Rare and genuine posthumous first edition of the first six books of the Confessions, the remaining volumes not appearing until 1789. Several other editions were issued shortly thereafter, but the evidence provided by the commentary published in the June 1782 issue of the Journal Helvétique clearly establishes that this separately printed edition, known as the "large type" issue, is indeed the very first (F. Michaux, "L'Édition originale de la première partie des 'Confessions' de J.-J. Rousseau" in Revue d'Histoire littéraire de la France, 35th Year, No. 2 (1928), pp. 250-253).
Contemporary half calf bindings, flat spines tooled with gilt fillets and decorated...

The first edition, of which there were no deluxe copies.

Bradel binding in full wood-effect paper, smooth spine, author's name and title lettered in orange and vertically, in the center of the front board, inlaid, a photographic portrait, covers and spine preserved, slipcase bordered with the same wood-effect paper, brown paper boards, original contemporary binding signed Leroux.

Handsome copy pleasantly executed by one of the last great masters of French twentieth-century bookbinding.


 

First edition, one of 50 numbered copies on Japan, deluxe copies ("tirage de tête").
Two small tears in the head and foot of the spine, nice copy wide-margined.

First edition on ordinary paper, stated the second.
Contemporary half khaki cloth Bradel binding over marbled paper boards by Paul Vié, initials and date gilt to bottom of spine, covers preserved.
Precious autograph inscription from the author to the noted art critic Philippe Burty.
Occasional spotting, principally affecting margins.