Historical Manuscripts

First edition, one of 12, 13, or 14 numbered copies on Whatman paper depending on the volume, the only deluxe paper copies. The first three volumes had no limited deluxe paper issue and are from an edition of 3,000 copies each. The Whatman copies are as follows:
- 12 copies for volumes seven, eight, nine, twelve, and thirteen,

- 13 copies for volumes four, five, six, ten, and eleven,

- 14 copies for the final four volumes.
Half dark brown morocco with bands, smooth spines, author, title, and volume numbers tooled in palladium, vellum-style boards, plain endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers preserved for every volume, top edges in palladium (uncut for the Whatman copies), bindings signed by René Kieffer (binder’s stamp and label on the first endpaper of each volume). Head of vol. 2 lightly rubbed.

Copy belonging to Charles Péguy’s collaborator André Bourgeois, administrator of the Cahiers de la quinzaine (literary magazine which published this novel). It exceptionally contains valuable bound-in manuscript notes by Romain Rolland and Péguy.

This exceedingly rare set in first edition is handsomely bound by the great René Kieffer. It contains every volume issued on deluxe paper - these being "deuxième exemplaire de souche", i.e. name copies of the administrator after Charles Péguy's copy and before the printer's.

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 section of the present work provides a notable example).

Our copy is enriched with a substantial autograph contribution by Christophe-Edouard Mauss, mounted on a guard at the front of the volume and addressed to the archaeologist Alban-Emmanuel Guillaume-Rey (1837–1916), a specialist in medieval Syria: Note pour Mr. Rey sur le stade philéterien de 159 m 963,428 ([9] unnumbered ll., unbound, written on one side only, in a medium and very legible hand). This is an early version of an article supplementing the present work and published in 1894 under the title: Note additionnelle sur le stade de 159 m 963 et sur les mesures philétériennes.

First edition of this collection of political speeches.

Full red percaline binding, smooth spine without lettering showing slight rubbing, gilt inscription stamped to the upper cover: "République de Guinée R.D.A. à S.E. Jean Paul Sartre. N°30"; endpapers partly toned, a contemporary presentation binding offered to Jean-Paul Sartre.

Frontispiece photographic portrait bearing the autograph signature of President Ahmed Sékou Touré: Secretary General of the Parti Démocratique de Guinée, Supreme Leader of the Revolution.

An exceptional and hitherto unpublished manuscript, complete in 775 pages, chronicling the journey of the Vicomte Edmond de Poncins through India (cited in Numa Broc, Asie, pp. 376–377, and Afrique, p. 263 (for his explorations of the Pamirs and Ethiopia), and in Thiébaud, pp. 755–756, (for his works on hunting).

This record extends from 12 September 1891, with embarkation at Marseille, through to 12 June 1892, the date of departure from Karachi bound for Marseille.

Contemporary 3/4 green morocco binding, spine in five compartments numerously framed in black with fleurons-gilt tooling, boards framed in black along the leather edges, marbled endpapers; author’s bookplate pasted to the upper pastedown; red top edge.

775 pp. (misnumbered ch. 1–567, 567–774), 1 unnumbered page, 2 unnumbered leaves of table, and a few remaining blank leaves.

Important, unpublished manuscript recounting the travels of the Vicomte Edmond de Poncins across India covering the period from 12 September 1891 (embarkation at Marseille) to 12 June 1892 (departure from Karachi for Marseille).June 1892 (departure from Karachi for Marseille).

Presented in the form of a journal, it is written in brown ink, in a cursive yet legible hand.

The text includes all of the author’s observations on the regions traversed, the routes taken and modes of transport, hunting expeditions, notable acquaintances, and his relations with servants, etc.; it also records that he took photographs during his excursions.

Departing from Marseille on 12 September 1891, Edmond de Poncins took passage on the Peï-Ho, a steamer belonging to the Messageries Maritimes. He travelled in the company of the Governor of Obock, on his way to assume office, and a British general who served as Inspector of Cavalry in India.

The route led via Port Said, Suez, Obock, and Aden. During the passage through the Red Sea, Poncins visited the engine room and conversed in Arabic with one of the stokers. On 23 September, at Aden, he transferred to the Seyne, a vessel of the same company, bound to cross the Indian Ocean. He arrived at Karachi on 29 September. The traveller left the steamer to board a sailing vessel bound for Bombay, where he arrived on 2 October. He remained there until the 8th, when he departed for Poona. On the 16th, he made an excursion to the Carlee Caves, a group of ancient Buddhist temples hewn into the rock. Back in Bombay the following day, he journeyed on to Pachora, whence he explored the Ajanta Caves, famed for their ancient Buddhist sanctuaries carved into the rock. He returned to Bombay on the 21st, proceeded to Mehmadabad the next day, and reached Kaira on the 24th. In the surrounding area, he hunted crocodiles and subsequently quail. On the 27th, he was in Ahmedabad, roughly 450 km north of Bombay, and two days later he arrived at Morvi, lying some 200 km to the east, continuing his travels across the region. Returning to Ahmedabad on 5 November, he went back to hunt in the environs of Kaira. On the 10th, he arrived at Abu Road, where he visited the temples of Mount Abu, before making his way back to Ahmedabad. He then began his journey across India towards Delhi and Calcutta, visiting Ajmere on 21 November, Chitor on the 23rd, and Udaipur on the 25th. On 3 December, he went bear hunting in the surrounding area. On the 7th, he reached Jaipur, and the following day he visited Amber Fort, which overlooks the city. On the 10th, he arrived at Alwar, and on the 12th proceeded to Delhi. Three days later, he visited Agra, before journeying into the Ganges Valley, reaching Cawnpore (Kanpur) on the 17th, Lucknoor (Lucknow) on the 18th, and Benares on 19 December. He arrived in Calcutta on 22 December 1891. He remained there until 4 January 1892, when he departed for an extended hunting expedition in the Sunderbans, a marshy region in the Ganges delta. On 10 February, he returned to Calcutta to prepare for his next expedition. He set out for Assam on 19 February 1892, a region in north-eastern India, lying in the Brahmaputra Valley at the frontier of Bhutan. The following day, he reached Goalundo (present-day Bangladesh), and on the 22nd, Jatrapur (Bangladesh), before embarking on a new hunt through the jungle atop a domesticated elephant. He arrived at Raimana (Assam, India) on 4 March. Over the ensuing days, he hunted large game - including buffalo, elephants, rhinoceroses, and tigers. On the 17th he killed a tiger cat, followed the next day by a doe and a stag, but the larger animals remained elusive. On 19 March, he suffered from heatstroke, yet continued hunting. On the 24th he reached Paglobat, continuing the next day to Dhubri in Assam, where a violent fever struck him down. Once recovered, he made a few more excursions and, on 8 April, left the region, reaching Calcutta on the 10th. On the 14th, he fell ill once more and was robbed by his servant, who was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment. Poncins then left Calcutta to cross the Ganges plain: on 29 April he reached Cawnpore (Kanpur), which he had already visited on his outward journey, and on the 30th he stayed at Kalka. On 1 May he arrived at Simla, situated about 250 kilometres north of Delhi, on the foothills of the Himalayas. After an excursion to Amondah, he was again seized by fever and was forced to return to Kalka, from where he took the train, reaching Rawalpindi (now in Pakistan) on the 16th. From there, he made several excursions into the hills (Murree, Gulmay), but an outbreak of cholera forced him to leave the region. On 5 June he departed Rawalpindi by train and arrived at Lahore the next day. On 8 June he reached Karachi and prepared his belongings to embark on a vessel bound for Marseilles. The journal concludes on 12 June 1892, the date of his departure from Karachi.

Translated extracts: [16 October 1891, between Bombay and Poona, Maharashtra]: “Departure for the Caves of Carlee. Left at 6 a.m. with a tonga [a cart drawn by two ponies] which took me along the road opposite the path leading to the caves. Hired two coolies for my photographic equipment and my gun. We crossed a long plain of rice fields […]. The caves lie one-third up a mountain of 800 feet rising at the end of the plain […]. One passes through a small temple of Siva and stands before the great temple, whose entrance is most impressive […]. To the right and left, large sculpted elephants emerge from the rock up to mid-body; bas-reliefs depict gods with exaggerated forms, larger than life […]. The great hall is a marvel, both in its ensemble and in its details…” (pp. 53–55).

[25 October 1891, near Kaira, south of Ahmedabad, Gujarat]: “Left at 6 a.m. on camelback to hunt crocodiles. Covered 14 miles and reached a village below which the river makes a large, very deep bend. It is the Sabarmati. Shot a large crocodile at 150 metres on the sand. The bullet went straight; it struggled for a moment, then dived and was lost. About ten others in sight dived at the same time. Went down the river and fired at a small crocodile, 60 metres away, basking on a sand islet. It made a great leap and dived into a deep pool, which was red with blood within a few minutes. A native accompanying me did not dare to fetch it. Fired at two or three other swimming crocodiles, without apparent result. At 2 o’clock I returned to my starting point […]. Altogether I must have fired at fifteen and seen fifty in four or five hours…” (pp. 76-77).

[25 November 1891, Udaipur, Rajasthan]: “In the soft haze of the rising sun, the white city appeared, dominated by high walls and the splendid silhouette of the Maharana’s palace […]. Further on, a vast circle of rugged mountains with oddly shaped peaks, here and there marked by forts and stretches of defensive walls. Truly a land of savage feudalism. The Prime Minister’s son, to whom we had announced our arrival, came to fetch us by carriage at one o’clock, placing himself at our disposal. He is a young man of twenty to twenty-two, intelligent in appearance, speaks English well and is courteous. The Maharana is not in Udaipur, residing instead in a bungalow a few miles away on a hunting expedition […]. We shall, moreover, have the honour of being invited to one of H.R.H.’s hunts; in the meantime, we shall visit what there is to see in Udaipur…” (pp. 171–172).

[4 January 1892, West Bengal]: “Set out this morning from Calcutta for Mutlah or Canning. Arrived at 10 a.m. Found my boats. Crossing a country of rice fields, marshes, palms and coconut trees. The train stops at the end of the track, right on the riverbank. The tide is low and, to reach our boats, I have to be carried by my men, who sink up to their knees in a black, sticky, abominable mud […]. Here and there, some native boats. Few birds. By noon the two chimneys of the station disappear from view; ahead there is only the immense marsh. My men, who are Muslim, raised the anchor with a prayer […]. At 4 p.m. we stop at a cluster of huts unmarked on the map, called Fokai Hâttee. I send two men ashore to look for milk or meat. There is none. Meanwhile I photograph my boats, and a group of natives watching a juggler and a bear…” (pp. 291–292).

[1 March 1892, Brahmaputra Valley, Assam]: “In the afternoon my bullock cart [ox-drawn cart] arrived, along with an additional elephant sent by Mr Gordon. My party now consists definitively of three elephants, one bullock cart, seven men for the elephants, one for the oxen, and two for myself…”

[2 March]: “Departed at six in the morning on the second elephant, which I had yet to ride. We took the road to Kaïmana, then turned left into a jungle of tall burnt grasses, as high as the elephants […]. A very large animal was heard a few hundred paces ahead, crushing the grass. Halt. At the sound my mahout [driver] insisted it was a wild elephant, though the noise was identical to that of ours. The rhino passing below was less noisy. What should be done? The government forbids, under severe penalties, the killing of elephants […]. The undergrowth is so thick one could not see two metres; I cannot even see the head of my own. Moreover, wild elephants attack domestic elephants with fury…” (pp. 540–545).

A hunter and explorer, the Viscount Edmond de Montaigne de Poncins (1866–1937) undertook several journeys in Africa and Asia. After his stay in India (1891–1892), he travelled through Central Asia in 1893: departing from Samarkand (Uzbekistan), he crossed the Pamir and Hindu Kush mountains to reach Srinagar (Kashmir); for this journey he was awarded the silver medal of the Geographical Society in 1895. In 1897, he travelled with Prince Henri d’Orléans between Djibouti and Addis Ababa; in 1912, he explored East Africa, from Nairobi to Mount Kenya.

“Poncins is no scholar, but an intrepid traveller and a keen observer […]. Few French explorers have attained such heights in Central Asia…” (Numa Broc, Asie).

He is the author of Chasses et explorations dans la région des Pamirs (1897) and Notes sur le gros gibier de nos colonies (1913).
A precious manuscript, with a fine contemporary binding.
Provenance: Viscount de Poncins, with his engraved bookplate depicting a tent beside a baobab.

A collection of 59 manuscript letters sent to his family representing approximately 180 pages, mostly octavo, most written on mourning paper, sometimes on letterheads notably from the Ministry of the Navy.

The collection is contained in a modern red cloth box with a black title label.

A Polytechnique graduate and marine artillery officer, Gustave Borgnis-Desbordes (1839-1900) is known for having led, from 1880 to 1883, three expeditionary columns across Upper Senegal and Upper Niger, these operations having enabled the construction of several military forts, a railway and a telegraph line of more than seven hundred kilometers linking Bakel (on the Senegal) to Bamako. He then served in Tonkin (1884-85) as colonel commanding the artillery of the expeditionary corps. He participated in several battles near the Chinese border and had to replace General de Négrier wounded at the battle of Lang Son on March 28, 1885. The hasty retreat of French troops, ordered by Colonel Herbinger, gave rise to a controversy that brought down the Jules Ferry ministry. Borgnis-Desbordes wrote a report that implicated Herbinger, but the latter benefited from an order of dismissal and Borgnis was accused of having slandered him. The present correspondence, which extends from January 1886 to August 1887, evokes the Lang Son affair and the delicate situation in which he found himself: supported by Generals Faidherbe, Brière de l'Isle and de Négrier, Borgnis-Desbordes had against him the artillery generals Virgile and Dard. Despite this, he was promoted to brigadier general on July 25, 1886. The letters evoke the numerous visits he made to friends, military men or connections in the capital, the search for possible support, and contain allusions to political life, mentioning Henri Rochefort, Louise Michel, Clemenceau, General Boulanger... Of the 59 letters, 47 are addressed to his sister Claire (wife of Henry Lethier, engineer of Ponts et Chaussées), 11 to his brother Ernest (1843-1925), Polytechnique graduate, artillery officer and future general, and 1 to his sister-in-law Emilie Lacœille, wife of Ernest. They are almost all written from Paris; some do not include a place and one letter is written from Auxerre (July 1, 1886). Extracts: 1886. "Je mène une vie absurde. Je suis en habit noir tous les soirs. J'ai dîné hier dans une maison où se trouvaient M. Jules Ferry, Jules Réache, etc. Il y avait aussi Mme Jules Ferry, fort jolie femme dans une toilette charmante. Ce soir je dîne au café de la Paix… Mardi je dîne à Vincennes, mercredi je déjeune encore en ville, etc." (I lead an absurd life. I am in black evening dress every night. I dined yesterday in a house where M. Jules Ferry, Jules Réache, etc. were present. There was also Mme Jules Ferry, a very pretty woman in a charming outfit. Tonight I dine at café de la Paix... Tuesday I dine in Vincennes, Wednesday I lunch again in town, etc.) (Paris, January 1886, to his sister). "J'ai vu mon ministre vendredi. Il m'a reçu en me disant : Eh bien ! mon cher colonel, vous voilà revenu de la comédie de St Malo. Puisque vous l'appelez ainsi avec raison, lui ai-je répondu, je n'ai plus rien à vous dire… " (I saw my minister Friday. He received me saying: Well! my dear colonel, here you are back from the comedy of St Malo. Since you call it that with reason, I replied, I have nothing more to say to you...) (Paris, February 14, to his sister). "Au Sénégal, tout commence à aller mal; mes prédictions se réalisent : le désordre va augmenter, la situation va devenir inextricable. On a envoyé tout dernièrement un gouverneur inintelligent et malhonnête; je crains qu'on ne pense à moi pour remettre en état les affaires militaires; je me cache, je fais le mort : je ne veux pas être sous les ordres de ce monsieur… Je ne sais pas ce qu'ils veulent faire à la Chambre; cela m'inquiète peu. Mon rapport me semble avoir fini d'occuper les gens. Tous depuis M. de Mun jusqu'à Clemenceau radotent; j'estime autant Baily et Camelinat que Baudry d'Asson ou Cassagnac. Tous ces gens-là sont stupides et méchants, ou ridicules et niais. Je me moque de ce qu'ils peuvent dire sur des affaires militaires dont ils ne sont pas susceptibles de parler…" (In Senegal, everything is beginning to go wrong; my predictions are coming true: disorder will increase, the situation will become inextricable. They recently sent an unintelligent and dishonest governor; I fear they might think of me to restore military affairs; I hide, I play dead: I do not want to be under the orders of this gentleman... I don't know what they want to do in the Chamber; that worries me little. My report seems to have finished occupying people. Everyone from M. de Mun to Clemenceau rambles; I esteem Baily and Camelinat as much as Baudry d'Asson or Cassagnac. All these people are stupid and wicked, or ridiculous and foolish. I mock what they can say about military affairs which they are not capable of discussing...) (s.l.n.d., to his sister). "Je reviens de chez le général Faidherbe auquel il a bien fallu me recommander. C'est un appui fragile que j'ai là; le pauvre général souffre beaucoup en ce moment. Quoiqu'il en soit, il m'a promis de faire pour moi ce qu'il pourrait. Ce sera peu de choses, l'influence des deux hommes, Général Faidherbe et Amiral Aube, l'un sur l'autre, étant aussi grande que celle d'un missionnaire sur un musulman. Je suis, paraît-il, très vivement battu en brèche. On me trouve trop jeune de grade… Le général Brière de l'Isle se remue pour moi, mais il passe, lui aussi, pour le serviteur damné de J. Ferry, et par suite son intervention ne pourra m'être utile, je le crains du moins beaucoup. J'ai vu Dislère ce matin [Paul Dislère (1840-1928), son ancien camarade de promotion à l'Ecole Polytechnique, à l'époque directeur des Colonies au ministère de la Marine]… Il ne peut non plus changer le vent qui est décidément contre moi. Il devient de plus en plus clair que la politique s'en mêle…" (I return from General Faidherbe's to whom I had to recommend myself. It's fragile support that I have there; the poor general suffers greatly at the moment. Whatever the case, he promised me to do what he could for me. It will be little, the influence of the two men, General Faidherbe and Admiral Aube, on each other, being as great as that of a missionary on a Muslim. I am, it appears, very vigorously attacked. They find me too young in rank... General Brière de l'Isle stirs himself for me, but he too passes for the damned servant of J. Ferry, and consequently his intervention cannot be useful to me, I fear it very much at least. I saw Dislère this morning [Paul Dislère (1840-1928), his former classmate at the Ecole Polytechnique, at the time director of Colonies at the Ministry of the Navy]... He also cannot change the wind which is decidedly against me. It becomes increasingly clear that politics is involved...) (Paris, May 22, to his sister). "M. Herbinger vient de faire une dernière plaisanterie en mourant en ce moment. Je vais être traité d'assassin, sans aucun doute. Et il y aura bien quelque médecin pour expliquer qu'il est décédé à la suite d'actes d'héroïsme qui ont miné sa constitution. Et que le colonel Desbordes a été assez aveugle et assez niais pour ne pas le voir… Bien que cette mort, au moment actuel, soit fâcheuse pour moi, je suis d'avis que M. Herbinger a fait un acte très sensé en décampant pour l'autre monde. C'est ce qu'il avait de mieux à faire. Que Dieu ait son âme !" (M. Herbinger has just played a final joke by dying at this moment. I will be treated as an assassin, without doubt. And there will surely be some doctor to explain that he died following acts of heroism that undermined his constitution. And that Colonel Desbordes was blind enough and foolish enough not to see it... Although this death, at the present moment, is unfortunate for me, I am of the opinion that M. Herbinger performed a very sensible act by decamping for the other world. It's the best thing he had to do. May God have his soul!) (Paris, May 27, to his sister). "Mon affaire continue à ne pas aller… Le général de Négrier a bien voulu faire une démarche pour moi auprès du chef du personnel, l'amiral Olry; il n'en a tiré aucune assurance. Le général Brière se remue tant qu'il peut, et d'autant plus qu'il considère ma nomination comme une sorte de compensation qui lui est due pour tous les ennuis et toutes les injures dont il est gratifié à cause de M. Herbinger. Mais il n'a pas, non plus, grand succès. Je sais que le général Faidherbe a plaidé ma cause auprès du ministre, mais également sans pouvoir obtenir une réponse… Ajoute à cela que les généraux d'artillerie Virgile et Dard travaillent contre moi, que Rochefort est un véritable spectre pour nos ministres, que Clemenceau ne peut pas être mon ami, que j'ai fait jouer toutes mes batteries, lesquelles sont représentées par mes généraux, mais que je n'ai pas de députés et de sénateurs dans mon sac…" (My affair continues not to go well... General de Négrier was kind enough to make an approach for me to the head of personnel, Admiral Olry; he drew no assurance from it. General Brière stirs himself as much as he can, and all the more so as he considers my nomination as a sort of compensation that is due to him for all the troubles and all the insults he is gratified with because of M. Herbinger. But he also has no great success. I know that General Faidherbe pleaded my cause to the minister, but equally without being able to obtain a response... Add to that that the artillery generals Virgile and Dard work against me, that Rochefort is a true spectre for our ministers, that Clemenceau cannot be my friend, that I have brought all my batteries into play, which are represented by my generals, but that I have no deputies and senators in my bag...) (Paris, June 1, to his sister). "J'ai enfin vu ma nomination à l'Officiel. Il paraît qu'elle était signée depuis plus de huit jours. On attendait le moment qui serait le moins pénible à Mr Rochefort, Mademoiselle Louise Michel, et aux journaux de droite et d'extrême gauche. Ils ont fait un mauvais calcul. L'expérience le prouvera. J'ai fait des visites aujourd'hui. Ça n'est pas amusant. J'ai vu l'amiral Peyron… Il m'a donné le conseil d'aller voir M. de Freycinet [président du Conseil et ministre des Affaires étrangères]… Il a été fort aimable avec moi… Je ne me suis payé qu'une petite malice. Il m'a parlé de la campagne du Tonkin, et il m'a félicité de ma bonne mine. Je lui ai répondu que la campagne du Tonkin était une expédition pour des jeunes filles. Il n'a pas insisté. Mais je suis certain qu'il a trouvé ce jugement un peu dur pour des gens qui ont fait de l'affaire du Tonkin un épouvantail…" (I finally saw my nomination in the Official Journal. It appears it had been signed for more than eight days. They were waiting for the moment that would be least painful for Mr Rochefort, Mademoiselle Louise Michel, and the right-wing and extreme left newspapers. They made a bad calculation. Experience will prove it. I made visits today. It's not amusing. I saw Admiral Peyron... He gave me the advice to go see M. de Freycinet [President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs]... He was very kind to me... I only allowed myself a small mischief. He spoke to me about the Tonkin campaign, and he congratulated me on my good appearance. I replied that the Tonkin campaign was an expedition for young girls. He didn't insist. But I am certain he found this judgment a bit harsh for people who made the Tonkin affair a bugbear...) (Paris, July 26, to his sister). 1887. "Je ne sais pas encore officiellement où je suis envoyé en Inspection, mais d'après ce que j'ai entendu dire ce matin, je vais avoir à visiter la Réunion, Madagascar, la Nouvelle-Calédonie. C'est un voyage de plus de six mois, et moi qui déteste ce genre d'exercice, ça me fait un plaisir que je vous laisse à penser…" (I don't yet know officially where I am sent on Inspection, but from what I heard said this morning, I will have to visit Réunion, Madagascar, New Caledonia. It's a journey of more than six months, and I who detest this kind of exercise, it gives me a pleasure that I leave you to imagine...) (Paris, May 7, to his sister-in-law Emilie).

Manuscript of 83 leaves of this French–Bunda dictionary, probably unpublished and unsigned.

This manuscript is certainly the first French–Bunda vocabulary (cf. Gay 3068 and Brunet I-1544).

Half red shagreen binding, spine with four raised bands ruled in black, gilt date at foot, minor rubbing to spine, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, contemporary binding.

Autograph signed calling card addressed to theatre director Simone Benmussa, 8 lines in black felt-tip, with the original envelope.

"Chère Simone Benmussa, quel succès ! J'en reçois les échos de tous côtés ! Nous vous devons tous cette merveilleuse soirée. Laiseez-moi vous dire encore Merci et Bravo. En toute amitié. R. Badinter."

Literary adviser to the Jean-Louis Barrault – Madeleine Renaud Company and, from 1957, editor-in-chief of the Cahiers Renaud-Barrault, Simone Benmussa also headed, from the Odéon Theatre, the company’s cultural department and its journal. She adapted for the stage several works by her friend Nathalie Sarraute, including Enfance in 1984 (featuring Sarraute’s recorded voice) and Pour un oui ou pour un non in 1987, as well as works by Pierre Klossowski, Jean Cocteau, Gertrude Stein, and Samuel Beckett. She was the partner of the actress Erika Kralik.
 

Autograph postcard signed by Albert Einstein to Ludwig Hopf. 18 lines written verso and recto, address also in Einstein's handwriting. Postmarked June 21, 1910. 

Published in The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, Volume 5: The Swiss Years: Correspondence, 1902-1914, Princeton University Press, 1993, n°218, p. 242.

An exceptional and highly aesthetic card from Albert Einstein to "the friend of the greatest geniuses of his time" - according to Schrödinger - mathematician and physicist Ludwig Hopf, who introduced Einstein to another 20^th-century genius: Carl Jung.
The master invites his pupil Hopf to a dinner party, whose guests include scientist Max Abraham, future great rival during Einstein's Zurich years and a fervent opponent of his theory of relativity.

The recipient Ludwig Hopf joined Einstein in 1910 as an assistant and student at his physics and kinetic theory seminars at the University of Zürich. They signed two fundamental papers on the statistical aspects of radiation and gave their names to the "Einstein-Hopf" velocity-dependent drag force. Their letter exchanges retrace the complex path of Einstein's work on relativity and gravitation, bearing witness to their great complicity and Hopf's invaluable contribution to the Master's research. A few months after writing the postcard, Hopf even found an error in Einstein's calculations of the derivatives of certain velocity components which Einstein corrected in a paper the following year. They also formed a musical duo – Hopf accompanied on the piano the Master's violin, performing pieces by great musical geniuses like Bach and Mozart.
With this card, Einstein invited his pupil and friend Hopf to dinner with Max Abraham, at the dawn of a major scientific controversy that would pit them against each other from 1911 onwards. Abraham's theory of special relativity failed to convince Einstein, who criticized its lack of observational verification and its failure to predict the gravitational curvature of light. In 1912, their dispute became public through scientific articles. Abraham never acknowledged the validity of Einstein's theory.

During their brilliant artistic and intellectual exchanges, Hopf undoubtedly succeeded where Freud had failed, as he declared to him in a letter: "I shall break with you if you boast of having converted Einstein to psychoanalysis. A long conversation I had with him a few years ago showed me that analysis was as hermetic to him as the theory of relativity can be to me" (Vienna, September 27, 1931). As a fervent supporter of psychoanalysis, Hopf is known to have introduced the famous psychoanalyst Carl Jung to Einstein. Hopf and his teacher both left for Prague's Karl-Ferdinand University in 1911, where they met writer Franz Kafka and his friend Max Brod in Madame Fanta's salon.
With the rise of the Nazi regime, the fates of the two theoreticians were plagued by persecution and exile. Einstein first took refuge in Belgium, Hopf in Great Britain after his dismissal in 1934 from the University of Aachen because of his Jewish origins. They continued their prolific correspondence in the midst of the turmoil, Einstein suggesting to Hopf the opening of a university abroad for exiled German students. Hopf died shortly after his appointment as chair of Mathematics studies at Trinity College Dublin in July 1939.

A precious invitation from the great physicist to one of the final dinner gatherings of the "old school" of science embodied by Max Abraham, on the eve of the publication of the theory of general relativity which would overturn classical conceptions of space and time and propel Science into the 20th century.

Original colour photograph depicting a smiling Jacques Chirac.

Attractive ensemble held together by a paperclip, which has left a discreet mark in the upper left margin of the photograph.

Enclosed are an official letter, its envelope, and a card on which Jacques Chirac, then Prime Minister, wrote in black felt-tip pen the following words: "vous remercie de votre aimable message de félicitations et vous adresse ses sentiments les meilleurs."

Signed by Jacques Chirac in blue ink at the foot of the photograph.

Original autograph manuscript by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, one page in black ink on a yellow paper sheet, numerous corrections, and rewritings.

Exceptional working manuscript of a passage from the original French version of Wind Sand and Stars [Terre des Hommes] from chapter VI "Dans le désert", a magnificent ode to the barren wilderness of deserts doomed to disappear due to the inevitable development of the industrial age. This section from the original French novel was removed for the English version translated by Galantière and remains unpublished in English. Moreover, the final two paragraphs of the manuscript are unpublished in the original French version. Saint-Exupéry recalls magnificent memories of liberating adversity and cherished "dissidence" he experienced in the heart of Mauritanian and Libyan deserts.
This heavily corrected state of the text is the true genesis of Saint-Exupéry's Pulitzer Prize winning masterpiece: he reworked and rearranged here his memories published as articles (reportages) in Paris-Soir magazine in 1938. Some sentences ("What does it matter what you find at the pole if you walk in a state of enchantment") remaining in the published version are variants of one of his reportages, present in the manuscript among redacted and unpublished sentences obscured by pen strokes.

This manuscript indicates an early writing stage not mentioned in the “Notes et variantes” of the comprehensive Pléiade edition.
The passage is originally from his fifth article for Paris-Soir, entitled "La magie du désert c'est ça" ("This is the magic of the desert ") from November 14, 1938 published with some of the changes made in this manuscript and other later corrections at the end of the sixth chapter of Terre des Hommes. The central theme of the text, dissidence, is mentioned in the very first sentence of the manuscript and would later become the title of the passage indicated on the typed proofs. This leitmotiv is steeped in nostalgia, with vivid descriptions of fleeting moments of freedom during the writer's escapades in the desert: "The horizons [crossed out : places] towards which we ran one after the other faded away ['died out one after the other' in the published text], like those insects once trapped by lukewarm hands ['which lose their color once trapped in lukewarm hands ' idem]. But there was no illusion ['he who pursued them was not the victim of illusion' idem]. We were not mistaken, when we walked like this from miracle to miracle ['we were after these discoveries' idem]. Nor was the Sultan of the Thousand and One Nights, who ran one morning ['pursued a matter so subtle' idem] [sentence deleted], that his beautiful captives, one by one, died at dawn in his arms, having lost, scarcely touched, the gold of their wings"

It conveys an acute awareness of the end of an era, marked by the bankruptcy of Aéropostale and his grave plane accident in Guatemala. Saint-Exupéry takes refuge in the memory of the rebel-filled deserts of Mauritania whose charm wore off with the passing of time: "But there is no more dissidence. Cap Juby, Cisneros, Puerto Cansado, Dora, Smarra, there is no longer any [word struck out] mystery." It is followed by descriptions of the lands he and his fellow aviators flew over: "For the pure shell powder sand and the forbidden palm groves, gave us their most precious gift: they offered only an hour of fervor, and we were the ones who dwelled in it" The story is told in plural, honoring the memory of Guillaumet and Mermoz, his friends and famous aviators who fell from the sky. The manuscript also contains a prophetic remark on the deserts soon to be exploited for their resources: "We fed on the magic of the sands, others perhaps will dig their oil wells there, and benefit from their [deleted: this] goods." We can already see the businessman character in The Little Prince, an early manifestation of his opinion on the excesses of human progress.

These words on a thin sheet of yellow paper represent a crucial early stage of his masterpiece. Saint-Exupéry first assembled the work under its original title, Etoiles par grand vent, published in France as Terre des Hommes in February 1939. We know of another sheet of paper in this color with the same types of corrections, also not mentioned in the Pléiade edition of the complete works. It shows the more direct handwriting of a first draft - the sheet undoubtedly dating from the first combination of his journalistic reportages that would later become the novel. Virtually every sentence is modified (words crossed out, words or expressions rearranged in the sentence) not systematically appearing in the published version: "What we see here is a very subtle work of reworking texts that function in very different ways depending on the subject and are clearly oriented towards that recreation of Man to which the book invites us" (Saint-Exupéry. Œuvres complètes, Gallimard, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 1994, vol. I, p. 1009)

A precious extract from Terre des Hommes unpublished in the English version Wind, Sand and Stars - Saint-Exupéry's great humanist adventure and novel which brought him international renown. This rare folio riddled with erasures, rewrites, and corrections bears witness to the various stages of his writing process.

Black and white photographic portrait depicting the Philippine dictator seated at his desk.

Accompanied by an official letter on the headed paper of the Office of the President of the Philippines, together with its envelope.

Manuscript signature of Ferdinand Marcos in black ink.

Provenance: from the collection of renowned autograph collector Claude Armand.

Black-and-white photograph depicting cosmonaut Boris Yegorov in uniform adorned with his military decorations.

A handsome copy.

Rare autograph signed in blue felt-tip pen by Boris Yegorov in the left margin of the print.

On October 12, 1964, aboard Voskhod 1, Boris Yegorov completed his sole spaceflight as a physician, participating in the first mission in history to carry a crew of three.

Provenance: from the collection of renowned autograph collector Claude Armand.

Black and white portrait photograph showing Tito facing the camera.

A well-preserved example. Included are an envelope bearing the letterhead of the Yugoslav Embassy, a printed card from the same embassy, and a typewritten letter from the Yugoslav Consulate thanking Claude Armand for his request for a photograph of Tito.

Bold blue ink autograph by Tito in the right-hand margin of the photograph.

Provenance: from the collection of noted autograph collector Claude Armand.

Autograph letter signed and dated April 16, 1912, by Henri Bergson, addressed to M. Masson de Saint-Félix. Includes the original autograph envelope, bearing an inscription by the recipient: "Lettre de M. Bergson / Membre de l'Institut / mon professeur de philosophie au Lycée de Clermont Fd".

Touching letter of condolence from Henri Bergson to a former student from his philosophy class in Clermont-Ferrand, where he taught for five years — from 1883 to 1888 — at the Lycée Blaise-Pascal and the Faculty of Letters.

"Mon cher ami,

La nouvelle du grand deuil qui vous frappe me touche profondément. Laissez-moi vous envoyer l'expression de ma très vive sympathie. Depuis plus de 2 mois j'avais préparé une lettre pour vous, en réponse à celle que vous m'aviez adressée ; j'attendais pour vous l'envoyer d'avoir un de mes travaux que je désirais y joindre et dont l'édition est épuisée vous le recevrez bientôt. Je n'ai pas besoin de vous dire combien j'ai été heureux d'apprendre que vous ne perdez pas de vue la philosophie. Hélas quelle philosophie, si consolante soit-elle, vous consolera tout à fait des tristesses de la vie ? Cordialement à vous / H. Bergson"

["My dear friend,

The news of the great sorrow that has befallen you has deeply moved me. Allow me to extend to you the expression of my heartfelt sympathy. For over two months I had prepared a letter in response to the one you sent me; I was waiting to send it until I could enclose one of my works, which I wished to share with you, but whose edition is currently out of print — you will receive it soon. I need not tell you how glad I was to learn that you have not lost sight of philosophy. Alas, what philosophy, however comforting it may be, could truly console you for the sorrows of life? / Cordially yours / H. Bergson"]

Three-and-a-quarter-page manuscript written in black ink on a bifolium.

One vertical fold.

Manuscript detailing the nominal roster of the Spanish squadron that set sail under the command of Don Luis de Cordova, Don Antonio de Ulloa, and Don Miguel Gastón.

Autograph card signed and dated 18 February 1909 by Henri Bergson, to Mr. Masson de Saint-Félix.

Two years after the publication of L'Evolution créatrice, Bergson expresses his gratitude to a former student from his philosophy class in Clermont-Ferrand, where he taught for five years — from 1883 to 1888 — at the Lycée Blaise-Pascal and the Faculty of Arts.

"Thank you, my dear friend, for your kind note. I hardly need to tell you how fondly I remember your time in my class at Clermont. I do not know whether I shall be able to visit Lozère any time soon, as you kindly encourage me to do; but if you happen to be in Paris, it would give me great pleasure to have a talk with you. / Very cordially / H. Bergson"

Autograph letter by Pierre-Joseph-Marie Proudhon, signed and dated 7 November 1862. 3 pages in black ink on a bifolium. Fold of the bifolium weakened, without affecting the text. Not included in the correspondence published by Lacroix in 1875.
Significant and likely unpublished letter from Proudhon to his publisher Alphonse Lebègue, whom he considers "the cause of liberty in France and independence in Belgium" in these lines. 

Proudhon underscores the importance of his ideological struggle for federalism in Europe, following the controversial publication of his pamphlet La Fédération et l’unité en Italie, and a few months before his political testament Du Principe fédératif. He fiercely criticizes his famous adversary Adolphe Thiers’ Histoire du Consulat et de l’Empire. Since his years in Brussels, Proudhon had intended to write a book debunking the Napoleonic myth as promoted in Thiers' work.

Unpublished political, scientific and historical archives

The complete manuscript unpublished papers of Louis, Chevalier de Sade (1753-1832), author of the Lexicon politique and cousin of the famous Marquis.
The important geopolitical, historical, and scientific archives of a learned aristocrat, a privileged witness of the end of the Ancien Régime, the French Revolution, the Consulate, Empire, and Restoration.
A unique fund of research on the implementation of a constitutional monarchy.

Very important and last remaining archives in private hands, including autograph manuscripts, typescripts, corrected proofs, offprints, first editions, etc.

Exceptional collection of manuscript and printed archives – the last in private hands – of the founder of liberalism and modern economics, Léon Walras, preserved and annotated by his most prominent scholar William Jaffé. One of the 5 most important sets of personal archives belonging to Walras, considered by Schumpeter “the greatest of all economists”.

This collection of 42 important documents, including complete autograph manuscripts, corrected proofs, abundantly annotated offprints and expanded printed material, was given by his daughter Aline Walras and then Gaston Leduc to William Jaffé, who added his autograph notes to some of them and used them to edit the first translation of Éléments d’économie politique pure. 

Unpublished autograph letter signed by the Marquis de La Fayette to the Marquis Victor de La Tour-Maubourg, written from "Metz" and dated "the 4th" in La Fayette’s hand. Two and a quarter pages in ink on a bifolium. A minor perforation, not affecting the text; with a red "V. JACOB Metz" stamp on the blank verso of the bifolium. Two discreet paper reinforcements at the foot and head of the sheet’s fold.

La Fayette wrote this profoundly political letter in 1792 from Metz — the very city where, as a young officer, he had made the decision to set sail and fight for American independence. " I have been a revolutionary for fifteen years—and I am resolved to conquer or perish in this cause” he writes here, at a moment when the constitutional monarchy was in grave peril.

Commanding an army while facing the threat of further mass desertion among the French nobility  and under heavy assault from the Jacobins, La Fayette cast himself as the Revolution’s providential figure. He vehemently lamented the “unacceptable loss” of the Duke of Brunswick, who had departed to lead the Prussian and Austrian armies against France.

Lafayette is most likely addressing Marie-Charles-César de La Tour Maubourg, whom he called « mon ami intime, mon frère d'amitié, d'armes et de revolution » [ “my intimate friend, my brother in friendship, in arms, and in revolution”] (letter to Dietrich, 12 November 1791). Maubourg served under Lafayette with his brothers at the declaration of war and commanded the vanguard of the Army of the Center in 1792, before emigrating with him in August.

In December 1791, shortly after arriving at his Metz headquarters, Lafayette imposed a strict disciplinary order on the Army of the Centre. The situation was dire, owing to the emigration of most officers, the ill will of those who remained, and the consequent breakdown in oversight. Though devoted to the welfare of his troops, Lafayette, a staunch constitutionalist, remained engaged in politics: he had sent to Minister Dumouriez a memorandum in which he pledged his support to the Girondin ministry, on condition that it uphold the laws, the dignity of the monarchy, the constituted authorities, and religious freedom.

It is likely that Lafayette wrote these lines only a few weeks before the declaration of war, of which he was informed on 22 April. He appears here as a man deeply mindful of his military duties, and as a staunch protector of a Constitution in grave peril. In a magnificent burst of fervour and resolve, he makes no secret of his popularity nor of his feats of arms:

« J'ai de grands moïens en Hollande, le parti démocrate est à moi sans réserve ; j'en ai aussi à Liège ; on me connait dans les païs bas, et de ce coté ci du Rhin. Les Gardes nationales me regardent toutes comme leur chef ; je suis bien sûr d'une armée que je commanderai en personne. Au fait, j'ai aussi quelques talents naturels, et particulièrement pour la guerre. J'ai l'activité de la jeunesse, une sante imperturbable, beaucoup de sang froid et un travail facile. Il y a quinze ans que je fais le metier revolutionaire. Je suis décidé à vaincre ou périr dans cette cause ».

[“I have powerful connections in Holland; the democratic party is wholly mine. I also have influence in Liège; I am well known throughout the Low Countries and on this side of the Rhine. The National Guards all regard me as their leader; I have full confidence in an army which I shall command in person. After all, I do possess some natural talents—particularly for war. I have the vigour of youth, an unshakable constitution, a cool head, and a ease for labour. I have been a revolutionary for fifteen years—and I am resolved to conquer or perish in this cause.”]

In America, he had indeed displayed keen insight and sound judgment in the military affairs of the Independence, particularly during the Virginia campaign. It is known that he drew lessons from these battles by creating infantryman units to cover the main infantry — and indeed he informed George Washington of these preparations. He took care to organise light cavalry artillery units, following the Prussian and Austrian model, and specifically referred in his letter to an “observation on the horses of the horse artillery” included in the reports he had forwarded to La Tour-Maubourg. Among them is a report from a “young intelligent man who seemed to me worthy of being sent, although I believe he overstates the disposition of the enemy troops, especially the Hungarians [...]”.

The lieutenant general displays a grim lucidity regarding France’s political and military situation, torn apart by internal strife and imperilled by foreign powers:

« Adieu, mon cher Maubourg, il se forme un orage terrible, il se machine peut-être beaucoup de trahisons ; notre premier soin doit être de me donner une bonne armée agissante. Alors Narbonne et moi enfoncerons notre chapeau, et jouant beau jeu, nous révolutionnerons le mieux que nous pourrons devant nous. ; [...] voilà pourtant quelques motifs de consolation pour la perte du duc de Brunswick qui me paroit à chaque instant plus inadmissible, et qui tôt ou tard perdroit celui même qui l'aurait proposé, soit par ses trahisons, soit par la méfiance publique. Adieu, mon ami, depêchons nous, le tems presse. »

["Farewell, my dear Maubourg — a terrible storm is brewing, and many betrayals may be afoot. Our foremost duty must be to secure for me a strong and active army. So Narbonne and I will pull down our hats and, putting on a brave face, we shall carry the Revolution forward as best we can. [...] These are, after all, a few small consolations for the loss of the Duke of Brunswick, who seems to me more inadmissible with each passing moment — and who, sooner or later, would bring down even the man who proposed him, whether by betrayal or by public mistrust. Farewell, my friend — let us hasten, time is short."]

Bolstered by his American experience and despite mounting Jacobin clamour, Lafayette readies himself to uphold the principles of the French Constitution — a commitment he confides to one of his closest comrades, who would accompany him into Austrian captivity only months later.

Autograph manuscript titled Requeste singulière de Nosseigneurs les Ducs et Pairs et de Mesdames les Duchesses au Régent - L'an 1716 ["Singular Request from My Lords the Dukes and Peers and from My Ladies the Duchesses to the Regent - The year 1716"]. Six pages written in black ink, without erasures or corrections.
19th-century binding in half marbled sheep, smooth rubbed spine decorated with gilt and blind fillets, title label along the spine, paste-paper boards stamped at their center with the arms of Adélaïde Édouard Lelièvre de la Grange, marquis de la Grange and de Fourilles [information kindly provided by M. Jérôme-Paul Carré], pebbled paper endpapers and pastedowns, De Broglie-Dampmartin bookplate pasted on front pastedown. Headcaps absent.
This burlesque petition was transcribed in Les Ruelles du XVIIIème siècle by Labessade in 1879.

Original photograph depicting Emilio Visconti-Venosta in frontal view.

Contemporary silver print bearing, at the foot of the image, the blindstamp of Roman photographer Lorenzo Suscipj, a pioneer of photography in Italy.

Minor black specks to the surface of the photograph.

Mounted on a stiff card sheet printed with the photographer’s address.

A rare dated and signed autograph inscription by Emilio Visconti-Venosta to the verso: “À M Henri Fournier, souvenir d’un ami, E. Visconti-Venosta. Rome. 18 January 1877”.  ['To Mr Henri Fournier, a token from a friend, E. Visconti-Venosta. Rome, 18 January 1877.']

An influential Italian statesman, Emilio Visconti-Venosta played a significant role in the struggle for Italian unification. Appointed by Cavour as royal commissioner to Giuseppe Garibaldi, he later served as Minister of Foreign Affairs.
A fine portrait by a pioneer of Italian photography, depicting one of the founding figures of Italy’s independence and unity.

Autograph letter signed by Jacques Mesrine, dated Wednesday 29 December 1976,  addressed to Jeanne Schneider, his love interest of the time. She smuggled out of prison the manuscript of his famous autobiography L'Instinct de mort. 66 lines in blue ink on two pages of a leaf. In the top left-hand corner of the letter, Jacques Mesrine has drawn a bouquet of flowers in multicoloured felt-tip pens. Usual horizontal fold, small tear to the fold in the right-hand margin.
Jacques Mesrine, who was in Fleury-Mérogis prison at the time, was delighted to receive so much proof of love and friendship in the many letters he received from his friends and family.
He, in turn, replied to all his correspondents, and in particular to Madame Panco, who had shown great kindness towards Jeanne Schneider: "I'm going to send my best wishes to Madame Panco, as I do every year... because I haven't forgotten what this woman has done for you... she is a “woman of respect” and a very human person... There are some in the administration (it's rare)'.
The indomitable Mesrine is full of tenderness and delicacy for Jeanne Schneider: ‘I've made you a little bouquet of flowers... to make up for being so unpleasant with you at the moment', but he has no wish in the world to change and submit to anyone's wishes: "What do you want, I'm becoming an old fart with a bloody temper... but I am as I am and have no intention of changing... or else I wouldn't be me any more. I'll tell you one thing, my angel... whether my book works or not... I don't give a damn... there's no way I'm going to start from scratch to make it sweeter."
Public Enemy No. 1 was outraged by the way he was treated by the prison administration after the publication of his polemical book ‘L'instinct de mort' (The Death Instinct ): "In France, the truth is frightening. At the moment I don't go out for a walk. ... I'm in my cell 24 hours a day. The reform! What do you expect me to do in this stupid courtyard in such cold weather? But I'm in great shape! "
He doesn't despair of being released or regaining his freedom soon, much to the dismay of all those who prefer to see him locked up: "I'm going to have to apply for a leave of... 10 years. but if that day comes... how many people are going to shit their pants... a lot of loudmouths who take advantage of the fact that I'm caged up to play the ‘pimp' but I'm free... there are no more ‘pimps'. it's nice to dream...'.
But he also talks about how happy he'll be to see his sweetheart again very soon, even if his condition as a prisoner is weighing on him and enraging him all the more: "I hope we'll finally be able to smile again, I'm going to be the real adorable little guy... well, almost! I love you, sweetheart... but this imprisonment is driving me crazy, I feel so powerless in the face of bullshit! "

A rare and beautiful letter from Jacques Mesrine in which he shows his intense affection for his girlfriend and his strong resentment of the prison system.

Autograph letter signed by Emile Zola addressed to Octave Mirbeau, dated in his hand March 4, 1901. Two pages in black ink on a bifolium.
Horizontal fold mark inherent to postal delivery.
Published in his Correspondence, vol. X, p. 242.
Precious letter from Zola to his great supporter Octave Mirbeau, who had paid his fine at the end of his second trial for "J'accuse!".
Now amnestied, the writer attempts - in vain - to recover the sum to reimburse him.
After his historic cry from the heart in l'Aurore, Zola was first condemned by the Seine jury on February 23, 1898 to one year in prison and a three thousand franc fine. The judgment was overturned on appeal, and the case was referred to the Versailles assizes, which retained only three lines out of the eight hundred that make up "J'accuse!" as grounds for accusation. To avoid accepting such a stifling of the debates, Zola's defense decided to default, and the conviction was confirmed on July 18 - Zola left that very evening for London to avoid prison. The tribunal also demanded 7,555 francs from him, which Mirbeau spontaneously decided to pay from his own funds. It was also Octave Mirbeau who prevented the seizure of Zola's furniture, by obtaining from Joseph Reinach the 40,000 francs in damages that Zola had been condemned to pay to the three pseudo-experts in handwriting that he had "defamed" in J'accuse!...
Following the amnesty law that ended judicial proceedings for "all criminal or delictual acts connected to the Dreyfus affair," Zola was acquitted but was not reimbursed. This letter attests to the writer's desire to compensate Mirbeau for his act of generosity: "Labori [his lawyer] will attempt an approach to try to recover the seven thousand and some francs that you paid on my behalf, for the Versailles affair. He simply wishes to have a letter from you, in order to show it and thus be authorized to speak in your name. You certainly do not have down there the receipt that was issued to you. Perhaps you remember its terms. In any case, if we must wait, we will wait, for nothing is urgent after all. The important thing today is only to test the ground, to see if they will return the money to us". However, the prosecutor's office refused his request. Furious, Zola wrote two days later a letter to Labori asking him to give up claiming the slightest cent - he published it in L'Aurore under the title "Let them keep the money": "they torture the text of the law and the State too keeps the money. If the prosecutor's office persists in this interpretation, it will be yet another monstrosity, in the unworthy way they have refused me all justice [...] I do not want to be complicit by accepting anything whatsoever from their amnesty [...]". According to Pierre Michel, these unsuccessful recovery attempts, of which this letter bears witness, "incited Zola to adopt an attitude that emphasizes even more his disinterestedness and that of his 'friend,' who is not named [in the L'Aurore article], probably at Mirbeau's request."
Dreyfus's pardon and the amnesty of his supporters did not satisfy the writer, but nevertheless marked the end of long years of struggle: "I have finished my crushing task, and I am going to rest a little because I am exhausted". Struck down in full glory the following year, he would not be able to witness Captain Dreyfus's rehabilitation.
Beautiful lines from Zola to Mirbeau who gave him the means to continue his fight for justice.

Autograph letter most probably unpublished signed addressed by Juliette Drouet to her lover Victor Hugo, four pages written in black ink on a bifolium. 
Transverse folds inherent to mailing, fold joining the two leaves reinforced with a fine strip of pasted paper barely perceptible.
Absent from the very complete online edition of Juliette Drouet's letters to Hugo by the Centre d'Études et de Recherche Éditer/Interpréter (University of Rouen-Normandy).
Very beautiful declaration of love and admiration by Juliette Drouet, the day after Hugo's plea defending his son. Charles Hugo had been brought before the assizes, and condemned despite his father's intervention, for having valiantly castigated the execution of Claude Montcharmont.
Hugo's great love addresses this letter in troubled times, where father and son find themselves at the forefront of the scene for their abolitionist positions. Scandalized by the execution of Montcharmont, a 29-year-old poacher from Morvan, Charles Hugo publishes an article in l'Événement which earns him a trial for contempt of respect due to the laws: the Second Republic already exists only in name, and the press is subject to frequent attacks, further aggravated here by the notoriety of the Hugos. Victor wants to defend his son and delivers a plea that remains famous: "Mon fils, tu reçois aujourd'hui un grand honneur, tu as été jugé digne de combattre, de souffrir peut-être, pour la sainte cause de la vérité. A dater d'aujourd'hui, tu entres dans la véritable vie virile de notre temps, c'est-à-dire dans la lutte pour le juste et pour le vrai. Sois fier, toi qui n'est qu'un simple soldat de l'idée humaine et démocratique, tu es assis sur ce banc où s'est assis Béranger, où s'est assis Lamennais !" (My son, you receive today a great honor, you have been judged worthy to fight, perhaps to suffer, for the holy cause of truth. From today, you enter into the true virile life of our time, that is to say into the struggle for the just and the true. Be proud, you who are but a simple soldier of the human and democratic idea, you are seated on this bench where Béranger sat, where Lamennais sat!)
Despite Hugo's historic intervention, Charles is condemned to six months in prison and 50 francs fine - a decision that Juliette bitterly castigates, overwhelmed by anguish at the outcome of the trial: "J'ai beau savoir que cet arrêt inique est non seulement supporté avec courage par vous tous, mais accepté avec orgueil et avec joie par le plus directement intéressé dans cette malheureuse condamnation, la fatigue et l'inquiétude que j'ai éprouvé pendant toute cette interminable journée d'hier m'a laissée une douloureuse courbature physique et morale" (However much I know that this iniquitous verdict is not only borne with courage by all of you, but accepted with pride and joy by the one most directly concerned in this unfortunate condemnation, the fatigue and anxiety I experienced during all that interminable day yesterday has left me with a painful physical and moral ache). 


12 juin jeudi matin 7h

Autograph letter initialed by Emile Zola, dated in his hand April 10, 1898. Four pages in black ink on a bifolium, addressed to Octave Mirbeau's wife.
Horizontal fold mark inherent to mailing, very rare and discrete foxing on the first leaf.
A particularity of this exile correspondence, Zola chose to omit his signature in his letters - or as here, to initial only, protecting himself from censorship or police investigations.
Published in his Complete Works, vol. XXV, ed. F. Bernouard, 1927, p. 820.
Heart-wrenching letter by Zola written in complete exile, the most unknown retreat, the most absolute silence. The justiciar writer is secluded in England, forced to leave Paris after being condemned to the maximum penalty for having written "J'accuse!"
during these cruel hours.

"je ne suis très fort que parce que je m'attends à tout et que mon seul but est le peu de vérité que nous réussirons sans doute à faire encore. Après, mon Dieu, qu'importe !"

Autograph letter signed by Charles de Gaulle, dated and addressed to his cook Augustine Bastide, who served him from 1940 to 1958, 13 lines in black ink on his headed paper.
Fold marks inherent to postal handling.
The de Gaulles had taken in the recipient of this letter, Augustine Bastide, upon their arrival in London. Of Provençal origin, she served the family from 1940 to 1958 first in Great Britain then in France. At the de Gaulle couple's table in an England severely affected by rationing, one could then find rabbits, winkles, and other frogs. The "outspoken Southerner" would remain in the general's service for nearly twenty years, sometimes causing hilarity in the stoic head of state:

« En 1946, alors qu'il venait de quitter le pouvoir volontairement, il lui a lancé : "Vous voyez Augustine, la politique c'est plus décevant que le travail aux fourneaux". Alors, les mains aux hanches, elle a rétorqué : "Mais général, pourquoi ne vous décidez-vous donc pas à rendre définitivement votre tablier ?" Mon père n'a pu se retenir de rire » ("In 1946, when he had just voluntarily left power, he said to her: 'You see Augustine, politics is more disappointing than working at the stove'. Then, hands on her hips, she retorted: 'But General, why don't you decide to hang up your apron for good?' My father couldn't help but laugh")
(Philippe de Gaulle, De Gaulle mon père) 

Autograph letter dated and signed by Charles de Gaulle, addressed to his cook Augustine Bastide, who served him from 1940 to 1958. 21 lines in black ink on his headed paper.

Fold mark inherent to postal folding, minor tears of no consequence at the left and right margins of the central fold.

General de Gaulle thanks her : "I was very touched by the birthday wishes you thought to send me...". He shares the same considerations as his correspondent concerning the role that France must embody on the political level : "You know that, on this matter, my feelings are yours and that, despite the powerlessness and baseness of the present, I do not despair of the future."

The de Gaulles had taken in the recipient of this letter, Augustine Bastide, upon their arrival in London. Of Provençal origin she served the family from 1940 to 1958 first in Great Britain then in France. At the table of the de Gaulle couple in an England severely affected by rationing, one could then find rabbits, periwinkles, and other frogs. The "outspoken Southerner" would remain in the general's service for nearly twenty years, sometimes provoking hilarity from the stoic head of state : 


In 1946, when he had just voluntarily left power, he said to her : "You see Augustine, politics is more disappointing than working at the stoves."  Then, hands on her hips, she retorted : "But general, why don't you decide to hang up your apron for good ?" My father could not help but laugh (Philippe de Gaulle, De Gaulle mon père) 

Bristol bearing the letterhead of the Presidency of the Republic of Tunisia.

Name and printed designation on the card.

A fine example.

Manuscript signature of Habib Bourguiba in green ink.

Provenance: from the collection of the distinguished autograph collector Claude Armand.

Original black and white photograph depicting Boris Yegorov in flight suit.

A fine copy.

Rare autograph of Boris Yegorov in blue ink in the left margin of the photograph.

On 12 October 1964, aboard Voskhod 1, Boris Yegorov made his sole flight as a physician, participating in the first mission in history to carry three crew members.

Provenance: from the collection of the renowned autograph collector Claude Armand.

Original black and white photograph, issued in a limited edition of 50 numbered prints, depicting Andrian Grigorievitch Nikolaïev during his visit to Switzerland in July 1971.

A fine copy. Printed stamps on the verso identifying the cosmonaut, the date of his visit to Switzerland, the numbering of the print (10/50), and the name of the "Boutique russe" in Geneva.

Boldly signed by Andrian Grigorievitch Nikolaïev in blue felt-tip pen in the lower left corner of the print.

Andrian Grigorievitch Nikolaïev was part of the very first group of Soviet cosmonauts selected in March 1960. He was the third man to travel into space.

His visit to Switzerland followed the successful completion of the Soyuz 9 mission, in which he participated alongside Vitali Sevastyanov.

Provenance: from the collection of the prominent Swiss autograph collector Claude Armand.

Original black and white photograph depicting Moshe Dayan in a frontal pose, looking to his left.

Envelope and a printed sheet inscribed: "STATE OF ISRAEL with the compliments of The Minister of Defense" enclosed.

Signed by Moshe Dayan in blue ballpoint pen at the foot of the portrait.

Provenance: from the collection of the renowned autograph collector Claude Armand.

Autograph letter dated and signed by Georges Dumézil to Thierry Maulnier—though not referred to by name—four pages on a bifolium written in blue ballpoint pen on stationery bearing the letterhead of the Académie française, discussing his recent work "Le dieu masqué".

Rust marks from a paperclip visible at the top of the leaves.

Georges Dumézil expresses agreement with the views of his fellow Immortal: "Je reconnais pour moi cet agnoticisme indulgent (156 - 787) ce scepticisme sans découragement dans son 'léger sourire' (324, - et la fin de 604, 611...) [...] Le Dieu masqué suppose un dieu, ou l'équivalent. Je pense moi, au conte d'Edgar Poe, 'Le spectre de la mort rouge' : quand on l'a dépouillé de ses voiles, démailloté, démasqué, il ne reste rien de palpable ni d'imaginable. Le mystère de son mouvement, de son être est néant. Et pourtant, il tue, donc il est."

The historian of religion continues, refining his line of thought: "Chez l'homme, le foisonnement des neurones, le langage qui en est sorti (voir 163, 172 et surtout 242, où vous rejoignez Hagège), commandent, réclament l'exercice, et tout s'ensuit. Et puis, il y a ce que j'ai envie d'appeler le besoin de confort, chaque individu est engagé pour une part minime, dans le mouvement d'évolution dont il est produit, et dont, pro parte nirili, sans en avoir connaissance, il prépare la suite le corps humain, (si des inventions à double effet lui en laissent le temps) travaille volens nolens pour on ne sait quoi, qui se réglera dans des centaines, des milliers de siècles." while also offering a few minor points of divergence.

He concludes his letter with this fine compliment: "Vous rejoignez sur ma tablette intime Marc Aurèle (en mieux habillé) et Sénèque (sans sa réthorique). J'attends le quatrième troupeau des vaches sacrées. Tel est, pour 1986, mon premier voeu..."

Complete autograph manuscript in French by Anatole France, 7 pages in black ink on 7 leaves and a signed autograph note on a bifolium.

Complete and extensively corrected speech by Anatole France, on the occasion of a banquet given in his honor in London. The future Nobel Prize winner for Literature delivers a passionate appeal for peace between nations and an ode to England - its philosophy, literature and politics - less than a year before WW1.

The writer offered this manuscript with a signed note: “Keep, dear colleague and friend, keep these leaves of paper if they are of any value to you. Anatole France London, December 12, 1913”.

« Chose curieuse, c'est la presse gaulliste qui attendait le discours de Compiègne avec la curiosité et l'impatience la plus marquées. [...] En fin de compte, le discours de Compiègne n'a apporté rien de neuf. Il a fait entendre que toutes ses mesures étaient arrêtées, et que sans doute aussi ses hommes étaient choisis. Il a déclaré que la situation était trop critique, en France, en Europe et dans le monde, pour permettre qu'on différât davantage. Mais il a persisté cependant à affirmer - c'est du moins ainsi que j'interprète un texte volontairement obscur [biffé : ambigu] - qu'il ne gouvernerait pas dans le cadre des institutions présentes [biffé : anciennes], et qu'il n'accepterait qu'un pouvoir taillé à sa mesure [...] Rien de bon ne peut en sortir, a-t-il conclu ; il n'est que temps de tirer la France de ce marécage pour l'installer sur le sol ferme et salubre de l'Etat fort.
Tout cela va fort bien. Seulement à l'heure même où le général prononçait contre les partis et les institutions parlementaires le réquisitoire altier, l'Assemblée nationale siégeait au Palais Bourbon. Elle promouvait l'examen des propositions relatives au prélèvement René Mayer. Et là, on voyait la coalition du parti gaulliste, avec ces mêmes « séparatistes » que le discours de Compiègne dénonçait comme des traîtres, s'étaler avec une impudence plus scandaleuse de jamais [...] Dénoncer l'impuissance parlementaire tout en l'organisant, stigmatiser la malfaisance et l'immoralité des partis tout en en fournissant l'exemple éhonté, c'est une attitude commode, mais qui brave par trop violemment le bon sens et l'honnêteté.
[...]
Certes, la situation intérieure est sérieuse, et la situation internationale ne l'est pas moins. Mais le redoutable hiver s'achève, le ravitaillement s'améliore. La tendance s'améliore vers la baisse des produits alimentaires s'accentue et s'accentuera dès que le courant parti des Etats-Unis aura atteint l'Europe. A Londres, pour la première fois, des possibilités d'accord sont apparues pour les problèmes allemands, même sur les Réparations, comme j'essaierai de le montrer à Charles Ronsac. A Bruxelles, Grande-Bretagne, France et Bénélux organisent la première cellule de la Fédération des Etats Européens. A Paris, dans quelques jours, les seize nations adhérentes au plan Marshall - qui sera voté avant la fin d'avril, sans restrictions graves ni conditions inapplicables - poseront les bases et étudieront les moyens de la planification économique européenne. Il n'y a qu'à persévérer dans cet effort dont les premiers résultats sont déjà tangibles. Le pays se sauvera lui-même. Il se sauvera par sa confiance en lui-même et par son courage. Il sauvera la Liberté. Il sauvera la Paix."

Autograph letter dated and signed by Jacques Mesrine, dated Saturday September 22, 1976, 67 lines in blue ink on one page recto verso addressed to his love of the time, Jeanne Schneider, thanks to whom the manuscript of Instinct de mort was discreetly smuggled out of prison.
Jacques Mesrine, then incarcerated at Fleury-Mérogis prison and deprived of human warmth, is enthusiastic about all the visits he receives in the visiting room, thus dispelling the myth of the antisocial bandit devoid of human feelings: "And after that they'll say I'm a savage! No, quite the contrary, and people who have had contact with me want to see me again. This gave me immense pleasure and do you know what happened next... she's also going to ask to see you. Apparently I'm missed by the nurses 'mister smile' that's the secret."
He particularly appreciated the visit from the nurse at La Santé prison who would also be their wedding witness with Jeanne Schneider and whom he praises: "... an enormous surprise! You'll never guess who came to see me! My nurse from La Santé... yes my darling... that charming lady with white hair whom you had seen in the visiting room at La Santé and who is to be our witness at our wedding [...] She's an exceptional woman, a former military nurse and quite well-placed in the ministry. During my 2 and a half years at La Santé I considered her like a mother, this woman is so devoted it's unthinkable. Woe to anyone who would touch a single hair on her head."
Public enemy No. 1 takes the opportunity again to break this reputation as a bloodthirsty beast that sticks to him: "If journalists knew that all the nurses entered my cell alone and with complete confidence, we'd be far from the 'beast' and hostage-taking à la Buffet. Nurses have always been sacred to me. They are untouchable like quite a few other people, but those journalist faggots don't know that; because they're not in my thoughts and that's regrettable sometimes."
Jacques Mesrine the rebel is surprised to find himself appreciating his prison solitude: "Do you know that I'm beginning to like it here... What calm you know manou, my isolation, I bear it insofar as I have peace. In detention it's not proven that I would have it. It's my reactions I'm afraid of... and the mentality of so-called crooks is increasingly disgusting! [...] in my isolation, there's good and bad... but personally, I don't want to complain... because there's no reason to do so." and ends his letter with paternal considerations for his daughter who is not very assiduous at school and for whom he worries: "I'm going to find out if Sabrina has been regularly attending her classes... I hope so because if the opposite were the case... no mercy this time... But what worry this kid can represent and what powerlessness I have to control her being here!"
Rare and very fine letter from Jacques Mesrine overflowing with reverence for the nursing profession and regrettable detestation for that of journalists.

"1st July Tilsit
I have just received, my dear Aimée, your letters from the 19th and 20th of June. It feels as though I am by your side, experiencing all the anxieties that have tormented me in similar situations. My eagerness to learn of the event is extreme. The courage you display as it approaches truly reassures me and dispels the deep worries I could not shake off some time ago.
[...]
You must, my dear Aimée, focus on taking good care of your health so that when I arrive in Paris, I find you fully recovered from your confinement, and we can enjoy Savigny together for the rest of the beautiful season. For the affairs here are taking such a turn that I can hope to embrace you within two months at the latest. [...]
It seems to me, my dear friend, that I have never given you cause for such fears, but enough on this matter.
Let us speak a little of our Joséphine. She shows an intelligence far superior to her age, for which I am grateful for all her kindness and the good humor she shows you.
I send her, for this reason, endless affection. A thousand tender thoughts to our dear mother. Reassure her about the health of Desessart, Beaupré, and all that concerns her, and remind me to the memory of my sister-in-law; announce to her that her brave and esteemed husband enjoys perfect health.
Farewell, my dear Aimée, receive the embraces of your loving and faithful husband. L. Davout"

Autograph letter signed by Marshal Davout to his wife, Aimée Leclerc. Two and a half pages in black ink on a double sheet. Fold marks inherent to mailing.
Very likely unpublished letter ("the intimate correspondence of Marshal Davout ceases from August to November [1807]" incorrectly states the Marquise de Blocqueville in Le Maréchal Davout, prince d'Eckmühl, raconté par les siens et par lui-même) addressed to his beloved wife, sister-in-law of Pauline Bonaparte. Settled in his palace halfway between Warsaw and Łódź, Davout, now Governor General of the Duchy of Warsaw, longs for his wife and their property in Savigny-sur-Orge: "but although this place is one of the most beautiful in the country, it is a hundred thousand leagues from Savigny." He especially urges the marshal's wife to appear at court and remain close to the Emperor; she was notably in charge of requesting her husband's leave permissions from Napoleon himself. Davout could hardly escape from Poland ("If I could foresee the date of my definitive return") to deal, among other things, with the marital affairs of his cousin Hélène Davout: "I would ask you, if our cousin is not greatly attached to her future husband, to convince her that in the next six months we will find a more advantageous match for her, but events may occur that do not allow for leave.") This latter will eventually marry General François-Louis Coutard in Warsaw in 1808.
Very visual letter bearing a beautiful signature of Marshal Davout.

Autograph letter signed by Marshal Davout, then Governor General of Poland, addressed to his wife Aimée Leclerc, sister-in-law of Pauline Bonaparte. Three pages in black ink on a double sheet, with his autograph address on the verso, as well as the stamp of the Grande Armée, and a broken wax seal, armorial with the cipher "LD" on grand mantle and Marshal's batons under crown. 
Tears from opening affecting two words on the third page.
After Davout's brilliant personal victory at Auerstedt, the battles of Jena, Eylau and Friedland which ended the war against the fourth coalition, Davout reaps the fruits of his success. Covered with honors and benefits by the Emperor, he enjoys his vast lands as the new Governor General of Poland.

Autograph letter signed by Marshal Davout to his wife, Aimée Leclerc, sister-in-law of Pauline Bonaparte. 1 page in black ink on a bifolium, with his handwritten address on the verso, postal stamp dated 23 January 1807, and broken wax seal bearing the marshal’s arms with batons, tassels, and oak leaves, inscribed "Le maréchal Davout Empire français" on the address panel, which was opened without affecting the text.
A battlefield letter written from Pultusk, where on 26 and 27 December 1806 the Russian forces under General Bennigsen were defeated by Marshal Lannes, with the support of Gudin’s division, which included a detachment from Marshal Davout’s corps. According to the memoirs of Commander Jakub Kierkowski, "ce fut un vrai jour du jugement dernier [...] il pleuvait et il neigeait, un vent glacial soufflait. Les chevaux de notre cavalerie avaient la boue jusqu'au ventre c'est pourquoi elle ne put rien entreprendre. L'infanterie russe chargea deux fois à la baïonnette, mais elle fut refoulée avec des pertes sévères. Presque personne ne tenait plus à sa vie car le gel prenait les gens mouillés, donc tous furent transis [...] il fut impossible de fléchir les bras car la glace craquait sur le corps, le froid et avec ça la faim, mieux vaut la mort qu'une telle vie."

A vivid letter bearing Marshal Davout’s elegant signature.

"Hier ma petite Aimée je t'ai donné de mes nouvelles. J'ai oublié de te parler de celles de nos parents. Leur santé est aussi bonne que la mienne. Sous peu de jours, je pense t'annoncer que Sa majesté leur a donné de nouvelles marques de sa bienveillance. [Marc-Antoine Bonin de la Boninière de] Beaumont est toujours à Varsovie avec la goutte. D'abord il y a longtemps que je n'ai eu de vos nouvelles j'ai chargé Laforêt porteur de cette lettre [...] il doit ainsi me rapporter tes lettres puisqu'il y en aura. 
Adieu ma petite Aimée, [...] mille caresses pour notre Joséphine et mille baisers à sa belle et vaillante Maman. Ton amoureux [...] L. Davout"

Autograph letter dated and signed by Henri II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé and father of the Grand Condé, 2 pages on one sheet, 27 lines in black ink.
Minor restorations and dampstain to left margin of the sheet. Discreet annotation by a former owner at head of verso of the letter.
Although he acknowledges the full atrocity of the crime perpetrated by sieur Cardinet against the person of the son of one of the most important magistrates of the city of Bourges, Henri II undertakes to intervene in favor of the assassin: "... l'action qui sest passee a Bourges est très méchante estant un assassinat très inhumain fait en plein jour contre le fils dun des principaus magistras de la ville. Japorteray pour vostre respect tout mon pouvoir pour ledit Cardinet et espère pour lamour de vous et pour lobeissance que je vous veus rendre le tirer daffaire..." ["... the action that took place at Bourges is very wicked being a very inhuman assassination done in broad daylight against the son of one of the principal magistrates of the city. I will bring for your respect all my power for the said Cardinet and hope for love of you and for the obedience that I wish to render you to get him out of trouble..."] but in no case for his accomplices: "Je dis lui seul car pour les autres complices je tiens la chose impossible sans une abolition du Roy principalement estants tous prisonniers presentement je despescheray à Bourges a cet effet est en ceste petite occasion que je voudrois estre plus grande..." ["I say him alone for as for the other accomplices I hold the thing impossible without an abolition from the King principally being all prisoners presently I will dispatch to Bourges to this effect and in this small occasion that I would wish to be greater..."]

"Ce soir je suis très mal foutu... il est 19 heures et je me couche juste après la fin de ta lettre... de rien de grave... juste une grande fatigue (à rien faire)" ["Tonight I feel really awful... it's 7 PM and I'm going to bed just after finishing your letter... nothing serious... just very tired (from doing nothing)"]

"Comme cela la puce veut prendre la religion juive... encore une idée à elle... oui je sais elle a fait croire à ses copains qu'elle était juive... car eux l'étaient...si cela l'amuse je la laisse libre... mais ça démontre aussi un dédoublement de personnalité..." ["So the little one wants to take up the Jewish religion... another one of her ideas... yes I know she made her friends believe she was Jewish... because they were... if it amuses her I leave her free... but it also shows a split personality..."]

"Aujourd'hui j'ai eu la visite du juge Madre. Tu aurais rigolé, car il a eu droit à tout mon vocabulaire... il en perdait la parole (j'ai pris mon pied (sic)) A un moment il me dit "mais c'est quand même moi qui commande... Réponse de ton bibi : "Ici pédé" c'est moi ton patron". Il était vert et les flics se marraient comme des perdus." ["Today I had a visit from Judge Madre. You would have laughed, because he got my full vocabulary... he was speechless (I had a ball) At one point he tells me 'but I'm still the one in charge... Your boy's response: 'Here, faggot, I'm your boss.' He was green and the cops were laughing like crazy."]

and against all submission to any form of power or violence:

"Le pire que l'on puisse faire à un juge, c'est lui enlever toute autorité devant les autres et crois moi il l'a bien compris. Il était venu avec 5 anti-commandos... L'un avait la bombe de gaz à la main... au cas où? Loin d'être impressionné... cela me rend con..." ["The worst thing you can do to a judge is to remove all his authority in front of others and believe me he understood it well. He had come with 5 anti-commandos... One had the gas canister in his hand... just in case? Far from being impressed... it makes me crazy..."]

"Là ma puce je vais prendre mon lit en marche...Ton vieux voyou pose ses lèvres sur le tiennes en une douce caresse d'amour. je t'adore petite fille... car nous sommes réellement le "couple" et plus encore. Bonne nuit chaton." ["There my little one I'm going to take to my bed... Your old rogue places his lips on yours in a sweet caress of love. I adore you little girl... because we are truly the 'couple' and even more. Good night kitten."]