Historical manuscripts, autograph letters from personalities, first edition testimonies, antique documents, handwritten accounts of great events

"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...

Autograph letter signed by Louise Michel addressed to Lucien Barrois; one and a half pages written in black ink on a bifolium of white paper with black border. Transverse folds inherent to mailing. Tears to lower margin without loss at the fold.
Louise Michel requests help for one of her friends: "Vous savez que le père Blin ne peut plus travailler depuis deux mois passés, voici maintenant la mère Blin qui vient de tomber très malade. Voyez ce qu'on pourrait faire vous savez tous les services qu'ils ont rendus en 70-71. Mon petit cousin [...] aidera le père Blin à tenir son kioske (sic) mais cela ne donne pas de secours à la maladie de Mme Blin. Mme Barrois...

« Il faut avant de rentrer en cage [...] que je vous demande le grand service de faire entrer à l'hospice mon cousin (le petit Dacheux) à qui vous avez bien voulu faire avoir sa dispense d'âge. » ["Before returning to the cage [...] I must ask you the great favor of having my cousin (little Dacheux) admitted to the hospice, for whom you were kind...

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 This section from the original French novel was removed for the English version translated by Galantière and remains unpublished in English. Moreover, the final two paragraphs of the manuscript are unpublished in the original French version...

Autograph letter signed by Victor Hugo to Léon Richer, two pages in black ink on a double sheet framed in black. Crosswise folds inherent to envelope inserting. A central tear at the junction of the two sheets. Published in Œuvres complètes de Victor Hugo (Ollendorff, 1905).
Manuscript housed in a blue half morocco chemise and slipcase, marbled paper boards, marbled paper slipcase, signed Boichot.

A magnificent and important letter to Léon Richer, one of the first male feminist activists, considered by Hubertine Auclert as the "father of feminism" and later regarded by Simone de Beauvoir as its "true founder". This deeply humanist text is a compendium of...

"Si quelque part au monde le coeur de la liberté continue à battre, s'il est un lieu d'où ses coups nous parviennent mieux frappés que de partout ailleurs, nous savons tous que ce lieu est l'Espagne." ["If anywhere in the world the heart of freedom continues to beat, if there is a place from which its beats reach us more clearly struck than from anywhere else, we all know that this place is Spain."]

Autograph manuscript signed, one a page written in black ink on a sheet of yellow lined paper and titled by the author: “Draft 8 – Preface for French edition 8 – Price Theory”; numerous erasures and corrections. At the top left of the sheet, in ballpoint pen, autograph signed: “For Bernadette Platte, Milton Friedman”.
Extremely rare autograph manuscript signed by the 1976 Nobel Prize winner, one of the most influential economists of the 20th century, whose entire archives are now kept at the Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University. The few Friedman manuscripts still in private hands are particularly desirable and sought-after. Important theoretical...

Extremely rare autograph letter signed « Restif Labretone » addressed to Citoyenne Fontaine. Three pages written in black ink on a double sheet of laid paper. Remains of a wax seal, folds inherent to mailing. 
This letter was published, with some inaccuracies, in Lettres inédites de Restif de Labretone by V. Forest and É. Grimaud, 1883.

Complete autograph manuscript of 106 pages entitled: “Mémoire de la construction et agrèz d'une galère ordinaire, avec l'explication des termes, l'usage des manœuvres, et de toutes les parties qui composent le corps de la galère et son armement”. Penned in a neat, unrubricated hand, with occasional marginal notes in another hand.
 
Contemporary full vellum binding, lightly soiled with minor wear, smooth spine without lettering.
A major and invaluable manuscript chronicling the revival of the French galley fleet, written by the most influential galley shipwright of his time: Jean-Baptiste Chabert.
We have...

Exceptional complete autograph manuscript of Ravachol’s true last testament — largely unpublished — unknown in this form, preceding its rewriting by a third party for publication in the press. A unique testimony to the genuine thought of the anarchist icon.
 
Four-page lined quarto manuscript, entirely written in black ink and signed twice “Konigstein Ravachol” at the foot of each sheet. Pencil corrections within the text, possibly in the hand of his lawyer. Some horizontal folds and very minor marginal tears, without loss.
Written in his prison cell during the second Montbrison trial that led to his death sentence, this text, hastily penned, without punctuation...

Recto-verso fragment of a manuscript book of hours on parchment with sumptuously illuminated full-page borders. This compartmentalized division of the ornaments is representative of the production of Rouen and Parisian workshops at the turn of the 16th century.

Two illuminated pages on a recto-verso leaf: border divided into bands and flowers decorated with floral motifs and leafy designs, gilt initials painted in alternating red and blue and rubrics.
The richness of the illumination characterizes these liturgical books intended for laypeople. Books of hours were at the time jewels of piety, both an instrument of religious practice and a social...

Recto verso fragments of a manuscript book of hours on parchment with sumptuously illuminated full-page borders. This division into compartments of the ornaments is representative of the production of Rouen and Parisian workshops at the turn of the 16th century.

Two illuminated pages on a recto verso leaf: border divided into bands and fleur-de-lis decorated with floral motifs and scrollwork, gilt initials painted in alternating red and blue and rubrications.
The richness of the illumination characterizes these liturgical books intended for laypeople. Books of hours were at the time jewels of piety, both an instrument of religious practice and a...

Recto verso fragments of a manuscript Book of Hours on parchment with sumptuously illuminated full-page borders. This compartmentalized division of ornaments is representative of the production of Rouen and Parisian workshops at the turn of the 16th century.

Two illuminated pages on a recto verso leaf: the border is divided into bands decorated with floral motifs and leafy designs, gilt initials painted in alternating red and blue and rubriques.
The richness of the illumination characterizes these liturgical books intended for laypeople. Books of Hours were at the time jewels of piety, both an instrument of religious practice and a social claim...

Recto verso fragments of a manuscript book of hours on parchment with sumptuously illuminated full-page borders. This compartmentalized division of ornaments is representative of the production of Rouen and Parisian workshops at the turn of the 16th century.

Two illuminated pages on a recto verso leaf: border divided into bands decorated with floral motifs and foliate scrolls, gilt initials painted in alternating red and blue and rubrics.
The richness of the illumination characterizes these liturgical books intended for laypeople. Books of hours were at the time jewels of piety, both an instrument of religious practice and a social statement...

Recto verso fragments of a manuscript book of hours on parchment with sumptuously illuminated full-page borders. This compartmentalized division of ornaments is representative of the production from Rouen and Parisian workshops at the turn of the 16th century.

Two illuminated pages on a recto verso leaf: border divided into bands and lozenges decorated with floral motifs and leafy designs, gilt initials painted in alternating red and blue and rubrics.
The richness of the illumination characterizes these liturgical books intended for laypeople. Books of hours were at the time jewels of piety, both an instrument of religious practice and a social...

Recto verso fragments of a manuscript book of hours on parchment with sumptuously illuminated full-page borders. This compartmentalized division of ornaments is representative of the production from Rouen and Parisian workshops at the turn of the 16th century.

Two illuminated pages on a recto verso leaf: border divided into bands and lozenges decorated with floral motifs, fruits and leafy designs, gilt initials painted in alternating red and blue, line fillers and rubrics.
The richness of the illumination characterizes these liturgical books intended for laypeople. Books of hours were at the time jewels of piety, both an instrument of religious...

Autograph letter signed on four pages, dated 12 November 1851. 124 lines in black ink.

This letter is presented in a chemise and slipcase with paper boards decorated with abstract motifs, green morocco spine, green suede doublure, slipcase with morocco spine and matching paper boards signed by Thomas Boichot.

Unpublished autograph letter on progress, signed by Pierre-Joseph-Marie Proudhon, major figure in French social thought, and  “the father of...

Erotic manuscript consisting of two beveled wooden boards with two paintings and 10 leaves with a painting on the recto and a handwritten Tibetan text on the recto. The text is the same on the 10 leaves, it is a mantra. On two of the leaves it is almost completely erased. On the recto of the two wooden boards there are also two different handwritten mantras. The paintings are executed directly on the wood and the leaves. The dimensions of the paintings vary somewhat, from 5.5 cm, 6 cm to 12, 14 cm in width.
This form, 2 pieces of wood with leaves in the middle, is traditional. The whole was often attached by a string, or by holes in the wood through which a string was passed. Very good...

Letter typed and signed from André Malraux to Maurice Béjart. One leaf headed by the Ministre d'Etat chargé des Affaires Culturelles (Ministry of Culture), bearing a stamp from 29 January 1969.
André Malraux hopes to place choreographer Maurice Béjart in charge of the Ballet de l'Opéra in Paris.

Exceptionally rare autograph satirical poem by Louis Aragon, entitled Distiques pour une Carmagnole de la Honte, written between September 1944 and February 1945. 26 lines penned in black ink on a single leaf, with a note from the author in blue ink at the foot of the page.
Our manuscript belongs to a group of thirteen poems composed during the first half of 1945, intended for publication in a poetry anthology (Aragon, published by Pierre Seghers in Paris, Collection “Poètes d’aujourd’hui” no. 2, 20 July 1945). It was sent by Aragon as a working copy to his editor and friend Claude Roy. This autograph poem is the only known...