National heritage: French traditions, local folklore, travels in France and regional discoveries

Fifth edition of the "New edition, enlarged with the Description of all new Monuments, Buildings & other Curiosities, with the changes made over the past approximately twenty years," to which is joined a supplementary volume by the same author, likewise printed in 1771, drawn from the "latest edition." The first work is thought to have been that of Claude-Marin Saugrain, before being taken up by Georges-Louis Le Rouge.
A complete copy with all 44 engravings, some folded, such as the map of France, of substantial size. It features the Bastille fortress, twenty-eight years before its fall, as well as the château of Saint-Cloud, still standing.
Contemporary bindings in full speckled brown calf, spines with five raised bands, also decorated with richly gilt compartments, brown morocco lettering and numbering pieces, slightly darker on the first volume, gilt fillet on the board edges, red edges, pastedowns and endpapers of shell-pattern marbled paper.
Boards slightly warped on all three volumes, corners bumped.
A few minor losses to the headcaps of volumes 2 and 3. Occasional small surface scuffs to the margins of volume 1. Two raised spots to the spine of volume 2.
In volume 1, the engraving facing p. 464 slightly closely trimmed.
In volume 2, a small stain affecting the text at p. 104.

(our own translation)

First edition of this ambitious work recounting the history of power in France from Clovis, by a man of letters who two years later would be elected to the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres.

Contemporary bindings in marbled brown calf, spines with five raised bands framed by a gilt roulette, further decorated with compartments of gilt fleurons in the form of pomegranates, light brown morocco title and numbering pieces, gilt fillet on the board edges, red edges, pastedowns and endpapers of shell-pattern marbled paper.

Corners bumped, light wear to the joints. On the first volume, a few faint scuffs and scratches to the rear board. A fine copy overall.

Scattered foxing and some browning throughout.

In the first volume, a loss affecting the text at pp. 257-260; in the second volume, a marginal tear of 3.7 cm; in the third volume, a stain in the margin of pp. 294-295.

First edition, decorated with provincial coats of arms, as well as elaborately engraved headpieces, initials and tailpieces. 

Contemporary mottled brown calf, spine richly gilt with fleur-de-lys tools, red morocco title and numbering pieces, gilt roll to the board edges, red mottled edges, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.

Spine headcaps lacking, wear to the hinges, boards slightly warped, gilding rubbed to the board edges, scuffing and scratching to the boards, corners and board edges rubbed. 

Occasional light foxing throughout.

Rare first edition under this title, complete with the engraved title-page. The first edition of 1607, Remonstrance faicte au Roy Très Chrétien pour la réunion des religions à la foy catholique, was printed in Tournon in only 96 pages. This second edition, of which there were probably two issues from the same bookseller, was substantially revised and enlarged by the author.

Contemporary limp vellum with turn-ins, smooth spine, faded ink manuscript title to spine, original ties present, red speckled edges. Bookplate of the lawyer V[ictor] Duchâtaux, a bibliophile of the second half of the 19th century, to front pastedown. Manuscript ownership inscription dated 1661 at foot of engraved title-page.

Two tiny ink spots on pp. 57 and 209 affecting one letter each, small marginal wormhole on p. 417 not affecting text, a fine copy.

On p. 58, the passage "not in the traditions of the Roman Church! but in their own Bible, which I made the judge of all my designs, and the rule of my will" (our own translation) is underlined in brown ink, probably in the same hand as the ownership inscription.

First edition of the French translation, for which no deluxe paper copies were issued.

A handsome copy, complete with its photographic dust jacket showing a tiny tear at the head of the spine, with illustrations.

Inscribed and signed by Julio Cortázar to the writer Christiane Baroche: "Pour toi, Chirstiane, avec toute mon amitié. Julio."

Photographic three-quarter bust portrait of Jean de Lattre de Tassigny in uniform.

Slight foxing.

Autograph inscription signed by Jean de Lattre de Tassigny in faded blue ink in the upper right corner: "To my friend Pauchant, President of Rancourt-Verdun, most cordially and faithfully... Verdun 1937 - Colmar 1947." (our own translation)

Rare vintage polychrome "Happy Families" card game "The Trades," complete with all 42 cards, 1930s.

Comic portrayal of seven trades: Ramona (heating engineer), Lebouif (cobbler), Lavinasse (innkeeper), Boudingras (pork butcher), Courtepaille (farmer), Potard (pharmacist) and Dubifteck (butcher).

Without its original box, some traces of use, such as rubbed corners, and some foxing spots on the back of the cards. Good general condition.

Amusing vintage game revealing the stereotypes associated with seven trades during the French interwar period. 

For the first three volumes, first edition, complete with all 84 parts published between February 1842 and October 1843 of this "admirable publication printed on thick vellum paper [...] one of the finest of the 19th century, justly esteemed and comparable to the beautifully illustrated books of the 18th century" (Carteret), (see Carteret III, 143–153; Vicaire II, 234–248).

The first three volumes are bound in full violet morocco, spines with five raised bands bordered with gilt pointillé tooling, compartments richly gilt with double gilt frames, gilt rolls on caps, covers framed with quintuple gilt fillets, gilt monogram MG at the corners, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns framed in gilt dentelle, double gilt fillets on board edges, all edges gilt. Splendid bindings signed by Dunezat, active between 1870 and 1895.

Illustrated by Charles François Daubigny, Ernest Meissonier, Anthelme Trimolet, Adolphe Steinheil, Gustave Staal, Emy, Louis-Léopold Boilly, Charles Edouard de Beaumont, among others.

Texts by Marc-Antoine Desaugiers, Fabre d'Églantine, Pierre-Jean Béranger, André Chénier, Florian, Sedaine, Constance de Salm, Jean-Joseph Vadé, etc., set to music by various composers, including André Grétry, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Étienne Nicolas Méhul, and François-Adrien Boieldieu.

The complete collation is as follows: 1) 5 preliminary leaves (half-title, engraved title-frontispiece, list of songs, introduction by Delloye) and 28 parts of 4 unnumbered leaves each (28 songs, each including a 2-page note, 4 pages of text with illustrations, and 2 pages of music—i.e., 4 unnumbered leaves per song); 2) 5 preliminary leaves and 27 parts of 4 unnumbered leaves each, except for La Parodie de la Vestale, which includes 10 unnumbered leaves; 3) 5 preliminary leaves and 28 parts; 4) 2 unnumbered leaves, engraved frontispiece, xxiv and 224 pages.

The general series wrappers were not bound in this copy, which shows several first-issue points.

Enclosed: bound in violet half morocco with corners, Chansons populaires des provinces de France. Notices by Champfleury. Piano accompaniment by J. B. Wekerlin. Paris, Lécrivain et Toubon, booksellers, 1860, 2 unnumbered leaves, engraved frontispiece, xxiv and 224 pp.

Binding in violet half morocco with corners, spine with five raised bands bordered with gilt pointillé tooling, richly gilt compartments framed in double gilt fillets, marbled paper-covered boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, a few scuffs to board edges and extremities, all edges gilt, an elegant unsigned binding likely attributable to Dunezat, active between 1870 and 1895.

A very handsome set, perfectly bound.

Highly interesting collection attributed either to the geographer Georges-Louis Le Rouge (according to Polak), or to the civil engineer La Serre (based on a manuscript version held at the Municipal Library of Le Havre).

Contemporary half Havana calf binding, smooth spine richly decorated with five gilt fillets and blind-stamped naval anchors, some minor restorations to joints, small green vellum corners, marbled paper boards, endpapers and pastedowns marbled à la cuve. Binding dating from the mid-19th century.

The work comprises 35 engraved plates depicting the plans of 42 ports.

From north to south, and west to east: 1. Antwerp. – 2. Flushing. – 3. Ostend. – 4. Dunkirk. – 5. Gravelines. – 6. Calais. – 7. Boulogne. – 8. Dieppe. – 9. Valléry-en-Caux and Fécamp. – 10. Le Havre. – 11. Le Tréport and Honfleur. – 12. Rouen. – 13. Caen. – 14. Cherbourg. – 15. Granville. – 16. Port-Malo and Saint-Servan. – 17. Brest. – 18. Lorient. – 19. Port-Louis. – 20. Nantes. – 21. Les Sables-d'Olonne. – 22. Saint-Martin-de-Ré. – 23. La Rochelle. – 24. Rochefort. – 25. Concarneau, Mont-Saint-Michel and Oléron. – 26. Bordeaux. – 27. Bayonne. – 28. Saint-Jean-de-Luz. – 29. Port-Vendres and Collioure. – 30. Cette [Sète]. – 31. Marseille. – 32. Villefranche and La Ciotat. – 33. Toulon. – 34. Antibes and Saint-Tropez. – 35. Gibraltar.

Some minor and insignificant foxing.

First edition, very difficult to find complete, as the third volume was published eight years after the first two.

Bound in full mottled bronze-green calf, smooth spines richly decorated with gilt floral compartments, red morocco labels for title and volume number, gilt rolls on the caps, joints slightly rubbed, gilt roll-tooled borders on the covers entirely adorned with oblong geometric patterns in blind, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt Greek-key borders framing the pastedowns, bookplate mounted on the pastedown of the first volume, gilt fillets on the edges, all edges gilt, contemporary bindings.

Contains anecdotes about Rousseau, Poivre, Turgot, Helvétius, Benjamin Franklin, Holbach, Cardinal de La Rochefoucauld, the Marquise de Pompadour, Calonne, Necker, Beaujon…

A handsome copy attractively bound in a period decorative binding.

Rare pre-first edition offprint of Charles de Gaulle's article Les Origines de l'armée française, published in issue 520 of the Revue d'Infanterie in January 1936. This 44-page text will be entirely reprinted two years later as the first chapter of his celebrated work La France et son armée, published by Plon in 1938. Our copy is enriched with an autograph inscription signed by the author "to M. Jean Auburtin": "With profound and faithful friendship. C. de Gaulle."

Blue wrappers slightly sunned at extremities, spine and upper joint rebacked, minor losses to spine, vertical crease probably from mailing, old creases to upper right corners, some ink stains on lower wrapper, old stamp affixed and partially torn on same wrapper.