Fin de siècle & Belle Époque: history from 1870 to 1914, industrialization, colonial expansion and early 20th century society

Autograph letter signed, addressed to his friend Pierre Louÿs from Toulon, 16 lines written in violet ink, expressing concern about a mutual friend nicknamed Augusto, almost certainly Auguste Gilbert de Voisins.

Folding crease from mailing, envelope enclosed. A handsome copy.

"Friday,

my dear friend, it's mail time. Quickly, quickly! I received your telegram this morning and have replied. Your opening words were very sweet to me. Thank you. I'm forwarding you a letter from Augusto. It frightened me terribly. I’ll telegraph you as soon as I know more. Yours with all my heart. C.B."

Autograph letter signed by Jean-Jacques Henner to his friend Castagnary, 18 lines in black ink on a bifolium.

The letter is almost entirely devoid of punctuation.

A date written in violet ink, likely indicating when the recipient received the letter.

"Mon cher ami,

votre très aimable invitation m'est arrivée malheureusement un peu en retard vous aviez l'adressé place Clichy au lieu de place Pigalle et à mon grand regret je ne suis pas libre j'en suis désolé vous savez tout le plaisir que j'ai a venir chez vous soyez donc mon interprète auprès de madame Castagnary et excusez moi. Votre tout  dévoué JJHenner."

Fine autograph letter, dated and signed, addressed to his friend Pierre Louÿs; 7 pages in violet ink on two bifolia, with the original envelope preserved.

Folds from original mailing.

Soon to be on leave from the Moroccan Expeditionary Corps, Claude Farrère announces to his friend his imminent return to France following an Andalusian journey: "je pendrai au plus tardle train du 4 juin, à Algéciras ; lequel train, après escales à Grenade, Cordoue, Séville et Tolède, me déposera, le 11 au matin, à Toulon - Voilà !"

He mentions a book that struck him and evokes two women: "feuilletez, vous comprendrez l'in térêt que j'attache au cas, intérêt tout à...

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

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

A rare and handsome copy in an attractive contemporary binding.

Original inscribed photograph portrait of Emile Zola. Original albumen paper print on cardboard bearing the stamps of the Eugène Pirou studio, rue Royale, Paris.

Signed and inscribed by Emile Zola to Otto Eisenschitz: "à M. Otto Eisenschitz / cordialement / Emile Zola".




 

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...

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...

Autograph letter dated and signed by Emile Zola, addressed to his friend the physician Maurice de Fleury, dated in his hand October 15, 1893. 1 page 1/4, 19 lines in black ink on a double sheet. Horinzontal and vertical folds due to mailing. Stain on verso, not affecting the text.

A most unusual invitation from the master of Naturalism, who wishes to organize a luncheon with two eminent specialists in nervous diseases: "Vous êtes bien aimable de m'inviter à déjeuner. Mais cela va vous faire perdre du temps et à moi aussi [...] pourquoi ne prendriez-vous pas un rendez-vous pour deux heures et demie par exemple, avec M. Gille de la Tourette, soit jeudi, soit...

First edition, one of 70 numbered copies on pure thread paper, ours being one of 15 hors commerce copies lettered under Ingres covers, deluxe copies after 2 reimposed on pure thread laid paper hors commerce reserved for Jacques Hébertot and 13 holland paper copies.
Minor marginal tears of no consequence to the covers.
Handsome and rare copy of this response by Albert Camus to Jean-Paul Sartre's "Les mains sales".

First edition, one of 12 numbered copies on hollande paper, the only large paper copies.

Full red shagreen binding, spine with three raised bands decorated with gilt fillets and gilt cartouche enriched with black typographic motifs, marbled paper endpapers and pastedowns, bookplate affixed to pastedown, original wrappers and spine preserved, top edge gilt, other edges uncut.

Foxing to some uncut edges.

Autograph inscription signed by Georges Clemenceau to Monsieur Henry Leyret, political and judicial chronicler...

First edition, with no deluxe copies issued; one of the review copies.

Spine and covers lightly and marginally sunned, a crease mark to the lower right corner of the rear cover, complete with the publisher's review slip.

Signed presentation copy from Jehan Laurent Gheerbrandt to the writer Jean Henri Guillaumet.

First edition, one of 70 numbered copies on Japan paper, comprising the deluxe issue.

A few spots of foxing to the boards, spines and some deckle edges.

Rare untrimmed copy, preserving the full margins, of the Tiger's philosophical testament.

First edition, one of the few copies printed on Japan paper.

A fine copy.

Edition published in the same year as the first edition, with edition statements in each volume.

Contemporary half brown shagreen bindings, spines with four raised bands ruled in black and decorated with double black compartments featuring gilt central tools, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, speckled edges; corners rubbed.

Occasional foxing, with minor nicks to the top edge of one volume.

A handsome copy, attractively bound at the time.

Albumen print, mounted on cardboard with a printed brown ink border  published by the Wesenberg studio in St Petersburg. Tolstoy's name has been stamped in Cyrillic on the verso. Slightly sun-faded, as usual. One spot and a slight white mark to the lower portion.
A handsome copy of this photograph depicting Count Tolstoy in peasant clothing.
 

First edition on ordinary paper.

Bound in half red shagreen with corner pieces, spine with four raised bands ruled in blind and gilt, a few rubs to the spine, marbled paper boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, upper cover preserved, corners lightly bumped.

First edition, one of 52 numbered copies on Holland paper, the deluxe issue.

A handsome copy.

Rare first edition. First volume published on 6 May 1867, the second on 27 July and the third the next year (28 January 1868). All of 18° format are first editions of Verne's novels.

Contemporary brown half shagreen bindings, spines with four raised bands ruled in black and decorated with double black panels featuring central gilt floral tools, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, two upper corners slightly bumped, speckled edges, contemporary bindings.

A handsome copy attractively housed in its contemporary bindings. In Search of the Castaways is the very first Verne novel to be adapted for the cinema. predating even...

Rare first edition. This first appearance of the text in book form was Jules Verne's preferred format, as Jauzac notes, instead of the more famous gilded publisher's bindings.

Contemporary brown half shagreen binding, spine with four raised bands ruled in black and decorated with double black panel compartments featuring central gilt floral tools, marbled paper-covered boards, marbled endpapers, speckled edges, a few small abrasions to one edge, contemporary binding.

A small black ink stain to the lower right margin of the opening leaves.

A handsome first edition copy attractively housed in a contemporary binding. This founding novel is considered one of, if...

Rare first edition. The first volume dated 4 August 1876, followed by the second volume published on 6 November with Un drame au Mexique bound in. All first editionswere published in 18° format. 

Half brown shagreen bindings, spines with four raised bands ruled in black and framed in black with with central gilt fleurons, marbled paper boards, paste-down endpapers and flyleaves of hand-marbled paper, sprinkled edges, contemporary bindings.

A handsome first edition copy of this celebrated Siberian adventure, attractively bound in contemporary bindings.

This first appearance of the text in book form was Jules Verne's preferred format, as Jauzac...

First edition, one of the rare copies specially printed for the author on Holland paper.

Contemporary Bradel binding in half vellum-style paper boards, smooth spine slightly sunned and decorated with a central gilt ornament, marbled paper covers, wrappers preserved.

Fine signed autograph inscription by Binet-Valmer: "à Claude Farrère son admirateur, à Charles Bargonne, son ami reconnaissant, Binet-Valmer."

First edition, one of 10 numbered copies on Holland paper, the only deluxe issue.

Contemporary half tawny marbled sheepskin binding, spine slightly sunned with five raised bands and gilt floral tooling, a few rubs to the spine, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, wrappers preserved.

Included is a handwritten biographical note concerning the author and the subject of the work.

Rare first edition.

Small tears at the head and foot of the spine, a few angular losses to the partially soiled covers, foxing.

First edition, one of 110 numbered copies on alfa paper, the only deluxe paper copies.

Frontispiece with a photographic portrait of Léon Blum.

A pleasant copy.

First edition, one of 25 numbered copies on japon paper, deluxe issue.

Minor tears and two small losses at the foot of the spine at the level of the deckle edges, a stain in the left margin of the upper cover, a wide-margined copy.

Illustrated with a photographic portrait of the author as frontispiece.

First edition, printed in a small number on Dutch paper.

Spine and covers lightly sunned, small tears to the spine, final endpapers browned.

Speeches by M. Chaumié, Anatole France and Abel Hermant.

Autograph inscription signed by Eugène Fasquelle to Marcel Batilliat, whose name he misspelled: "à M. Marcel Batillat."

The Symbolist novelist Marcel Batilliat was a close friend of Émile Zola and campaigned to preserve the memory of the author of the Rougon-Macquart cycle.

First edition of this lecture delivered to the Groupe d'Etude Sociales de Montpellier, for which no deluxe paper copies were issued.

A rare and pleasing copy.

Author's signed presentation inscription by Dr R. Vargas at the head of the upper cover: "A l'auteur de l' "Amour libre" affecteux hommage mon camarade, Dr Vargas (chez Mr Galtié Bd Henri IV, 18, Montpellier.)

Rare first edition.

Small tears and losses to the head and foot of the spine, spine and covers marginally sunned.

Signed autograph inscription from Jacques Mesnil to Charles Albert.

Some manuscript corrections and reading marks in blue pencil in the margins of certain paragraphs.

New edition, partly original as revised and expanded.

Vertical creasing to the upper cover, a pleasant copy.

Illustrated with a photographic portrait of the author as frontispiece, together with three further plates.

Scarce pamphlet issued by the relief committee for political prisoners of the Russian penal camps in Grenoble.

First edition, with no deluxe paper copies issued.

Two small, unobtrusive tears at the head and foot of a joint.

A scarce and pleasing copy.

First edition of the French translation, for which no deluxe paper copies were issued, with the correct "achevé d’imprimer" dated February 1939.

A fine copy, complete with its illustrated dust-jacket, as usual showing only slight rubbing and minor marginal tears, not affecting its overall appearance.

The work is illustrated, facing the title-page, with a map of the south-eastern United States during the Civil War.

First edition printed in a small number of copies.

A rare and pleasing copy.

First edition of this lecture delivered before the Russian Workers’ Society in Paris on 15 January 1887.

Minor corner losses to the boards, not affecting the integrity of the copy.

Rare.

First edition, illustrated with a very large folding map of the Indo-Chinese peninsula, lithographed in colours and bound at the end (cf. Cordier, Indosinica, p. 1000.)

Bradel binding in green half cloth, smooth spine, red shagreen title label, marbled paper boards, covers doubled and restored and preserved, modern binding signed Laurenchet.

Published in the "Revue indo-chinoise", issues 82–87. In 1898, Laos was incorporated into the Indochinese Union at the initiative of Paul Doumer, Governor-General of Indochina from 1897 to 1902.

Manuscript bookplate on the cover.

First edition (cf. Cordier, "Sinica", 1610.)

Publisher’s original full green cloth, smooth spine, marbled endpapers, red-speckled edges, decorations partly faded on spine and covers.

A few pencil annotations, chiefly at the end of the volume.

This is the pocket edition of the "Chinese and English Vocabulary" by George Carter Stent, first published in Shanghai in 1871 (3rd ed. 1898).

A good copy.

First edition, apparently privately printed at the author's expense, illustrated with 15 full-page plates and a folding map (Cf. Lorenz XII, 830).

Contemporary Bradel binding in full paper-covered boards with a gilt tortoiseshell pattern, smooth spine slightly sunned, navy blue shagreen lettering-piece, minor rubbing to the head and foot of the spine, brown endpapers and pastedowns, blind-stamped rules to the board edges, corners lightly bumped, bookplate mounted on the front pastedown, contemporary binding.

A few light spots of foxing.

Count Jean de Pontevès-Sabran, major in the 3rd Cuirassiers Regiment, was born at the Château de Grignols (Gironde) in...

First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Bulletin de la Société normande de géographie.

Contemporary-style Bradel binding in full burgundy cloth, spine titled lengthwise, burgundy paper endleaves and pastedowns, wrappers doubled and restored and preserved, modern binding. 

Only three copies recorded in the CCF (BnF, Sainte-Geneviève, Condorcet).

This is the author’s second report delivered before a Norman audience (Pelliot had family ties to Normandy), concerning the 1906–1908 expedition to Chinese Turkestan.

It followed the Paris lecture (Trois ans dans la haute Asie, conférence de M. Paul Pelliot au grand...

First edition (cf. Cordier, Sinica, 2558).

Only one copy recorded in the CCF (BnF).

The First Convention of Peking (18 October 1860) was one of those unequal treaties through which the Western powers sought to impose their conception of international law upon China, which remained reluctant to comply with its provisions.

The clauses addressed in this brief memorandum concern, in particular, the full freedom of practice of the various Christian denominations as stipulated in Article 13.

Loss at the foot of the spine, marginal loss at the foot of the upper cover, minor spotting to the covers.

Rare first edition illustrated with a portrait frontispiece and a plate printed on a separate leaf with tissue guard depicting the Taj Mahal.

No copies recorded in the CCF.

Small tears to the unlettered spine, boards slightly soiled.

A very rare small travel guide to the city of the Taj Mahal (now in the state of Uttar Pradesh).

Manuscript bookplate "E. Miroir 8 February 1911" in the upper left corner of the title page.

Partly pre-original edition for the first work and first complete edition for the second.

See F. Monaghan 239 and 240. Cited by Lasseray, "Les Français sous les treize étoiles"

Bound in at the end: "Guerre d'Amérique. 1780-1783. Journal de campagne de Claude Blanchard", printed in Paris by Librairie J. Dumaine and L. Baudoin in 1881.

Contemporary half blue percaline, smooth spine decorated with a gilt fleur, double gilt fillet at foot, brown shagreen title-piece with rubbing, marbled paper boards with a few scratches, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.

The half-title of the second volume was not bound in.

The pre-original edition bears manuscript...

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

A pleasing copy.

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

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

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

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

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

A pleasing copy, despite a small tear to the upper right margin of the front free endpaper.

On the page following the title, a fine signed autograph inscription by Colette: "A monsieur F. Porlier. Nantes, février 1933. Colette. J'aime beaucoup "et autres" ! Colette.", Colette having ironically circled the words "et autres" appearing in a paragraph outlining her alleged collaboration with her former husband Willy in the writing of the work.

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

A pleasing copy.

Autograph signed inscription by Colette: "A monsieur F. Porlier en souvenir d'une passante. Colette."

First edition, illustrated with in-text and full-page black-and-white and colour drawings by Albert Robida.
Publisher’s original illustrated cloth binding in full green percaline, signed Engel, smooth spine, featuring a large polychrome illustration heightened with gold and palladium by Souze extending across the spine and boards; the original front cover in colour preserved; all edges gilt.
"Ceci qui va suivre sous un titre ambitieux pris simplement comme une étiquette en chiffres, n'est, bien entendu, pas une histoire, ni un tableau, ni un résumé, c'est une série d'esquisses, de croquis à la plume et à la mine de plomb, de portraits familiers de notre Siècle à différentes époques...

First edition, one of 110 numbered copies on deluxe paper, our copy unnumbered, the only large-paper issue.

With a photographic portrait of Léon Blum as frontispiece.

Some scattered foxing, notably to the edges and endpapers; minor marginal tears to the covers, without significance.

First edition, one of 40 numbered copies on alfa paper, our copy not specifically numbered, issued as the only deluxe paper copies.

A few small spots of foxing, mainly affecting the edges and the endpapers, which show two small traces of adhesive paper.

First edition of the French translation prepared by Lamole de Tamayo of this monumental publication, long sought after for its exceptionally rich iconography: 107 plates hors texte, including 2 in colour (mostly portraits), 2 folding colour maps, and a very large number of in-text figures and photographs (portraits, views, reproductions of early engravings, types and costumes, portraits, etc.).

Publisher’s bindings in half brown shagreen, smooth spines decorated with gilt fillets and dotted tooling, as well as blind-stamped panels; gilt titles and ornaments in relief on the green percaline boards; publisher’s bindings signed E. Domenech-Barna.

Some rubbing to the spines with...

Very rare first edition (cf. Ryckebusch 7452).

Four copies are recorded in the CCFr, all in Paris at the BnF: Tolbiac (2), Arsenal and Richelieu.

Spine and boards restored and reattached, with losses to the corners,

A refutation of the memorandum by Baron de Lareinty, former delegate of Martinique, urging the National Assembly to reject the bill establishing trial by jury in the colonies.

Denouncing judicial practices prejudicial to men of colour, this memorandum is jointly signed by four liberal deputies: Victor Schoelcher, Alexandre Laserve and J. François de Mahy, representatives of the island of Réunion in the Assembly, and Philippe Pory-Papy, deputy for...

New edition.

Publisher’s full red percaline binding, smooth spine ruled in blind, title and imprint stamped in gilt on the upper cover, speckled edges.

A slightly shaken copy, with some rubbing to the covers.

The first edition appeared in 1843, and the collection was again issued in 1910.

Théodore Roland de Bussy (1810–1873) pursued an administrative career in the colony, rising to the post of conseiller de préfecture, and was highly active in the field of language studies, publishing some ten bilingual lexicons, including the celebrated Idiome d'Alger (1838), likewise reissued on numerous occasions. See Gaudin (François); Mahtout (Mahfoud): Histoire culturelle et...

First edition (cf. Sabin, 64,876).

Spine cracked with small losses; slight marginal tears and losses to the wrappers.

The subject of this dissertation does not, of course, concern the State of the same name (a member of the Confederacy during the Civil War), but the vessel, the CSS Alabama, a sloop of war with combined steam and sail propulsion, built in Great Britain in 1862. It served in the Confederate States Navy until it was sunk on 19 June 1864 following a naval engagement with the Union sloop of war USS Kearsarge off the port of Cherbourg, France.

In the aftermath of the war arose the Alabama Claims, demands for damages brought by the Federal Government of the...

First edition illustrated with 105 engravings, a heliogravure portrait frontispiece with tissue guard, as well as 2 folding maps at the end of the volume.

Publisher's bottle-green full cloth Bradel binding, smooth spine, upper cover decoratively blocked, bevelled boards, top edge gilt, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, corners lightly rubbed.

A Geneva-born geographer, Alfred Bertrand (1856-1924) undertook numerous journeys for ethnographic purposes as well as missionary work; a fervent Calvinist, he sought not only the conversion of indigenous peoples but also a deeper understanding of their customs, and the destinations of his expeditions were largely determined by the...

Unpublished manuscript comprising 17 original signed and captioned watercolours executed in 1873 by a certain A. Poquet, an illustrator whose name has not been traced in the principal artists' dictionaries. The work announced on the calligraphic title page, Vues et types du Sénégal (Views and Types of Senegal), appears never to have been published; these watercolours almost certainly constitute the original maquette, or preparatory artwork, intended for its illustration.

The volume comprises a calligraphic title leaf, with a table of plates on the verso, followed by thirteen leaves on which the seventeen watercolours are mounted, one or two to a page...

Second edition, partly original as revised and enlarged, illustrated with a folding map at the end of the volume.

Slight corner wear to the boards, otherwise a well-preserved copy with internal foxing.

The author takes a very broad view of the Serbs, seemingly including all Slavic populations of the Balkans.

First edition of this advance extract from "Annam – Numismatic Studies", an ouvrage not due to appear until 1905.

A rare and pleasing copy, despite 

Autograph presentation inscription from Albert Schroeder to Jean-Calixte-Alexis Auvergne, Resident-Superior in Annam from 1897 to 1898, and again from 1901 to 1904.

Second edition.

Contemporary Bradel binding in green half percaline, smooth spine gilt with a central floral tool, place and date gilt at foot, cherry shagreen lettering-piece, marbled paper boards, one corner bumped, period binding.

Minor abrasions to the left margin of the upper cover, a few scattered foxing marks.

No copy of this edition recorded in the CCF.

Concerning the Franciscan monastery of Santa Maria de La Rabida, situated in the province of Huelva (Andalusia), whose renown derives in part from the assistance it provided to Christopher Columbus before his first voyage.

Braulio Santamaria (1838-1914) was director of the Correo de Huelva.

First edition, privately printed in a small number of copies as an offprint from La Patrie of 16 and 18 November 1883.

The CCFr records copies only at the BnF, the Bibliothèque Thiers and Compiègne.

Contemporary navy-blue half morocco over marbled-paper boards, with corners, spine with five raised bands, boards framed with blind fillets, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, original front wrapper bound in, corners rubbed, top edge gilt.

Some foxing.

The text is a funeral tribute to Odilon Barrot’s last surviving brother, who, like him, was both a lawyer and a politician, though as staunchly Bonapartist as his elder brother was a leading figure of left-wing...

First edition, one of the rare copies printed on Japan paper, with no mention of such.

Illustrated with a portrait frontispiece and 15 full-page illustrations within the text.

Contemporary half red shagreen binding with corners, spine in five compartments ruled in black, marbled paper boards, black stains at the foot of the upper cover, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt.

Minor rubbing and small losses to the spine, a few light foxing marks. 

Written by one of the defenders of the citadel of Bitche during the Franco-Prussian War, this account constitutes a tribute to Colonel Louis-Casimir Teyssier (1821–1916), who managed to hold the stronghold for seven months...

Rare first edition of this early biography of Agustín Arturo Prat Chacón (1848-1879), Chilean naval officer and national hero, who was killed at the Battle of Iquique shortly after boarding the Peruvian warship Huáscar during the War of the Pacific (1879-1884).

Cf. Palau 110 041. No copy recorded in the CCF.

This pamphlet is illustrated with a lithographed portrait frontispiece.

Some minor foxing, chiefly affecting the wrappers.

First edition, printed in a limited run, of this extract from the Revue britannique of February 1880.

Only three known copies in the CCF (BnF, INHA, and Sorbonne).

This copy is presented in its original wrappers, with a blank temporary cover.

Pamphlet adorned with in-text black-and-white illustrations.

In Greek mythology, the Cabeiri were minor deities worshipped in mystery cults across several regions of Greece, particularly on the islands of Samothrace, Lemnos, and Imbros.

These deities, little understood even by the Greeks themselves, were remnants of an Aegean past influenced by Phoenician culture, yet they later became protectors of...

A rare first edition.

This scholarly periodical was issued continuously over eight years, from 1870 to 1877.

Angular losses to the lower wrapper.

Joseph Héliodore Garcin de Tassy (1794-1878) was an orientalist and a specialist of French India. He studied Oriental languages under Silvestre de Sacy and, alongside him, was one of the founders of the Société asiatique in 1822.

He was appointed to the chair of Indology at the École spéciale des Langues orientales in 1828 and was elected to the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres in 1838.

Initially known for his studies on Islam and for his translations from Arabic, Turkish and Persian, Garcin de Tassy...

Paris, Teissier et Cie, undated [circa 1868-1870]. Folio, 38 leaves mounted on guards, 32.5 x 49.5 cm.

An exceptionally rare collection, probably unique in this form, comprising thirty-eight proofs and working states of lithographed Masonic plates, most designed to be viewed across a double page. Numbered in red pencil from 1 to 40 in a discontinuous sequence including several bis plates. Caillet and Dorbon describe the Rameau d'or d'Éleusis, to which...

First edition illustrated with a portrait, 15 plates, and a large folding map printed in colours showing the routes.

Contemporary-style green half shagreen, spine with five raised bands lightly sunned, marbled paper boards, wrappers mounted on guards and preserved, skilfully restored at the corners, modern binding.

First edition in book form, bringing together six contributions previously published in the Revue des Deux Mondes. The archaeologist Albert Dumont (1842-1884) here records his impressions from journeys undertaken during his stay at the French School at Athens.

Signed autograph inscription by Albert Dumont to the spiritualist philosopher Adolphe Franck (1810-1893) at the head of the half-title page.

The ink of the autograph inscription has faded, minor losses to the foot of the first leaves, occasional light foxing.

Second edition, embellished with several figures in the text and illustrated with 5 albumen photographic plates, mounted on heavy paper and inserted on guards.

Contemporary half black shagreen, spine with five raised bands decorated with blind fillets, headcap rubbed, joints worn, marbled paper boards, speckled edges, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.

This was the first published work of Abbé Louis Duchesne (1843-1922), who would go on to revolutionize both the methodology and conclusions of ecclesiastical history.

Written in collaboration with the future Byzantinist Charles Bayet (1849-1918), it is the result of their stay at the French School at Athens.

This...

Rare first edition.

According to the CCF, the only recorded copy is held by the BnF.

Spine restored and rebacked, small marginal losses to the wrappers, front wrapper relaid, internally in very good condition.

Autograph inscription signed by Claude-René-Jacques David de Pénanrun to Odilon Barrot (1791-1873), in his capacity as "President of the Decentralisation Commission".

Indeed, the elderly Orléanist, despite having withdrawn from political life, had accepted, following a meeting at the Tuileries Palace with Napoleon III, the chairmanship of an extra-parliamentary committee tasked with examining decentralisation projects (1869).

Rare first edition.

Losses to the spine, restored, foxing mainly at the beginning and end of the volume, manuscript ex-libris at the head of the upper cover.

The author emphasises the particular status of land ownership under Islamic rule, and proposes the establishment of a free zone on the coasts of Cyrenaica.

First edition illustrated with 5 plates hors texte (3 portraits and 2 views) and 1 facsimile (cf. Tailliart 184).

Contemporary bindings in fawn half calf, smooth spines gilt with fillets, red shagreen title labels, black shagreen volume labels, marbled paper sides, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, bindings of the period.

Waterstaining at the end of volumes I and III.

The section relating to Algeria appears in vol. III, chap. V, pp. 127 to 164.

The author stayed in Bône as a divisional officer from December 1837 to 9 February 1838.

These few pages abound in characteristic details concerning the indiscipline of the army, its poor discipline and appearance, the...

Rare first edition.

Only copy recorded in the CCFr (BnF).

Losses at the head and foot of the spine, small marginal tears to the covers and half-title, occasional foxing.

The author is presented as a serving Catholic statesman wishing to remain anonymous. With an introduction by the publicist Armand Ravelet (1834-1875).

Despite its very broad title, the pamphlet chiefly concerns the highly contentious relations between Gregorian Armenians and Catholic Armenians, as well as the respective positions of the Porte and the Papacy regarding these two communities.

Album comprising 30 original albumen prints mounted on heavy card leaves.

Bradel binding in full black boards, smooth unlettered spine, gilt-ruled frame on the covers, title set within a central panel on the upper cover, corners rubbed; contemporary binding except for the renewed spine.

The first 22 photographs (approx. 12.5 × 17 cm) depict views of the City of the Doges; the following seven (various formats) reproduce paintings by Italian masters (Veronese, Titian, Raphael, Murillo...) held in Venice, Florence, and Paris; the final print shows a water-carrier.

Captions in Italian in black ink on the mount, on the verso.

The sequence of photographs is as follows...

A rare run of approximately 250 issues of the Levant Times and Shipping Gazette, the bilingual maritime newspaper published in Constantinople, covering almost a complete year from 1 July 1869 to 3 June 1870. At the centre of this period stands the opening of the Suez Canal on 17 November 1869, an event that transformed the geography of trade between the Mediterranean, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. The present collection records the anticipation, announcement and immediate aftermath of that moment from one of the principal ports of the Ottoman Empire.

Two large folio volumes (31 × 48 cm), bound Bradel-style in half black cloth over beige boards, smooth...