First Editions

First edition, with no deluxe paper copies issued.

Slight, insignificant tears to the foot of the covers.

A handsome copy.

First edition of the inaugural issue of this review, directed in part by Albert Camus and René Char.

Contributions by Albert Camus, “Le meurtre et l’absurde”; René Char, “Recherche de la base et du sommet”; Georges Braque, “Suite aux cahiers”; Herman Melville, “Dialogue sur le créateur et la critique”; Jean Grenier, “L’histoire a-t-elle un sens?”; Louis Guilloux, “En mon bel âge”; Yves Battistini, “Empédocle”...

Covers slightly and marginally soiled.

First edition of this theatre programme for Jean-Paul Sartre's adaptation of Alexandre Dumas's Kean, staged at the Théâtre Marigny in 1988, directed by Robert Hossein and starring Jean-Paul Belmondo in the title role.

A fine copy. Illustrated throughout.

Boldly signed by Jean-Paul Belmondo in black felt-tip pen on the cover.

First edition, one of 15 numbered copies on tinted antique Japan paper, ours being one of 5 hors commerce lettered copies, comprising the deluxe issue.

Minor spotting to the half-title and following leaf, otherwise a fine copy with full margins.

First edition, one of 515 copies.

The set of 8 issues is housed under two half-oasis black folders, smooth spines, gilt dates at foot, decorative paper boards, lined in green paper, set signed by Atelier Laurenchet.
Minor lacks of paper and tears to some spines and boards, some spines with slight restorations. The eighth issue has marginally soiled boards and a detached engraving, occasional foxing mainly affecting the sixth issue, part of the first issue being almost detached, some rare lacks of paper in the margins due to its innate fragility.

First edition on ordinary paper of the French translation by Philippe Jaccottet.

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

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

Small tears to the spine and along the left edge of the front cover.

Rare signed autograph tribute by Boris Vian on this text.

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

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

A rare and handsome copy in an attractive contemporary binding.

First edition, one of 20 numbered copies on Japan paper, the smallest issue of the deluxe edition, along with 20 on Arches.

Spine and covers marginally faded and sunned as usual, with minor paper losses at the flaps.

Illustrated with 8 original lithographs by Georges Annenkoff.

As with all copies from the deluxe issue, this copy includes the complete double suite of illustrations on vellum and on China paper.

First edition, one of 15 copies on Japan paper, the deluxe issue.

Minor foxing to the edges of the covers, otherwise a desirable and uncommon copy with all edges uncut.

First edition, one of the review copies.

Spine very slightly sunned, not affecting legibility.

Fine signed presentation inscription from Emmanuel Berl to a friend named Françoise: "A Françoise, belle, charmante comme une fée... son ami..."

First edition, one of the review copies.

Spine very slightly sunned, not affecting legibility.

Inscribed by Emmanuel Berl to a friend named Françoise.

First edition, one of 35 numbered copies on Holland paper, the deluxe issue.

A fine copy.

First French edition translated by Abdelmalek Faraj.
Spine and boards marginally discolored and sunned, handsome interior condition.
Very fine autograph inscription signed by Pierre Dermenghem, on two pages, to Henry de Montherlant enriched with an autograph inscription signed by Abdelmalek Faraj.
Manuscript annotations by Henry de Montherlant, in blue ink, on the back board.
 

First edition, one of the Service de Presse (advance) copies.
Spine slightly sunned.
Handsome autograph inscription dated and signed by Eugène Dabit to Pierre Lièvre: "... J'ai reçu ces jours-ci "l'Education des filles", et votre dédicace me touche. Je viendrai un soir : choisissez-le. Je vous envoie ce livre qui est, en quelque sorte, mon premier roman. Je souhaite qu'il m'aide à garder votre confiance. Je fais miennes beaucoup de vos idées (dans votre préface à l'extravagante) Est-il possible de le sentir ici.  Fidèlement. Eugène Dabit." ("... I received 'l'Education des filles' these past few days, and your dedication touches me. I will come one evening: you choose when. I am sending you this book which is, in a way, my first novel. I hope it will help me keep your confidence. I make many of your ideas my own (in your preface to 'l'extravagante') Is it possible to feel it here. Faithfully. Eugène Dabit.")

First edition in French, of which there were no deluxe copies.

Foxing to spine and margins of boards, retaining the dust jacket which has small marginal tears.

Rare dated autograph inscription signed by William Styron to journalist Paule Villers.

First edition. Very scarce and sought-after, like all of his writings. This play is inspired by his tumultous life, namely the poisoning attempt he allegedly suffered from the hands of his lover Jeanne Sarrey.
With a very rare autograph letter signed by Xavier Forneret, one of the few surviving manuscripts of this bohemian Romantic rediscovered by Surrealists.
The scandalous genius attempts to have Mère et fille performed at the Théâtre de la Gaîté. Letter dated by the author May 27, 1854, addressed to playwright Charles Desolme. Two pages in black ink on a bifolium, small tear along the fold, no damage to the text.
Forneret, a fundamentally marginal literary figure, who evolved outside the Parisian literary circles, had great difficulty staging his plays in Dijon and Paris. Mère et fille lays bare "the feelings of the family, stripped of the movement of incidental characters and the clatter of a grand staging", in the author's own words. Forneret's attempts in this letter to stage the play with Hippolyte Hostein, then director of the Théâtre de la Gaîté, were in vain. The play premiered the following year at the Montmartre theater, and Forneret spent a fortune promoting it. It was scheduled to be performed - along with Jamais, another of his plays now lost - once again at the Théâtre de l'Ambigu, which reneged on its commitment. Well acquainted with the courts of justice, Fourneret successfully sued his director Charles Desnoyers in 1856, who defended himself by declaring that it was "impossible to stage [the plays], because they were unplayable". Nearly a century later, Forneret's works, mostly self-published and neglected by his contemporaries, were rediscovered by the Surrealists, who finally proclaimed Forneret's literary importance with other outcasts like Lautréamont and Raymond Roussel.

"My dear Monsieur Desolme,
According to our conversation yesterday about the return of my manuscript, I regret that M. Hostein, in committing this act of convenience, had not told me that there was a way of coming to an agreement if I consented to a few possible modifications, of scenic requirement; for I do not claim to have written a masterpiece to which it is forbidden to subtract or add an iota. If, therefore, M. Hostein would agree to keep the title of my play, the final events of each act, and agree between us, in a single session (if this is possible) on the changes to be made to my work [...] if, on the contrary, M. le Director of la Gaîté were to make another piece of my drama, to the extent that I would be ashamed to sign it, a work that would no longer be mine, I would be forced to withdraw; indeed, what would be left for me - I ask you, or any man of good logic and good faith? [...] I'm leaving the day after tomorrow, Monday, but I'll be back soon if we don't come to an agreement, so determined am I that Mère et fille will find somewhere to be played [...].

First edition, one of 120 numbered copies on Lafuma pure wove paper, the only large-paper issue.

Endpapers very slightly and marginally toned, two small tears at foot of spine.

A rare and much sought-after copy in original state.

First edition.

Full celadon blue morocco binding, later (ca 1920). Smooth spine decorated with mirror-tooled ornaments at tail and head connected by fillets. Fillet frame on boards. Top edge gilt. Covers and spine preserved. Uncut copy. Scattered pale foxing. 

Handsome copy in full morocco.

Last flame of late romanticism, Dominique is a sentimental novel, imbued with profound melancholy, largely inspired by autobiographical events and narrating the story of an impossible love. It is the only novel by this celebrated painter, and remains one of the great works of 19th-century French literature.