First edition with a frontispiece by Félicien Rops. Original wrappers preserved. Posthumous edition. Mallarmé and Huysmans, executors of Villiers's estate, undertook to establish this edition with Léon Dierx, for the benefit of the writer's widow and their son Victor. Complete with the 2 leaves of the publisher's catalogue.
Publisher's inscription on the half-title: "A Eugène Marchal, en souvenir de notre bonne camaraderie. L'éditeur..." ["To Eugène Marchal, in memory of our good friendship. The publisher..."] (illegible signature, probably Léon Dierx).
Contemporary Bradel binding in half wine-red morocco. Smooth spine decorated with mirror tools. Gilt title. Top edge gilt. Spine uniformly faded. One corner slightly bumped.
Fantaisies, Pamphlet et souvenirs.
First edition for which no grand papier (deluxe) copies were printed.
Small marginal pieces missing at the top of the first board, a clear remnant of adhesive paper at the bottom of the first endpaper.
Copy complete with the facsimile at the end of the volume.
Precious handwritten inscription signed by Gabriele d'Annunzio to Natalie Clifford Barney: « à miss Barney et au Temple de l'Amitié attentive, cette légère torpille ‘sine litteris' est offerte par la ‘tête d'ivoire'. Gabriele d'Annunzio » (“To Miss Barney and the attentive Temple of Friendship, this light ‘sine litteris' torpedo is offered by the ‘ivory head'. Gabriele d'Annunzio”
Very beautiful testimony to the friendship between Gabriele d'Annunzio and Natalie Clifford Barney, who probably met through the painter Romaine Brooks, temporary lover of the “ivory head” but also of the Amazon for more than fifty years.
In 1909, Natalie Clifford Barney acquired the Temple of Friendship at 20 Rue Jacob and set up her literary salon, which would be held every Friday and would welcome the greatest literary and artistic personalities of the time: Salomon Reinach, Auguste Rodin, Rainer Maria Rilke, Colette, James Joyce, Paul Valéry, Pierre Louÿs, Anatole France, Robert de Montesquiou, Gertrude Stein, Somerset Maugham, T. S. Eliot, Jean Cocteau, Max Jacob, André Gide, Nancy Cunard, Peggy Guggenheim, Marie Laurencin, Paul Claudel, Adrienne Monnier, Sylvia Beach, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Truman Capote, Françoise Sagan, Marguerite Yourcenar... and, of course, Gabriele d'Annunzio whom she greatly admired.
She paid tribute to him by devoting a chapter of her Aventures de l'esprit (1929) to him: “D'Annunzio, a precious little old ivory object, works with the constancy of a monk who watches over his God.”
First collected edition, partly original, by far the most important and most sought-after (cf. Clouzot), with Chateaubriand having revised and reworked a large part of his writings.
This set also contains in first edition several texts including Les Natchez, Le Dernier Abencérage, Le Voyage en Amérique, and Moïse (placed at the end of vol. XXII and often lacking).
Each volume illustrated with a frontispiece by Charles Thompson.
Bound in contemporary navy blue half shagreen, spines with five raised bands, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns. A few spots of foxing.
Together with these collected works, uniformly bound: a volume entitled Œuvres diverses (collecting several political pamphlets in first edition); Le Congrès de Vérone (2 vols., Delloye, 1838); Essai sur la littérature anglaise and Milton’s Paradise Lost (both Gosselin, 1839).
In the volume Œuvres diverses, important presentation inscription signed by François-René de Chateaubriand to Monsieur (Henri) Bayart on the half-title of La nouvelle proposition relative au bannissement de Charles X et de sa famille.
This inscription, dating from the writer’s final years, is addressed to Henri Bayart (1825–1892), godson of the Duchesse de Berry and brother of Sophie-Josèphe Bayart, a close friend of François-René and his wife. The Chateaubriands and the Bayart family formed bonds of friendship and business during the Hundred Days and remained close until the end of their lives. As staunch legitimists devoted to the Bourbon cause, they even attempted the impossible in seeking to have the writer appointed governor to the young Comte de Chambord, claimant to the French throne. When writing this inscription, probably around 1843, Chateaubriand was at the twilight of his political and literary life; close to the Comte de Chambord, then exiled in England, the Bayarts once again tried to intercede on his behalf, sending Henri Bayart, without success, to persuade the last Bourbon heir to invite the ageing writer into his circle.
A rare and fine set in uniform bindings, containing numerous first editions and enriched with an important presentation inscription.
First edition, one of the publisher’s press copies.
Some light spotting to the boards and spine.
Exceptional signed autograph inscription from Raymond Queneau to his very close friend and biographer Jean Queval, himself a leading figure and co-founder of Oulipo.
This dedication is followed by a second one — in English and heavily corrected — by Jean Queval: "To the [?], in friendship. NB. I smoke no more. This is a rather nice book, one on which I worked. There's also Beowulf. There is a university in Limoges. Untest uncheck ! Nan is none too well."
First editions, with no deluxe copies printed (except for No. 7) for each volume.
Our complete set comprises:
Cahiers Céline 1: Céline et l'actualité littéraire 1932-1957.
Cahiers Céline 2: Céline et l'actualité littéraire 1957-1961
Cahiers Céline 3: Semmelweis et autres écrits médicaux
Cahiers Céline 4: Lettres et premiers écrits d'Afrique 1916-1917
Cahiers Céline 5: Lettres à des amies
Cahiers Céline 6: Lettres à Albert Paraz 1947-1957
Cahiers Céline 7: Céline et l'actualité 1933-1961
Cahiers Céline 8: Progrès suivi de Oeuvres pour la scène et l'écran.
Iconography.
First endpaper of the first volume shadowed due to a press clipping.
Rare complete set.
First edition, one of 50 numbered copies printed on pure Lana vellum, the only large paper copies.
Fine copy.
Text established, presented and annotated by Anne Borrel and Jean-Pierre Halévy.
First edition, one of 30 numbered copies on vellum pur-fil paper Johannot, deluxe copies ("tirage de tête").
Rare and beautiful copy.
