Signed books and autograph signatures from great writers, poets, philosophers from 16th to 21st century

First edition.
Half blue morocco shagreen, smooth spine, gilt date at foot of spine, marbled paper boards, contemporary binding.
Exceptionally inscribed by Emile Zola to the playwright and opera librettist Ludovic Halévy, with the autograph signatures of Guy de Maupassant, Joris-Karl Huysmans, Léon Hennique, Paul Alexis and Henri Céard on the first flyleaf.
Provenances: from the libraries of Ludovic Halévy and Marcel Lecomte, with their bookplates on front pastedown.
Our copy also includes, on a flyleaf, an autograph note by Ludovic Halévy: "See a letter by Guy de Maupassant at the end of the volume. L.H. Inscribed by the six authors of the volume...

First edition, of which there were no deluxe copies.

Autograph inscription signed by Henri Charrière to journalist and historian Gilbert Guilleminault.

Henri Charrière, known as Papillon, ward of the state and petty criminal, had been sentenced to the penal colony in 1931 for a murder he always denied. More than thirty years later, he recounts his terrible experience in this autobiographical text. He describes the violence, injustice, diseases and escape attempts, crowned by years of exile in South America: « Pure of all contact, his publisher noted, and of all literary ambition, what he writes is "as he tells it to you", you see it, you feel it, you...

First edition on ordinary paper.

Contemporary binding in half red morocco with corners, spine with five raised bands framed with black fillets, gilt date on tail, marbled paper boards, bouquet-patterned endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers and spine preserved (small angular restoration to the foot of the first board), gilt head.

Binding signed by Léon Gruel, one of the most renowned bookbinders of the late 19th century.

Le Horla consists of thirteen short stories: Le Horla, Amour, Le Trou, Sauvée, Clochette, Le Marquis de Fumerol, Le Signe, Le Diable, Les Rois, Au bois, Une famille, Joseph, L'Auberge and Le Vagabond.

Precious...

First edition of the theatrical adaptation.
 
Contemporary binding in red half morocco with corners, spine with five raised bands framed by gilt fillets, adorned with double gilt panels and decorative tooling, gilt fillets framing the marbled paper boards, combed paper endpapers and pastedowns, combed edges.
A few stains to the covers, a crisp and clean copy, free of foxing.
 
Signed autograph inscription by George Sand to the actor Fresne : « à monsieur Fresne, souvenirs affectueux. G. Sand. »
Fresne had performed in her play Molière at its premiere at the Théâtre de la Gaîté...

First edition, with no mention of deluxe paper copies.
Half red marbled sheep binding, spine faded with four raised bands decorated with a gilt floral motif, light rubbing to the bands, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, sprinkled edges, front cover preserved, modest contemporary binding.
Rare signed and inscribed copy by the author Colette Andris to Jean Blavet.
Novelist, music-hall performer and actress, a forgotten and short-lived muse of the Roaring Twenties music-hall, Colette Andris (the pseudonym of Pauline Toutey) managed to write three novels between 1929 and 1935, with a lot of autobiographical elements. She would die in the prime...