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Univers
Departments / Religion & Occult

Witchcraft & Demonology

48 results
  1. Exceptional copy on Japon
    Le Songe d'une nuit d'été
    Arthur RACKHAM, William SHAKESPEARE
    Le Songe d'une nuit d'été
    [A Midsummer Night's Dream]
    Librairie Hachette et Cie|Paris 1909|23 x 30 cm|Reliure de l'éditeur

    First French edition, illustrated by Arthur Rackham with 40 mounted color plates on thick brown paper, each protected by a captioned tissue guard, along with 30 black-and-white line drawings within the text, one of the extremely rare 30 copies printed on Japon, signed by Arthur Rackham on the limitation page; the deluxe issue.
    Publisher's Bradel binding in full vellum-style boards, smooth gilt-titled spine, upper board gilt-stamped with title and a tree design, top edge gilt; the silk tie on the lower board is lacking.
    A very handsome copy, one of the exceedingly scarce Japon copies.

     

    Provenance: manuscript ex-libris on the half-title of Maurice Feuillet, renowned press illustrator, notably for major legal trials, as well as art critic and founder of the Figaro artistique. Feuillet is best remembered for his courtroom sketches during the trials of Émile Zola in 1898 and Alfred Dreyfus in 1899.

    €5,000
  2. De la Folie, considérée sous le point de vue pathologique, philosophique, historique et judiciaire, depuis la renaissance des sciences en Europe jusqu'au dix-neuvième siècle ; description des grandes épidémies de délire simple ou compliqué, qui ont atteint les populations d'autrefois et régné dans les monastères. Exposé des condamnations auxquelles la folie méconnue a souvent donné lieu
    Louis Florentin CALMEIL
    De la Folie, considérée sous le point de vue pathologique, philosophique, historique et judiciaire, depuis la renaissance des sciences en Europe jusqu'au dix-neuvième siècle ; description des grandes épidémies de délire simple ou compliqué, qui ont atteint les populations d'autrefois et régné dans les monastères. Exposé des condamnations auxquelles la folie méconnue a souvent donné lieu
    J.B.Baillière|Paris 1845|14 x 22 cm|2 volumes brochés

    First edition (cf Caillet I, 1960. Waller II, 12861a.)

    A lack at the foot of the spine of the first volume, covers uniformly browned, handsome interior condition. 

    Rare first edition of the author's principal work, but with a most questionable method, since he classifies under the category of alienation all the unknown or misunderstood phenomena of the period (demonolatry, lycanthropy, mysticism, vampirism, witchcraft, etc.).

    It has at least the advantage of attempting the first history of psychiatry, from the 15th to the 19th century.

    Louis-Florentin Calmeil (1798-1895), intern in Philippe Pinel's service, practiced at Charenton from 1823 to 1873 and was able to benefit from the advances due to the successive direction of Royer-Collard and Esquirol.

     

    €600
  3. Alice: « and what is the use of a book, without pictures or conversations? »
    Aventures d'Alice au pays des merveilles
    Lewis CARROLL, Arthur RACKHAM
    Aventures d'Alice au pays des merveilles
    [Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]
    Librairie Hachette et Cie|Paris 1908|23.50 x 28.50 cm|Reliure de l'éditeur

    Illustrated edition with 13 colour plates on brown paper by Arthur Rackham tipped in with captioned tissue guards, together with 14 black-and-white illustrations in the text by Rackham, including a frontispiece portrait of Alice, one of the very rare 20 copies on Japon, signed by Arthur Rackham on the limitation page, copy from the deluxe issue. A few name copies on the same paper were also issued.
    Publisher’s full vellum binding, smooth spine lettered in gilt with a gilt illustration of the Cheshire Cat, upper cover stamped in gilt with the title and an illustration of two fantastic creatures, illustrated endpapers, top edge gilt. Occasional light foxing.
    A handsome copy of the most sought-after of Rackham’s illustrated works, one of the exceedingly rare copies on Japon paper.

     

    Provenance: manuscript ex-libris on the half-title of Maurice Feuillet, celebrated press illustrator, notably for major legal trials, as well as art critic and founder of the 'Figaro artistique'. Feuillet remains renowned for his courtroom sketches during the trials of Émile Zola in 1898 and Alfred Dreyfus in 1899.

    €12,000
  4. Le matin des magiciens
    Louis PAUWELS, Jacques BERGIER
    Le matin des magiciens
    [The Morning of the Magicians]
    Gallimard|Paris 1960|15 x 21 cm|relié
    First edition, one of 36 numbered copies on vélin pur fil, this N°1, the only large paper copies
    Grained sharkskin-effect leather by Alain Devauchelle (dated 2004), various shades of pink with glittering effect, no title to spine, a triangle of mother of pearl applied to centre of upper cover, maroon suede pastedowns and endpapers, covers and spine preserved, half maroon calf chemise with flaps, author and title in palladium, maroon suede lining, the slipcase edged with maroon calf and lined with grey felt
    A fine copy in an important artist's binding evoking the esoteric nature of the book.
    €4,500
  5. "Le romancier et occultiste Paul Adam fut, comme vous savez, très lié à Maurice Barrès."
    Félix FÉNÉON
    "Le romancier et occultiste Paul Adam fut, comme vous savez, très lié à Maurice Barrès."
    Autograph letter signed by Félix Fénéon addressed to Gabriel Mourey
    s. l. 17-2-1942|21 x 27 cm|2 feuilles
    Autograph letter signed by Félix Fénéon to Gabriel Mourey, 18 lines in black ink, folds from mailing.
    A key witness and actor of his time, the art critic and collector Félix Fénéon assists the writer Gabriel Mourey in his search for the correspondence between Paul Adam and Maurice Barrès:
    "Le romancier et occultiste Paul Adam fut, comme vous savez, très lié à Maurice Barrès. (Candidats boulangistes dans deux circonscriptions lorraines contiguës, il firent fraternellement une campagne électorale et journalistique à laquelle leur amitié ne survécut guère.) Comment retrouver tous les papiers de Paul Adam, mort il y a une vingtaine d'années ? Mme Paul Adam vit-elle encore. - je n'en sais rien. Mais il est probable que vive une de ses soeurs, veuve depuis quelques trois ans de ce L. Cappiello auteur de tant d'affiches, - peintre elle aussi (et, de plus, fort sourde). Leur demeure était 8 rue Lechatelier, XVIIe. Par Mme L. Cappiello vous retrouverez peut-être des papiers barrésiens laissés par Paul Adam. Pour le cas où vous chercheriez dans cette direction, je note que que j'ai été en excellents termes avec toute la famille et que vous pouvez donc user de mon nom à votre gré."
    A leading figure of the avant-garde, Fénéon possessed a singular gift for discovering major artists. A deliberately discreet and eccentric dandy, he devoted himself almost religiously to all that contributed to a new artistic sensibility. A staunch defender of the Neo-Impressionists Seurat and Signac, and a friend of Mallarmé, Camille Pissarro, Paul Adam, and Gustave Kahn, Fénéon was successively an anarchist and a communist, and directed a dozen small reviews. He published groundbreaking works such as Rimbaud’s Illuminations, André Gide’s Paludes, and James Joyce’s Dedalus. A prolific journalist, he wrote for numerous publications, often unsigned or under fanciful pseudonyms such as Gil de Bache, Porphyre Kalouguine, and even Thérèse or Louise.

    A rare letter from Félix Fénéon discussing his contemporaries.

    Also included is an autograph letter signed by Fanny Fénéon, wife of Félix Fénéon, dated 30 December 1941, written while her husband was ill and bedridden; 10 lines in black ink, with folds from mailing.
    "Mon mari gravement malade est dans l'impossibilité de recevoir quelqu'un. Si la difficulté que vous désirez lui remettre peut se résoudre par lettre, veuillez lui dire ce dont il s'agit. Une réponse immédiate vous montrera que malgré ses 80 ans, il est tout à votre disposition. [...]"


    €2,500
  7. Ghost and vampire - Tales of China
    Gerald WILLOUGHBY-MEADE
    Ghost and vampire - Tales of China
    East and West LTD|London 1925|15.50 x 24.50 cm|agrafé
    First edition.
    Cover margins soiled, crease marks to upper corners. Marginal foxing.
    This is the offprint of the lecture given to the China Society on May 28, 1925: A paper read before the China Society on may 28, 1925.
    A very rare copy as issued of this address on the occult in Chinese folklore. The contributions of British sinologist Willoughby-Meade (1875-1958) were later included in Jorge Luis Borges' anthology of fantastic literature as well as in Montague Summers' reference work, The Vampire, His Kith and Kin (1929).

    €600
  13. Spirite
    Théophile GAUTIER
    Spirite
    Calmann Lévy|Paris s.d. (ca 1910)|12 x 19 cm|relié
    New edition.
    Half navy blue morocco binding, spine with four raised bands set with gilt fillets and decorated with triple gilt compartments, hazelnut morocco title-label and author's name, marbled paper boards, combed paper endpapers and pastedowns, top edge gilt, original wrappers preserved, contemporary binding.
    Handsome copy beautifully bound of one of the rarest and most sought-after titles by Théophile Gautier.
    €150
  15. Légendes infernales. Relations et pactes des hotes de l'enfer avec l'espèce humaine
    Jacques Simon COLLIN DE PLANCY
    Légendes infernales. Relations et pactes des hotes de l'enfer avec l'espèce humaine
    Henri Plon|Paris 1861 [S.d]|14 x 22.50 cm|broché
    First edition, very rare. One frontispiece and one figure in lithography hand-colored within a polychrome and gilt lithographic frame.
    Copy as issued, in its original wrappers, with its rare illustrated covers. At the center of the upper cover, Saint Michael slaying the dragon, at the bottom of the medallion, various alchemical instruments, the whole framed by dragons and at the top the devil. Spine cracked with lacks at head and tail and lower joint. Small lacks to covers at edges and to lower joint at tail and head. Trace of pale yellow dampstaining in the middle at bottom of page in margin up to p. 131, gradually fading. Fresh throughout with some pale foxing.
    The work records 42 legends on the devil's relations with man, including the story of Faust, the whole told with erudition and undeniable narrative talent by Collin de Plancy.
    €1,200
  17. Le moine
    Matthew Gregory LEWIS
    Le moine
    Chez Maradan|à Paris 1819|10.20 x 17.50 cm|3 volumes reliés
    Third edition of the French translation.
    Small paper lacks to the second cover of the first volume, pen annotations in margins of some leaves, one annotation has been neatly cut from a leaf margin, some light foxing, manuscript gift inscription and printed stamp on the title pages of the volumes.
    Full red paper board bindings, smooth spines slightly faded decorated with triple gilt fillets, black calf title and volume labels, all edges yellow, contemporary bindings.
    Much has been written about this Gothic, dark, and oh so scandalous novel, but the sum of adjectives attributed to it cannot explain the lasting legacy of such a work; it is moreover the only one of its category to have achieved such renown, and for good reason: drawing from the mysteries of the Gothic novel (castles, cellars, incest, diabolical acts) Lewis created the novel of a man possessed by immense pride, whose perpetual demonstration of purity is a temptation for the Devil himself. It is therefore a battle of man, aspiring to virtue and purity, against the evil within him (sin, lust, murder, domination...); it is indeed the battle of every man, that of good and evil, for the Devil is merely a tempter, not the one responsible for evil. The monk is as much an allegory as a superb parable of the human condition. The radical modernity of this novel lies in the reader's position, as voyeuristic witness to a vertiginous and inexorable fall into evil by a fanatic of purity and sanctity.
    Handsome copy in contemporary binding.
    €700
  25. Urbain Grandier et les Possédées de Loudun
    Gabriel LEGUÉ
    Urbain Grandier et les Possédées de Loudun
    Ludovic Baschet|Paris 1880|19 x 28 cm|relié
    Second edition printed on laid paper.
    Full red morocco binding, spine slightly browned with five raised bands set with black fillets, gilt roulettes on the headcaps, gilt fillets on the leading edges, combed paper endpapers and pastedowns, gilt dentelle border on the pastedowns, original parchment front cover preserved, top edge gilt, light rubbing to corners, modern bibliophile's label pasted at foot of endpaper as bookplate, elegant unsigned binding.
    Work illustrated with 16 hors-texte plates including the frontispiece (the folding plate placed between pages 258 and 259 with a marginal tear restored with an adhesive piece).
    Autograph inscription signed by Gabriel Legué to his friend Doctor Fiaux; the latter having added below a new autograph inscription which he signed as a gift for Madame Marcelle Médard-Rouville.
    €380
  30. Les farfadets ou tous les démons ne sont pas de l'autre monde
    Alexis Vincent Charles BERBIGUIER DE TERRE-NEUVE DU THYM, Marie MAURON
    Les farfadets ou tous les démons ne sont pas de l'autre monde
    Chez l'auteur • S. n. • P. Gueffier • Chez tous les marchands de nouveautés des quatre coins du monde|Paris 1821|13 x 21 cm|3 volumes reliés
    First edition printed in 400 copies and illustrated with 8 plates outside the text, including one folding plate, as well as a portrait of the author as frontispiece. Berbiguier destroyed almost all copies after publication.

    Contemporary bindings in half brown sheep, smooth spines decorated with quadruple fillets, dentelles and gilt fleurons, red morocco title and volume labels, grained paper boards, all edges marbled.
    Two minor wormholes at the head of the second volume. Enigmatic and very fine pinhole marks at regular intervals on all three spines.
    Bookplate of the R. & B. L. library pasted on the front pastedown of the first volume.
    « L'époque où Berbiguier compose ses mémoires est propice aux croyances démonologiques, suite à la grande Inquisition et à l'illuminisme du XVIIIe siècle, qui marquent profondément le XIXe siècle à travers, entre autres, un engouement pour l'occultisme. Ce n'est donc guère étonnant que la figure de Satan imprègne Les Farfadets et que la sorcellerie se manifeste dans le récit sous la forme de la persécution. Le XIXe siècle voit également le développement de la psychiatrie, par l'entremise de travaux de grands aliénistes, tels que Henry Ey et Philippe Pinel, dont Berbiguier sera justement le patient. Pinel, que l'auteur considère littéralement comme le « représentant de Satan » dans sa nomenclature des farfadets, ne réussira guère à le délivrer des supplices des démons invisibles, réels uniquement pour le seul tourmenté. » ["The period when Berbiguier composed his memoirs was propitious for demonological beliefs, following the great Inquisition and the illuminism of the 18th century, which profoundly marked the 19th century through, among other things, a craze for occultism. It is therefore hardly surprising that the figure of Satan permeates Les Farfadets and that witchcraft manifests itself in the narrative in the form of persecution. The 19th century also saw the development of psychiatry, through the work of great alienists, such as Henry Ey and Philippe Pinel, of whom Berbiguier would indeed be a patient. Pinel, whom the author literally considers as the 'representative of Satan' in his nomenclature of farfadets, would hardly succeed in delivering him from the torments of invisible demons, real only for the sole tormented one."] (Ariane Gélinas, « Le "Fléau des farfadets", Écrire (sur) la marge : folie et littérature, Postures, no 11, 2009)

    Handsome copy, very rare in elegant contemporary binding, of this astonishing text written by "the most famous of hallucinated monomaniacs" (Dictionnaire encyclopédique des sciences médicales).
    €3,800
  31. Le premier acte du synode nocturne des tribades, lemanes, unelmanes, propétides, à la ruine des biens, vie et honneur de Calianthe
    Guillaume REBOUL
    Le premier acte du synode nocturne des tribades, lemanes, unelmanes, propétides, à la ruine des biens, vie et honneur de Calianthe
    Jules Gay|Paris 1862|9 x 15.50 cm|relié
    New edition collated against the unique copy in the Imperial Library in Paris, one of 100 numbered copies on laid paper, the only edition after 2 copies on vellum.
    Bradel binding in orange half cloth, smooth spine with gilt fillets, gilt date at foot, blue sheep title label with marginal lack, marbled paper boards, bookplate pasted at head of pastedown, original wrappers preserved, binding signed in blind by Petit.
    Rare and fine copy.
    Provenance: from the library of Paul Arnauldet, bibliophile and friend of Charles Baudelaire, with his bookplate pasted on pastedown: "Nunquam amicorum" (not even to friends).

    €300
  38. Traite de l'opinion, ou memoires pour servir a l'histoire de l'esprit humain
    Gilbert-Charles LE GENDRE MARQUIS DE SAINT-AUBIN
    Traite de l'opinion, ou memoires pour servir a l'histoire de l'esprit humain
    Chez Briasson|à Paris 1735|10 x 16.80 cm|6 volumes reliés
    Second edition, after the first published by the same publisher in 1733. One folding plate in volume II and 4 astronomical figures in volume III.
    Contemporary full speckled brown sheep bindings. Spines with raised bands decorated with 4 fleurons, roulette at tail. Red morocco title labels, gilt volume numbers. Headcaps of volumes II, IV and VI with losses. Tailcaps of volumes I and II partly worn. 5 corners slightly bumped. Paper throughout fresh. Spines rubbed. Rather good set.
    The Marquis de Saint-Aubin established in this work a history of ideas and theories in all domains of knowledge, the essence of his purpose being to place before readers' eyes the errors and prejudices that prevailed at a certain moment in history. Volume four deals with magic and occult sciences, which earns the work its listing in Caillet. The other volumes contain a study of history and belles lettres, mathematics, astronomy, medicine and physics, chemistry, astrology and divination, morals and politics. The treatise necessarily begins with a study of its subject, opinion. The whole forms a remarkable epistemological work that reveals the precariousness of human knowledge, highlighting the succession of human errors both in the most serious sciences and in morals, victims of cultural changes and ideological tendencies.
    18th-century engraved armorial bookplate of Francois Morel, with the motto Custodes nostri. Second bookplate P. de Riencourt.
    €700
  39. Lettres philosophiques, sérieuses, critiques, et amusantes, traitant de la Pierre Philosophale, de l'incertitude de la médecine, de la félicité temporelle de l'homme, de la nature de l'ame...
    Abbé SAUNIER DE BEAUMONT
    Lettres philosophiques, sérieuses, critiques, et amusantes, traitant de la Pierre Philosophale, de l'incertitude de la médecine, de la félicité temporelle de l'homme, de la nature de l'ame...
    Chez Saugrain|à Paris 1733|9.50 x 17 cm (In-12)|relié

    First edition. Dorbon no. 4403: "rare, full of singular documents." Caillet [III, 9922] 
    Contemporary full brown calf binding. Spine gilt-tooled in compartments. Brown morocco title-piece. Loss at head of spine. Corners worn and somewhat clumsily restored. A filled loss on lower cover. Scattered foxing. A waterstain at one corner of the final leaves. Several gatherings protruding. 


    €650
  40. La muse noire
    Stanislas de GUAÏTA
    La muse noire
    Alphonse Lemerre|Paris 1883|13.50 x 19.50 cm|relié

    First edition, one of 10 numbered copies on Hollande paper, the only large paper copies along with 10 on China.
    Contemporary half red morocco over marbled paper boards, spine in six compartments with gilt flowers, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, covers preserved, top edge gilt.
    Provenance : from the Lallemand de Mont collection, Stanislas de Guaita's son in law with his ex libris to pastedown.
    A rare large paper copy with an exceptional provenance. 

    €2,500
  44. La science de la main ou l'art de reconnaître les tendances de l'intelligence d'après les formes de la main
    Capitaine Casimir Stanislas ARPENTIGNY
    La science de la main ou l'art de reconnaître les tendances de l'intelligence d'après les formes de la main
    Coulon-Pineau|Paris s. d. [circa 1850]|13.50 x 21.50 cm|relié
    Second edition.
    Half brown sheep binding, smooth spine rubbed and decorated with quadruple gilt fillets, corners slightly bumped, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, contemporary binding.
    Scattered foxing, trace of a glued label at the foot of the endpaper facing the title page.
    Rare.
    €100
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