New edition.
A pleasing copy.
Rare signed autograph inscription from Philippe Muray to a close acquaintance named Benoît.
Second edition, revised and corrected, illustrated with numerous in-text figures (including a portrait of the author and two flags printed in colours) and with a folding table at the end of the volume.
Some minor foxing, traces of adhesive paper at the head and foot of the slightly soiled endpapers.
The "Triple Demism" designates "the Three Principles of the People" (liberal democracy, nationalism, social justice) formulated by the revolutionary Sun Ya-Tsen as early as 1912, and expounded in numerous public lectures throughout the 1920s.
None of these terms in fact corresponds to the meaning it holds in the West, and these principles continued to influence Chinese politics despite the official adoption of Marxism-Leninism.
Rare collection of pamphlets printed in Toulon or Marseille, notably during the Restoration period, several of which implicate senior military figures of the First Empire.
The first item is: "Ordonnance du Roi, Portant règlement sur les Franchises du Port de Marseille et Suite de l'Ordonnance..." printed in Toulon, by Alx (sic) Curet, (1815), 16 pages, comprising an extract from the Moniteur of 24 February 1815.
Bound in half ivory vellum with corners, smooth spine, manuscript inscription in black ink to spine, blue pasteboards with some surface abrasions, contemporary binding.
Some foxing. A few nicks to the edges.
Bound in continuation:
1) Jugement rendu par la Chambre des Pairs qui condamne à la peine de mort, le Maréchal Ney, ex-Pair de France. Toulon, Impr. de Calmen, n.d. (1815), 4 pages.
Comprising an extract from the Moniteur of 7 December 1815. A rare pamphlet published in Toulon on the very day of Ney's execution. "Maladroit et susceptible, Ney ne veut pas être traité comme un tambour. Il veut être jugé par la Chambre des pairs… Quelle erreur! il se retrouve condamné à mort malgré la déposition de Davout en sa faveur - Davout qu'il a si mal traité" (Tulard, 1237).
2) Ordonnance du Roi…. Toulon, Alex. Curet, (1815), 8 pages.
Extract from the Moniteur of 8 December 1815, setting out the terms of the amnesty granted to all those who, directly or indirectly, had taken part in Napoleon Bonaparte's rebellion and usurpation — illustrating Louis XVIII's attempt to pursue a policy of reconciliation — together with moving (if incidental) details concerning the death of Marshal Ney, published on the day following his execution.
3) Pétition lue à la Chambre des Députés sur la haute trahison du Maréchal Masséna. Toulon, Impr. de Calmen, (1816), 8 pp., likewise an extract from the Moniteur of 7 February 1816.
This petition, apparently brought by the inhabitants of the Bouches-du-Rhône, heaps opprobrium upon the Marshal, accusing him above all of having facilitated Napoleon's return from the Isle of Elba. "Affaibli par une maladie de poitrine, taraudé par le chagrin" (Tulard, 1151), Masséna was to die one year later.
4) Mémoire de M. le Maréchal Masséna. Toulon, Alex Curet, (1816), 8 pages.
Extract from La Quotidienne of 2 March 1816, summarising Masséna's memoir in response to the charges laid against him by the petition of the citizens of Marseille.
5) Robert, Louis-Joseph-Marie: "L'Hermite de St. Jean, ou Tableau des Moeurs et fêtes marseillaises, depuis la Restauration des Bourbons, n° 39." Marseille, Antoine Ricard, n.d. (1815), 16 pages.
A single fascicle from this rare series, of which the Bibliothèque nationale de France holds no complete set.
6) Dupin, Charles: "Des Intérêts de Marseille et de toutes les villes maritimes de la France." Ibid., id., n.d. (1815), 8 pages.
7) Barère: "Convention nationale. Rapport sur l'assassinat de Collot-d'Herbois, représentant du peuple, lu à la Convention Nationale, au nom du Comité de Salut Public". Printed in (Paris), by Charpentier, n.d. (Year II – 1794), 15 pages.
8) Honoré-Pelletier: "Honneur aux dames, ou Leur apologie, Épître à Juvénal et Boileau." Paris, chez l'auteur, Martinet, n.d., 14 pages.
9) Comte de Salaberry: "Concernant les épurations dans plus d'un ministère et dans les grandes administrations" printed in Toulon, by Calmen, n.d., 24 pages.
A rare and curious collection of pamphlets, almost all printed in Toulon or Marseille at the fall of the Empire.
The fascicles concerning Ney and Masséna are particularly striking.
A rare collection of pamphlets censuring several of the foremost Marshals of the First Empire.
First edition, illustrated with figures in the text (cf. Hage Chahine, 4405.)
Contemporary bradel binding in full beige percaline, smooth spine darkened, olive green shagreen lettering-piece, binding of the period.
Occasional foxing.
The sole edition of one of the earliest works by the numismatist Gustave-Léon Schlumberger (1844-1929), who specialised in the history of the Crusades and the Byzantine Empire.
Autograph inscription signed by Gustave-Léon Schlumberger to the archaeologist Alban-Emmanuel Guillaume-Rey (1837-1916), a specialist of medieval Syria.
Second edition, issued in the same year as the first, and illustrated with a folding colour map at the beginning of the first volume (cf. Cordier, Sinica, 2120; Caillet, 5293; Numa Broc, Asie, 247-249).
Tears to one joint of the first volume; spine of the second volume split with minor losses; a tear without loss to p. 407 of vol. II.
A valuable copy, bearing the signature "G. Rocquemaurel" on the title-pages.
This is Louis François Gaston Marie Auguste de Rocquemaurel (Toulouse, 1804–1878), a former student of the École polytechnique, second-in-command to Dumont d'Urville as lieutenant aboard the Astrolabe during the voyage to the South Pole and Oceania (1837–1840).
Promoted captain in 1848, he was posted from 1850 to 1854 to the French naval station in Indochina.
Offprint from this prestigious publication directed by François Albert-Buisson, President and Perpetual Secretary of the "Académie des Sciences Morales & Politiques", and Claude Pellegrin, editor-in-chief and attaché to the Academy. The text featured here, Le problème de l'éthique dans l'évolution de la pensée humaine (The Problem of Ethics in the Evolution of Human Thought), is the work of a newly elected member of the Academy, who had been a member for only a few months when this offprint was published, having taken the seat previously held by Marshal Pétain; namely, Dr. Albert Schweitzer.
Our copy is enriched with an inscription by the latter in brown ink, written two years later, while he was in France for an extended period during which he frequently attended the Academy's sessions: "to Andrée Eekman [née Herrenschmidt, niece of his great friend Tata (Adèle Herrenschmidt) and wife of the painter-engraver Nicolas Eekman] my dear goddaughter Albert Schweitzer / 19 oct 1954."
Discrete marginal dampstaining to the wrappers. A fine copy, very slightly sunned.
(our own translation)
Printed calling card of G. Clemenceau bearing the following autograph addition: "avec tous mes remerciements. GC."
A fine copy.
Original photographic portrait of the Arab leader at one of his hideouts in Jordan, taken by reporter Geneviève Chauvel for the French press photography agency Gamma. According to Hubert Henrotte, she was the only photographer Yasser Arafat agreed to meet during that period.
Minor loss to the upper right corner and a few faint folds. Good condition.
On the verso of the photograph appears a contextual note: "Today in Amman, Arab leader Arafat survived an assassination attempt unharmed. July 7th, 1969."
First edition, one of the copies printed on alfa paper.
A small split to the spine, a few light foxing spots.
Manuscript signatures of Joseph Kessel and Hélène Iswolsky.
First Gallimard edition, one of 1,050 numbered copies printed on Alfama du Marais paper.
Publisher’s boards bound after the original design by Paul Bonet.
A very fine copy.
First edition.
Minor spotting to the boards.
Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers, under plain white provisional covers.
Then French minister to the Court of Saint Petersburg, Louis-Philippe de Ségur (1753-1830) intervened in the constitutional debate that was stirring the National Assembly concerning the attribution of the right to declare peace and war (to the King? to the Assembly?).
First edition, one of 70 numbered copies on pur fil paper, the only deluxe paper issue.
Bound in blue-grey half morocco, spine in five raised bands, date gilt at foot, marbled paper boards, blue-grey endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers and sun-faded spine preserved, top edge gilt, an elegant binding signed Boichot.
Valuable autograph inscription signed by Joseph Kessel, in violet pencil, on the front free endpaper: "A Charles Maurras cet exemplaire plus digne de lui" enhanced with the manuscript signature of Georges Suarez.
A fine copy, attractively bound
First edition of the French translation, one of 200 numbered copies on white wove paper, the only deluxe paper issue.
Bound in full mouse-grey shagreen, spine with five raised bands ruled in black, covers framed with a single black fillet, endpapers and pastedowns in cat’s-eye patterned paper, wrappers (with a small loss at the foot of the lower cover) and spine preserved, top edge gilt.
A pleasing copy.
First edition, one of 12 copies numbered on Montval laid paper, the deluxe issue.
Light foxing to the upper cover and endpapers, with a small nick to the lower right corner of the rear cover.
First edition on standard paper.
Spine very slightly sunned, without significance.
Rare signed autograph inscription from Fereydoun Hoveyda to Henri Brunet.
New illustrated edition with plates hors-texte.
Bindings in half red shagreen with corners, spines with four raised bands gilt with dotted tooling and decorated with double gilt compartments; some rubbing to the spines; two water stains, to the left margin of the upper board of the first volume and to the right margin of the lower board of the second volume; a few marks to the corners; boards of cat’s-eye paper framed with double gilt fillets; marbled endpapers and pastedowns.
At the head of the first volume, a signed autograph presentation inscription by Lazare-Hippolyte-Sadi Carnot to General Henri Joseph Brugère.
First edition, one of 13 numbered copies on imperial Japan paper, deluxe issue.
Spine and boards very lightly and marginally sun-toned, without significance.
Rare and pleasing copy, with full margins and uncut.
First edition printed in 500 copies on rag vellum, numbered and signed by Ferdinand Bac.
A pleasing and scarce copy, with a bookplate and a bibliophile’s label pasted to the verso of the upper cover.
Autograph signed inscription by Ferdinand Bac to Maître Gilbrin in violet ink: "... en souvenir de l'aimable visite à la \"surintendance\" de Compiègne, le nonagénaire Ferdinand Bac mai 1949." enhanced with an original pencil drawing depicting Napoleon III in profile, overlooking the signed inscription.
First edition, one of 16 numbered copies on pur fil, the deluxe issue following 6 copies on Montval paper.
Half hazelnut morocco binding, spine with four raised bands ruled in gilt and decorated with double gilt panel compartments, date gilt at the foot, sides of cat’s-eye paper, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, bookplate pasted to a pastedown, original wrappers and spine preserved, top edge gilt, untrimmed, contemporary signed binding by Albinhac.
A fine copy attractively bound.
Illustrated first edition, with a frontispiece portrait of Talleyrand.
A few light spots of foxing, mainly affecting the opening leaves.
Contemporary full caramel polished calf, spine with five raised bands ruled in gilt and decorated with double gilt compartments, author’s name in red morocco, title label in dark blue morocco, gilt date at foot, gilt rolls to the headcaps, covers framed with a double gilt fillet, a few small stains and light scuffs at the upper edges of the boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt dentelle border to the turn-ins, double gilt fillets to the edges, gilt top edge. An elegant binding of the period.
A fine, attractively bound copy.
First edition, one of 200 numbered copies on Holland paper, the only deluxe paper issue.
Shadowed endpapers.
Half chocolate-brown morocco binding with corners, smooth spine decorated with gilt panels enhanced with black morocco onlays, gilt date at foot, marbled paper boards, handmade paper endpapers and doublures, original wrappers and spine preserved, bookplate pasted to an endpaper, top edge gilt on untrimmed leaves, an elegant binding signed Pierre-Lucien Martin at the foot of the spine.
A fine, wide-margined copy beautifully bound by Pierre-Lucien Martin, one of the most gifted bookbinders of the second half of the twentieth century.
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 de sa vie tourmentée. [...] ce Siècle, s'il nous a fait connaître des jours noirs, a eu de bons moments et des rayons de gai soleil. Ce livre est une revue à grandes lignes des périodes sombres ou joyeuses de la pièce à grand spectacle qui s'est jouée sous nos yeux, des évènements importants et des menus faits, des hommes et des choses, des types naissant, prospérant et disparaissant, des modes et des caractères, — un voyage en somme ou plutôt une croisière de cent années sur le fleuve éternel de la vie." (préface)
Some light foxing to the endpapers, otherwise a very fine copy.
Copies in the publisher’s original illustrated bindings are scarce and sought after.
First edition, one of 30 numbered copies on Vélin de Rives, the only deluxe paper issue.
A fine copy.
First edition, one of the 10 numbered and justified copies on japon paper, the only large-paper issue announced.
Contemporary half brown morocco binding in the Bradel style, smooth spine, marbled paper boards, handmade endpapers, bookplate affixed to the front pastedown, original wrappers and spine preserved, top edge gilt, period binding.
Signed and dated autograph inscription from Jean Puget to his publisher Pierre Briquet: "... en souvenir des jours héroïques..."
Provenance: from the personal library of publisher Pierre Briquet, with his bookplate affixed to the front pastedown.
Exceptionally rare copy featuring the censored passages restored in black ink, likely by the publisher, on pages 92 and 118.
First edition, one of 200 numbered copies on Japanese vellum, the deluxe issue.
Illustrated with 3 engravings and 1 map.
Brown half shagreen morocco binding with corner pieces; spine with five raised bands ruled in black, gilt date at foot; minor rubbing to the spine; marbled paper sides; marbled endpapers and pastedowns; original wrappers and spine preserved; corners slightly bumped; gilt top edge.
A pleasing copy.
First edition; one of the press copies.
A pleasing copy.
Signed autograph presentation inscription from Pierre Drieu la Rochelle to Germaine Fiévé.
First edition, one of 13 numbered copies on Imperial Japan paper, from the deluxe issue.
A rare and fine copy.
First edition of these important memoirs by a close companion and comrade-in-arms of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Contemporary full black boards, finely executed in imitation of full sheep. Smooth spines decorated with blind fillets and tools.
Some scattered foxing; a light marginal water stain to the final leaves of volume 8. A few traces of rubbing. In volume 1, following the title page and preliminary leaves, a pale yellow water stain extending from the upper margin toward the centre of the leaf throughout the volume. In volume 2, a moisture ring gradually intensifying from page 330 to the end. Occasional foxing.
A good set in its original bindings.
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.
An intriguing first edition, complete with its engraved frontispiece of the author by Giovanni Volpato after Domenico Corvi, and its introductory poem by the Abbé Luigi Godard. A copy unrecorded in non-European libraries according to WorldCat.
Contemporary binding of fawn mottled calf, smooth spine divided into five gilt compartments by gilt rolls, brown morocco lettering-piece, triple gilt fillet framing the boards, double gilt fillet on the board edges, blue speckled edges, and shell-pattern marbled pastedowns and endpapers.
The lower cap lacking, some surface wear to the spine and corners, the upper joint slightly split for several centimetres, a few discreet wormholes and small areas of loss to the leather on the boards, light rubbing to the edges; the interior in very good condition.
A marginal tear to p. 51 very slightly affecting the text, and a marginal stain to p. 47.
New compilation of the celebrated songs by the troubadour from Sète, including "La mauvaise réputation", "Le parapluie", "Le petit cheval", "Le fossoyeur", "Le gorille", "Corne d'auroch", "La chasse aux papillons" and "Hécatombe".
Inevitable creasing and light rubbing along the margins of the record sleeve.
A small ballpoint pen doodle in blue ink on the lower cover.
Autograph signature of Georges Brassens in the lower right margin of the upper cover.
First edition, with no copies printed on deluxe paper.
A very good copy.
Inscribed by Maurice Druon to a friend named Henri: "... pour les souvenirs d'une année de travail qui devint une année d'amitié."
First edition.
Our copy is preserved in its original plain pink paper waiting wrappers.
Ink annotations to the front cover, a few short tears; internally a clean and agreeable copy.
As it was never ratified, this concordat never came into effect, and France therefore remained under the regime of the Concordat of 1801 until the Law on the Separation of Church and State in 1905.
First public edition of this text by Jean Cassou, written under the pseudonym Jean Noir, one of 50 numbered copies on Madagascar paper, from the deluxe issue.
A fine copy.
Rare and sought-after first edition, first issue, with exceptionally added plates from the first illustrated edition, publisher that same year. 34 full-page engravings after Demoraine, Gagnier, Staal and engraved by F. Delannoy.
Includes the subscribers' list and the foreword, lacking in the second issue when the remainder of this edition was sold to another publisher, Dion-Lambert. It also features the pagination error in volume two: page 164 instead of 364. With a letter by the author, bearing his autograph signature, written and dated 14 April 1839, in the hand of his secretary. One page written in black ink on a leaf. Slightly darkened at the upper edge, with occasional foxing, and the usual folds from postal handling.
With an exceptional, prophetic and macabre letter by François-René de Chateaubriand: "mais moi je suis mort, absolument mort et s'il me fallait écrire un mot dans un journal, j'aimerais mieux être enseveli à mille pieds sous terre." ["but I am dead, utterly dead, and if I were required to write a single word in a newspaper, I would rather be buried a thousand feet underground."]
Signed with the author’s faltering hand, this apparently unpublished letter was penned by his secretary: "Vous connaissez la main de [Hyacinthe] Pilorge que j'employe pour remplacer la mienne souffrante de la goutte" ["You will recognise the hand of [Hyacinthe] Pilorge, whom I employ to replace my own, suffering from gout,"] the author explains in the introduction to the letter.
Black half-morocco bindings, flat spines with double gilt fillets and double blind-stamped compartments, black paper boards, slight superficial rubbing to some boards, marbled paper pastedowns and endpapers, sprinkled edges; contemporary bindings. Sparse foxing.
First public edition of this text written under the pseudonym François la Colère, one of 50 numbered copies on Madagascar paper, the deluxe issue.
Rare and fine copy.
First edition, for which no copies were issued on deluxe paper.
Spine lightly wrinkled, a small loss at the foot of the lower board; otherwise a pleasing copy.
Signed autograph inscription by Maurice Genevoix.
First edition, one of 170 numbered copies on deluxe paper.
Fine copy preserved in its double wrapper.
First edition, one of 170 numbered copies on deluxe paper.
A very slight tear, without loss, to the second panel of the double wrapper.
A pleasing copy preserved in its double wrapper.
First edition, one of 170 numbered copies on pur fil.
An agreeable copy preserved under a double wrapper.
First published edition of this text by Pierre Bost, written under the pseudonym Vivarais, one of 50 copies on Madagascar paper, deluxe issue.
Fine copy.
First public edition of this text by Elsa Triolet, written under the pseudonym Laurent Daniel, one of 58 numbered copies on Madagascar paper, the deluxe issue.
Fine copy.
First edition.
Spine and boards slightly and marginally faded.
A rare and pleasing copy.
First edition of the French translation, one of 230 numbered copies on alfa paper.
With a preface by Romain Rolland.
A fine copy, the spine very slightly toned.
New edition.
Contemporary half bottle-green sheep over green paper boards, smooth spine decorated with double gilt fillets and a central gilt fleuron, green endpapers and pastedowns, contemporary binding.
Some light foxing.
"The author's Cosmologie, published at Paris in 1815 [?], devoted considerable space to America". (Sabin, 100990).
First edition.
The association of the Lumière brothers’ name with the development of the cinematograph should not obscure the fact that Auguste Lumière (1862–1954) was first and foremost a biologist of distinction.
Having as early as 1895 left the new invention to his brother Louis, he established a laboratory of experimental physiology and pharmacodynamics in order to direct his discoveries toward experimental medicine.
This laboratory became the Lumière Laboratories in Lyon, which he personally directed until October 25th, 1940, when he transferred the presidency of the company to his son, while continuing his research until his death.
Fine copy.
Rare first edition, illustrated with an engraved frontispiece (cf. Barbier II 802; Cioranescu 65461).
Contemporary full mottled brown calf, spine with five raised bands tooled with rubbed gilt fillets and decorated with gilt compartments containing floral tools, gilt roll-tooling to the head- and tailcaps, rubbing to the joints, mottled edges; contemporary binding.
The work is attributed to Claude Vanel, who served as counsellor at the Cour des Comptes in Montpellier.
Provenance: from the library of Jacques Charreton, a Lyon jurist contemporary with the publication; his armorial bookplate (Meyer-Noirel C 0949) appears on the pastedown.
Manuscript shelf-mark in ink to a flyleaf.
First edition (see Sabin 97501).
A light dampstain to the right margin of the opening leaves.
Half brown cloth binding, smooth spine with a brown sheep lettering-piece, boards with marbled paper; a modest later binding.
After distinguishing himself—at times infamously—during the wars of the French Revolution, notably in Vendée, Louis-Marie Turreau [1756–1816] later served in Italy and captured the city of Susa.
He held the post of Ambassador to the United States from 1804 to 1811 and was created Baron of the Empire upon his return. His Aperçu of 1815 offers a bitter critique of the federal government. Turreau’s name is inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile (see Hoefer).
Copy in parts, unbound, each one of them a first edition.
According to the CCFr, the Lunéville media library holds the first text in manuscript copy form. On May 28, 1777, France renewed in Solothurn (Switzerland), for fifty years, its long-standing treaties of alliance with the thirteen cantons. The privileges specified in the second text are chiefly commercial and financial in nature; they derive, to varying degrees, from the Treaty of Perpetual Peace of 1516 (Treaty of Fribourg).
First edition of this in-folio broadside signed "Phelypeaux", printed on one side only and in two columns.
A scarce and pleasing copy despite traces of central folding.
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 lightening, two lower caps with losses and one flaw, occasional internal foxing.
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 Martinique.
Rare, though in worn condition.
Rare illustrated first edition, with 5 copper-engraved plates hors-texte, including 2 folding plates (cf. Barbier II, 302. Schwab, 517. Hage Chahine, 4320. Wilson, 200. Absent from Blackmer and Atabey.)
Our copy lacks the two dedication leaves to Rouillié, often missing, with repairs to the joints and one corner, and a manuscript ex-libris on the title-page.
Contemporary full mottled fawn calf, spine with five raised bands gilt and decorated with gilt compartments and floral tools, tan calf title-label, gilt fillets to the edges partly faded, speckled edges.
Sanson, a zealous apostolic missionary, tireless traveller and accomplished diplomat, arrived in Persia in 1683, learning Armenian, Turkish and Persian while travelling through the kingdom in order to "consoler les chrétiens qui y habitent".
He took an interest in everything, "mœurs… situation… antiquités", of the regions he crossed, and eventually gained access to the Palace, "qui ne sont accordées qu'aux grands seigneurs de Perse", attending all audiences and taking part in every banquet.
He spent three years close to Soliman before returning to France, bringing Louis XIV a personal message from the "roi" of Persia.
Provenance: copy from the library of the literary critic Émile Faguet (1847–1916), with his vignette bookplate pasted to the inside board.
Manuscript of 4 pages, in black ink on a double sheet, signed Perès and Grasset frères, Pitteu & Cie. Saint-Marc, 30 June 1785, entitled Compte de dépense & de recette pour l’habitation de Monsieur le Vte de La Bourdonnaye.
and [On the verso:] Etat des naissances de Nègres et mortalités & crues et déficits d’animaux [and] Etat des revenus fabriqués sur l’habitation de Monsieur le Vte de La Bourdonnaye. *
The vicomte de La Bourdonnaye’s habitation was a sugar plantation located at Les Verrettes, in the vicinity of Saint-Marc.
Presented on a double sheet, this account of expenditures and receipts covers the period from 1 January to 30 June 1785.
Among the expenditures are listed the steward’s salary, gratuities granted, notably to the sugar master, the purchase of supplies, and above all provisions acquired for the workers and enslaved labourers: « Pour la nourriture de Dussolier neveu pendant 80 jours qu’il a resté sur l’habitation à faire les deux moulins à 5 l. par jour, 400. Pour id. de 4 mulâtres ses ouvriers pendant 80 jours à 30 s. chaque par jour, 480. Pour id. de 6 Nègres ses ouvriers, pendant 80 jours à 15 s. chaque par jour, 360 » (20 March 1785).
Reference is also made to marronnage: « Payé à Francisque pour sa nourriture & celle de son mulet lors de son voyage au Mirebalais pour chercher Charles mulâtre qui étoit marron » (8 March).
The receipts record, for reference, the sums settled by Grasset frères, Pitteu et Cie on behalf of the plantation.
One reads thus: « Pour prix & frais de geôle du mulâtre Charles arrêté à l’Espagnol et pour son passage du Port au Prince icy, lesdits ont payé 535 l. 10 s. » (16 May). « Lesdits ont payé à Dussolier charpentier pour la façon d’un moulin à bête, fourniture de bois compris, 7000 l. » (30 June).
The total sum received from Grasset frères, Pitteu et Cie to settle the half-year’s expenses is then stated, amounting to 6,897 livres.
On the verso are summarised the births and deaths among the enslaved population during this period, together with their number as of 30 June 1785: « 84 Nègres, 93 Négresses, 41 Négrillons, 17 Négrittes », for a total of 235 enslaved persons.
The final page records the proceeds from the sale of casks of sugar, namely 208,538 livres for the first half of 1785.
A significant document concerning a Saint-Domingue plantation.
First edition (see Playfair 583a. Not recorded by Tailliart.)
Half black morocco binding, spine with five raised bands, sides of marbled paper, original front cover preserved, endpapers and pastedowns of comb-marbled paper; modern binding.
Loss skilfully filled at the lower right corner of the original front cover and at the upper right corners of the final two leaves.
Each of the disbound parts is in its original edition.
With: "Supplément au Précis justificatif de la société commerciale de la nouvelle Compagnie des Indes. Pour servir de réponse aux inculpations contenues dans le rapport fait à la Convention nationale, le 3 août 1793", printed in Paris by Lottin, also in 1793 (4to, 14 pp.), likewise disbound, printed in two columns, one for the "inculpations" and the other for the "réponses", on bluish paper.
These texts constitute refutations of the allegations levelled against the Compagnie des Indes, founded in France by Colbert in 1664 and whose privilege had been abolished on 3 April 1790.
During the Terror, the Compagnie des Indes was suspected of counter-revolutionary activities, and on 26 July 1793 the Convention ordered its buildings to be sealed.
A second decree of 11 October 1793 abolished the Compagnie des Indes and requisitioned its goods and ships.
Second edition comprising the reissue of the first two volumes of the Bulletin, no less scarce than the copies of the first edition, and corresponding to the opening phase of Bourbon’s legislative and regulatory activity, a veritable mine of information not only on legal matters but on every aspect of the island’s daily life (cf. Ryckebusch, 1224).
Contemporary Bradel bindings in half fawn marbled sheepskin, smooth spines ruled in gilt with double fillets, marbled paper sides, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, yellow edges, three corners lightly rubbed.
The third and final volume lacking, occasional foxing, two black stains to the lower cover of the first volume.
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 United States against the Government of the United Kingdom for the latter’s clandestine assistance to the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War.
The dispute was resolved only by recourse to an international court of arbitration which sat at Geneva in 1872 and was composed of representatives of the United Kingdom (Alexander Cockburn), the United States (Charles Francis Adams, Sr.), the Kingdom of Italy (Federigo Sclopis), the Swiss Confederation (Jakob Stämpfli), and the Empire of Brazil (Marcos Antônio de Araújo).
The Alabama Claims case marked the first submission of an inter-state dispute to supra-national arbitration, and the tribunal convened for this purpose laid the foundations of modern public international law. The lawyer Paul-Ernest Pradier-Fodéré (1827–1904) was a specialist in international law, which he had been teaching since 1857.
First edition, illustrated with a folding map at the end of the volume (see Fumagalli 730, and Gay, 2674bis (collation of the first two parts only: 292 pp.).
The third part of this history of the "Ethiopia of the Ancients" is devoted to Christianity, the religion most widely practised in Abyssinia.
Occasional light foxing, chiefly affecting the folding map.
Half blue shagreen binding, spine with five raised bands gilt with dotted tooling and decorated with double gilt panels, slight rubbing to the spine, dark navy percaline boards framed with blind fillets, a small loss of percaline at the foot of the upper board, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, speckled edges, contemporary binding.
Rare first edition, limited to 50 copies.
A single copy recorded in the CCF (BnF).
Contemporary cream boards, smooth spine, the original printed front wrapper preserved and mounted on the upper cover.
Spine split, boards darkened, clean and pleasant internal condition.
The Toulon scholar Pons (1789–1836) is known both for his studies on the history of his native city and for his research in numismatics (a substantial portion of his posthumous manuscripts was devoted to this field).
On the title page, a signed autograph presentation inscription from Ange-Thomas-Zénon Pons to the celebrated archaeologist and epigraphist Jean-Antoine Letronne (1787–1848), with his ink stamp alongside.
First edition of this important first-hand account of the deportation and enforced stay in French Guiana of the counter-revolutionary journalist and songwriter Louis-Ange Pitou (1767–1846), placed under “preventive” arrest after the Directory’s coup d’état of 18 Fructidor, Year V [4 September 1797], sentenced to transportation, and released from exile only after 18 Brumaire (cf. Fierro, 1170. Sabin 63057. Leclerc 3445.)
The work is illustrated with two folding engraved frontispieces: La détention des déportés sur la frégate La Décade and Le désert de Konanama dans la Guyane.
Contemporary bindings in fawn calf, half-bound with small vellum corners, smooth spines decorated with dentelle tools and double gilt fillets, cherry morocco lettering- and volume-labels, with an inlaid green morocco piece on the volume labels, some rubbing to the spines, marbled paper boards, speckled edges; period bindings.
A pleasing copy preserved in its contemporary bindings.
Rare first edition.
No copy recorded in the CCF.
Some marginal tears and losses to the boards.
In 1838 the “Chinese Museum” opened in Philadelphia on the ground floor of the museum of Charles Willson Peale, based on the objects brought back from China by the Quaker merchant Nathan Dunn (1782–1844), who had returned from a long commercial stay in Canton (1818–1832).
The whole of this collection was also exhibited in London in 1842 and, after Dunn’s death, again in 1851, the latter showing meeting with far less success.
The fate of the objects that composed it remains obscure, but the collection fell victim to its own success and appears to have been both plundered by unscrupulous amateurs and dispersed at auction.
First edition.
Green half morocco with corners, spine with five raised bands and blind-tooled compartments, a few rubs to the spine, marbled paper sides, comb-marbled endpapers and doublures, sprinkled edges, contemporary binding.
Georges Perrot (1832–1914), a French Hellenist and archaeologist, undertook in 1861, together with the architect Edmond Guillaume and the travelling physician Jules Delbet, a scientific and literary mission to Greece and Asia Minor on behalf of the French Ministry of Public Instruction, the results of which were published in 1872.
He would later be the author, with Charles Chipiez, of the monumental Histoire de l'art dans l'Antiquité, Égypte, Assyrie, Perse, Asie mineure, Grèce, Etrurie, Rome (Paris, Hachette et Cie, 1882–1914).
We include, on a loose leaf, a dated and signed autograph letter addressed to M. J. Jahègue, Doctor of Law, announcing the gift of a book (certainly this one) originating from the Plocque sale.
A finely preserved copy in its contemporary binding.
First edition of the French translation of this account, originally published under the title: "An Account of the Island of Ceylon" in London in 1803 (cf. Boucher de La Richarderie, V, 135. Brunet, IV, 490 and Quérard, VII, 43 mention an edition published by Dentu, 1804).
Contemporary full mottled calf bindings, smooth spines decorated with gilt compartments and gilt tools, red morocco lettering pieces, green calf volume labels, gilt rolls at the head and tail partly worn, fragile joints, marbled paper endpapers and pastedowns, bookplates pasted to the pastedowns, gilt fillets on the board edges, speckled edges.
Bindings rubbed, small losses at the foot of the joints, a few light foxing spots.
Our copy is complete with its four folding maps and plans issued out of text: map of the island of Ceylon, plan of the port of Trinquemale, map of the pearl fisheries, and plan of the port of Colombo.
An English officer, Robert Percival (1765–1826) took part in the capture of the Cape of Good Hope in 1796, then occupied by the Dutch.
The following year he was sent to Ceylon with the British troops, where he remained for more than three years, allowing him to visit nearly all the coasts as well as the interior of the island. He was also a member of an embassy sent to the island’s native sovereign.
His account offers a comprehensive panorama of the island of Ceylon at the end of the eighteenth century: history, geography, natural resources, agriculture, trade, civil and military institutions, customs and manners of the Dutch, Portuguese, Malays and Sinhalese, fauna and flora, etc.
Provenance: from the library of the Château de Menneval, with bookplates pasted to the pastedowns.
First edition of this in-folio printed broadside signed "Phelypeaux", printed on one side only.
Visible fold marks to the broadside.
First edition of the French translation (cf. Chadenat, 494; Brunet I, 24.)
Contemporary half green sheep, smooth spines faded and decorated with double gilt fillets, marbled paper sides with minor rubbing, marbled endpapers, two small tears at the joints, contemporary bindings.
Light waterstain to the upper right corner of a number of leaves in the second volume.
An Indian traveller, Mirza Abu Taleb Khan was born in 1752 at Lucknow in Hindustan and died in Calcutta in 1806.
After serving in the army of the Nawab of Oudh, he embarked for Europe on 16 February 1799 with his friend Captain David Richardson.
Following a three-month stay at the Cape, he landed at Cork in Ireland on 9 December of the same year.
He resided in London for more than two years and, in 1802, travelled to Paris. He returned to his country via Constantinople, Mosul, Baghdad and Basra (cf. Hoefer). "Cet ouvrage contient des anecdotes piquantes et des observations judicieuses sur les peuples visités par l'auteur" (Chadenat).
Chapters XXVI to XXVIII relate to Malta, Smyrna, the Dardanelles and Constantinople (description, character of the Turks, government, the author’s presentation to the Sultan).
Extremely rare collection of three works, in original anonymous editions, devoted to the Eastern Question and the policy France should adopt to counter Russian ambitions in the Ottoman Empire.
The author is believed to be one Mignonneau, a former war commissioner.
Bound in full mottled calf, smooth spine richly decorated with gilt crossbands, brown calf title label, rubbing to joints and spine, gilt roll partially faded on head and tail, triple gilt fillet framing boards, handmade paper endpapers and pastedowns, gilt turn-ins, corners slightly worn, all edges gilt, contemporary binding.
Minor angular losses to boards, light dampstaining to lower margin of leaves in the second work.
The set comprises the following:
1) "Considérations politiques, par M.***"
(S.l., 1783, title and 77 pp. First edition. (cf. Conlon 83: 1465. N.U.C.: NM 567505.))
2) "Ces réflexions devoient, avec beaucoup d'autres, faire suite aux Considérations politiques ; mais le tout n'étant pas encore rédigé, les circonstances du moment m'ont déterminé à faire paroître celles-ci sur-le-champ."
S.l.n.d. [c. 1783], 44 pp. with simple title. First edition. (cf. Conlon 83: 1464 locates no copies in France. N.U.C. locates only one copy at the Library of Congress. The RLG Union Catalog mentions another at the University of Chicago.)
The first half of this work is devoted to the invasion of Crimea, the second to Russia's claims regarding the "etiquette of the court" governing international relations and their true significance.
3) "Lettre à M. le Comte de ***, octobre 1784".
S.l.n.d. [c. 1784], title and 49 pp. First edition. (cf. Conlon 84: 1533 locates no copies in France. N.U.C. mentions only the copy at the Library of Congress.)
This third work denounces Russia's expansionist policy. The author reveals, among other things, Catherine II's designs on Armenia and also discusses the potential interest Turkey might have in liberating Greece.
Very rare first edition illustrated with one map and one colour plate.
Not recorded by the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Cordier, or Lorentz.
Half midnight-blue shagreen, smooth spine decorated with quadruple gilt fillets, one joint very fragile, upper headcap worn down, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.
Some foxing.
Eighteenth-century manuscript (second half), comprising 258 foliated pages.
Contemporary binding, expertly restored in full tan calf, with a smooth spine adorned with gilt compartments and decorative gilt tooling, some now faded; signs of rubbing; title label missing; gilt rampant lion at the centre of both boards; handmade paper endpapers and pastedowns; gilt double fillets on board edges; corners slightly worn.
Notable manuscript featuring extracts and summaries of orders and dispatches issued by the Ministry of the Navy during the Regency and the first year of Louis XV’s reign.
Collated from original documents, carefully dated and with folio references, these extracts are written in a highly legible hand.
Topics covered include: general armament; the War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718, 1719, 1720); Barbary States; Guinea Coast; colonies; trade (Spain, Portugal, Guinea, Compagnie d’Afrique, Compagnie des Indes); justice, police, and discipline; munitions; goods and timber; fishing; ports and roadsteads; prizes, and more. The manuscript is in excellent condition, preserved in its original binding.
Contemporary pencil note on the front endpaper: "Aux armes [du] Maréchal Duc de Duras, de l’Académie française" [1715–1789].
Second edition of the french translation.
Some light foxing.
Contemporary full mottled calf bindings, smooth spines richly gilt with typographical ornaments, slight rubbing to the joints, red morocco title and volume labels, gilt rolls to the headcaps, sides framed with a gilt floral dentelle, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt dotted edges, marbled edges.
Gay 368 : "On y trouve l'extrait du voyage de Picard qui se rendit à Fouta Tora ; cette relation ne se rencontre pas ailleurs".
First edition, illustrated at the end of the volume with 6 plates of medals by L. Dardel (Salmaslian, p. 162, does not record the plates.)
Bound in later half brown cloth, smooth spine, gilt initials at foot, some rubbing to the joints, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, corners worn, a few nicks to the edges, speckled edges; a modest later binding.
This is the first comprehensive study devoted to Armenian numismatics. From the series "Bibliothèque historique arménienne", published by Edouard Dulaurier.
First edition of the illustrated French translation, with 2 maps (one folding), in-text figures, and 5 steel-engraved plates by Fauchery (see Chadenat 2669. Borba de Moraes does not mention the very brief passage devoted to the Rio stage of the journey (see volume III, p. 381), which is in fact rather insignificant).
Some foxing.
Contemporary romantic bindings in aubergine half sheep, smooth spines faded and decorated with gilt romantic arabesques, light wear to the headcaps, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, armorial bookplates pasted to the pastedowns, speckled edges.
The English traveller Richard Lander [1804–1834], originally trained as a printer, accompanied Captain Clapperton in Africa on his final journey. Returning to England in 1828, Lander "y publia le récit du capitaine ainsi que son propre journal (1829). Il s'offrit au gouvernement anglais pour continuer les explorations relatives au cours du Niger. Son offre fut acceptée, et, conjointement avec son frère John, il partit de Plymouth le 9 janvier 1830, sur le brick Alerte, et le 22 février suivant il débarqua à Const-Castle, l'un des principaux établissements anglais en Guinée.
Après un séjour de trois semaines, les voyageurs se dirigèrent sur Badagry, où ils atterrirent le 22 mars. Ils y furent assez mal reçus par le roi Adouly, et, dit Lander, 'si nous eussions trouvé parmi les Badagryotes un seul brave homme, nous aurions pris plaisir à proclamer ce fait ; mais il n'en fut pas ainsi : ils exercèrent sur nous sans scrupules leurs mauvais penchants.
Les Badagryotes, quoique mahométans, font encore des sacrifices humains aux démons'. Les frères Lander se hâtèrent de quitter de si mauvais hôtes, et le 17 juin ils arrivèrent à Boussa, où ils visitèrent l'endroit où Mungo-Park et ses compagnons avaient trouvé la mort, en 1809 ; mais ils ne purent recueillir aucun détail sur la catastrophe qui termina la vie de ce courageux voyageur. Ils s'embarquèrent ensuite sur le Niger (Quorra dans le langage indigène), passèrent devant les villes de Congi, d'Inguazilligie, devant l'île de Pastastrie, et le 18 octobre ils descnedirent à Rabba, capitale du roi des Eaux-Noires, qui les reçut cordialement. Ils visitèrent ensuite Damuggou, Eboe, et le 18 novembre ils entrèrent dans la principale branche de Quorra, appelée la rivière Nun, et montèrent à bord d'un brick anglais, qui les conduisit à Fernando-Po (1er décembre). Le 20 janvier 1831 ils reprirent la mer sur le Caernarvon, mouillèrent à Rio-Janeiro, et le 9 juin jetèrent l'ancre à Portsmouth".
During this journey, the Lander brothers established that the Niger flows into the Bay of Benin through several mouths. Richard Lander died during a second expedition on the Niger in 1833–1834. His brother survived him until 1839. See Hoefer.
An offprint from the Description de l'Égypte; the paper was read during the expedition itself before the members of the Institut d'Égypte on 1 Frimaire, Year IX [22 November 1800].
See Meulenaere, p. 125.
Bradel binding in full red boards, smooth spine, red title label mounted lengthwise, the upper cover very lightly and marginally faded; modern binding.
A civil engineer with the Corps des Ponts et Chaussées, Michel-Ange Lancret (1774–1807) had been tasked with gathering the movable goods abandoned by the Mamluks during their flight, which in part supplied the material for this memoir.
Very rare fully mimeographed first edition of this course prepared for officers of the French Army of the Levant, issued locally under the French Mandate in Syria and Lebanon.
No copy recorded in the CCF. Not in Hage Chahine.
Minor marginal tears to the wrappers, a manuscript ex-libris on the upper wrapper, and a hole in the lower wrapper also affecting the final page but not the text.
The Belgian Jesuit and orientalist Henri Lammens (1862–1937) spent almost his entire life in Beirut; he was the first to apply to the study of the origins of Islam a critical method as rigorous as that used for any historical subject, which earned him much hostility and repeated cautions from his superiors.
As a result, his major biography of Muhammad, completed as early as 1914, remained in manuscript.
First edition illustrated with 1 large folding map: "Carte de la côte occidentale d'Afrique depuis le Cap Barbas jusqu'au Cap Tagrin par Lapie, Ingénieur Géographe (et) gravée par P.F. Tardieu" (cf. Gay 2905.)
Our copy in original stitched wrappers with interim covers lined with marbled paper.
Light dampstaining to the right margin of the final leaves.
Important details on the slave trade in connection with the Gorée Island stopover at the end of the volume.
Pierre Labarthe (Dax 1760 - Paris 1824) was appointed head of the Bureau of Eastern Colonies and African Coasts in 1794, a position he held until 1808.
He had gathered numerous authentic documents and important observations which he recorded in works still consulted with profit. (Cf. Hoefer.)
First edition of this rare imprint from the Vivarais.
A single copy recorded in the CCFr (Grenoble).
Contemporary half brown cloth binding, smooth spine without lettering with a small scuff, boards of vat-made paper; a modest 19th-century binding.
Charles La Font de Savine (1742–1814), Bishop of Viviers and later of Ardèche (1778–1793), was one of only four bishops in office in 1789 to swear the constitutional oath. The "citoyen Savine" was subsequently required to surrender his pectoral cross and all episcopal insignia, together with his letters of priesthood, on 1 December 1793, and to resign his public office as bishop of the diocese of Ardèche; arrested as a suspect on 15 May 1794, he was transferred to Paris. During his imprisonment, he recanted his oath before being released in October 1794.
Rare first edition of this fervent—indeed visionary—appeal to bring the Orient under the sway of the combined powers of the State and the Christian religion, informed by such an overtly Eurocentric outlook that the work is almost unreadable today, yet remains an eloquent record of the illusions prevailing in the West in the mid-nineteenth century.
Corners restored at the outer tips of the boards, some scattered foxing, and a stain to the right margin of the upper cover.
In an admirably prophetic vein, the author exclaims: "La civilisation chrétienne, qui ne cesse d'agrandir son cercle, ne s'arrêtera pas devant le Coran, et ce n'est pas la loi de Mahomet qui présidera au réveil de l'Orient".
At the head of the upper wrapper, a signed presentation inscription from Louis de Juvigny to the mystical polemicist Ernest Hello (1828–1885), then the darling of the most uncompromising and exalted Catholic circles (Léon Bloy owed his conversion to him, which says it all…).
First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Mémoires de la Société naturelle des sciences naturelles de Cherbourg, vol. XX (1876).
See O'Reilly, Tahiti, 2693. Only three copies recorded in the CCF (BnF, Aix-Marseille, Cherbourg).
Bradel binding in blue half cloth, smooth spine, long red marbled morocco title label, marbled paper sides, original wrappers preserved, modern signed binding by Boichot.
This pamphlet, which contains a large number of botanical entries on the Marquesas, Tahiti, the Sandwich Islands, New Zealand, etc., is a continuation of the study entitled Les Plantes alimentaires de l'Océanie (1875).
A rare and pleasing copy.
First edition (see Cordier 92).
Contemporary half brown sheep over brown cloth boards, smooth spine decorated with triple gilt rules, gilt ornamental frieze and gilt name at foot, a few rubs to the spine; marbled endpapers and pastedowns; binding of the period.
Scattered foxing.
Manuscript ex-libris on the half-title: Madame Sinoir, repeated in gilt lettering at the foot of the spine.
Second edition, largely original in its own right as it was substantially enlarged, to which was added a "Lettre sur l'instruction des aveugles", addressed to the author in 1816 by Mr Isaac Roquès of Montauban, himself blind, together with a selection of his poems.
Our copy is preserved in its plain grey temporary wrappers, the spine faded and showing small losses.
The first edition had been issued at the same Montauban address in Year VI of the Republican calendar.
First edition.
Contemporary full mottled fawn calf, smooth spine gilt with floral tools and gilt geometric tooling, tan calf lettering-piece, gilt rolls to the headcaps now largely faded, a small loss to the upper headcap, some rubbing to the joints, single blind fillet framing the covers, marbled endpapers, gilt fillets to the edges of the boards mostly worn away, yellow sprinkled edges, corners just a little softened; a period binding.
Sole edition of this history of travel since Antiquity, considered from the standpoint of its benefits to trade and commerce.
The work is nominally presented as a translation, though it is in fact by the Marseille man of letters Marc-Antoine Eidous (1724–1790), one of the industrious but somewhat pedestrian contributors to the Encyclopédie.
First edition.
The CCF records only the minutes of the sessions of December 1787 and January 1788, published at Narbonne (Veuve Besset).
A very rare report of the first sitting of the provincial assembly of Roussillon, held in three sessions (20, 21 & 22 October 1787), preliminary to the sessions of the following December and January, but apparently overlooked by most historians.
First edition (see Cioranescu, XVIII, 13 365).
Contemporary full speckled fawn calf, spine with five raised bands, compartments decorated with gilt fleurons, faded gilt roll tooling to the headcaps, a scratch at the head of the spine, gilt fillets to the edges partially faded, corners rubbed, speckled edges; binding of the period.
The sole edition of the author’s only work, written by the prior of Saint-Didier-en-Bourbonnais [Saint-Didier-la-Forêt], about whom little else is known.
A very concise overview of the events of each ecumenical council, from Nicaea I onwards.
Rare illustrated first edition, complete with three folding maps printed at the end of the volume: Cercle de Biskra, Zaatcha et les oasis voisines, Plan des attaques de Zaatcha du 7 octobre au 26 novembre 1849 (cf. Playfair 2479. Tailliart 1903.)
Bound in modern half black shagreen, spine with five raised bands, gilt date at foot, minor rubbing to foot of spine, comb-marbled paper sides, brown paper endleaves and pastedowns, top edge gilt.
Occasional foxing, manuscript bookplate in violet pencil on a flyleaf.
First edition.
Minor marginal tears to the boards, a few spots of foxing.
Not recorded by Sabin.
First separately issued edition, illustrated with a large folding map, issued as a plate outside the text (cf. Sabin 94850).
The work was first published in 1838 in the Notices statistiques sur les colonies françaises.
"La lecture des documents officiels réunis dans la Notice statistique laissera déjà dans tous les esprits cette conviction que la Guyane française offre de nombreux éléments de richesse et de prospérité, et que, pour les avoir laissés improductifs pendant deux siècles, la France ne peut avoir renoncé à les mettre un jour en valeur".
Some light foxing, otherwise a pleasing copy.
New edition, partly original, revised and corrected, illustrated with 4 engraved plates out of text and an engraved title-page in the first volume.
Contemporary full mottled calf, smooth spines gilt with a repeated floral tool (the decorative motifs partly faded), red morocco lettering-pieces, rubbing to the spines, gilt rolls to the head- and tailcaps, one headcap shaved, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets to the board edges, three corners softened, red edges, a few small snags to the board edges, bookplates to the pastedowns, bindings of the period.
The title-page and plates were engraved by Benoît Louis Henriquez after drawings by Jollain. Cohen 440. See Atabey for the first edition of 1743, unillustrated (two issues); Leonora Navari, who did not see this 1776 edition, considers the first illustrated edition to be that of 1897, with plates by E. P. Millio. Not in Blackmer.
First illustrated edition of this delightful piece of “turquerie”.
"Godard was a dramatist who also wrote 'Il Califfo di Bagdad'.
This work was several times reprinted ; the Frankfurt 1769 edition contained [comme celle-ci] a dedication to madame Dethou [sic] which caught the public eye and probably contributed to its popularity". Cf. Leonora Navari.
