First edition, one of 70 numbered copies on pure thread paper, ours being one of 15 hors commerce copies lettered under Ingres covers, deluxe copies after 2 reimposed on pure thread laid paper hors commerce reserved for Jacques Hébertot and 13 holland paper copies.
Minor marginal tears of no consequence to the covers.
Handsome and rare copy of this response by Albert Camus to Jean-Paul Sartre's "Les mains sales".
First edition in French, one of 15 numbered copies on pure thread paper, the only deluxe copies.
Spine and boards slightly and marginally sunned, otherwise handsome copy.
First edition, one of 12 numbered copies on hollande paper, the only large paper copies.
Full red shagreen binding, spine with three raised bands decorated with gilt fillets and gilt cartouche enriched with black typographic motifs, marbled paper endpapers and pastedowns, bookplate affixed to pastedown, original wrappers and spine preserved, top edge gilt, other edges uncut.
Foxing to some uncut edges.
Autograph inscription signed by Georges Clemenceau to Monsieur Henry Leyret, political and judicial chronicler and editor at L'Aurore.
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 polished 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.
Counterfeit edition published only one year after the octavo and duodecimo first editions. This copy in the same format as the octavo first edition that was corrected by Rousseau.
Contemporary full calf, smooth spine decorated with five gilt fleuron tools, red morocco lettering-piece, single fillet ruled in blind to boards, gilt fillet to board edges, red edges, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.
Head of spine missing, usual wear to joints with slight splitting in four places, minor rubbing to boards, corners bumped.
Minute stain to p. 157.
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.
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 1,045 and one of 1,246 numbered copies on deluxe paper, the only large-paper issues after the 118 and 120 reimposed copies.
A pleasing set.
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.
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 (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.
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.
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 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.
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.
Rare first edition of this curious work recalling the voluntary exile to Jersey of the man of letters Auguste Luchet (1806–1872).
Only two copies recorded in the Catalogue collectif de France (BnF and Avranches).
From 1842 to 1847 the author chose to leave France rather than serve the two-year prison sentence to which he had been condemned: his novel "Le Nom de famille" had led him to appear, together with his publisher Hippolyte Souverain, before the Assize Court jury on 10 March 1842 for "excitation à la haine et au mépris du gouvernement et provocation à la haine de classes".
Slight corner losses to spine and boards, without consequence; faint water-stain on the opening leaves.
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".
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.)
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.
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.
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.
First edition of the French translation (cf. Sabin 26375).
A defence of Catholic principles addressed to a Protestant minister (…) preceded by a notice on the author’s life and virtues. Translated from the English by Prince Augustin Galitzin. Paris, Ch. Douniol [printed by Simon Raçon et Comp.], 1856, 12mo.
Contemporary half navy blue shagreen, spine with four raised bands ruled and panelled in gilt, slight unobtrusive rubbing to the spine, marbled boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.
Scattered foxing.
A work of religious controversy; the preface offers interesting information regarding Prince Galitzin’s activities in the United States.
Bound after it: Alexandre Pushkin, "Le faux Pierre III", printed in Paris by Plon in 1858 (2 ff.n.ch. and 192 pp.), being the first edition of the French translation by Prince Augustin Galitzin.
Second edition, partly original, as it was revised, corrected and enlarged with a handbook for the cultivation of mulberry trees, setting out the principles by which the fullest advantage may be drawn from this tree, together with the presentation of a new method of cultivation designed to prevent its mortality.
Light dampstaining to the upper outer margin of the first leaves, small losses to the head- and tail-cap of the spine, a few scattered spots.
The work was reissued in 1837 and 1848.
Charles Fraissinet (1798–1856) was a pastor of the Reformed Church at Sauve (Gard).
Although closely involved in the theological controversies of his day, he is best remembered for his commitment to sericulture and for publishing several pamphlets on the subject, notably the present Guide du magnanier.
A silkworm breeder himself, he devised a method for obtaining “les œufs de vers à soie à leur plus haut point de perfection”.
This activity even appears to have tempered the mutual belligerence of the pastor and the parish priest of Sauve, since, in the prospectus for this method, Curé Bernard—his sworn enemy—nonetheless made it “un devoir d’engager tous les sériciculteurs à se procurer sans retard la méthode de M. Fraissinet”.
First edition.
A comprehensive work setting out in detail the legislation and regulations governing silversmiths, jewellers and watchmakers in the mid-nineteenth century.
Spine cracked with small losses; corners chipped to the boards; some light foxing.
Rare first edition issued as an offprint from the Journal asiatique, no. 7.
Contemporary half aubergine calf binding with corners, smooth spine gilt with Romantic arabesque tools, minor rubbing to the spine, gilt garland frame to the marbled paper boards, orange paper endleaves and pastedowns, rubbed corners; a period binding.
Dampstaining affecting the first half of the volume, some foxing.
Concise manual of the Hanafi rite, one of the four Sunni schools of jurisprudence, the oldest and notably the one recognised as official within the Ottoman Empire.
Antoine-Joseph Du Caurroy (1775–1853) served as an interpreter at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Very rare first edition of this substantial memorandum on the "Pierre Calvet Affair", which unsettled Canada in the aftermath of the American War of Independence.
Sabin 21044. In the CCF, copies only at the BnF and Rouen.
A few light spots of foxing; a faint marginal dampstain to the fore-edge of the front endpaper.
Half green sheep with corners, smooth spine slightly darkened and ruled in gilt, gilt fillet border to the marbled paper boards, a central gilt cartouche bearing a crowned cipher to each cover. Corners rubbed, a few scuffs to the edges, bookplate pasted to one pastedown, lemon-coloured edges; nineteenth-century binding.
Parallel to the work The Case of Peter Du Calvet (784), addressed to the English courts, this volume presents the case for a Canadian readership.
The merchant Pierre Du Calvet (1735–1786), a French Protestant, settled in New France in 1758; he remained there after the British annexation and pursued a persistent political campaign on behalf of the inhabitants of the Province of Quebec, both to obtain a constitution and to secure fair justice for the former French subjects.
The present text concentrates on his disputes with Governor Frederick Haldimand (1718–1791) and on his brief imprisonment.
A forerunner of the long struggle waged by the citizens of the Province of Quebec for recognition of their political rights within the British Empire,
Du Calvet nevertheless remained largely forgotten in Quebec’s historical memory.
His actions, and even his name, were widely overlooked by posterity until the republication of his memorandum in 2002.
First edition.
"Voulons & Nous plaist, qu'à commencer au premier Mars prochain, aucuns de nos Sujets de quelque estat, condition & sexe qu'ils soient, à l'Exception de ceux qui en auront obtenu nostre permission par Ecrit, ne puissent porter des Diamans, Perles et Pierres precieuses, à peine de confiscation & de Dix mille livres d'amende : Faisons deffenses sous la mesme peine, à compter du premier Avril prochain d'en faire entrer dans le Royaume ; N'entendons néantmoins comprendre dans la presente prohibition les Bagues Episcopales & les Pierreries employées aux Ornemens des Eglises".
Rare first edition of this sticker album entirely devoted to the glory of the Castro regime and the Cuban Revolution.
The album comprises 268 small, mounted, colour stickers, each captioned and arranged in strict chronological order of events, including 16 portrait plates of the principal figures (the Castro brothers, Camilo Cienfuegos, Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Faure Chaumont, Rolando Cubelas, Victor Bordon, Eloy Gutierrez, Crecencio and Faustino Perez, etc.).
No copy recorded in the CCFr, which comes as little surprise for this type of production.
Our copy, issued in original illustrated colour wrappers, is housed in a modern oblong slipcase, full decorated boards in the colours of the Cuban flag.
Minor tears and marginal losses to the covers and spine, together with numerous unavoidable restorations using transparent adhesive repairs, reflecting the extreme fragility of this sticker album intended for "older children".
This very rare album, complete with all its stickers, was produced to commemorate the successive stages of the Cuban Revolution. It belongs to the genre of collectible sticker albums for children and young people, hugely popular in the 1960s: the images were obtained with the purchase of consumer goods and served as promotional incentives (in this case, the "dulces en conserva" marketed under the Felices brand).
Unsurprisingly, the portrayal of the Revolution is entirely partisan and conforms to the heroic and liberating image the regime sought to project.
On the verso of the final cover, one finds a speech by Fidel Castro dated 16 October 1953.
First edition of this particularly engaging monograph, written by the Dutch pastor Gerard Croese (1642–1710), and translated into English as early as 1696 (though never into French).
A few minor spots of foxing.
Full green vellum binding, the spine faded and tooled with small gilt ornaments, the title-piece largely lost leaving the spine without lettering, edges sprinkled green, a contemporary binding.
Partly informed by letters and documents supplied by William Sewel (1653–1720, himself the author in 1717 of an excellent Histori van de Opkompste, Aanwas en Voortgang der Christenen bekend by den naam van Quakers), it offers an account of the movement at a particularly significant moment in its history, marked both by a certain easing of persecution in Great Britain (the Toleration Act of 1689) and by emigration to the United States.
Book I concerns the life and work of George Fox, while Books II and III are devoted to William Penn.
First edition of this defence of the exclusive privilege of the Compagnie des Indes, then being challenged by the deputies of the National Assembly.
This memorandum is signed by Le Couteux du Mollay, Greffulge, Boyd, Dangirard, Picquet, and Le Cocq, commissioners representing the Company’s shareholders.
Our copy is preserved in its original stitched wrappers, issued in the temporary blue waiting covers.
A central fold throughout, rubbing with losses to the waiting covers, otherwise a pleasingly clean copy internally.
First edition published anonymously (cf. Ryckebusch, 6737).
Light, scattered foxing.
Modern half brown cloth, smooth spine without lettering, marbled paper boards, corners rubbed.
The anonymous author urges abolitionists to be especially active and visible at the moment when the chambers are to vote on the new colonial legislation.
Original offprint, printed in a small number of copies, of this extract from the Nouvelles annales des voyages for November 1858.
The original temporary front wrapper has been reattached; a few spots of foxing; the title written in pencil on the front cover.
No copy of this review recorded in the CCF.
Charles-Ernest Beulé’s monograph on the coinage of Athens had just been published earlier that same year, in 1858.
Rare first edition of this pamphlet printed at Carouge, Switzerland. Deschamps, 276, records 1789 as the date of the first book printed in that town (on the authority of a note by Ternaux).
Our copy is preserved in its original stitched wrappers, within a modern blank temporary cover.
Title-page and final leaf slightly soiled, early marginal note in the right margin of p. 19, blue pencil annotations at the foot of pp. 10 & 11.
A text violently hostile to Kellermann (1735–1820) and to the French presence in the Alps.
Kellermann commanded the Army of the Alps while Bonaparte was conducting his Italian campaign.
First illustrated edition with 5 plates (cf. Coll. Émile Brouwet, II (2), 168).
Half black shagreen binding, smooth spine decorated with gilt and blind fillets, title lettered lengthwise in gilt, joints and caps rubbed, title repeated on the upper cover, paper labels pasted to the lower left corner of the upper cover and the upper left corner of the inside back cover, bookplate pasted to the inside back cover, original front wrapper preserved, corners worn, mid-19th-century binding.
Some light foxing.
The five finely line-engraved plates by Cavelier and Pierron after drawings by Pierre-Paul Prud’hon bring together a selection of pieces of imperial furniture.
The first set — a firescreen, a dressing table with its mirror, an armchair, and a washstand — was executed in vermeil with lapis inlays and presented to Empress Marie-Louise on 15 August 1810. This important commission was the joint work of the chaser-founder Thomire, awarded a gold medal at the Exhibition of 1806, and the silversmith Odiot. The three plates devoted to it preserve its memory, as the ensemble was largely melted down in 1832.
The final two plates depict the celebrated cradle of the King of Rome, in vermeil, mother-of-pearl and burgau shell — the fruit of the same two craftsmen — which was presented by the City of Paris on 5 March 1811, before the arrival of the imperial child, and is now preserved in Vienna.
Thomire alone later produced a second example in elm burr and gilt bronze, following the same design and faithfully reproducing certain elements such as the two bas-reliefs of the Seine and the Tiber. This second cradle is now at the Château de Fontainebleau.
Provenance: from the library of Prince Demidoff (San Donato stamp), then from that of Prince Roland Bonaparte, with his bookplate and label N.
First edition, illustrated with three folding tables in the text.
Our copy is preserved sewn, as issued, in plain contemporary waiting wrappers of pink marbled paper.
The plain spine is browned and detached, with some losses.
First edition (cf. Playfair, 533; Tailliart, 2295).
Spine cracked with small tears, some foxing.
General considerations on the colonisation of Algiers, its aims and its results. On the Arabs. The various systems of occupation, etc.
At the head of the front wrapper, an autograph presentation inscription from Amédée Hippolyte de Brossard to Marshal Clausel.
First edition of the French translation (cf. Sabin 8048; Quérard I, 521, who gives the date 1825).
Contemporary half roan with an aubergine hue, the flat spines lightly sunned and ruled with gilt fillets and dotted tooling, some rubbing to the backs, marbled paper sides, yellow mottled edges.
A few very light, insignificant spots.
John Bristed, born in the county of Dorset in 1778, died in the United States in 1855.
After studying medicine and law, he entered the Church. "Before leaving England he began writing and seems to have held ideas considered radical at the time (...) In 1806 Bristed came to New York City and there practised law, lectured, and wrote books and magazine articles (...) His writings show diligent and exhaustive study ; interest in history, economic questions, and religion ; a strong personal point of view, frequently amounting to prejudice ; and a rather ornate style" (Dict. of American Biography).
First edition of the illustrated French translation, with a folding map (cf. Sabin 5568).
Only three copies recorded in the French Union Catalogue (BnF, Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Draguignan).
Contemporary-style half calf, smooth spine rubbed, joints split at head and foot, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges, in a slightly later binding.
Light foxing, a paper flaw in the right margin of the final leaf not affecting the text.
It should be noted that the translator mistook the genitive form for part of the author’s surname, spelling it “Birkbecks”.
The American first edition appeared in 1818 under the title of “Letters from Illinois”, and went through no fewer than seven editions in English.
"In directing settlers to the prairies lands of the West [this book] exercised a widespread influence, and incidentally brought down on [the] author the hearty vituperation of William Cobbett, who was in the pay of eastern land speculators". Cf. Dict. of amer. biogr., II, 289.
Born into a Quaker family, Morris Birkbeck (1764–1825), an Anglo-American adventurer and Illinois pioneer, was one of America’s leading journalists and a prominent champion of the anti-slavery cause.
First edition.
Endpapers partially toned, a few scattered foxmarks.
Contemporary half brown cloth, smooth spine ruled in blind, marbled paper boards, a few snags to the extremities, Masonic ex-libris label pasted to the inner board.
The petition under discussion sought to have the Banque de France adopt measures to counter fluctuations in the discount rate.
Provenance: from the library of the Château de Villardonnel (Aude), belonging to the Mahul family, with their pictorial ex-libris label pasted to the inner board.
First edition of this pamphlet, directed in part against Mormonism (cf. Sabin 2797).
Illustrated with a folding lithographed map of the United States, inserted as a plate.
Spine cracked with small losses and tears at the joints; library shelf label pasted at the foot of the upper wrapper; small corner tears to the wrappers.
This booklet also considers the relations between Christians and the indigenous inhabitants, as well as with the African population brought to the United States through the cupidity of the citizens of the Old World. A good copy.
First edition of this advance extract from "Annam – Numismatic Studies", an ouvrage not due to appear until 1905.
A rare and pleasing copy, despite
Autograph presentation inscription from Albert Schroeder to Jean-Calixte-Alexis Auvergne, Resident-Superior in Annam from 1897 to 1898, and again from 1901 to 1904.
Second edition of this French version (the first having appeared in 1781), approved by the author, of the Memorial most humbly addressed to the sovereigns of Europe, on the present state of affairs (London, July 1780) (cf. Sabin 64827).
Disbound copy, presented in a modern marbled paper wrapper.
This text had in fact been the subject of an earlier translation based on the Translation of the memorial by Edmund Jennings and John Adams, which failed to satisfy Pownall (namely the Pensées sur la Révolution de l'Amérique-Unie, issued with the Amsterdam imprint in 1780).
The substance of the various versions nonetheless converges, forming a prescient exhortation to the sovereigns of Europe to confer together in order to enter into commercial and economic relations with the future power that Pownall already discerned in the English colonies of America.
First French edition, complete with its engraved plate at the end of the volume: "Air mauresque" (see Gay 1352).
Bookseller’s resale label from the antiquarian bookseller Challamel affixed to the foot of the title page.
Bound in contemporary half brown calf, smooth spine with gilt and blind tooling, black morocco title and date labels, some rubbing to the spine, marbled paper boards, handmade laid paper endleaves and pastedowns, speckled edges, corners slightly worn, upper corner missing on one, binding slightly later.
Some foxing, dampstaining affecting the lower margin of the first 70 leaves.
The work was first published in London in 1811 under the title: "An account of Tunis, of its government, customs and antiquities, especially of its productions, manufactures and commerce".
On the verso of the half-title is a manuscript note signed by Henri Fournel: "The original of this work was published in 1811. It had been written by a common man, and the translation is superior to the original." Henri Fournel (1799–1876), a mining engineer, was long associated with the Saint-Simonian movement before holding senior positions at the Compagnie des Chemins de fer du Nord.
The same hand has inscribed the translator’s name on the title page.
Marcel Dunan’s bookplate mounted on a pastedown.
First edition illustrated with 24 colour figures mounted within the text.
No copy recorded in the CCFr.
Occasional light foxing.
Publisher’s original full lemon-yellow percaline, smooth spine, upper cover decorated in red, minor spotting to the boards.
Pleasing album devoted to the monuments of ancient China, then undergoing rapid transformation at the beginning of the twentieth century.
The text was set before the Chinese Revolution of 1911 and the Great War.
On the half-title, this copy is enriched with a long dated autograph inscription by the American singer and society figure Tryphosa Bates-Batcheller (1876–1952) to Henry de Galard de Brassac, Prince of Béarn and of Chalais (1874–1947), including an English translation of a Chinese poem by Ssu-K'ung T'u (834–908).
New edition, partly original, published anonymously (see Sabin 20,288).
Disbound copy, preserved in a modern marbled paper wrapper.
Abbé Louis Genty (1743–1817) is better known for his Influence de la découverte de l’Amérique sur le bonheur du genre humain, published in 1788, but this Dissertation appears here in a form close to its first draft.
First edition of these extremely rare statutes of an Indo-British lodge established in Calcutta since 1860.
No copy recorded in the CCF or in WorldCat.
Minor losses to the spine and corners of the boards, with one tear at the head of the upper cover skilfully restored.
First edition.
The veterinarian Henri-Mamert-Onésime Delafond (1805–1861) devoted particular attention to contagious diseases of livestock, focusing especially on anthrax and contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, and published several successive monographs on these subjects throughout his career; he became director of the École d’Alfort in 1860, shortly before his death.
Light foxing; a dampstain affecting the index leaves; minor losses at the corners of the boards.
Provenance: from the library of the veterinarian Jean-Henry Magne, with his manuscript ex-libris at the head of the upper cover.
Uncommon first edition (cf. O'Reilly & Reitman, 6271: "Travail consciencieux, bien documenté et toujours utile"; Numa Broc, Océanie, pp. 377-380).
Our copy retains the two folding maps bound at the end of the first volume.
The two maps are titled: Carte de l'île Taïti d'après Vilson et les travaux récens de la frégate l'Artémise; Carte de l'archipel Taïti d'après les travaux les plus récens [et] des archipels français dans l'Océanie par Mr Vincendon-Dumoulin, 1844.
Contemporary half bottle-green sheep, spine with five raised bands gilt with scrolling tools and floral ornaments, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, spines slightly darkened.
Scattered foxing; two rather clumsily repaired tears to pp. 421 and 813 in vol. II.
The hydrographer-engineer Vincendon-Dumoulin (1811–1858) accompanied Dumont d’Urville aboard the Astrolabe during his visit to Tahiti in September 1838, at the time of the French intervention on the island.
Beyond an opening chapter on colonisation in Oceania, the work comprises a geographical section and a historical one.
The first offers a description of the Leeward Islands (Maupiti, Bora-Bora, Huahine, Raiatea, Tahaa), followed by the Windward Islands, including Tahiti.
The historical section, after several remarks on the institutions and customs of the inhabitants, recounts their history.
The table placed at the beginning of the volume provides a clear chronological sequence of events.
An appendix of 51 documents gathers the correspondence, notes, and reports exchanged by the representatives of France, England, and Pomaré in 1842–43.
Rare first edition of the French translation prepared by Pingeron, who enriched it with notes (cf. Attabey, 1127. Not in Chadenat, Hage Chahine or Blackmer. Monglond, I, 466. Brunet, V, 317. Quérard, IX, 98). Only one copy recorded in Italian public collections (Ravenna).
Our copy is preserved in its original blue-grey wrappers, the spine plain with contemporary manuscript titling, entirely uncut.
First French edition of this uncommon work: other writings by Sestini are encountered more frequently (perhaps owing to its date of publication?).
With a dedicatory epistle to the comte de La Billardrie d'Angivillier.
Abbot Domenico Sestini (1750–1832) was a numismatist, archaeologist, and extensive traveller. He was the first, in 1780, to mention the Sicilian citron in his description of the "à l'éponge" method for extracting essential lemon oil.
A pleasing, as-issued copy.
