A new, corrected and enlarged collected edition of the Œuvres philosophiques of Julien Offray de La Mettrie, published in 1764 and more comprehensive than the first collected edition issued in Berlin in 1751. It includes in particular the Anti-Sénèque, ou Discours sur le bonheur and L'Art de jouir, both absent from that earlier collection.
The two volumes are joined, in a strictly uniform contemporary binding, by L'Homme plus que machine, a work long attributed to La Mettrie but now assigned to Élie Luzac. The three volumes thus form a contemporary collected set.
First edition, one of 47 numbered copies on Vergé de Vizille, the only deluxe paper issue.
A fine copy.
First edition, an advance (service de presse) copy.
Three small wormholes and a clear dampstain to margin of upper cover, one joint cracked at foot.
Retaining its prière d'insérer.
Very precious and moving autograph inscription signed and dated by Maurice Blanchot to his mother and sister: "Personne ne reçoit tant de Dieu que celui qui est entièrement mort. Saint Grégoire. Pour sa chère maman et sa vieille Marg, en toute affection. Maurice [No one receives God so fully as someone who is entirely dead. Saint Gregory. For his darling mother and old Marg, with all love. Maurice]."
The first edition, an advance [service de presse] copy.
A fine inscription from Jean Cocteau to Jean-Paul Sartre: “son ami de tout cœur [your true friend].”
Despite not being of the same generation, and despite everything that could have separated them, Jean Cocteau and Jean-Paul Sartre were friendly in the late 40s and early 50s. When Sartre died, Jean Marais evoked their regular telephone calls and dinners with endless, wonderful discussions.
The two also worked together for recognition for Jean Genet and in July 1948 published an open letter together in Combat, addressed to the President of France, Vincent Auriol, urging the release from...
First French edition translated by Arnaud de la Chapelle. Title page in red and black.
Later 19th-century full red morocco binding with straight grain (Russia leather) signed by Thouvenin at tail. Spine with raised bands decorated with compartments framed by gilt fillets. Title and date in gilt. Gilt fillets framing the boards with trefoils in the corners. Inner gilt fillet. All edges gilt. Spine slightly faded. Rubbing to headcaps, joints and corners. Upper joint narrowly split at tail for 3 cm. One tear on p. 274, another on p. 302, both in the middle of the page. Despite some defects, a handsome copy.
20th-century engraved bookplate of E. Crawshaw...
First edition, one of 13 numbered copies on vélin pur fil Lafuma-Navarre paper, the only large paper copies.
A very good, unsophisticated copy.
First edition, one of 90 numbered copies on Hollande paper, the tirage de tête.
Elegant half red morocco binding over marbled paper boards by P. Goy & C. Vilaine, spine in six compartments, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, covers and spine preserved, top edge gilt.
A very good, well-margined copy in a handsome binding.
New edition.
Half sheep bindings in bottle green, smooth spines decorated with quadruple fillets and gilt typographical motifs, two upper headcaps slightly worn, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, some corners very slightly bumped, contemporary bindings signed by Flore.
Some minor foxing of no consequence. Handsome set.
New edition, following the princeps of 1473 in Bologna (under a different title). Very rare. Printer’s device of the Junta on the title page and the final leaf. Dedication to Hercules Gonzaga of Mantua. Not in Brunet. One copy in Oxford and one in the Italian catalogues, but none in the French catalogues nor in the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Half calf binding, c. 1800. Spine with raised bands and gilt fillets. Brown morocco title-piece. Headcap trimmed. Rubbing to edges.
NB: This volume is available at the bookshop on request within 48 hours.
New and improved enlarged edition (partly original), illustrated with a frontispiece, 12 unsigned figures, and 6 title vignettes (the title pages are entirely engraved). A fine printing. The original 1770 edition comprised only 3 volumes in-12.
Contemporary full mottled calf bindings. Smooth spines decorated with floral tools and multiple gilt rolls. Triple gilt fillet framing on covers. Blue sprinkled edges. Slight surface wear to the covers. A few wormholes to the joints, and some worming in the margin of volume I. Despite these minor flaws, a handsome, well-bound and fresh copy.
First edition, the only one published.
Bound in red half long-grain morocco in the Romantic style, flat spine with two vertical Romantic tools. Two small wormholes along the upper joint. Minor rubbing as usual, but a handsome copy, notably well-preserved.
NB: This item is available at the bookshop on request within 48 hours.
