Signed Books, Presentation Copies

Complete autograph manuscript of 50 pages, written on the recto of each leaf and containing numerous deletions and revisions.

The manuscript was published in the December 1872 issue of the Bulletin de la Société de Géographie.

Full red shagreen binding, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt fleurons and double gilt panels adorned with floral tools, double gilt fillets on the boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt dentelle border on the pastedowns, gilt edges on the boards, corners rubbed, contemporary binding.

The leaves are numbered 1 to 50 in the upper left corner; an earlier numbering, struck through, appears in the upper margin.

The study is divided into three parts:

• - History of the Sargasso Sea (pp. 2–15).
• - Geography of the Sargasso Sea (pp. 16–38).
• - Resources of the Sargasso Sea (pp. 39–50).

The first part traces the history of navigation in the Sargasso Sea from the Phoenicians, who were the first to report floating banks of algae in the Atlantic. They were followed by the Carthaginians, Arabs, and Portuguese. But it was Christopher Columbus who, in 1492, provided the first serious observations of this maritime phenomenon. Gaffarel then refers to the voyages of Gonneville, Jean de Léry, and André Thévet, cites Humboldt, and finally discusses recent scientific explorations: in 1851–1852 by the campaign of the Dolphin, Captain Lee, and in 1855 by that of the brig Méléagre, Captain Leps.

In the second part, the author examines the geography of the Sargasso Sea, noting that its extent and boundaries have always remained uncertain. He then develops three hypotheses regarding their origin, the most plausible being that the sargassum forms around the Gulf Stream, whose warm and relatively calm waters offer favourable conditions for its proliferation. The text then discusses the different species of sargassum, their mode of growth, and their accumulation, which created the strange appearance that once frightened early navigators.

Finally, the author considers the resources of the Sargasso Sea: by analogy with the harvesting of seaweed along the French coasts—where, once reduced to ash, it provides an excellent fertiliser—one might imagine exploiting the algae of the Sargasso Sea for the extraction of mineral substances, though this would require specially equipped vessels. He concludes: “La mer des Sargasses est donc une véritable région promise.

Tous, plus ou moins, directement ou non, agriculteurs pour nos champs, malades pour nos santés, industriels pour nos usines […] citoyens pour notre patrie, nous n’avons qu’à gagner à l’exploitation des richesses inconnues de cette mer…” (p. 50).

Bound at the end:

• GAFFAREL (Paul). La mer des Sargasses. Paris, Ch. Delagrave et Cie, 1873, 8vo, 35 pp., original wrappers preserved, autograph annotations in the margins. Offprint from the Bulletin de la Société de Géographie, December 1872.
• - MAUNOIR (Charles), geographer. 2 autograph letters signed [to Paul Gaffarel]. Paris, 1872, 5 pp., 8vo, on printed letterhead. Concerning the publication of Gaffarel’s paper in the Bulletin de la Société de Géographie and its communication to Commander Leps, who “possède des trésors au sujet de la physique des mers”.
• - LEPS (Maurice Edouard), captain. 2 autograph letters signed [to Paul Gaffarel]. Paris, 1872, 2 pp., 8vo. Thanks for the sending of the memoir and transmission to Gaffarel of the notes taken by Leps during the 1855 campaign of the Méléagre.
• - DELAGRAVE (Maison). 6 signed or autograph letters signed to Paul Gaffarel. Paris, 1872–1875, 6 pp., 8vo, on printed letterheads. Publication of “La Mer des Sargasses” in the Bulletin de la Société de Géographie and sending of offprints to the author. Two letters are signed by the publisher Charles Delagrave.
• - 2 press articles mounted on the rear endpapers, and another inserted loosely. Marseille and n.p., 1873–1918, 5 pp. of various formats. Concerning Gaffarel’s memoir on the Sargasso Sea. A historian, Paul Gaffarel (Moulins, 1843 – Marseille, 1920) was Doctor of Letters, agrégé of the University, and a member of the Société de Géographie. He published numerous works, notably on the French colonies and the discovery of America. A fine and rare ensemble.

First edition of this important work on former French Indochina, comprising:

• Geography and Travels. Volumes 1 to 7 (1901–1919), illustrated with 52 maps and portraits (40 in color), plus numerous plates and maps within the text or pagination.
• Miscellaneous Studies. Literature, History, Natural History. Volumes 1 to 3 (1898–1904), illustrated with 43 plates and maps (35 in color), plus numerous plates within the pagination.
• Atlas. Notices and Maps. 1 volume (1903), illustrated with 10 color maps.
• For 9 volumes (of 11) in the set: contemporary bindings in half green cloth with tips, smooth spines with some staining and fading, red morocco title labels (some with minor losses), red board covers with a checkered pattern, gray paper endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers bound in (some with minor angular losses, wrapper of volume 3 restored); for the remaining two volumes (Volumes 3 and 7): modern bindings in half green cloth with tips, matching the style of the other nine.

On the half-title page of Volume VI, signed autograph inscription by Auguste Pavie: "A l'ami Vitoux, hommage affectueux. A. Pavie."

Accompanying this set is: "Carte de l'Indo-Chine dressée par MM. les Capitaines Cupet, Friquegnon et de Malglaive membres de la Mission Pavie."

Printed in Paris by Augustin Challamel in 1893 (broadsheet, folded and linen-backed, with some foxing).

The map is housed in a modern half green cloth portfolio with tips, red oasis title label, red board covers, and a red full-cloth slipcase, designed to match the text volumes.

"A pioneer of new routes in Cambodia and Laos, and a key figure in French expansion in Indochina, Auguste Pavie (1847–1925) holds a privileged place among the explorers of this region. Born in Dinan, he joined the army at seventeen, served in Cochinchina with the Marine Infantry (1868), and was sent to Cambodia in 1875 (…). In 1876, he was commissioned by the Governor of Indochina to create a new map of Cambodia, taking advantage of the construction of a telegraph line between Phnom Penh and Bangkok (…). In 1885, Le Myre de Vilers, recognizing his abilities, appointed him to the delicate post of French Consul in Luang Prabang, where he was to defend the rights France had inherited from Annam over Laos (…). From Luang Prabang, Pavie undertook a series of journeys across Laos from 1887 to 1889, regions that Mouhot and F. Garnier had only briefly explored. His investigations focused on three main directions: east (Tran-Ninh, Plain of Jars); northeast (Hua-Panh); and north (Sip-Song-Chau). It was in this last area that Pavie concentrated his efforts, seeking safe routes to Tonkin in order to open up Laos and firmly link it to France's other Indochinese possessions (…). From 1888, Pavie was no longer alone. He surrounded himself with military collaborators—Cogniard, Cupet, Malglaive, Pennequin…—and civilians such as the young diplomat Lefèvre-Pontalis and the brilliant biologist Le Dantec. Within a few years, the Pavie Mission, a veritable geographical service, would number some forty members, not counting the many indigenous auxiliaries. Dispersed in small groups along different routes, the mission members multiplied the leader's efforts, covering considerable ground. Thus, in 1890–1891, surrounded by a large team of geographers, naturalists, doctors, ethnographers, and economists, Pavie successfully completed a vast territorial survey intended to establish the future borders between French Indochina, China, Siam, and Burma (…). The scientific results of this collective enterprise, unparalleled in the French Empire, were impressive. Extending far beyond Laos, the investigations covered Tonkin, Annam, Cambodia, and southern China. In total, some 600,000 km²—an area larger than France—were surveyed and partially mapped, and 70,000 km of land and river routes were recorded (…). Truly multidisciplinary, the Pavie Mission encompassed all fields of knowledge, neglecting neither history, nor literature, nor folklore…" (Cf. Numa Broc, Dictionnaire illustré des explorateurs français du XIXe siècle, Asie, pp. 366–368).

First edition of this album of caricatures by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi which he numbered and initialled (copy no. 36, followed by his initial). Printed "in small numbers” (Bartholdi Museum), with only six located in institutions (Colmar Museum, BnF, Harvard, UPenn, NYPL, Rutgers University).

Publisher’s blue cloth binding, smooth spine gilt-lettered along its length, upper board numerously framed in black, anchors and stars stamped in black at the corners, title and date gilt-stamped; lower board numerously framed in black, black stars at the corners and a central anchor, red edges. Slight rubbing to joints, faint mottling to the lower part of the upper board, a few plate tabs slightly split at foot, not affecting the integrity of the binding.

Illustrated with an engraved title-frontispiece, a half-title featuring the head of the Statue of Liberty, and 30 full-page hand-coloured lithographs.

Exceptionally rare copy of Auguste Bartholdi’s caricature album created on board the steamship bound for the United States for the 1876 Philadelphia World’s Fair, where he exhibited part of the Statue of Liberty.

This curious album contains the only caricature of the Statue by Bartholdi ever published: a vignette on the half-title depicting the top of Lady Liberty’s crowned head with her amused eyes emerging above the Atlantic. Moreover, the profits from the album were donated to the Franco-American subscription fund for the statue's construction.

First edition illustrated with 4 engraved plates by Ambroise Tardieu (portrait of Diai-Boukari in marabout attire from Foutatoro, view of the Foutatoro army on the march, view of the sources of the Rio Grande and the Gambia, view of Timbo); and a large folding map at the end of the first volume, copy signed by the author on the verso of the title page of vol. I.
Contemporary half calf bindings, spines decorated with gilt roll tooling in place of raised bands, title and volume labels in red calf, paper covered boards, speckled blue edges, small wormhole to the lower hinge of the first volume.
Shortly after the Treaty of Paris returned Senegal to France, Mollien—a mere naval clerk and survivor of the Medusa shipwreck—was sent to Africa by the French government on a geographical and political mission Sent to explore the sources of the Senegal and Gambia rivers, Mollien was also tasked with countering British expansion in the region. At the end of volume 2 are found an itinerary and glossaries of the Iolof (Wolof), Poule (Peul), and Serer languages, along with geographical observations on Mollien's discoveries by Eyries.

To our knowledge unpublished autograph letter signed by Ernest Hemingway to Roberto Herrera Sotolongo, 2 pages in blue ink on both sides of a sheet, and envelope postmarked September 19, 1953 with his autograph return address ("E. Hemingway...") on the back.

The letter begins in Spanish and continues in English, before ending with a few Spanish words signed "Mister Papa".

A magnificent letter from Hemingway to his Cuban friend and secretary, recounting his 1953 safari in Kenya. Hemingway reveals the true outcome of the hunt for the black-maned lion, a central theme of his posthumous novel True at first light (1999) later published as Under Killimanjaro (2005).

The writer shares his encounters with a giraffe and an impala, as well as unpublished spear hunts with the Masai, reconnecting with the emotions of his first African adventure twenty years earlier which had inspired classic parts of the Hemingway canon – The Green Hills of Africa, The Snows of Kilimanjaro and The Short happy life of Francis Macomber.

He also recalls a family tragedy: a rare attempt at reconciliation from his third child Gigi, who was suffering from gender dysphoria.

Uncommon first edition containing highly interesting observations on life aboard the Newfoundland fishing vessels (cf. Sabin 11020).

The chapters on whaling and seal hunting were overlooked by Thiébaut, Jenkins, and Vaucaire.

The author, Constant-Jean-Antoine Carpon (1803–1872), was a medical officer and surgeon in the merchant navy. He began his career in 1826 and continued until 1865, taking part in numerous fishing expeditions to Newfoundland.

Contemporary quarter maroon paper binding, flat spine slightly faded and decorated with blind-stamped fillets, brown paper boards with minor rubbing.

Some light foxing.

Inscribed by Constant-Jean-Antoine Carpon to Monsieur Lefevre-Deumier on the half-title page.

Rare first edition illustrated with three folding plates outside the text.

Spine repaired along the right margin with adhesive strip, minor tears to spine, internally clean and appealing.

In the manner of departmental compendia of customary law published in mainland France, the author records the unofficial legal “usages” adopted in practice within the colony, though lacking legal force. Born in Saint-Denis, Réunion, Georges Garros (1860 – after 1919) moved to Cochinchina in 1892 to open a law practice in Saigon, primarily serving the commercial interests of his Vietnamese merchant friends. He was also the father of the famed aviator Roland Garros (1888–1918).

Inscribed by Georges Garros: "Monsieur Foulé, greffier en chef de la Cour d'appel hommage de cordiale sympathie. G. Garros"

Edition richly illustrated with photographs by Leni Riefenstahl.
Publisher's full grey cloth binding, flat spine, a complete copy with its striking illustrated dust jacket.
A few minor spots of foxing, insignificant, and a slight discoloration mark on the rear board.
A pleasant copy.
Inscribed and signed by Leni Riefenstahl to Jean-Pierre Richard: "Jean Pierre Richard herzliche gewidmet. Leni Riefenstahl."

First edition.

Autograph inscription from L. Maillot to François Coty, the father of modern perfumery and creator of the eponymous brand but also a politician.

Iconography.

Covers slightly and marginally faded, otherwise handsome copy.