First edition, one of 647 numbered copies on pur fil paper, the only deluxe copies after 5 on Japan paper, 5 on Holland paper and 109 reimposed.
A handsome copy.
Pirate edition from the same year as the first edition of this bible of chess strategy, published by Philidor at the age of twenty-two.
Full olive morocco binding, dentelle boards framed by a gilt roulette motif, central gilt decoration in mandorla shape composed of a quatrefoil formed by basket-handle motifs richly decorated in gilt inside the lobes, gilt edges, top spine-end slightly rubbed, corners bumped, binding attributable to René-François Fétil, pupil of the great Padeloup, based on numerous small tools found on bindings bearing Fétil's label and listed in Giles Barber, The James A. de Rothschild Bequest at Waddesdon Manor. Printed Books and Bookbindings, 2013 (DCT 38, FR 16).
The greatest chess treatise, in an elegant dentelle binding, from the library of the famous chess player Lothar Schmid, chess grandmaster and arbiter of the century, holder of the largest and most prestigious private chess book collection in the world (according to Allan Savage, Caissa's Legacy: The Great Chess Libraries).
First edition printed on regular stock.
Small tears to the head and foot of the spine.
Fine presentation inscription, signed by Henri de Montherlant to Georges Bataille.
First collected edition, one of 13 numbered copies on pur fil paper, our copy being one of 3 hors commerce, the only copies on deluxe paper.
A fine copy.
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 edition, one of 200 numbered copies on “light green paper,” the only deluxe paper issue announced.
Turquoise half morocco binding, smooth spine, date in gilt at foot, marbled paper boards, endpapers, and pastedowns, original wrappers and backstrip preserved, top edge gilt; an elegant contemporary binding signed by G. Gauché.
A very handsome copy, finely bound by Georges Gauché and complete with its publisher's prospectus.
Signed presentation inscription from René Crevel: "My dear Georges, here, in its finest form: Diderot’s Harpsichord, if you can help him play his music? With all my affection. René" (our own translation)
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.
First edition of this major classification, arranged according to the Linnaean system, describing a thousand plants with remarkable precision (cf. Pritzel 9806.)
Full green vellum bindings, smooth spines tooled with double gilt fillets and gilt rolls, brown calf lettering- and volume-pieces, slight rubbing to the spines, yellow mottled edges, some corners a little softened; contemporary bindings.
The author, Abbé Fulgenzio Vitman (1728–1806), a Florentine botanist, founded the Milan botanical garden after directing that of Pavia.
First edition of the French translation, illustrated with a plate showing the alphabet and a large folding map at the end of the first volume (cf. Quérard V, 561).
Contemporary full marbled tan calf bindings, smooth spines decorated with gilt friezes (partly rubbed), some wear to joints and boards, a few bumped corners, spines restored, gilt rolls on board edges, red edges.
Small ink stain on the map, otherwise a clean and appealing copy.
The most comprehensive work of its time devoted to the largest island of Indonesia.
Augmented and revised edition originally published by a Belgian friar in Cologne in 1634.
Full roan binding, spine with four raised bands, gilt tooling in compartments, red morocco title label, spine-ends, joints and corners restored.
A handsome copy of this innovative confessional manual, which "encouraged self-reflection on several hundred sins, ranging from embracing heresy to cheating at games. Categorized according to the Ten Commandments, brief definitions of the sins were printed on pre-cut paper. This allowed the user to pull the slips up individually so that they extended over the superimposed paper margin, thereby serving as topical reminders for reflection and confession, to be tucked under the margin again after the confession. The ability to select, manipulate, and categorize particular textual units introduced in this book can be seen as a precursor to modern information management systems. (Bridwell Library, Southern Methodist University)
Edition partly original, one of 90 numbered copies on Dutch paper, the only issue following 10 on Japan, 2 on Chapelle and 2 not-for-sale copies.
Volume illustrated with 8 wood engravings by Manolo, four of which are full-page.
Manuscript signatures of Manolo and Pierre Reverdy on the colophon.
A rare and handsome copy of the only work illustrated by Manolo.
First edition, one of 100 copies numbered on Arches wove paper, the only deluxe issue.
This exhibition catalogue devoted to the painter’s work at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York, marking his sixtieth birthday, is illustrated with three original lithographs (two double-page and one single-page) together with numerous black-and-white and colour reproductions.
Offsetting from the lithographs visible on the facing text leaves.
Autograph signature by Joan Miró, dated at the colophon number.
As stated in the limitation, this copy indeed includes its original lithograph, dated and signed by Joan Miró.
First edition of the French translation, with false statement of second edition.
Full green cloth Bradel binding, smooth spine decorated with a central gilt ornament, beige sheepskin title label, original wrappers preserved, contemporary binding signed in blind by Pierson. Some light foxing.
Very rare presentation copy dated and signed by Ivan Turgenev to Anatole France: "Monsieur Anatole France / hommage de l'auteur / 1876".
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.
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).
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 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 treatise, first published in 1771 and reissued again in 1813 (see Mennessier de La Lance I, 162).
Our copy is offered stitched, in its provisional blue paper wrappers, the spine reinforced with an adhesive strip.
First edition, one of 170 numbered copies on pur fil.
An agreeable copy preserved under a double wrapper.
First edition.
Minor marginal tears to the boards, a few spots of foxing.
Not recorded by Sabin.
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.
Second edition, revised and expanded (see Backer & Sommervogel VI, 1557). Only three copies recorded in the CCFr (BnF, Dijon and Nîmes).
Contemporary binding in mottled fawn calf, spine with five raised bands and richly gilt panelled compartments, modern burgundy morocco lettering-piece, some rubbing to spine and joints, headcaps trimmed, triple gilt fillet frame on covers, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, speckled edges, bookplate pasted to one pastedown.
The first edition of this small universal calendar appeared in 1711 in the form of a simple in-folio placard.
Each subsequent issue expanded the content: the 1731 edition was intended to serve as a supplement to the large Calendrier published by Rollin in the same year.
Born in Aire, Rebecque (1663–1753) was chiefly a preacher and confined his activity to his native regions (Aire, Douai, Saint-Omer, etc.).
Bound after it, by the same author: "Calendrier du monde, où l'on donne une méthode très-aisée de trouver à chaque année depuis 1741, jusqu'à l'an 2244 de Jésus-Christ, tout l'ordre des tems, avec la plus grande exactitude pour les royaumes & les peuples qui ont reçu la Réformation grégorienne : et de trouver même pour chaque mois dans si long espace de tems, les nouvelles lunes & leurs phases, aussi exactement qu'il est nécessaire pour les usages de la vie civile", printed at Aire by H. F. Boubert de Corbeville in 1742 (title, vi pp., 68 pp.). Backer & Sommervogel VI, 1558.
First edition: the work forms the natural complement to the preceding title (see Backer & Sommervogel VI, 1558).
Provenance: from the library of Emmanuel Jeanbernat Barthélémy de Ferrari Doria, with his armorial bookplate pasted to one pastedown.
Rare and important first edition.
Our copy is offered unbound.
The work describes the dress, hairstyles, arms, and equipment of soldiers and officers of the French army; it also addresses the cavalry, dragoons, and hussars.
The chapter devoted to the distinctive uniform of each regiment includes a list of these regiments, some of which took part in the American War of Independence.
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, 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 of the Petits poëmes en prose, later entitled Le Spleen de Paris – Petits poëmes en prose. Second edition of Les Paradis artificiels.
Some foxing, mainly at the beginning and end of the volume.
Contemporary half black shagreen binding, spine with five raised bands ruled in gilt and decorated with gilt tools, marbled paper sides, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, speckled edges, corners slightly rubbed.
The half-title bears the designation: "Oeuvres complètes". The work was issued separately, either on its own or as the fourth volume of the complete works, the publication of which extended over several years.
Clouzot notes: "Très rare en reliure d'époque sans tomaison au dos".
Particularly sought after.
First edition, one of 170 numbered copies on pure rag paper.
Shadowed endpapers; a small loss at the head of the upper board of the original front cover.
A pleasant copy, preserved in its double wrapper.
First edition, one of 45 numbered copies printed on Rajasthan jute paper, the only deluxe issue.
Manuscript signature of Emil Cioran at the colophon.
Spine very slightly faded, of no significance.
Rare and fine copy, complete with the three tantric paintings reproduced hors-texte in colour on cream paper.
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.
Rare group of six fascicules, all in the original edition.
Bradel-style binding in green mottled boards, smooth unlettered spine, printed title label mounted at the centre of the upper cover; modern binding.
Not recorded by Polak. Apparently no copy located in the CCFr.
A stain at the head of the title page.
This curious compilation, bearing almost no identifying information, appears to be particularly rare.
It contains:
- 1. A notice to mariners concerning the change in the lighting of the lighthouse in the Bay of the Somme, scheduled for 25 Pluviôse, Year IX [14 February 1801].
- 2. An instruction on filters for purifying water, signed by the health officers Dubrueil, Thaumur, Dupré, and Billard.
- 3. A notice on naval provisions, signed by Rivoire.
- 4. A description of the sillomètre (an instrument for measuring longitude at sea), addressed to the editor of the Moniteur by the former journalist Charles Mozard (1755–1810), who had served as Commissioner of France’s commercial relations in Boston from 1794 to 1799 and was at that time among the contributors to the Moniteur.
- 5. A discourse by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre delivered at the Institut (Nautical experiments, and dietary and moral observations, proposed for the benefit and health of sailors on long-distance voyages). This contribution had already been printed in La Décade philosophique, littéraire et politique of 30 Vendémiaire, Year IX [22 October 1800].
- 6. Two practical notices on means of preserving ships (from fire, water, and rats). The nature of these texts and their immediate sources suggest that this publication was probably conceived as a trial maritime periodical intended to make available sea-related articles previously published in other journals. For reasons unknown, the experiment was not continued, a circumstance that is fairly common in the history of periodicals.
Extremely rare first edition of the statutes of an Indo-British military lodge established in Calcutta.
Losses to the rubbed spine, covers reinforced, internally in pleasing condition.
No copy recorded in the CCFr or on WorldCat.
First edition, one of 170 numbered copies on deluxe paper.
Fine copy preserved in its double wrapper.
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.
Published in the year of the first edition, one of 950 numbered copies on wove paper.
Publisher’s binding after the original design by Paul Bonet.
Attractive copy, complete with its original flexible cardboard slipcase.
First edition, one of 306 numbered copies on deluxe paper, the only large-paper issue after 109 reimposed copies.
A fine copy.
First edition, limited to 59 numbered copies on Arches vellum, signed in pink pencil by André Masson beneath the limitation statement.
Rare and fine copy.
Illustrated with two original etchings by André Masson, printed full-bleed and issued hors texte.
Third edition and the last revised by the author, partly original as 25 poems appear here for the first time, bringing the total to 151 poems (as against 100 in the 1857 edition). Copy of the second issue, with a title page dated 1869 and bearing the statement of third edition.
Illustrated with a steel-engraved portrait of Charles Baudelaire by Nargeot as frontispiece.
A few minor spots of foxing, as often encountered.
The upper cover and the half-title page bear the wording: "Oeuvres complètes". According to Clouzot, the volume was sold either separately on its own or as the first volume of the collected works, whose publication extended over several years.
It should be noted that the wrappers of this third edition are always dated 1869, while certain copies, the rarest, carry a title page dated 1868.
Notice by Théophile Gautier.
First edition, one of 647 numbered copies on deluxe paper, the only deluxe issue after 109 reimposed copies.
Correspondence collected and annotated by Jean-Marie Carré.
A fine copy.
First edition, one of 647 numbered copies on pure rag paper, being the only deluxe paper issue after 109 reimposed copies.
Fine copy.
First edition.
Spine and boards slightly and marginally faded.
A rare and pleasing 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 and complete run of the 9 G.L.M. cahiers issued between May 1936 and March 1939.
A few spines slightly faded, as is often the case; otherwise a pleasing copy, complete with its original publisher’s slipcase in full grey boards, with red printed title label pasted to the spine.
With numerous contributions by most of the Surrealist poets, writers, and artists, including: André Breton, René Char, Paul Éluard, Philippe Soupault, René Crevel, Valentine Penrose, Federico García Lorca, Pablo Neruda, Michel Leiris, Max Ernst, Man Ray, and André Masson, as well as several spiritual forebears of Surrealism such as Franz Kafka, Lewis Carroll, and Raymond Roussel...
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, one of 30 numbered copies on Lafuma laid paper, the sole deluxe issue.
A fine copy.
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 Jean Guéhenno, written under the pseudonym Cévennes, one of 60 numbered copies on Madagascar paper, from the deluxe issue.
A fine copy.
First edition of this pioneering work in the history of psychiatry (cf. Garrison & Morton 4920; Semelaigne I, pp. 68-73; Waller records only the 1770 German translation; Wellcome III 547; Blake 277).
Contemporary half calf with vellum-tipped corners, smooth spines gilt with decorative rolls, some rubbing and small wormholes to the spines, marbled paper boards, sprinkled edges; bindings from the early nineteenth century.
Ink stains on pp. 72–76 of the first volume, a black ink spot at the head of the lower cover of the second volume, a few minor and unobtrusive foxmarks.
For Lorry, not all melancholic patients are driven by a single fixed idea, and melancholy is a state of mental disorder of physical origin, in which the mind—sharply disturbed by objects either external or produced by the imagination—becomes unable to resist, repel, or reason through the ideas arising from them. He identifies two forms of the condition, according to whether its origin lies in the solid parts or in the humours, which he terms nervous melancholy and humoral melancholy respectively.
"La mélancolie nerveuse peut parfois constituer l'hystérie chez la femme, l'hypochondrie chez l'homme ; ou bien c'est la manie vraie, ou encore, sans le moindre symptôme maniaque, elle consiste uniquement en convulsions. Il semble y avoir peu de différences entre la mélancolie et la manie, mais le mélancolique délire surtout sur ce qui le concerne en particulier, tandis que le délire maniaque s'étend à tous les sujets". Cf. Semelaigne.
Lorry (1726–1783) may also be regarded as the founder of dermatology in France (Tractatus de morbis cutaneis, Paris, G. Cavelier, 1777).
A pleasant copy, with generous margins.
Deluxe first edition on Oikos paper, limited to 200 copies, this copy being one of 5 presentation copies signed by the publisher and enriched with unpublished documents relating to the discovery of the manuscript.
Swiss binding with exposed stitching, smooth cloth spine, illustrated boards and slipcase.
Original French translation of the last manuscript recovered from a deportee assigned to the Sonderkommandos.
Marcel Nadjary (1917-1971), a Greek Jew from Thessaloniki, deported to Auschwitz in the spring of 1944, was assigned to the Sonderkommando. He wrote a letter to dear friends to bid them farewell and describe the horrific work he was forced to carry out. He then buried his clandestine manuscript in the soil of Birkenau. This document was recovered thirty-six years later, on October 24, 1980.
This testimony, written at "the epicenter of the catastrophe," is published here for the first time in French translation, together with a second manuscript that Marcel Nadjary wrote in 1947 to preserve a record of his experience at the heart of the Birkenau inferno.
Texts by Serge Klarsfeld, Nelly Nadjary, Alberto Nadjary, Fragiski Ampatzopoulou, Georges Didi-Huberman, Tal Bruttmann, Loïc Marcou, and Andreas Kilian accompany and illuminate these two exceptional documents.
Translated from Greek by Loïc Marcou
Rare first edition under this title, complete with the engraved title-page. The first edition of 1607, Remonstrance faicte au Roy Très Chrétien pour la réunion des religions à la foy catholique, was printed in Tournon in only 96 pages. This second edition, of which there were probably two issues from the same bookseller, was substantially revised and enlarged by the author.
Contemporary limp vellum with yapp edges, smooth spine, faded ink manuscript title to spine, original ties present, red speckled edges. Bookplate of the lawyer V[ictor] Duchâtaux, a bibliophile of the second half of the 19th century, to front pastedown. Manuscript ownership inscription dated 1661 at foot of engraved title-page.
Two tiny ink spots on pp. 57 and 209 affecting one letter each, small marginal wormhole on p. 417 not affecting text, a fine copy.
On p. 58, the passage "not in the traditions of the Roman Church! but in their own Bible, which I made the judge of all my designs, and the rule of my will" (our own translation) is underlined in brown ink, probably in the same hand as the ownership inscription.
New quarto edition, revised and corrected by the author, with numerous decorated headpieces, initials and tailpieces.
Full polished brown calf, spine in six compartments with five raised bands richly gilt-tooled, red morocco lettering-piece, triple blind fillet border to boards, double gilt fillet to board edges, red edges, marbled pastedowns and endpapers.
Light scratches and scuffing to boards, corners slightly bumped, otherwise a very fine copy.
Paper flaw causing marginal tears on pp. 49, 571 and 595, light scattered foxing affecting a few gatherings towards the end of the volume, minor wormhole to lower corner of pp. 253 onwards, ending in a charming emoji.
First edition, illustrated with three folding in-text tables (Cf. Brunet, III, 330. Vivien de Saint-Martin, Voyages faits en Asie Mineure depuis le XIIIe siècle, no. 148. Atabey, The Ottoman World, 1126. Weber, II, 595. Not in Blackmer, but see nos. 1530 & 1531.)
Half calf binding with corners, spine gilt-tooled with lyres and decorative friezes, marbled paper boards, endpapers and pastedowns of decorative patterned paper.
Restorations with small losses to head and tail of spine, staining to the boards and to the upper and lower margins of the leaves.
This account follows that of the Voyage de Constantinople à Bassora. The journey was undertaken while Sestini was in the service of Robert Ainslie, the British ambassador to the Porte.
He travelled across Asia Minor and returned via Baghdad, Aleppo, Alexandria, and Cyprus.
First edition illustrated with 8 folding plates.
Half vellum binding, smooth spine with gilt initials at foot, black shagreen title label, red morocco label bearing the year of issue, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, sprinkled edges, original wrappers preserved, contemporary binding.
Rare Saigon printing. This uncommon directory was published under this title until 1888; in 1889, it became the Annuaire de l'Indo-Chine française.
First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Recueil des notices et mémoires de la Société archéologique de Constantine de l'année 1873.
Not in Tailliart.
Front wrapper detached then reattached, losses to the spine, small chips to the corners.
Scarce work illustrated with 14 plates printed hors texte and numbered I–XII (including plates VI bis and ter). Not in Tailliart.
A volunteer in the Corps of Engineers from 1841 onward, Baptiste-Charles Brunon (1821–1888) spent most of his military career in Algeria; after the 1871 war he returned to oversee the Engineering Corps in Constantine.
First edition illustrated with seven folding plates.
Contemporary half vellum binding, smooth spine with gilt initials at foot, brown morocco title label, red morocco date label, marbled paper boards with some rubbing, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, speckled edges.
Rare Saigon printing, and the last year to appear under this title.
This uncommon directory was published under this title until 1888; in 1889 it became the Annuaire de l'Indo-Chine française.
First edition describing the 388 items offered in the sale.
A few pencilled hammer prices in the margins, a loss to the upper right corner of the front wrapper and title-page, and small corner losses to the wrappers.
The introduction is by Fröhner, though the expert in charge of the sale was Hoffmann.
Of Baden origin, the numismatist Ludwig Wilhelm Fröhner (1834–1925) settled in Paris in 1859; he became a close friend of Napoleon III and assisted him in the preparation of his Histoire de Jules César (1865–1866), which helped him obtain both French naturalisation (1866) and an important post at the Louvre.
He later devoted himself to the cataloguing of collections, producing works that became major references for Antiquity and early medieval archaeology.
Rare first edition (cf. Tailliart 1697, Playfair 554, Polak 5050).
Spine clumsily restored with small losses, slight marginal tears to the covers, a few scattered foxmarks.
The crew of the "Béarnaise," consisting of about thirty men, seized the citadel of Bone without firing a single shot.
Rare first edition of this lecture delivered at the Cercle de France in Paris on January 8, 1958, no copy referenced in Worldcat. Light foxing to the front board.
Rare utopian pamphlet celebrating the creation of Brasilia and laying the theoretical foundations for the cities of the future. Inscribed and signed by Robert Miocque to his friend Marcel Dollfus at the top of the first page of text.
First edition, taken from the Mémoires de la Société royale et centrale d'agriculture, for the year 1824.
Illustrated with a folding plate inserted out of text.
Our copy is preserved in its original state, sewn and issued in a plain blue provisional wrapper.
Scattered light foxing.
A grandson of the founder and first director of the Académie royale de marine, Pierre-Marie-Sébastien Bigot de Morogues (1776-1840) devoted himself principally to agricultural matters.
First edition, completed at the end of the volume with a folding table printed off text (cf. Sabin 28336; Howes 318).
Bound in full flexible beige boards, the manuscript spine title clumsily restored with an adhesive strip and now largely faded; sprinkled red edges.
A dampstain affecting the upper right corner of the opening leaves; a few scattered foxmarks.
The folding table bound at the end of the volume is not recorded by Sabin. It summarises the key geographical data for each state (natural resources, population in 1790 and 1810, universities and colleges, representation in Congress, etc.).
Father Giovanni Grassi of the Society of Jesus spent several years in Georgetown, where he served as rector of the seminary.
First edition of the French translation (cf. Sabin, 43416; Smith, Pacific Northwest Americana, 6381; Pilling, Bibl. of the Algonquian Languages, 327; Hoefer, XXXII, 566-567).
Illustrated with a portrait of the author after Sir Thomas Lawrence as frontispiece to the first volume and, at the end of each volume, three engraved maps showing the route from Fort Chipewyan to the Arctic Sea in 1789 and to the Pacific Ocean in 1793, together with the portion of North America lying between the 40th and 70th degrees north latitude and the 45th and 180th degrees west longitude.
Handsome half red shagreen bindings, flat spines ruled in gilt with quintuple fillets, traces of former labels at the head of each spine, minor rubbing to joints, red boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns; mid-19th-century bindings.
Repair to the half-title of volume I.
A pleasing copy of this major exploration narrative.
First edition, illustrated at the end of the volume with three folding maps (cf. Tailliart 3080; Playfair 4334).
The original colour map, frequently lacking, has here been supplied in photomechanical reproduction, while the two others are later insertions.
Full brick-coloured sheep binding, unlettered spine with five raised bands showing traces of rubbing, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers preserved; modern binding.
Minor foxing, pencil annotations on the initial endpapers and in the margins of several passages, with a handwritten note in blue ink "états de service" at the head of the front endpaper, followed by a brief pencilled biography of the author.
Only edition, highly sought after, of this exceptionally well-documented study, addressing a subject that preoccupied the French administration in Algeria (which, by an inaccurate analogy with Catholic religious "orders"—then targeted in mainland France—sought to curb the influence of Muslim brotherhoods).
Louis Rinn (1838–1905) spent almost his entire military career in Algeria, where he lived from 1864 to 1889.
First edition, one of 15 numbered copies on vellum, the only deluxe issue.
Fine and uncommon copy.
An extremely rare first edition of this valuable statistical survey of Bolivia; absent from both Palau and Sabin. Only one copy recorded in the CCFr (BnF).
Chuquisaca, Imprenta de Sucre, 1851, octavo,
Contemporary half brown sheep, smooth spine decorated with double gilt fillets, marbled paper boards with losses, worn corners and edges, blue-speckled edges; a modest binding of the period.
Copy slightly trimmed.
José Maria Dalence (1782–1852), a jurist and prominent political figure of the independence period (1825), here provides one of the most precise demographic, ethnographic, and economic portraits of the young nation.
Seventh edition, expanded with new annotations and an appendix containing descriptive and historical details on all the monuments recently erected in the capital by J.-L. Belin, avocat.
Bound in contemporary half midnight-blue Russian morocco, flat spines gilt with romantic arabesques, gilt fillet framing the marbled-paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns; one lower corner lightly rubbed, contemporary bindings.
Scattered foxing.
Illustrated with 58 plates (including 11 archaeological plates), together with 5 folding colour plans hors texte.
A handsomely preserved copy in a period romantic binding.
Rare first edition.
Only two copies recorded in the CCF (BnF and Marseille).
“…their change of residence, abandoning the old city to settle in the new districts? A memoir awarded by the Société académique de médecine de Marseille at its public session of 1 August 1819; (…). Enlarged with the plan of a medical topography of the city of Marseille, which the author proposes to publish.” Marseille, Joseph-François Achard, 1819, 8vo, disbound. Title, 40 pp. Only two copies recorded in the CCF (BnF and Marseille). Very rare. The author was a physician attached to the dispensaries and the maternity hospital of Marseille.
First edition.
A single copy recorded in the CCFr (Roanne).
Contemporary half green calf, smooth spine cracked and with losses, marbled paper boards, original printed wrappers preserved, binding of the period.
Lower board tending to detach.
The Venetian historian Ronaldo Fulin (1824–1884) produced numerous publications and original studies based on the exceptionally rich holdings of the Archivio di Stato of Venice.
The question addressed in this communication is linked to the presumed relations between Columbus and Venice (see the accompanying letters).
Copy from the library of the celebrated Americanist Henry Harrisse (1829–1910), a specialist of the earliest discoveries of the New World, with an autograph inscription by Ronaldo Fulin at the head of the front wrapper.
Henry Harrisse enhanced this pamphlet with seven autograph signed letters, mounted, in French or Italian, generally accompanied by their envelopes: 1. One from the Italian historian Cesare Cantù (1804–1895), dated 10 December 1881. – 2. One from the Columbian scholar Marcello Staglieno (1829–1909), dated 3 August 1888. – 3. One from the director of the Archivio di Stato of Venice (signature illegible), dated 27 June 1888. – 4. A card from the publisher B. Calore, dated 17 December 1881. – 5.–6. Two letters from the philologist and Hispanist Alfred Morel-Fatio (1850–19245), dated 2 and 9 December 1881. – 7. One letter from Henry Vignaud (1830–1922), in his capacity as First Secretary of the United States Legation in Paris from 1882 to 1909, dated 30 May 1888.
Most of these letters revolve around the existence of a purported letter from Christopher Columbus to the Senate of Venice, prior to the voyages of exploration.
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:
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:
First edition of the French translation prepared by F. Soulès of "An account on the present state of Nova Scotia", originally published in 1786.
Our copy is offered unbound.
Pages 31 to 39 are devoted to fishing practices.
First French edition, translated from the third English edition (Sabin, 30036.).
Each volume features a steel-engraved frontispiece.
Covers soiled, front boards detached, minor losses and tears to board margins, some foxing, cracked spines with losses; our copy in wrappers is housed in a modern brown full-cloth slipcase.
The second volume also includes a section on "Passage to Montreal and Quebec" (pp. 317-342) and "The Character of the Canadians" (pp. 331-332, 339-342).
Manuscript ex-libris signed Delecey de Mécourt on the front covers.
Rare first edition of this uncommon atlas, featuring 9 maps printed in colour, either on single sheets, double-page, or folding.
Bound in modern half dark blue calf, smooth spine with gilt rules at head and tail, title in long, boards of handmade paper, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.
Minor foxing to the versos of some maps, three discreet repairs using small adhesive pieces to the margins of three maps and the title page.
Printed note on the verso of the title page: "Institut national de géographie, Bruxelles".
The maps depict: General View of the East Indies, Java and Madura (detached from the volume), Sumatra and the Riouw Archipelago, Banka and Billiton, Borneo, the Celebes, the Minhassa Islands, the Sunda Islands, and the Moluccas.
First edition of the French translation.
Contemporary half vellum binding, smooth spine gilt with a small fleur-de-lis ornament at the foot, black shagreen title label, marbled paper sides.
The sole edition of this version (a portion had already been made available to the French public in 1837 under the title Histoire de la fondation de la Régence d'Alger). Alphonse Rousseau (1820–1870), first interpreter at the French General Consulate in Tunis, later served as Consul General.
Modern Pierre Libaude bookplate pasted to a free endpaper; a few minor spots.
Rare first edition (see Cordier, Japonica 583; Nipponalia I, 2073. Neither of these bibliographies mentions the map. Polak 8448).
Contemporary half cherry-red calf, spine slightly faded, with four raised bands gilt with dotted tools and fillets; light rubbing to the spine, red paper-covered boards, corners slightly bumped, speckled edges.
Occasional light foxing; a pale dampstain affecting the opening leaves and the folding double-page map showing the plan of the Strait of Shimonoseki.
This work relates the Anglo-French naval campaign of 1862–1863, by Alfred Roussin (1839–1919), a naval officer who commanded the frigate Sémiramis.
The text offers detailed descriptions of trade and the political situation in Japan, as well as of the political relations between the French, the British, and the Japanese during the years 1853–1865.
First edition, published anonymously by Delaporte, secretary and prompter of the Comédie-Française.
Contemporary black cloth Bradel binding, smooth spine, red shagreen lettering-piece with some loss, marbled paper boards, upper corners slightly worn, 19th-century binding.
Copies recorded only at the BnF and in Rouen (CCFr).
Printed initials at the foot of the title page.
Rare summary, by the Comédie-Française secretary and prompter, of the grievances held by the Company against the actor Talma, focusing particularly on performances of Marie-Joseph Chénier’s play Charles IX.
The play, which achieved immense public success, drew criticism from the Gallican Church, leading to its ban after the 33rd performance.
On July 21, 1790, the play was performed again in defiance of the ban. The Comédie-Française troupe then split between the "revolutionaries" and the other shareholders, who refused to perform with Talma.
Autograph letter, dated and signed, addressed to the writer Christiane Baroche: 21 lines in blue ink concerning an issue of the journal Sud devoted to him.
Folding traces from mailing, with the original handwritten envelope, on which Christiane Baroche noted the sender’s name in pencil.
Michel Leiris thanks Christiane Baroche for the tribute paid to him by Sud : "Soyez sûre que je préfère de beaucoup quelque chose de ce genre à un ensemble de doctes analyses ! " but explains that he will not be able to attend the upcoming event dedicated to him: "Dites, je vous prie, à Mr Genêt que je lui sais gré d'avoir pensé à une "journée Leiris", mais qu'il ne doit malheureusement pas compter sur ma présence : j'en serai, d'une part, empêché matériellement... et, d'autre part, cette participation personnelle m'embarrasseerait beaucoup, je vous l'avoue franchement."
Leiris concludes by extending his best wishes to his correspondent and to the Sud team for the year ahead.
First edition, one of 50 numbered copies on Marais Crèvecoeur paper, issued as part of the publisher’s deluxe limitation.
Spine and boards faintly sunned and toned as usual, with a small spot to the lower outer corner of the front board.
As stated in the limitation, this copy includes its original etching by Jacques Villon, signed in the plate.
First edition, illustrated with an original etching as frontispiece and four hors-texte drawings by Henri Laurens, one of 324 numbered copies on Vélin du Marais.
Title page lightly toned, otherwise a pleasing copy.
Signed in pencil by Tristan Tzara and Henri Laurens beneath the limitation statement.
First edition of the catalogue published for the exhibition of works by Max Ernst, held from 15 November to the end of December 1961.
A fine copy.
Illustrated, with a foreword by Alain Bosquet.
Signed autograph inscription by Max Ernst to Madame de Harting.
First edition of the French translation, one of 26 lettered copies on Lana wove rag paper, issued as part of the tête-de-tirage.
A fine copy.
Exceptional collection of 49 original watercolours depicting daily life in Tonkin, most illustrating rural scenes.
These unsigned watercolours, each measuring approximately 20 x 15 cm (excluding margins), are finely executed in Indian ink and watercolour, with touches of gouache, on paper sheets—some bearing the watermark "Latune et Cie Blacons."
Contemporary half red cloth binding, smooth spine covered in red shagreen, some rubbing to the spine, boards of marbled paper, blue endpapers and pastedowns.
Minor foxing to the margins of some watercolours.
The scenes depict a variety of subjects: a military post guarded by four soldiers, one standing sentry at the entrance; a guard in white uniform holding a rifle with a long bayonet, his head covered by a salacco (the traditional headgear of Indochinese riflemen); an elderly man seated at a table, smoking a pipe while being fanned by a servant; a peasant ploughing with two oxen; a woman praying at a grave; another peasant tilling the soil; two villagers meeting near a small bridge; four people working in a paddy field; a man in formal dress before a temple; three peasants harvesting rice; a cockfight, and more.
Also depicted are villagers carrying goods or fishing, wrestlers performing before a dignitary, a child guiding a blind man, two labourers transporting stones in a wheelbarrow, a procession led by a mounted dignitary carrying a wild boar in a cage, a prisoner being flogged, another about to be beheaded, a hunting scene, musicians, a woman at a loom, villagers at play, and so on.
Western presence is alluded to only once: an Indochinese sailing vessel flies three tri-colour flags while a steamship, probably French, makes its way in the background…
Accompanied by a piece of light brown calfskin (4 x 32 cm) blind-stamped with the inscription "Souvenir du Tonkin 1885-90".
A rare and precious visual record of Tonkin at the beginning of the French protectorate.
Very scarce first edition of the Armenian translation, illustrated with a lithographed frontispiece and title-frontispiece printed on tinted heavy stock by Weger (Leipzig), together with several in-text figures reproducing seals.
The CCFr records only copies of the French edition (indeed, the same year 1871 saw the publication of a first French translation; a second French edition was issued in Paris in 1888, at which time a German version was also printed at the Leipzig address).
Bradel binding in half brown percaline, smooth spine gilt-ruled and tooled with a gilt frieze, marbled paper boards, endpapers soiled, corners rubbed, edges sprinkled in blue.
Some minor foxing, chiefly at the beginning.
Apart from the frontispiece and title-frontispiece, the entire text is printed in Armenian. Fumagalli, Biblioteca Etiopica, 304.
Father Dimotheos Vartabet Sapritchian, an Armenian priest from Constantinople, travelled to Ethiopia in 1867 with one of his compatriots, Archbishop Isaac.
The travellers, who carried to King Theodore of Abyssinia a message from the Armenian patriarch, entered the country via Wahni in the west and crossed the regions of Bagemder and Tegré before embarking at Massawa.
The first part contains the narrative proper; the second offers observations on the country’s history, manners, and customs.
It also includes reflections on the Ethiopian Church, the clergy, baptism, confession, penance, marriage, funerary rites, festivals, and more.
A rare Jerusalem imprint: printing in the city is thought to date back to 1823.
New edition.
A fine copy.
Attractive presentation inscription signed by Anaïs Nin to Christiane Baroche’s wife: "Christiane Baroche this book I offer with uneasiness because I wrote it for american students, and France is the source and will only recognize the déjà vu. Your faithful friend. Anaïs Nin." (Christiane Baroche, je vous offre ce livre avec gêne car je l'ai écrit pour des étudiants américains, et la France est la source et n'y reconnaîtra que du déjà-vu. Votre amie fidèle, Anaïs Nin)".
Very rare first edition illustrated with 14 plates, three of which are in colour, issued as a supplement to the "Guide pratique de la fabrication de la bière" and the "Guide raisonné de la fabrication de la bière" published in 1867 and 1868.
Not in Vicaire or Bitting. Oberlé, Fastes, 1125, does not record this supplement.
Spine restored with minor losses, small marginal defects to the boards, and a stain along the right margin of the upper cover.
The author was a hop dealer and purveyor of brewery equipment in Strasbourg and in Gray (Haute-Saône).
This volume reflects the advances achieved by the brewing industry, particularly in northern France and in Belgium.
"Ce livre alsacien est un des meilleurs traités sur la fabrication de la bière"(Oberlé).
The plates depict the malt kiln of the Arlen brewery, the Carpentier germ-removing machine, the boilers of the Brasserie de l'Eléphant in Strasbourg, a mixer, a vat with its wave-breaker, the cooling trough of the Brasserie du Pêcheur, and more.
Rare.
Rare first edition (cf. Tailliart 3062).
A disbound copy preserved in a plain brown paper wrapper, the titles handwritten in ink on the spine and upper cover, with a faint marginal dampstain to the title-page.
Edmond Doutté (1867–1926) was a sociologist, orientalist and Islamic scholar — fluent in both Arabic and Berber —, a multifaceted French intellectual and, above all, a French explorer of Islam and the Maghreb in his time, to whom Marcel Mauss paid tribute ("explorateur complet, géographe, géologue, naturaliste, anthropologue, ethnographe, sociologue, historien, linguiste, agent d'information")
Rare first edition of this project, whose development was certainly collective (with contributions from several democrats, including Frédéric Charrassin, Charles Fauvety, Adolphe Louis Chouippe, and Alexandre Erdan), but which was authored by the neo-criticist philosopher Charles Renouvier (1815–1903).
Bound in contemporary half cherry-colored sheepskin, with a smooth spine adorned with gilt fillets; some rubbing to the spine and boards. Marbled paper over boards, handmade laid paper endpapers and pastedowns, modern bookplate affixed to the front pastedown, slightly bumped corners, minor tears to the joints, speckled edges. Original binding.
Minor, insignificant foxing.
The central idea of this work is that of direct government and direct legislation, inspired by the debate initiated by Rittinghausen.
At the time, this idea was considered utopian and dangerous—much like in contemporary debates—on the grounds that it would discredit the representative system and, contrary to the authors’ intentions, play into the hands of the emerging Caesarism (this was 1851...).
The book also presents other proposals for institutional reform, notably the adoption of the canton as the basic administrative and political unit of the nation, intended to form the true French commune.
Provenance: from the library of Georges and Geneviève Dubois, with their bookplate affixed to the front pastedown.
