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.
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 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.
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, 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.
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.
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 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, 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, 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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")
First edition of this Latin work devoted to the history of the ancient Mediterranean: Sardinia and the influences of Greece, North Africa, the Syrtes and Numidian tribes, the history of the tyrant of Syracuse, the Balearic Islands, Corsica, the island of Rhodes, and more (cf. Adams, L-704. See Durling, 2796, which records only later editions).
Restored full brown calf binding, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt tools now largely softened, blind fillets and gilt corner ornaments framing the boards, central gilt medallion enclosing a device in Greek characters, manuscript inscription on the fore-edge, early binding.
Ink numbering at the head of the verso of the lower cover; inner hinge cracked.
Handsome volume from the Basel press of Johannes Froben, bearing his printer’s device on the title-page and at the end.
Nicknamed “the prince of printers,” Johann Froben was among the first to employ italic types, inspired by Aldus Manutius.
A professor of philosophy, Greek, and Latin at the University of Padua, the Venetian scholar Tomeo Nicolò Leonico (1456–1531) was admired by Erasmus.
First edition, illustrated at the close of the volume with six plates printed out of text.
Only three copies recorded in the CCF (BnF, Institut, Strasbourg).
Our copy is preserved in its original state, issued in a temporary paper wrapper.
Spine restored at head with small losses; marginal losses to the soiled covers; two small adhesive strips along the right margins of the final plate; author’s name and title pencilled on the upper cover.
The study of Phoenician languages was the speciality of Auguste-Célestin Judas (1805–1873).
First edition, printed in a small run, of this offprint from the Journal des savants.
Work illustrated with a finely engraved plate printed outside the text.
Some scattered foxing internally and to the wrappers.
Appointed in 1820 to the chair of archaeology at the Sorbonne, succeeding Quatremère de Quincy, Désiré Raoul-Rochette (1789–1854) was chiefly known for his expertise in Greek antiquity. He also served as curator of the Cabinet des médailles.
On the upper cover, authorial presentation inscription from Désiré Raoul-Rochette to the physician and botanist Henri Dutrochet (1776–1847), the discoverer of the phenomena of exosmosis and endosmosis.
First edition of this important work on former French Indochina, comprising:
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 the French translation, one of 80 numbered copies on alfa paper issued in a special "du monde entier" wrapper, the only deluxe copies together with 35 on pur fil.
A handsome copy.
First edition, illustrated with a large folding colour map printed out of text (cf. Tailliart 2645).
Bradel binding in half blue percaline, the smooth spine slightly sunned, the brown skiver lettering-piece lightly rubbed, marbled-paper boards, blue endpapers and pastedowns showing a few small spots, corners softened, top edge sprinkled.
A few light spots.
The only edition of this comprehensive survey of the state of Algeria, published after the death of Jules Ferry (17 March 1893), the driving force behind the senatorial commission that had commissioned the work. It serves as a reminder that Ferry was a staunch advocate of France’s colonial expansion and of the mission to “civilise” indigenous peoples, a view then broadly shared across the political left, with the exception of a few dissenting voices (including Clemenceau).
On the half-title, presentation inscription by Henri Pensa to Madame Jules Ferry (Eugénie Risler).
The volume later entered the library of Ferry’s nephew, Abel Ferry (1881–1918, member of parliament for the Vosges from 1909), with his ink stamps on the title-page and at the foot of p. 105.
First edition of the French translation, for which no deluxe paper copies were issued.
A handsome copy, complete with its photographic dust jacket showing a tiny tear at the head of the spine, with illustrations.
Inscribed and signed by Julio Cortázar to the writer Christiane Baroche: "Pour toi, Chirstiane, avec toute mon amitié. Julio."
First edition, illustrated with a frontispiece and four plates after drawings from life by Voutier, engraved on copper by Normand fils (cf. Loukia Droulia, 429; Blackmer, 1750; not in Atabey).
Half black shagreen binding, spine restored, with four raised bands ruled in triple gilt fillets, aubergine paper boards, boards faded, gilt armorial device stamped to the upper cover, modern bookplate pasted at the head of a pastedown, contemporary binding.
Scattered foxing.
"Voutier went to Greece in 1821 and acted as ADC to Mavrocordatos on the Peta campaign" (Leonora Navari).
Distinguished provenance: copy bearing the arms of King Ernest Augustus I of Hanover (1771–1851), with his library’s red stamp on the verso of the title-page.
Rare first edition illustrated with 10 folding plates, including 5 grammatical tables and 5 plates of calligraphy.
Not recorded in Blackmer, Atabey or Hage Chahine.
Half olive-green calf, spine with four raised bands framed with gilt garlands and decorated with small blind-stamped floral tools, black morocco title and author labels, marbled paper boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, modern binding.
Spine slightly darkened, small paper losses to the upper right corners of the first leaves not affecting the text, some foxing mainly at the end of the volume. Much better known for his role in the mission sent by Napoleon to the Shah of Persia to negotiate a counter-alliance against Turkey, Amédée Jaubert (1779–1847) was a distinguished orientalist, professor of Persian at the Collège de France, and of Turkish at the École des langues orientales, of which he became president in 1838.
First edition of the French translation and notes prepared by Billecocq (cf. Sabin, 41879; Leclerc, 943; Field, 947; Howes, 443; Staton-Trenlaine, Bibliogr. of Canadiana, 597 for the original edition).
Half mottled calf, smooth spine decorated with gilt tools, brown shagreen title-piece, marbled paper boards slightly darkened and faded at the edges, red edges; modern binding.
Stamp on the half-title, a light marginal dampstain affecting the outer margins of the final leaves.
Illustrated with a folding copper-engraved map by P. F. Tardieu, “Des pays situés à l'ouest du Canada”.
“The interest of the work lies in the detailed and relatively objective descriptions it provides of Indigenous life (…) The work is also of great value for its extensive lists of terms used by the Inuit, the Agniers, the Algonquins, the Mohegans, the Chaouanons and the Saulteaux.” Cf. Dictionary of Canadian Biography, IV, pp. 524–525.
First edition, illustrated with four tinted plates, including a frontispiece (cf. O'Reilly & Reitman, Tahiti, 6452).
Contemporary half plum sheep, the spine faded and decorated with gilt garlands and floral tools, some rubbing to the spine, marbled-paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, a few worn spots along the edges.
Scattered foxing, the plates evenly toned.
The work offers a history of the island, written in the aftermath of its annexation following the cession of his domains by King Pomare V. It provides an overview of the voyages of Quirós, Wallis, Bougainville and Cook, a portrait of Tahitian life a century earlier, and a sketch of the island’s development since the arrival of the first missionaries.
Chapter V is devoted to the principal episodes of Captain Cook’s three voyages to Tahiti: encounters with the inhabitants, meetings with local chiefs, the revolt on the island of Eimeo, visits to the surrounding islands... (pp. 107–220).
Joseph Bournichon (1839–1924) was a priest and the author of several edifying monographs.
Third edition, partially revised and corrected, incorporating new material.
Bradel binding in olive-green half percaline, smooth spine, bordeaux morocco-grained shagreen lettering-piece; restored and lightly soiled original wrappers preserved; modern binding.
Some scattered foxing, bookplate mounted on the verso of the front wrapper, traces of adhesive at the head and foot of the endpapers.
The first edition appeared in 1868.
This collection of twenty-six short independent pieces chiefly concerns the Chinese world and its adjacent regions (Indochina and Japan).
First edition (cf. Martin & Walter, 16 491; Monglond III, 630; not in Schefer, Blackmer or Atabey).
Bradel binding in full marbled paper boards, smooth spine with a vertically lettered fawn sheepskin label, red edges; a modern binding.
Some foxing; marginal staining to the upper edges of the final leaves.
Excellent abridgement of General Hénin de Cuvillers’ diplomatic mission to Constantinople (1793–1795).
Upon his return from Turkey, Hénin (born 1755) took part in the Italian campaign of 1796 and was wounded at Caldiero and Arcole.
Appointed in 1802 as assistant to the general staff in Saint-Domingue, he was entrusted by Rochambeau with the colony’s military archives, which he brought back to Paris in 1804.
His military career under the Empire ended in 1813, when he was required to justify himself before the Grenoble court martial following the evacuation of the Simplon, deemed too hasty.
Granted retirement in 1815, he lived until 1841.
The 164 dispatches summarised in this volume provide valuable insights into diplomatic life in Constantinople, relations with the Revolutionary government, news from the Asian trading posts, the situation in the Levant, and maritime and military affairs.
First separate edition, the text having previously appeared in the series Philipp's new voyages and travels (London, 1820–1823) (cf. Cordier, Sinica, 308).
Bradel-style binding in full grey boards, smooth spine, title label, sprinkled edges; a modern binding.
An exceptionally early account of the coastal region between Macao and Canton, published anonymously despite the initials J.R. at the end of the preface (this J.R. served as supercargo on the ship The Friendship).
Exceptional album comprising 54 original caricatures, some captioned, executed in India ink, pencil, and watercolour (including three small pencil sketches on loose leaves), together with several blank leaves.
This entertaining and highly personal album, evidently compiled by an amateur artist, appears to chronicle the various adventures and misadventures of a small cast of recurring characters, all seemingly connected in one way or another with the French Embassy to the Ottoman Porte, as suggested by a piece of official letterhead inserted between two leaves.
Contemporary full ivory vellum with yapped edges, smooth spine ruled in red, a restored split at the head of the spine, red fillets framing the boards, some marking to the covers, comb-marbled endpapers, red edges.
The album also includes one autograph letter signed in black ink, embellished with marginal caricatures, addressed to Mr H. Fournier and opening with "Cher Washington n°2".
The recipient of this satirical, illustrated letter appears to be the diplomat Hugues Marie Henri Fournier (1821–1898), appointed ambassador to Constantinople in 1877.
The adventures of the small group, identified by captions in black pencil, seem to begin in Florence in September 1872 and continue on to Rome.
The album includes, among other scenes, a watercolour depicting the Temple of Vesta.
In December 1872, according to an ink caption, the group—comprising the Vicomtes Bresson, de Mareuil, d'Hauterive, and d'Hérisson—is caricatured in Rome: at the theatre, on the Capitoline Hill, on horseback, and so forth.
A panoramic watercolour likewise satirises the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and its protagonists.
Also portrayed in pencil alongside Fournier are General de Castelbajac and the Baron de Talleyrand.
The album further contains a fine pencil portrait of Khalil Bey.
The renowned Ottoman diplomat and collector, born in Cairo in 1831 and deceased in Istanbul in 1879, had indeed returned to Constantinople in 1872, after his ambassadorship in Vienna (1868), to marry the Egyptian princess Nazli Fazl. In addition to his role in the Crimean War, he is remembered for his celebrated art collection which, sold at auction in 1868, included works by Courbet (among them L'Origine du monde), Ingres, Delacroix, and others.
The Comte d'Osmond and Alfred de Courtois are likewise caricatured.
The album also features a view titled Pointe imaginaire du sérail and a watercolour depicting a game of lawn tennis.
A unique ensemble.
First issue of the fifty large hors-texte lithographs drawn from life by Henry John Terry (cf. Vicaire, VII, 1164).
Publisher’s binding in full red cloth, smooth spine decorated with blind-ruled compartments and fillets, light rubbing to the head- and tailcaps, gilt-lettered title on the front board, yellow endpapers, trace of a removed bookplate on one pastedown, one lower corner softened, slight discoloration to the lower left corner of the rear board, occasional marginal foxing, a small loss to the foot of page 119, and minor wormholes at the foot of the last three leaves, not affecting the text.
The fifty striking black lithographs depict the most picturesque views of Haute-Savoie.
Henry John Terry, originally from England, studied in Geneva under Alexandre Calame, the foremost Swiss landscape painter of the nineteenth century, and later settled in the country.
A well-preserved copy in the publisher’s original cloth.
New illustrated edition featuring two lithographed plates out of text and enriched with notes by Francisco de S. Luiz (cf. Brunet I, p. 263; Graesse I, p. 118).
Modern binding in half Havana calf, smooth spine decorated with gilt and black fillets and black floral motifs, black shagreen title piece, marbled paper boards, red edges.
A few light foxing spots, mainly at the beginning of the volume.
This biography, rightly celebrated, met with great success upon publication.
First edition of each volume.
The first work lacks its map, while the second retains it.
Full marbled blond calf binding, smooth spines decorated with gilt floral and scroll motifs, red calf title labels, gilt fillet borders on the covers, gilt roll tooling along the edges, cat’s-eye endpapers and pastedowns, green edges, contemporary binding.
Restorations to the spines, joints fragile, repairs to the title leaves, handwritten notes at the head of the first page of text in each volume.
Very rare first edition.
This printing does not include the two maps later added by the publisher in the second issue, intended to illustrate the itinerary for readers who had not acquired the atlas (corresponding to plates XVIII and XXIV of the atlas), cf. Hage Chahine 3995. Röhricht 480-481. Chadenat 1712.
The text volume is largely unopened and includes one full-page plate.
The atlas volume, housed in a red full-cloth box and slipcase, is complete with all 27 plates (numbered I to XXVI, XVIII [bis]; plates XIX-XX are printed on a single sheet).
A very fine and rare copy in its original condition.
First edition of the French translation (cf. Atabey, 557 (text) and 569 (atlas). Blackmer, 788 (atlas). Hage Chahine, 2105.)
Contemporary half brown shagreen, spines uniformly sunned and faded, raised bands framed with black fillets, marbled paper boards, comb-marbled endpapers, gilt edges; a few lightly rubbed corners, one small defect to the foot of the edges of the fifteenth volume.
Some light foxing in the text volumes.
The atlas volume, folio, is issued in parts under ten beige paper wrappers with printed blue labels; the wrapper of part 6 is lacking; the general map of the Ottoman Empire has been restored in the final part; light foxing to the covers.
The original German edition was published in Budapest in ten volumes between 1827 and 1835. The illustrations comprise thirty-nine maps and plans—principally battle plans—prepared by the translator J. J. Hellert. The text includes eight folding genealogical tables of Ottoman princes and high dignitaries.
Joseph von Hammer, a renowned Austrian orientalist and diplomat, was born in Graz (Styria) in 1774. He entered the Royal Academy of Oriental Languages in Vienna, where he studied Turkish, Persian and Arabic. In 1799 he undertook his first journey to Constantinople; the following year he joined the British admiral Sidney Smith in the campaign against the French in Egypt as interpreter and translator. He attended the grand vizier’s council at Jaffa and the surrender of Alexandria. In 1802 he became secretary to the Austrian legation in Constantinople, from which he travelled into Asia Minor and Greece. Posted in 1806 to the consulate-general at Jassy in Moldavia, he was appointed interpreter at the Viennese chancellery in 1807. In 1817 he rose to the rank of court councillor. After inheriting the estates of the Counts of Purgstall, he added their name to his own and was created baron in 1835. He translated numerous oriental works into German and played a major role in the founding of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, serving as its first president from 1848 to 1849. He died in Vienna in 1856. "Aucun orientaliste avant lui n'a connu plus intimement les peuples musulmans et n'a autant contribué à nous faire connaître leurs mœurs, leur histoire et leur littérature […]. Il passa trente ans à réunir les documents [de son Histoire de l'Empire ottoman], qu'il a tirée de manuscrits orientaux et des archives de Saint-Marc à Venise, de celles de Vienne, et de tous les ouvrages publiés en Europe sur l'Empire ottoman" (Hoefer, XXIII, 259-267). Provenance: S. H. Weiss bookshop in Constantinople, located on the Grande Rue de Pera opposite the Russian consulate (label in each text volume).
Rare work.
First edition, illustrated with 39 double-page colour maps.
Publisher’s binding of brown textured cloth backed with matching corners, smooth spine without lettering, showing rubbing with some fraying to the cloth; title stamped to the upper board; marbled endpapers; corners worn. Publisher’s binding.
Scattered, insignificant foxing; the table of contents leaf is creased; a dampstain with discoloration and paper loss to the foot of the rear board.
This is the last of the major general atlases of the French colonies to appear before the upheavals of the Second World War. Through both text and cartography, it offers an exceptionally comprehensive survey of France’s overseas possessions, each geographical area being treated in a separate section (North Africa, French West Africa, French Equatorial Africa, Madagascar and the Mascarenes, Indochina, Oceania, the Antilles, the French Mandate in the Levant), concluding with a substantial index.
The son of the explorer Maurice Grandidier, Guillaume Grandidier (1873–1957) was above all a geographer, and — like his father — a specialist on Madagascar.
Laid in: Study map of the principal transport routes of Central-West Africa (southern Sahara), a large folding map (with significant paper loss along one fold).
A substantially posthumous publication, prepared by Ayres de Sá from the notes and papers of the second Viscount of Santarém (1791–1856), who, in addition to his diplomatic and political roles amid the turbulent struggle between Marianist and Miguelist factions in Portugal, was the first historian to develop the study of cartography in a methodical manner.
The work is illustrated with 97 plates in the first volume and 40 plates in the second.
Cherry half-shagreen bindings with corners, spines with five raised bands framed by black fillets and showing some rubbing, marbled paper sides, a scratch to the left margin of the upper cover of the first volume, endpapers and pastedowns with gilt effects, top edges gilt, original wrappers preserved with minor marginal tears and repairs, corners bumped, bookplates pasted on the pastedowns, contemporary bindings.
Exiled to Paris with Dom Miguel in 1834, he continued his research there, leading to significant cartographical publications.
Autograph inscription by the Viscount of Santarém, a descendant of the author, to José Joaquim Ascenção on the half-title of the first volume.
First edition of this second fascicle, printed in Pondicherry by the Rattinamodeliar Press.
Losses to the cracked backstrip and along the board edges, with a few minor spots.
CCFr records copies only at the BnF (the sole institution to hold a complete run), the Collège de France, and Sainte-Geneviève.
The second of the five fascicles of this exceedingly rare botanical publication: they are devoted respectively to Lawsonia alba [or inermis = henna] and to Aristolochia Indica (Indian birthwort).
First edition of the inaugural instalment printed in Pondicherry at the Rattinamodeliar Press.
Losses to the spine and, more lightly, to the board corners; internally a clean and appealing copy.
Recorded in the CCF with copies only at the BnF (the sole institution holding a complete set), the Collège de France, and Sainte-Geneviève.
The first of five parts of this exceedingly scarce botanical publication, devoted entirely to Lawsonia alba [or inermis = henna].
First edition, illustrated with a single folding plate bearing two figures: a plan of Algiers and its surroundings (cf. Quérard IV, 343 : does not record the plate and gives xlviii pp. for the "pièces à l'appui" indeed, p. xlviii carries, like the final leaf, the printer's address. Tailliart 2420 : does not record the plate).
Minor marginal losses to the spine and boards, a few light spots.
"Causes de la rupture avec Alger. Historique des rapports de la France avec Alger. Les torts des représentants d'Alger dans la Régence pendant ces dernières années. Ultimatum. Blocus. Nécessité d'une enquête ou au moins d'une information spéciale avant d'entreprendre une expédition. On va dépenser beaucoup d'argent sans profit. Cette guerre n'est pas juste ; elle n'est pas utile ; elle n'est pas légale" [Tailliart].
The supporting documents include : the Treaty of Peace between France and the Regency of Algiers, 17 December 1801; the letter from Mustapha-Pasha, Dey of Algiers, to the First Consul, 13 August 1802; the settlement concerning the claims of Messrs. Bacri and Busnach of Algiers, followed by the law of 24 July 1820 ordering its execution; a notice on the African concessions; and a summary of the debates held in both Chambers on Algerian affairs during the sessions of 1820, 1827, 1828, and 1829.
Author's signed presentation on the half-title: "De la part de l'auteur, 3 avril 1830" (scarcely more than two months before the French landing in Algeria).
Very rare first edition of the new laws enacted in 1775 by Catherine II, Empress of Russia, here translated into Turkish for the recently annexed Turkic-speaking provinces taken from the Ottoman Empire.
The work is divided into two parts: the first, dated 12 November 1775, comprises the first 28 chapters (pp. 1–190); the second contains chapters 29 to 31 (pp. 191–248).
Contemporary-style half mottled sheep with small corners, unlettered spine with five raised bands decorated with double gilt fillets and gilt thistle tools, marbled paper boards, red edges, modern binding.
Pale marginal dampstaining to the upper right corner of the initial leaves.
First edition of this splendid lithographed album by A. Bayot, Eugène Cicéri, and Morel Fatio, comprising a lithographed title on a tinted background, a line-engraved map by Avril, and 15 color lithographs on tinted grounds.
Contemporary black half shagreen binding with corners, spine with five raised bands and blind-stamped double fillets, cherry-red shagreen title label (with minor losses) mounted on the upper cover, black paper-covered boards, white moiré silk endpapers and pastedowns, endpapers slightly foxed and creased, all edges gilt, the binding recently restored.
Scattered foxing, a few faint marginal dampstains, one stain at the head of the final plate.
First edition.
Contemporary half calf in a bronze tone, the spine with four raised bands framed by double gilt rules and gilt pointillé work, together with broad black fillets; joints rubbed, marbled paper sides, marbled endpapers, edges sprinkled; a period binding.
Scattered foxing.
Second edition, partly original as it was revised and enlarged, and the most complete form of this celebrated manual of local law for the island of Réunion (cf. Ryckebusch 2407; Toussaint & Adolphe D439).
The work is illustrated with three folding tables inserted out of text (two in the fifth volume, one in the last).
Contemporary half-sheep bindings in dark green, smooth spines gilt-tooled with dotted ornaments, fillets and garlands, gilt rolls at head and foot, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, sprinkled edges.
Some rubbing to a few headcaps and spines, the upper headcap of the sixth volume torn, restorations to several spines.
Very rare first edition of this splendid photographic album, produced in Cairo in 1871, representing the first illustrated catalogue of the earliest museum devoted to Egyptology.
The photographs by Hippolyte Delié and Émile Béchard depict the rooms and antiquities of the Boulaq Museum, founded in Cairo in 1863 by the eminent Egyptologist Auguste Mariette (1821–1881).
The album comprises forty albumen prints (approx. 24.5 × 18 cm), mounted on thick card leaves set on guards, each accompanied by a letterpress commentary leaf (except plates 4 and 11, which each have two). The prints are mounted on the versos of the plates, the rectos bearing the printed captions.
Contemporary half brown shagreen, spine with five raised bands decorated with blind-tooled compartments and gilt floral tools, minor rubbing to spine and joints, headcaps slightly softened, blind-tooled interlaced borders on the boards, gilt title on upper board, endpapers and pastedowns in white moiré silk with a few light spots, all edges gilt.
Repairs to the spine and one joint at head, a few scattered internal spots.
New edition and the first printing of Jacques Tardi’s illustrations.
Publisher’s white boards, smooth spine.
A handsome copy.
Presentation inscription, dated and signed by Jacques Tardi to Joëlle Passani, with an original black-felt drawing depicting a sorrowful-faced Bardamu in a small vignette.
New edition, embellished at the close of the first volume with a folding plate printed out of text (cf. Palau 17346).
Cherry half-shagreen bindings, spines with four raised false bands decorated with gilt fillets and double gilt panels, gilt lettering at the foot of the spines, slight rubbing to the headcaps, blind-tooled frames on the textured cloth boards, pebble-paper endpapers and pastedowns, a few bumped corners, period bindings.
Rear board of the first volume partially soiled.
New edition prepared under the supervision of the physician Rafael Ángel Cowley Valdés-Machado (1837–1908) and Andrés Pego, gathering three major sources for Cuban historiography: José Martín de Arrate y Acosta’s (1701–1765) Llave del Nuevo Mundo. Antemural de las Indias Occidentales, a meticulous portrait of eighteenth-century Cuban society first published only in 1830; Ignacio Urrutia y Montoya’s (1735–1795) Teatro Histórico, Jurídico, Político, Militar de la Isla Fernandina de Cuba, of which only the first part had appeared in 1795; and finally Antonio José Valdés’s (1770–1824) Historia General de la Isla de Cuba y en especial de la Habana, published in 1811.
Provenance: from the library of Ricardo Quintiliano Garcia, his name gilt-stamped at the foot of the spines; with his presentation inscription to his brother dated 15 July 1877 on the front flyleaf of the first volume.
Rare first edition (cf. Tailliart 2391).
Backstrip skewed and untitled, with a few losses and small tears to the board corners; light dampstaining at the head of the opening leaves, otherwise a clean and pleasing copy.
The author served as a military intendant and published several concise monographs on fortification and military administration.
Second edition, partly original as it was revised and substantially expanded (cf. Ferguson 7152a; Lacassagne 47).
Half black shagreen bindings, spines with four raised bands decorated with gilt rules and double gilt panels, boards framed with a single blind rule over marbled paper, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, sprinkled edges, period bindings.
A few minor spots.
This second edition was issued simultaneously either in a single volume with continuous pagination or in two volumes with separate pagination (our copy, see Ferguson 7152).
Bénigne-Ernest Poret, Marquis de Blosseville (1799–1886), was a legitimist politician and man of letters. He was active in political life throughout the nineteenth century.
At the head of the half-title of the first volume, presentation inscription signed by Bénigne-Ernest Poret, Marquis de Blosseville, to Prosper de Chasseloup-Laubat (1805–1873), then Minister of Algeria and the Colonies (1860–1867).
The latter affixed his armorial bookplate to the pastedowns and stamped the title pages with his ownership seal.
Rare edition printed on laid paper, very likely produced in a small run for Picard bibliophiles (cf. Hage Chahine, 4071).
Listed in the CCF only at Arras, Amiens, and Compiègne.
A few minor spots.
Half cherry morocco binding, spine lightly faded and raised on five bands, a few rubs to the spine, marbled paper sides, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt top edge, a period binding signed by Petit, successor to Simier.
Robert de Clari (c. 1170 – after 1216) was a Picard knight, vassal to the castellan Pierre d’Amiens.
He took part in the Fourth Crusade alongside his lord Pierre d’Amiens. After the deaths in 1205 of his direct suzerains Pierre d’Amiens and Hugues IV de Campdavaine, Count of Saint-Pol, he returned swiftly to Picardy.
From the sack of Constantinople he brought back, among other things, relics which he donated to the abbey of Corbie. He then composed, in French and in Picard, La Conquête de Constantinople, a narrative in one hundred and twenty chapters recounting the Fourth Crusade and its immediate aftermath up to 1216.
He therefore died sometime after this date, though nothing further is known about him.
A pleasant copy in a binding signed by Petit, successor to Simier.
First edition (cf. O'Reilly, 2192.)
Modern Bradel binding in brown half-cloth, forest-green morocco lettering-piece, marbled paper boards, beige endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers retained albeit lightly soiled; binding signed by Boichot.
Illustrated with 49 photographic plates hors texte.
"Minutieuse histoire analytico-chronologique des trente premières années de la Calédonie européenne. Il annonçait une suite qui n'a jamais vu le jour" (O'Reilly).
First edition of this rare work, offering the very first description in French of this small canton, still nominally under Ottoman rule—though in fact largely autonomous—and which appeared as exotic to early 19th-century Westerners as the most remote corners of China.
Illustrated with 13 hand-coloured plates, including a large folding map, two botanical plates, two depicting celebrations, three views of churches, and five costume plates. (cf. Atabey 1286. Lipperheide 1443. Not in Blackmer or Colas.)
Contemporary half calf binding, smooth spines decorated with gilt fillets, garlands, and floral tools, red morocco lettering-piece, black morocco numbering-piece, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, sprinkled edges.
Joints fragile, hinges rubbed and split, scattered foxing.
Jacques-Louis-Claude Vialla, known as de Sommières after his birthplace in the Gard (1764–1849), served as governor of Cattaro (in the then French Illyrian provinces) from April 1811 to April 1812. In this capacity, he was officially commissioned in October to approach Vladika (Prince-Bishop) Petar I of Montenegro (reigned 1781–1830), ancestor of the Petrović-Njegoš dynasty, in an attempt to win him over to the cause of the Empire.
This was the first time an official Western embassy had reached these remote, largely self-sufficient regions. Written at a time when the author, placed on half-pay after the Restoration, needed to earn a living, his account abounds in fascinating detail.
First edition of the earliest of the four works devoted by the deputy Amédée Desjobert (1796–1853) to the situation in Algeria (the second concerns the year 1838 – see below –, the third 1844, and the last 1846) (cf. Tailliart 2333).
Contemporary full tree-calf bindings, smooth spines gilt with garlands, fillets and floral tools, the gilt sometimes a touch dulled, red morocco lettering-pieces, green morocco volume labels slightly faded at the margins, marbled endpapers, gilt fillets to the board edges, marbled edges, modern bookplates mounted to the endpapers, contemporary bindings.
A few small losses to the leather on the boards, the half-title to the first work wanting, a pale marginal stain at the head of several leaves in the second volume, occasional foxing.
A member of the left in the Chamber, Amédée Desjobert opposed by every means the colonisation of Algeria, relying chiefly on arguments countering those advanced by the settlers and the military.
Volume II gathers the following texts, all dating from 1837 and 1838 and concerned with whether Algeria should be retained or abandoned:
First edition, illustrated at the end of the volume with four hors-texte plates printed on chamois paper.
Not recorded by Brunet, who lists the author’s principal works.
Scattered foxing, including to the boards.
The orientalist Michelangelo Lanci (1779–1867) produced a fascinating blend of genuine erudition and improbable conjectures, shaped by the pre-critical and broadly concordist mindset then prevailing without challenge in the learned circles of pontifical Rome (Lanci being a subject of the Pope).
This largely accounts for the profound neglect into which most of his works have since fallen.
Prisse d’Avennes (1807–1879), who had worked with Champollion on the decipherment of hieroglyphic script, must have received with some surprise these observations drawn essentially from personal interpretations of Old Testament texts.
First edition published anonymously, the work of the Bayonne man of letters Coste d'Arnobat (1732–1808), probably based on accounts provided by English merchants (cf. Barbier IV 1060).
Contemporary half sheep in dark brown, smooth spine tooled with gilt floral motifs, gilt initial “V” at the foot, some rubbing to spine and joints, a small marginal loss at the head of the spine, marbled paper boards, yellow sprinkled edges.
A dampstain affecting the folds of the final ten leaves.
An account of Bambouc, a region of Upper Senegal particularly noted for its gold mines and inhabited by the Mandinka people.
This narrative, later translated into German, offers highly valuable information on the activities and customs of the Malinké of Upper Senegal. Coste appended to it an essay on the Indian castes (pp. 65–113), “d’après les mémoires d’un savant observateur qui a vécu trente ans dans l’intérieur de l’Inde,” followed by two further dissertations on Holland (pp. 117–312) and on England (pp. 315–358), countries he visited in 1774.
Rare first edition of this complete set gathering the three parts of this practical Cantonese manual, accompanied by one of the instructional booklets intended for the Chinese teacher.
The first two volumes are each illustrated with eight plates of ideograms printed hors texte. No copies recorded in the CCFr.
The third volume shows staining at the foot of the spine, a few small spots of foxing, and minor marginal tears with slight losses to the boards of the first volume.
A very uncommon set.
First edition, illustrated at the end of the volume with tables printed on two large folding plates included in the pagination (cf. Ferguson 2165a.)
Contemporary half bordeaux shagreen, the spine very lightly faded, with five raised bands framed by black fillets, marbled-paper boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers marginally soiled and showing small preserved restorations, edges untrimmed, modern binding signed Laurenchet.
Botany Bay, on the eastern coast of Australia, had been chosen in 1787 by the British government as a place of deportation. This study seeks to demonstrate the ineffectiveness of penal colonies at a time when the proposal to establish one in France still had many supporters.
A pleasing copy.
Second edition, partly original as it is considerably expanded (cf. Sabin 59254, Howes 7805, F. Monaghan 1171).
Half black shagreen binding, smooth spine decorated with gilt double fillets and a gilt pastoral motif, a restored tear to the headcap, black paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, contemporary binding.
Scattered foxing.
Provenance: Copy from the library of Marquis Claude-Emmanuel-Joseph-Pierre de Pastoret (1755–1840), with his heraldic device gilt-stamped at the foot of the spine.
First edition (cf. Tailliart 2540).
Quarter shagreen in a dark bottle-green hue with corner pieces, the smooth spine slightly toned and decorated with blind fillets, marbled paper sides, cat’s-eye patterned endpapers and pastedowns, modern binding signed Honnelaître.
A light marginal dampmark at the foot of the half-title and title pages; scattered, unobtrusive foxing.
The author (1781–1852) was a colonial administrator: "Une introduction de trente pages sur les erreurs de la politique suivie à l’égard des Arabes : trop de faiblesse chez nous ; de glorieuses expéditions, mais pas de résultat positif durable. Il attaque Bresson qui a préconisé la formation d’un empire arabe qui ferait la transition entre la barbarie actuelle et une civilisation voisine de la nôtre. Il est partisan de petits beyliks placés sous notre contrôle, indépendants les uns des autres. Il faut faire combattre les Arabes par les Arabes. Nécessité de la force à l’égard des Arabes.
En dernier lieu, réfutation du livre de Blanqui : il lave les colons des accusations lancées contre eux. Exposé de la thèse des colons avec leurs avis et leurs desiderata".
At the head of the half-title, signed presentation inscription from Armand Gabriel Rozey to M. Billi, "homme de lettres à Alger", dated 17 December 1841.
First edition, illustrated with 12 in-text reproductions of coins.
Contemporary half Russian-cherry morocco over marbled boards, smooth spine gilt with a floral tool, date gilt at foot, marbled paste-paper boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt edges at head.
Sole edition, uncommon.
Henri Lavoix (1820–1892) served as curator of the Department of Medals and Antiquities at the Bibliothèque nationale.
At the head of the half-title, which shows heavy foxing, signed presentation inscription from Henri Michel Lavoix to the archaeologist Alban-Emmanuel Guillaume-Rey (1837–1916), a specialist in medieval Syria and in particular the Frankish settlements in the region.
The ink of the inscription has faded; scattered foxing, with heavier foxing to the final endleaf.
A handsome contemporary half-morocco binding.
Rare first edition.
Only two copies recorded in the CCFr (BnF and Lyon).
Modern full grey paper Bradel binding, smooth spine, long paper spine label, sprinkled edges.
At the time of publication, this pamphlet stood far ahead of contemporary thinking and anticipated the formation of the Second French Colonial Empire in Africa: assuming that France would retain and expand its recent conquest of Algiers, the author advances the notion of a French civilising mission among the Black populations of Africa, whom he considers with notable intelligence and openness.
Jean-François-Aimé Peyré (1792–1868) served as a judge at the civil court of Villefranche-sur-Saône.
First edition illustrated with a lithographed portrait of the author by Langlumé as a frontispiece (cf. Atabey 45. See Blackmer 60 and Weber 105 for the enlarged second edition, published the same year with a different frontispiece).
Half cherry calf binding, spine with four raised bands framed with gilt garlands, decorated with blind and gilt tooling, gilt rolls at head and tail, black morocco title-piece, marbled paper boards, endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges, contemporary binding.
Some light foxing, blind-stamped ex-libris of Giannalisa Feltrinelli at foot of first endpaper. Repair to the outer margin of the last two leaves, not affecting the text.
Stay on the island of Elba, return to France, Waterloo, the Villefranche affair, the trial, stay in Switzerland, Constance, Munich, Dresden, Warsaw, Krakow, Galicia, Jassy, separation of the two brothers, Constantinople, Smyrna, Naxos, Athens, Janina, Ali Pasha, flight from Janina, passage through St. Maur Island, Corfu, Cattaro, Ragusa, Trieste, landing at Ancona, visit to Rome, stay in Livorno, Lucca, Genoa, Turin, and return to France.
"First Édition edited by two of his friends from Bacheville's notes (…) The two brothers were accused of conspiracy and fled France after the Restoration. Barthelemy joined Ali Pacha; Antoine travelled to Egypt, Persia and Arabia, to die in Muscat. The engraved frontispiece is a portrait of Antoine. The frontispieces in the two Éditions are not the same; that in the second Édition depicts the brother's separation" [Leonora Navari]. A handsome copy in a contemporary Romantic binding.
Very rare first edition (cf. Monglond VII 661).
Contemporary half brown sheep with corners, smooth spine gilt with floral tools and fillets, rubbing to spine and joints, marbled paper boards, grey endpapers and pastedowns, corners softened, yellow edges.
Pleasant, clean interior.
A shadowy figure who was by turns (and at times simultaneously) a secret agent, Tallien’s associate, a Revolutionary pamphleteer, and a double agent under the Directory and the Empire, Méhée de La Touche (1762–1827) left in 1784 on a covert diplomatic mission to Poland and Russia, from which he was expelled at the end of 1791. The correspondence he publishes here (running from 1788 to July 1791) abounds in valuable information on the social and political situation of these countries at the close of the eighteenth century.
First and only Franco-Chinese edition, illustrated with six etchings reproduced by Frédéric Chevalier.
A single copy recorded in the CCFr (Bulac).
Sole edition of this contemporary curiosity born of the French vogue for all things Oriental: born in 1831, Tin-Tun-Ling (or Ding Dunling) was a Chinese scholar from Shanxi and a political exile in France. Théophile Gautier met him in Paris, grew fond of him, and hired him to teach Chinese to his daughter Judith. Steeped in Far Eastern culture, she delighted in presenting herself as the reincarnation of a Chinese princess. Tin-Tun-Ling then lived in a pavilion built in the Chinese style, set in the garden of the Pré aux Oiseaux – Judith’s home in Saint-Enogat. After Gautier’s death in 1872, Tin-Tun-Ling married a Frenchwoman, Caroline Julie Liégeois, who later accused him of bigamy (he was in all likelihood already married in China); following a trial in 1873, he was nevertheless acquitted. A triple photographic portrait of Tin-Tun-Ling by Nadar survives, taken in 1874, one year before the publication of this work.
This copy is preserved in its original state, in flexible yellow cloth wrappers showing small spots and, as often, minor marginal tears.
First edition of the French translation, expanded with notes by the translator (cf. Loukia Droulia 1180; Quérard II 238 and VII 6, under: \"Pecchio\"; Blackmer 549 and Atabey 396, under: \"Emerson\").
The first volume opens with a frontispiece portrait of Andrea Miaoulis.
Contemporary half bronze calf, smooth spine decorated with gilt rolls and tools now slightly softened, minor rubbing to the spine, marbled paper boards, marbled edges.
Spine restored and lightly rubbed, some scattered foxing.
The original edition appeared in London in the same year. It also included Humphrey’s \"Journal of a visit to Greece\", omitted from the French edition. \"Important philhellenic collection (…) Emerson reached Greece at the end of 1823 and left soon after Byron's death in 1824. In 1825 he returned as a volunteer and was correspondent for the Times, fighting alongside Miaoulis and Makriyannis. The portrait of Miaoulis is after a drawing from life by Emerson. The Italian revolutionary Pecchio had been living in exile in England when he decided to go to Greece for a few weeks because he was 'desirous of paying a visit to the members of the Government'. He rapidly became disillusioned but was honest in his account, which is very interesting\" [Leonora Navari].
A handsome copy, in a contemporary Romantic binding, of this important work on the history of philhellenism.
First illustrated edition, with a frontispiece portrait of the author and a plate of music inserted at the end.
Not listed in Schwab.
Contemporary binding in half polished Havana calf, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets, chain motifs and floral tools, saffron paper boards, marbled edges.
Joints split at foots and slightly at heads, a pleasant copy overall.
An important work by the renowned Austrian orientalist (1774–1856) devoted to ancient Persian poetry, containing a large number of extracts translated into German and an extensive index.
The work, dedicated to the great French orientalist Silvestre de Sacy, was carefully printed in Gothic type; the Persian translations are presented in two columns.
A handsome, large-margined copy in a period binding.
Rare first edition comprising a fine series of 40 two-tone lithographs by Yuko Watanabe depicting Japanese types, scenes of traditional life, costumes, and more: Ronin, hara-kiri, samurai, the attack on Shogun Nobunaga, a geisha’s visit, young women paying a call, a game of go...
Not in Colas, nor Hiler & Hiler; lacking from the Bn; not in Nipponalia or Cordier. Wenckstern, I, p. 228 (gives the Yokohama address, undated, and mentions two volumes, the second—of which no trace could be found—containing 25 plates).
Bound in full beige cloth, smooth spine without lettering, lithograph mounted on the upper cover; twentieth-century binding.
Minor tears affecting three remargined plates and the final leaf (backed); a few small spots of foxing; small green ink stain touching most of the prints in the margin only, not affecting the image.
First edition of the French translation by Jean Mourier.
Only one copy listed in the CCF (BULAC).
Full burgundy cloth binding, smooth spine with gilt lettering running lengthwise, pink paper pastedowns and endpapers, a modest modern binding.
Some light, insignificant foxing.
Very rare work tracing the origins of the Kingdom of Georgia up to the introduction of Christianity.
Rare first edition illustrated with 31 figures in the text.
Contemporary half blond calf, the spine slightly sunned, with five raised bands decorated with gilt and black fillets, fawn morocco lettering-piece, marbled paper sides, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, sprinkled comb-marbled edges.
Christophe-Edouard Mauss (1829–1914), architect to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, undertook several archaeological missions in the Levant (Salonika, Smyrna, Alexandria) before being sent by the French government to Jerusalem (1862–1874) to restore the Church of Saint Anne.
He was also deeply interested in ancient metrology, on which he wrote several monographs (the final section of the present work provides a notable example).
Our copy is enriched with a substantial autograph contribution by Christophe-Edouard Mauss, mounted on a guard at the front of the volume and addressed to the archaeologist Alban-Emmanuel Guillaume-Rey (1837–1916), a specialist in medieval Syria: Note pour Mr. Rey sur le stade philéterien de 159 m 963,428 ([9] unnumbered ll., unbound, written on one side only, in a medium and very legible hand). This is an early version of an article supplementing the present work and published in 1894 under the title: Note additionnelle sur le stade de 159 m 963 et sur les mesures philétériennes.
Very rare first edition.
Only three copies recorded in the CCF (BnF, Sainte-Geneviève, CNAM).
Half blond calf, spine lightly sunned, with five raised bands decorated with gilt and black fillets, tan morocco lettering-piece, marbled paper boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, mottled comb-marbled edges, original front wrapper preserved; contemporary binding.
The architect of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Christophe-Edouard Mauss (1829–1914), undertook several archaeological missions in the Levant (Salonika, Smyrna, Alexandria) before being sent by the French government to Jerusalem (1862–1874) to restore the Church of Saint Anne. He also developed a keen interest in ancient metrology, on which he produced several monographs (including this one).
Bound after it, by the same author:
I. La Pile de Charlemagne et le Sâ du prophète. Le pied d'Egypte et le ratl de Bagdad. Les poids français comparés aux poids anglais. Le ratl wâfy du Musée égyptien du Louvre. Paris, Ernest Leroux, 1897, 2 ff.n.ch., 79 pp.
II. Loi de la numismatique musulmane. Classement par séries et par ordre de poids des monnaies arabes du Cabinet des médailles de Paris. Paris, Ernest Leroux, 1898, 2 ff.n.ch., VIII pp., 48 pp.
At the head of each fascicle, an autograph presentation inscription from Christophe-Edouard Mauss to the archaeologist Alban-Emmanuel Guillaume-Rey (1837–1916).
Very rare first edition of this address delivered on the seventy-eighth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
No copy listed in the CCF. Not in Sabin.
Rear wrapper missing, a few minor marginal foxings.
Born in Pennsylvania, David Lawrence Gregg (1819–1868) was appointed by President Franklin Pierce to negotiate the annexation of the Kingdom of Hawaii with King Kamehameha III, a mission that ultimately failed. The king died on December 15, 1854, and the attempts to integrate Hawaii into the United States were abandoned by his successor, Kamehameha IV.
First edition illustrated with a folding map at the end of the volume (cf. Nipponalia, I, 2061; Innocencio, IX, 208; lacking from Cordier Japonica, Hill and Palau).
Only two copies recorded in the CCFr (Sorbonne and BULAC).
Rare edition of this account of one of the earliest European voyages undertaken to establish commercial relations with Japan, following the success of the American Commodore Perry in 1853.
Spine cracked with loss at foot, traces of adhesive paper at the head and tail of the endpapers, modern bookplate pasted on the verso of the front cover.
First edition illustrated with 24 plates, including 18 views and cross-sections, and 6 folding maps and plans (cf. Tailliart, 1229).
Half brown shagreen binding, spine faded with five raised bands, gilt date at foot, marbled paper boards, brown endpapers and pastedowns, modern binding signed Honnelaître.
First and last leaves lightly and partially soiled.
This volume gathers the official reports of the exploration mission led by Mircher (1820–1878), Vatonne, and Polignac, which departed from Tripoli in 1862 and returned via El-Oued after signing a trade treaty with the people of Ghadamès and the Tuareg. This agreement enabled the inclusion of the locality within Algeria until 1951, when it was returned to Libya. In addition to Mircher’s reports, the work contains a notice on Sudanese trade, an account of the political and social state of the “land of the Negroes,” studies on the terrain and water of the regions traversed by the mission, as well as medical observations collected during the journey to Ghadamès, among others.
First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Revue des arts décoratifs of January 1885.
Unbound copy.
Copies recorded in the CCFr only at the BnF, the Musée des Arts décoratifs, and Troyes.
This offprint gathers the three lectures delivered on 18, 21, and 25 October 1884 by the influential art critic Philippe Burty (1830–1890), a key figure in the emergence of Japonism.
Inscribed by Philippe Burty to the archivist and historian Pierre Margry (1818–1894).
Extremely rare first edition of the French translation by Luc de la Porte (cf. Lust 24. Cordier, Sinica, 12. Palau 105509. Sabin 27780. Wagner (SW) 7bb. Leclerc (1878) 258. Streit IV, 1999. Alden European Americana 588/37 – 8 copies recorded in the U.S.A. Atkinson 339.)
Contemporary full brown calf binding, spine with five raised bands decorated with double gilt compartments, joints and spine restored, gilt fillets partly faded on the edges, red edges. 17th-century binding.
Minor stain to margin at the beginning of the volume; tear to margin p. 62.
Extremely rare first edition of the French translation of one of the finest missionary accounts of 16th-century China; it includes a significant section on the Americas, notably the recent discovery of New Mexico by Antonio d'Espejo in 1583. It was through this work that Abraham Ortelius was able to complete the American section of his atlas (Sabin 27775).
Manuscript ex-libris on the title page: Cadt. Berdeilh; autograph letter signed by Marie de Berdeilh, dated Mirepoix, January 10, on the front endpaper; and an acknowledgment of debt signed by the same, mounted to front pastedown. Ex-libris of Gaston Héliot, an antiques dealer specializing in Chinese and Japanese curiosities c. 1920–1930.
First edition illustrated with three folding plates.
Half vellum binding, smooth spine, gilt initials at foot, black sheep title label with some rubbing, red sheep year label, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, restored 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 issues 314 and 318 of the Revue africaine (1923 and 1924).
Half black shagreen binding, spine with five raised bands, gilt date at foot, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, original wrappers and spine preserved, contemporary binding.
Illustrated with 4 plates, including a frontispiece portrait. Tailliart 592.
Rare copy of this meticulous monograph (later reissued under the Champion imprint), documenting the journey Daudet made to Algeria from 21 December 1861 to 25 February 1862, accompanied by his cousin Reynaud.
Drawing on a wealth of sources, the author succeeded in reconstructing the writer’s exact itinerary; the purpose of the work was to respond to Degoumois’s claims in L’Algérie d’Alphonse Daudet : Essai sur les sources et les procédés d’imitation d’A. Daudet (Geneva, 1922), in which he asserted that most of the Algerian descriptions found in Lettres de mon moulin, Tartarin de Tarascon and Contes du lundi were merely borrowed from Eugène Fromentin.
Our copy is enriched with an autograph letter signed by Jules Caillat, dated Paris, 7 June [1924?], most likely addressed to the publisher (bifolium of 4 pp. in-12), sent together with three original photographic plates (those used for the book’s illustrations) and a roll containing a proof of each.
Caillat also discusses the desired print run (350 copies, of which only 300 were available for sale) and the typographical changes required in the transition from periodical articles to book form.
