Exceptional Autographs

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 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)

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 of the author's third book, with no copies printed on deluxe paper, here a review copy.

Spine very lightly sunned, without seriousness, faint spotting to the board edges.

Rare and desirable presentation copy signed by Patrick Modiano to the woman of letters Christiane Baroche: "Pour Christiane ces boulevards de ceinture avec lesquels elle est bien indulgente. Avec l'amitié de Patrick."

First edition, with no copies issued on deluxe paper.

A handsome copy.

With Pierre Bourdieu’s signed presentation inscription to the anthropologist Emmanuel Terray.

Collective edition, partly original, issued without any deluxe copies.

A pleasing copy.

Author's signed presentation inscription from Elias Canetti to his cousin: "Meiner liebsten Kusine Matica, der einziger, die geblieben ist, was  sie immer war, begabt, klug, offen in Liebe und Freundschaft. Elias Canetti. Paris, September 1962" ("A ma chère cousine, la seule qui est reste ce qu'elle a toujours été, douée, intelligente, ouverte, en amour et en amitié)."

Letter written by a secretary and signed by Louis XVI, addressed to Cardinal Ludovico Calini, in ink over eleven lines. The signature of Charles Gravier, Comte de Vergennes, appearing at the foot of the bifolium, accompanies that of the King for these New Year wishes. The recipient's name is inscribed on the verso: "Mon Cousin le Cardinal Calino".

A few waterstains, a small hole at "qu'il vous ait".

"My Cousin, I have seen with pleasure from your letter of October 1st the token of the sincerity of the wishes you express for me at the beginning of this year. Your good intentions are as well known to me as you must be certain of my desire to give you proof of my esteem and affection. Whereupon I pray God that He may have you, My Cousin, in His holy and worthy keeping. Written at Versailles the 31st of January 1776." (our own translation). 

First edition of the French translation, with no issue on deluxe paper.

Minor surface scuffs along the margins of the front wrapper.

With a fine signed presentation inscription by Italo Calvino: "A Michel Tournier avec le souvenir de Italo Calvino. Mai 1974."

First edition on standard paper.

A handsome copy, complete with its publisher’s wraparound band.

Fine presentation inscription signed by Milan Kundera: "Paris 1998. Pour Michel Tournier avec l'amitié fidèle de Milan Kundera."

First edition, with no deluxe paper issue, one of the review copies.

A pleasing copy.

Inscribed, dated and signed by Annie Ernaux to her friend, the writer Christiane Baroche.

First edition on ordinary paper.

Pages 10–11 lightly sunned owing to the presence of a newspaper clipping.

Fine presentation inscription signed by André Pieyre de Mandiargues: "à  Michel Tournier en très cordiale sympathie. André PM."

Autograph letter signed by Albert Camus to his housekeeper or caretaker, "Chère Madame Quentin." One page on a single leaf written in black ink, on NRF letterhead, accompanied by its envelope bearing the autograph address of the recipient. Horizontal crease inherent to the folding of the letter for mailing.

Given that his own mother had been a housekeeper, the writer does not merely concern himself with domestic matters when addressing his employee. He also inquires after the wellbeing of his "Chère Madame Quentin" following her vacation: "I shall be in Paris on Monday or Tuesday at the latest (thus the 31st or the 1st). Could you ask Madame [...] (Pintres?), upon receipt of this letter, to stop forwarding my mail. I hope you were able to rest a little during the month of August and I send you my most faithful regards." (our own translation). 

Accompanied by a telegram once again to Mme "Quentin 86 Rue de Varennes," dated "5-59."

Autograph letters signed by Albert Camus are highly sought after today. This one bears witness to the considerate language the writer uses towards Madame Quentin, his housekeeper, a trade he knows intimately through his mother.

Rare pre-first edition offprint of Charles de Gaulle's article Les Origines de l'armée française, published in issue 520 of the Revue d'Infanterie in January 1936. This 44-page text will be entirely reprinted two years later as the first chapter of his celebrated work La France et son armée, published by Plon in 1938. Our copy is enriched with an autograph inscription signed by the author "to M. Jean Auburtin": "With profound and faithful friendship. C. de Gaulle."

Blue wrappers slightly sunned at extremities, spine and upper joint rebacked, minor losses to spine, vertical crease probably from mailing, old creases to upper right corners, some ink stains on lower wrapper, old stamp affixed and partially torn on same wrapper.

First edition, one of the copies printed on vellum paper.

Minor, inconsequential loss at the foot of the spine; light foxing chiefly affecting the rear cover.

Very scarce presentation inscription signed by René Guénon to the French journalist, writer, royalist activist and later collaborationist Jean Héritier.

First edition of the French translation, issued without any large-paper copies.

A handsome copy, complete with its original promotional band: "Calvino et la préhistoire-fiction."

Inscribed, dated, and signed by Italo Calvino to Pascal Pia.

"New edition, with parts in first edition, incorporating an unpublished preface; the first edition had appeared in 1927 in Tokyo at the close of Claudel’s ambassadorship in Japan (1921–1927) and was issued in three fan-shaped quarto volumes. Work illustrated with Japanese characters calligraphed by Ikuma Arishima. Composed between June 1926 and January 1927, this essay (blending traditional calligraphy, haiku, and short Western-style verse) bears witness, among Claudel’s other creations, to the influence of the Far East on his poetic practice.

Moving and exceptional presentation inscription, signed and dated by Paul Claudel to his eldest daughter, Marie Claudel, known as "Chouchette" (1907–1981), and to his son-in-law Roger Méquillet, written at the head of the front endpaper and in pencil on the flyleaf: "A mes chers enfants Roger et Chouchette de tout mon coeur. claudel. Paris 30 juin 1942 Paul."

First edition on ordinary paper.

Half black long-grain morocco binding, smooth spine tooled in palladium with author, title, and date, anthracite-grey paper boards, original wrappers and spine preserved (the latter with two small stains at head and foot), endpapers and pastedowns of anthracite-grey paper, binding signed Thomas Boichot.

Precious and exceptional signed presentation inscription by Louis-Ferdinand Céline: "A Mac Orlan son admirateur et ami fidèle. LFerd"

First edition.

Copies recorded in the Catalogue collectif de France only at the BnF, Versailles, and Bar-le-Duc libraries.

Half bottle-green shagreen binding, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt dotted rules and floral tools, blind-stamped frame on bottle-green grained cloth boards, gilt initials stamped at the centre of the upper board, white moiré silk endpapers and pastedowns, all edges gilt. Slight rubbing to the corners, a handsome contemporary binding.

The Courrier de Lyon case dates back to the period of the Directoire (April–October 1796). The execution of Joseph Lesurques was soon regarded as a major miscarriage of justice, and his family spent more than sixty years trying to obtain a revision of the case, despite the absence of any law permitting rehabilitation.

The decision of the Cour de cassation in December 1868 brought the matter to a definitive close in the negative sense.

Nevertheless, the confiscation of Lesurques’s property—customary in cases of capital punishment—was revoked, and his estate returned to his heirs. Today, some historians remain convinced of Lesurques’s innocence, while recent investigations by gendarmerie commander Éric Dagnicourt and historian Éric Alary tend to support his guilt as the financial instigator.

Provenance: a distinguished copy belonging to the celebrated lawyer and statesman of the July Monarchy, Odilon Barrot (1791–1873), with a fine signed presentation inscription from Louis Méquillet dated 15 February 1864, and Barrot’s gilt monogram (O. B.) stamped in the centre of the covers.

Odilon Barrot was among the active supporters of the Lesurques family’s petitions, which explains this presentation inscription.

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.

First edition of the thesis presented by Paul Bert to the Faculty of Sciences in Paris in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Natural Sciences.

Illustrated with two lithographed plates at the end of the volume.

Some occasional foxing.

Contemporary half red morocco-grained shagreen binding, smooth spine decorated with gilt floral tools, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers preserved (rear cover restored with an adhesive patch), modern binding.

Rare biological thesis by Paul Bert (1833–1886), who was a physician, physiologist, educator, and above all a committed republican politician.

Inscribed and signed by Paul Bert at the head of the title page, addressed to Dr. Comol.

First edition, one of 500 copies on ordinary paper.
This copy has a chemise and slipcase.
A little light spotting, not serious, nice copy.
Retaining its advertising band and slip.
Handsome autograph inscription signed by René Char: “à Man Ray au voyant carnassier de tout cœur R. Char.” (“To Man Ray to the carnivorous fortune teller, with all my heart, R. Char.”)

First edition, with no deluxe-paper copies printed.
Illustrations.

A handsome copy despite the slightly faded spine.

Precious and fine signed presentation copy from Louis Aragon to Maurice Druon: "A Maurice Druon, pour qu'il sache que de temps je m'égarée dans Césarée. [sic] Louis".

First collective edition on ordinary paper.

Pleasing copy.

Valuable presentation copy signed by Louis Aragon: "A Maurice Druon, pour n'en pas perdre l'habitude. Louis."

 

First edition of this collection of political speeches.

Full red percaline binding, smooth spine without lettering showing slight rubbing, gilt inscription stamped to the upper cover: "République de Guinée R.D.A. à S.E. Jean Paul Sartre. N°30"; endpapers partly toned, a contemporary presentation binding offered to Jean-Paul Sartre.

Frontispiece photographic portrait bearing the autograph signature of President Ahmed Sékou Touré: Secretary General of the Parti Démocratique de Guinée, Supreme Leader of the Revolution.

Rare and sought-after first edition, first issue.

Includes the subscribers' list and the foreword, which were omitted when the remainder of this edition passed into the hands of another publisher, Dion-Lambert. It also retains the pagination error in volume two: page 164 instead of 364. With a letter from the author, bearing his autograph signature, written and dated 14 April 1839, in the hand of his secretary. One page written in black ink on a leaf. Slightly darkened at the upper edge, with occasional foxing, and the usual folds from postal handling.

Our copy is enriched with an exceptional, prophetic and macabre letter by François-René de Chateaubriand: "mais moi je suis mort, absolument mort et s'il me fallait écrire un mot dans un journal, j'aimerais mieux être enseveli à mille pieds sous terre." ["but I am dead, utterly dead, and if I were required to write a single word in a newspaper, I would rather be buried a thousand feet underground."]

Signed with the author’s faltering hand, this apparently unpublished letter was penned by his secretary: "Vous connaissez la main de [Hyacinthe] Pilorge que j'employe pour remplacer la mienne souffrante de la goutte" ["You will recognise the hand of [Hyacinthe] Pilorge, whom I employ to replace my own, suffering from gout,"] the author explains in the introduction to the letter.

Black half-morocco bindings, smooth spines with double gilt fillets and double blind-stamped compartments, black paper boards, slight superficial rubbing to some boards, marbled paper pastedowns and endpapers, sprinkled edges; contemporary bindings. Sparse foxing.

First edition, one of 750 numbered copies on vélin paper, this not justified, the only printing along with 50 on Japan.

A good copy.
Aesthetic Surrealist autograph inscription by Benjamin Péret: '...Pourquoi la chevelure, me direz-vous? Oui, pourquoi? Parce que les cheveux remplacent les parapluies...' to his friend Léo Malet.

First edition, one of 52 copies printed on Montval paper, ours being the second of 12 hors commerce copies, a deluxe issue.

Half anthracite-grey long-grained morocco, smooth spine lettered with the author’s name, title, date, and the palladium-stamped inscription “EXEMPLAIRE J. KESSEL”, abstract patterned paper boards, dove-grey paper endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers and spine preserved, binding signed by Thomas Boichot.

Some light foxing mainly affecting the first and last leaves.

Exceptional and deeply moving full-page signed presentation inscription from Maurice Druon to Joseph Kessel: “Il fallait bien, mon grand Jef, que le premier livre que je t'envoie depuis que tu es Immortel soit les mémoires de Zeus. Je remercie les Destins de m'avoir donné un tel oncle et d'avoir permis que nous nous aimions si bien. Je t'embrasse. Maurice Mai 1963.”

Autograph letter signed from Georges Bataille to Denise Rollin, 40 lines in black ink, two pages on one leaf.

George Bataille and Denise Rollin's relationship lasted from the autumn of 1939 to the autumn of 1943 and left behind it a short but passionate correspondence. This letter dates from the early days of their connection, but already reveals Bataille's agonies: “Perhaps I was too happy with you for some months, even though suffering did not wait long to interrupt, at least for a time, a happiness that was almost a challenge.”
A passionate lover, Bataille moved from exultation to the deepest doubt and even offered his lover a potential way out of their relationship: “If you can't take it, me, any more, I beg you, don't deceive yourself any longer: tell me it's me, and not some foible I could have avoided and which is easily repairable.” He would rather be sac-
rificed on the altar of their love than have a relationship that was bland and flavorless: “Understand me when I tell you that I don't want everything to get bogged down, that I would really rather suffer than see a sort of shaky mediocrity as a future for you and me.”

Earlier in the letter, he turns to humor to tear him away from his worries: “I hardly dare make you laugh by telling
you that I've lost weight, so that my trousers occasionally fall down, because I've not yet gotten into the habit of tightening my belt to the new notch.” Then, he goes back to pleading: “I write to you like a blind man, because that is what you make me when you talk to me the way you do when you leave or when you phone, you make me fall into a darkness that is almost unbearable.” He then tries to get a grip on himself:
“there are moments I'm ashamed of doubting you and being afraid, or of stupidly losing my head.”
Finally, hemmed in by all his doubts as a lover, Bataille tried to find some respite in talking about the family that he had made up with Denise and her son Jean (alias Bepsy): “If you write me, tell me how Bepsy's doing, which is perhaps the only thing that you can tell me that doesn't touch something painful in me.”

In a 1961 interview, Bataille looked back on this time: "Le Coupable is the first book that gave me a kind of satisfaction, an anxious one at that, that no book had given me and that no book has given me since. It is perhaps the book in which I am the most myself, which resembles me the most... because I wrote it as if in a sort of quick and continuous explosion." The letters addressed by Bataille to Denise during this period contain the seeds of the feelings that explode in Le Coupable as in all of Bataille's work. His writing is an ebb and flow of love and suffering, between ecstasy and disappointment, calm and energy, mixing familiar and formal tones, compliments and reproaches. The letters are often impossible to date with precision as they all proceed from the same movement of ecstatic flagellation.

In 1943, Georges Bataille found a house in Vézelay where the couple settled with Laurence (Georges and Sylvia's daughter), and Denise's son Jean. It was there that Bataille completed his book Le Coupable as well as his love story since barely a month after their arrival, Diane Kotchoubey, a young woman of 23, moved in with them. Before the end of the year, Bataille left Denise Rollin for this new flame.

These previously unknown letters were kept by Bataille's best friend Maurice Blanchot who from 1944 became the new lover Denise Rollin, this woman with a "melancholic and taciturn" beauty who "embodied silence". The crumpled letters (one is even torn into five pieces) are as much the precious trace of Bataille's extraordinary passion as they are a valuable source from a little-known period of his intimate life which was until then only perceived through the eyes of his friends. Above all they are of an exceptional literary quality and reveal several sides to him: the man, the accursed, the worshipper and the profaner... all that, according to Michel Foucault, makes Georges Bataille "one of the most important writers of this century”.

First edition, one of 160 hors commerce copies on Lana vellum, ours being one of 60 hors commerce copies, the only deluxe issue.

Half long-grain black morocco binding, smooth spine lettered with the author’s name, title, date, and the palladium inscription “EX. JOSEPH KESSEL 1958”, wood-patterned paper boards, grey endpapers and pastedowns, wrappers and spine preserved, binding signed by Thomas Boichot.

Some foxing, mainly affecting the wrappers and the first and last leaves.

Exceptional and moving signed autograph presentation from Maurice Druon to Joseph Kessel: "A toi mon grand Jef, cet Alexandre le grand né lui aussi sous le signe du Lion en même temps que du Bélier et que tu as aidé de tes conseils et de ton exemple en t'embrassant très fort. Maurice Juin 58"

First edition.

Publisher’s binding, smooth olive-green cloth spine partially faded, upper headcap trimmed, cream boards speckled with pink, bumped corners, shadowed endpapers.

Signed autograph inscription by Thomas Nelson Page at the head of the title page.

First edition, one of the press service copies.
Precious signed autograph inscription from Paul Éluard to Benjamin Fondane.
Spine with three small expertly repaired tears, of no consequence.
A moving dedication from poet to poet, written on the eve of the war during which the two friends would contribute together to poetic resistance journals such as l'Honneur des poètes.
The deportation and death of Fondane in 1944, along with many other artist and poet friends, would profoundly affect Éluard, who composed in their memory a magnificent poetic tribute, "Eternité de ceux que je n'ai pas revus," listing the names of each of the departed:
"Visages clairs souvenirs sombres
Puis comme un grand coup sur les yeux
Visages de papier brûlé
Dans la mémoire rien que cendres
La rose froide de l'oubli
Pourtant Desnos pourtant Péri
Crémieux Fondane Pierre Unik
Sylvain Itkine Jean Jausion
Grou-Radenez Lucien Legros
Le temps le temps insupportable
Politzer Decour Robert Blache
Serge Meyer Mathias Lübeck
Maurice Bourdet et Jean Frayse
Dominique Corticchiato
Et Max Jacob et Saint-Pol Roux
Rien que le temps de n'être plus
Et rien que le temps d'être tout"

First edition, one of 95 hors commerce copies on pure wove paper, the only deluxe paper issue.

Half fawn morocco binding, smooth spine with gilt lettering of the author's name, title, date, and the mention “EX. J. KESSEL”, fawn paper boards, rust-colored endpapers and pastedowns, original covers and spine preserved, binding signed by Thomas Boichot.

Some foxing mainly affecting the covers as well as the first and last leaves.

Exceptional and moving signed autograph inscription from Maurice Druon to Joseph Kessel: "A toi mon grand Jef, prince des Cavaliers, avec la joie de t'avoir rejoint parmi les Immortels, cette histoire de famille en t'embrassant pour tous les jours des hommes. Maurice 1967."

First edition of the French translation, of which no deluxe copies were printed.

Crease to the upper left corner of the lower cover and the last leaves.

Illustrations.

Precious inscribed copy to Bernard Kouchner: "To my dear friend Bernard always true to his beliefs and a great partner. With deep admiration and affection. Madeleine 15/11/03."

First edition on ordinary paper.

A pleasant copy.

Precious signed autograph inscription from André Pieyre de Mandiargues: "A Henri Michaux le coeur de son vieil ami André Pieyre de Mandiargues" enriched with Yvonne Caroutch’s handwritten signature.

With 8 original etchings to text and hors-texte by Oscar Dominguez, one of 70 numbered copies on B.F.K. de Rives paper, the only printing with 4 on old Japon paper, variously enriched.
Autograph inscription from Robert Ganzo to a couple of his acquaintance on half title.
This copy is additionally enhanced with a manuscript quatrain signed by the author on the page opposite half-title.
Autograph signatures of the author and illustrator on the justification page.
Some slight small foxing mostly affecting the first leaves, a joint of the chemise cracked, with a tear almost all over it.
A rare copy in a chemise and flexible slipcase with wood-effect paper boards.

First edition, one of 230 numbered copies on Auvergne paper, ours one of 75 not-for-sale copies, the only printing after 10 copies on China and a few hors commerce copies; this copy specially printed for René Daumal.
 
Frontispiece illustrated with an original lithograph by Étienne Cournault.
Very faint, insignificant foxing to the margins of the covers.
A handsome copy complete with its original wraparound band.
 
Exceptional and superb signed autograph inscription dated 27 December 1936 from René Daumal to his future partner Véra Milanova : « à Véra Milanova – à toi Véra, d'abord ces anciens mensonges (que je n'ai pu nourrir qu'en ton absence) pour leur faire une sépulture définitive ; puis ces quelques ombres de vérités que tu m'as aidé à comprendre ; mais surtout, Véra, je préfère te dédier une grande page blanche, neuve, invisible, où nous écrirons sans mots notre histoire. Prends ce petit tombeau d'un ancien René Daumal, de la main de ton Nasha. 27 décembre 1936. »

First edition, one of the review copies stamped "M.F." on the front cover and numbered in the colophon.

Small restored tears to the spine and upper part of the front cover, slight traces of creasing to the margins of the front cover.

Precious inscribed copy signed by Louis Pergaud to J.H. Rosny jeune, one of the historic members of the Goncourt Prize jury. Pergaud had won the 1910 Goncourt for his collection of short stories De Goupil à Margot.

First edition on ordinary paper.

Half red morocco binding, spine with five raised bands framed with gilt fillets and decorated with double gilt panels, gilt lettering at the foot of the spine reading "Ex. de Sainte-Beuve", double gilt fillets on the marbled paper boards, small black spots on the covers, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers preserved, gilt edges.

Scattered foxing.

Precious autograph inscription signed by Auguste Brizeux: "A Sainte-Beuve, au poète et à l'ami. A. Brizeux."

Ami, tu veux / Devenir poète / Ne fais surtout pas / L'imbécile / N'écris pas / Des chansons trop bêtes / Même si les gourdes / Aiment ça

First edition.
Contemporary half red shagreen over marbled paper boards, (a few discreet repairs), spine in six compartments, date to foot, marbled paper-lined endpapers and pastedowns, covers preserved, top edge red.
A very handsome autograph inscription signed by Victor Hugo to Alphonse Daudet.
Mrs. Daudet's collection stamp to first endpaper.

Victor Hugo represented for Alphonse Daudet, as for the other writers of his generation, the incontestable master of the Pantheon of the arts. His benevolent attention runs through Daudet's work, often listed side by side with Rousseau, Byron, Sand and Delacroix.
If during Daudet's childhood and youth, Hugo, an exile of enormous stature in Guernsey, remained a distant ideal, "almost above humanity", his return to France allowed him finally to meet the master. Around 1875, just after his first works appeared, Alphonse and Julia Daudet were thus invited to Hugo's house; Hugo was living with Juliette Drouet at the time.
From then on, they become frequent visitors to the house right up to the poet's death. Hugo helped with the young Léon Daudet's education, his grandson Georges' best friend and, later, for a short while, Jeanne's husband.
In her Souvenirs d'un cercle littéraire [Memories of a Literary Circle], Julia Daudet talks of their friendship of ten years with "the idol of lyric France":
"I can see Victor Hugo at the end of his great table: the aged master, a little cut off, a little deaf, presiding with god-like silence, the little absences of a genius on the verge of immortality. His hair all white, his face colorful, and his eyes like an old lion's that would occasionally flash with ferocious bursts of force. He is listening to my husband and Catulle Mendès, between whom there is a very animated discussion on the subject of the youth and celebrity of famous men and their charm for women...During the debate, we moved through to the salon, with Hugo musing beside the fire, famous, omni-present and a demi-god, but perhaps still missing his youth a little, as Mme Drouet sleeps softly."
The friendship between this great Romantic writer and one of the masters of the nascent naturalist school is testimony to Hugo's sharpness who, even during his glory days, preserved a special and benevolent attention for modern literature, no matter how far removed it was from his own lyricism.

This inscription from Hugo to Daudet on a work considered - along with Le Pape [The Pope] and La Pitié suprême [The Supreme Compassion] - a "philosophical testament" by Henri Guillemin, resonates strongly, the passing of the writer's political and moral responsibilities to a devoted disciple.

Provenance: Alphonse Daudet, his sale at Sicklès (1990, IV, n°1200) then Philippe Zoummeroff's sale (2 Avril 2001).

An extract from Memories of a Literary Circle by Julia Daudet :
"How could I forget that first visit to his, in the rue de Clichy, in a modest apartment so out of proportion to his glory, to the image of his glory that we had, which would have filled entire palaces. He got up out of his chair beside the fire, opposite Madame Drouet, his old friend...I was shocked by how small he was but soon, after he had greeted me and begun talking to me, I felt him very big indeed, very intimidating. And this timidity that I felt then, I would always feel towards him, the result of my great admiration and respect, something akin to that for an absent god, that my parents had inculcated within me for inspired poets. I could never overcome that wobble in my voice whenever I would reply to his kind words, and I was shocked to hear women, over the course of almost ten years, when admitted to his presence, regale him with their personal matters and their everyday chatter.
That evening, when he had introduced me, all in a flutter, to Madame Drouet, she said to me with her most charming grace: 'This is the old people's bit, you know, and you're far too young for us. But Monsieur Victor Hugo will introduce you to his daughter-in-law, Madame Lockroy; only he is qualified to do so.'
So I was conducted to the other end of the room, of an average size, but which seemed to be cut in two by a table bearing a bronze elephant, most majestic - Chinese or Japanese, I think. In any case, it served to make two little most distinct groups which nonetheless communicated easily without blending one into the other.
At this moment of his return, Victor Hugo was feeling exulted and was full of stories which he told with an inexhaustible verve whenever politics did not invade his dinner table too much. And how graceful his welcome, what noble manners and what a fine grandfatherly smile under his hair, that I saw grow whiter and whiter as he approached eighty. All the poets used to come to the salon in the rue de Clichy, and later to the house in the Avenue d'Eylau. But was this change of scene really necessary? It seemed to be a step down in the health and then in the spirits of the grand old man. And yet, he always loved to host his friends and the welcome in this open house was not the least of its charms for, gathered around the table, garnished at one end with the Master's two grandchildren, the company still looked for direction from their host's eyes and he himself sometimes struck a vein of memories so vibrant, so wonderfully recounted, that we were all bowled over the entire evening. Mme Drouet grew quietly older beside him, covered by two bandanas whose aspect was a little faded and melodramatic, right up until the day where a merciless illness broke her delicate beauty and made her the suffering effigy painted by Bastien Lepage, who died under the same tortures. Towards the end, the Master would glance sadly at her empty plate and noble, ravaged face during these intimate dinners.
'Madame Drouet, you're not eating, you must eat, take heart.'
Eat! She was dying. Did he know it? Was the great old man, so strong and so hardy, trying to fool himself, as he saw his companion of fifty years go?
In the big living room, a handsome portrait by Bonnat hung, with a paternal attitude, and an immense bust by David presided. The little living room was decorated with striped and colored wallpaper, which seemed to have been chosen for Dona Sol. In the garden connected to the verandah by a platform of two steps, Leconte de Lisle, Meurice and Vacquerie, Paul de Saint-Victor, the smiling Banville reappeared, Flaubert and Goncourt talked, Mallarmé, Léon Cladel, François Coppée, Catulle Mendès, and Clovis Hugues, shadows in a vanished Eden. Then there were Léon Glaize, Gustave Rivet, Pierre Elzéar, and tiny Mme Michelet distributing roses at a party, as well as ambassadors, diplomats, the Emperor of Brasil, and painters, sculptors, and so many politicians I can't remember all their names!
These are my direct impressions of one of the soirees we attended, Alphonse Daudet and I, one snowy evening, when our horse stumbled three times during the trip over as we were crossing the Esplanade des Invalides:
I can see Victor Hugo at the end of his great table: the aged master, a little cut off, a little deaf, presiding with god-like silence, the little absences of a genius on the verge of immortality. His hair all white, his face colorful, and his eyes like an old lion's that would occasionally flash with ferocious bursts of force. He is listening to my husband and Catulle Mendès, between whom there is a very animated discussion on the subject of the youth and celebrity of famous men and their charm for women. Alphonse holds that in a salon full of all sorts of talented people of all ages a very young man, the unknown author, the overlooked poet will get female attention if he is handsome. Catulle Mendes answers that he would, firstly, remain unnoticed, and that all women went in for celebrity, which seems to me more correct. Fortunately, women not only have the eyes in their heads, but also the eyes of their souls and their hearts. For intellectual women, the looks of an artist or a great poet don't matter - it's the reflective aspect, the tormented features of a man who lives his emotions. They go for talent, to suffering that passes, and they hardly think about physical beauty. Now you could say that they seek out famous authors motivated by personal ambition, but the other feeling, that attracts them to tempting youths, seems to me even less respectable.
And I laugh at the pretention of these two charming debaters in labeling and analyzing us. Talking about 'women' is like talking about 'birds': there are so many different species and types, whose song and feathers are so completely different!
During the debate, we moved through to the salon, with Hugo musing beside the fire, famous, omni-present and a demi-god, but perhaps still missing his youth a little, as Mme Drouet sleeps softly. Her fair white hair covers her delicate head like the two wings of a dove, and the buttons of her blouse follow the pattern of the soft, almost resigned, breathing of an old woman sleeping.

It was soon after this evening that that great gathering took place in which all Paris marched past, on the Avenue d'Eylau, the windows of this little bedroom that was now home to a deathbed, in May 1885, full of roses and plainly furnished, as it is represented in the Victor Hugo Museum in a room in the poet's former apartment on the Place Royale.
Very evocative, this old corner of the Marais, especially if we consider that Victor Hugo wrote almost all his historical works there. We can picture the poet at work in the early morning hours, to which he kept, the high windows of the houses all identical and in the same style, stretching all the way around the square, guarding the memory of the tournaments, the duels, promenades and uprisings of several generations now vanished beneath these thick, ancient arcades, which keep no trace of fleeting humankind.
We had dinner at Victor Hugo's house the week before he died. He told us as we were coming in, more pale that usual, and tottering as he walked:
'I'll be going soon, I can feel it'. Then he squeezed Georges' shoulder: 'Without this one, I would have gone long ago.'
I will never forget his slightly solemn and prophetic tone - I was struck by a sadness and presentiment. I felt the dispersal of this unique centre of the world that could never come together again!"

First edition, of which there were no large paper copies.

Complete with dj (slightly sunned at edges of spine and covers), small tears to head of upper cover. 
Handsome autograph inscription, signed and dated by Canetti to Raymond Queneau : " Für Raymond Queneau aus Freude über eine unerwartete Begegnung, Juni 1951 [for Raymond Queneau, the pleasure of an unexpected meeting, June 1951]".

Autograph postcard signed by Albert Einstein to Ludwig Hopf. 18 lines written verso and recto, address also in Einstein's handwriting. Postmarked June 21, 1910. 

Published in The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, Volume 5: The Swiss Years: Correspondence, 1902-1914, Princeton University Press, 1993, n°218, p. 242.

An exceptional and highly aesthetic card from Albert Einstein to "the friend of the greatest geniuses of his time" - according to Schrödinger - mathematician and physicist Ludwig Hopf, who introduced Einstein to another 20^th-century genius: Carl Jung.
The master invites his pupil Hopf to a dinner party, whose guests include scientist Max Abraham, future great rival during Einstein's Zurich years and a fervent opponent of his theory of relativity.

The recipient Ludwig Hopf joined Einstein in 1910 as an assistant and student at his physics and kinetic theory seminars at the University of Zürich. They signed two fundamental papers on the statistical aspects of radiation and gave their names to the "Einstein-Hopf" velocity-dependent drag force. Their letter exchanges retrace the complex path of Einstein's work on relativity and gravitation, bearing witness to their great complicity and Hopf's invaluable contribution to the Master's research. A few months after writing the postcard, Hopf even found an error in Einstein's calculations of the derivatives of certain velocity components which Einstein corrected in a paper the following year. They also formed a musical duo – Hopf accompanied on the piano the Master's violin, performing pieces by great musical geniuses like Bach and Mozart.
With this card, Einstein invited his pupil and friend Hopf to dinner with Max Abraham, at the dawn of a major scientific controversy that would pit them against each other from 1911 onwards. Abraham's theory of special relativity failed to convince Einstein, who criticized its lack of observational verification and its failure to predict the gravitational curvature of light. In 1912, their dispute became public through scientific articles. Abraham never acknowledged the validity of Einstein's theory.

During their brilliant artistic and intellectual exchanges, Hopf undoubtedly succeeded where Freud had failed, as he declared to him in a letter: "I shall break with you if you boast of having converted Einstein to psychoanalysis. A long conversation I had with him a few years ago showed me that analysis was as hermetic to him as the theory of relativity can be to me" (Vienna, September 27, 1931). As a fervent supporter of psychoanalysis, Hopf is known to have introduced the famous psychoanalyst Carl Jung to Einstein. Hopf and his teacher both left for Prague's Karl-Ferdinand University in 1911, where they met writer Franz Kafka and his friend Max Brod in Madame Fanta's salon.
With the rise of the Nazi regime, the fates of the two theoreticians were plagued by persecution and exile. Einstein first took refuge in Belgium, Hopf in Great Britain after his dismissal in 1934 from the University of Aachen because of his Jewish origins. They continued their prolific correspondence in the midst of the turmoil, Einstein suggesting to Hopf the opening of a university abroad for exiled German students. Hopf died shortly after his appointment as chair of Mathematics studies at Trinity College Dublin in July 1939.

A precious invitation from the great physicist to one of the final dinner gatherings of the "old school" of science embodied by Max Abraham, on the eve of the publication of the theory of general relativity which would overturn classical conceptions of space and time and propel Science into the 20th century.

First edition, one of the review copies.

Slight sunning at head and foot of spine, without seriousness.

Precious signed presentation from Francis Ponge: "Pour Marthe et Henri Calet leur ami. Francis Ponge."

Signed letter hand-written by Charles Baudelaire, written in paper pencil, addressed to his mother. Dry-stamped headed paper from the Grand Hôtel Voltaire, Faubourg Saint-Germain. Madame Aupick's address in Honfleur (Calvados) in the author's hand, as well as several postage stamps dated 13 and 14 July 1858. Some highlighting, crossing out and corrections by the author. Signs of a wax seal with Charles Baudelaire's initials in pencil, likely written by the author. A small section of paper from the second leaf has been removed, without affecting the text.
This letter was published for the first time in the Revue de Paris on 15 September 1917.
Former collection Armand Godoy, n° 102.
Precious document, testimony of a decisive moment in the poet's life : the reconcilliation with now widowed Aupick, this sacred mother “qui hante le cœur et l'esprit de son fils,” “who haunts the heart and spirit of her son.”

First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Revue de Paris dated 15 February 1906.

Émile Boutmy was the founder of the École libre des sciences politiques, which would later become the Institut d'études politiques de Paris, now widely known as Sciences Po.

Wrappers slightly toned at the margins, inevitable minor edge tears and small losses consistent with the fragile nature of the pamphlet.

Inscribed and signed by Lucien Lévy-Bruhl: "A Emile Durkheim, affectueusement, L.L.B."

First edition, an advance (service de presse) copy.
Covers and spine very skillfully repaired.
Handsome autograph inscription from Pierre Drieu La Rochelle to Henri Béraud.

First edition, one of the review copies.
Bradel binding in full wood-patterned boards, smooth spine, red morocco title-piece, covers and spine preserved, binding signed by Thomas Boichot.

A fine copy, handsomely bound.
Precious autograph presentation signed by Jacques Chardonne to Henri Béraud.

First edition.
Elegant half navy blue morocco over marbled paper boards by Pierre-Lucien Martin, spine in six compartments with gilt fillets to bands and geometric decoration of red morocco onlays, date gilt at foot of spine, gilt fillet to boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt dentelle frame to pastedowns, covers and spine preserved, top edge gilt.

A very good copy in a handsome binding. 
Exceptional autograph inscription from Claude Farrère : "A Pierre Louÿs son très petit disciple [To Pierre Louÿs, his very humble disciple]", along with Chinese ideograms.

First edition, one of 1,200 numbered copies on alfa paper, the only large paper copies after 50 on Marais.

Spine very slightly faded as usual.
Handsome autograph inscription signed by Henri Michaux to Raymond Queneau.

First edition, an advance (service de presse) copy.
Half mustard-colored morocco over marbled paper boards by P. Goy & C. Vilaine, spine in six compartments, brown paper endpapers and pastedowns, covers and spine (sunned) preserved, top edge gilt.
Handsome autograph inscription signed by Robert Desnos to Colette Clément, whose name he plays on: "A Madame Colette Clément / Clément Marot non Jacques Clément (ces mots barrés) / non / hommage de l'auteur Robert Macaire."
Ex libris of recipient pasted in underneath justification.

First edition on ordinary paper.
Half red morocco over marbled paper boards, spine lightly sunned in six compartments, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, covers and spine preserved, top edge gilt.

One top corner very slightly rubbed.
Handsome autograph inscription by Charles Maurras : "A madame Colette Willy, en souvenir de la cocarde."

First edition, one of the press copies.
Half brown shagreen binding, smooth spine with gilt floral panels, gilt initials C.T. at foot, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, covers preserved, gilt edges, one upper corner slightly rubbed, binding dating from some years later.
Inscribed by Charles Terrasse (son of Claude) in ink at the head of a flyleaf.

Discreet restorations to the joints.
Precious presentation copy signed and inscribed by Alfred Jarry: "A Claude Terrasse son admirateur et son ami. Alf. Jarry" [his admirer and friend]

 

First edition, a Service de Presse (advance) copy.
Some worming to margins of covers.
Precious autograph inscription signed by Marcel Aymé: "A monsieur Valery Larbaud en sincère hommage. Marcel Aymé." ["To Mr. Valery Larbaud with sincere homage. Marcel Aymé."]
 

First edition of which there were no grand papier (deluxe) copies, an advance (service de presse) copy.
Bradel binding, spine slightly faded with a small spot to head, small stains on the covers, covers and spine preserved,
Contemporary binding signed by M.P. Trémois.
Exceptional and handsome autograph inscription signed by André Breton to Man Ray: “à Man Ray, dans la lumière qu'il a recréée, de tout cœur. André Breton” (“To Man Ray, in the light that he recreated, with all my heart. André Breton”)