Literature

First edition of L’Atlantide on Japanese vellum

First edition of L’Atlantide.
One of 50 copies printed on Japanese vellum.

Paris, 1919.

BENOIT, Pierre. L’Atlantide.
Paris, Albin Michel, 1919.

8vo [184 x 118 mm] of 350 pp., (1) l. of table.
Bound in full red straight-grained morocco, five gilt filets on covers, spine ribbed and decorated with blind-stamped and gilt filets on the panels and with dot filets on the bands, gilt stamped date on the foot of the spine, green morocco doublures decorated with a gilt filet on the border, red, pink and gilt marbled endleaves, gilt over untrimmed edges, yellow printed wrappers and spine preserved. Case. Binding signed by Maylander.

First edition of the second novel by Pierre Benoit, one of only 220 copies printed.
Talvart, I, p. 363.

Copy n°19, one of 50 copies printed on Japanese vellum.

The second novel of Pierre Benoit, L’Atlantide confirmed his success after Koenigsmark. This novel was received as a return to the « novelistic novel », which manages to make the reader dream and to give him a total feeling of change of scene.

« Pierre Benoit puts in context here a princess of legend, the bewitching Antinéa, descendent of the ancient Atlanteans, who attracts in her palace of the Hoggar the travelers of the desert to intoxicate them with love, make them die and collect next to her their mummies. It is in this place of enchantment and mystery, where a primitive charm is combined with the subtle refinements of culture that two officers arrive one day, Saint Avit and Morhange, lost during a Saharan expedition. » (Dictionnaire des Œuvres, I, 291)

A precious copy, on of 50 copies printed on Japanese vellum, finely bound with its yellow printed wrappers in a morocco binding with morocco doublures.

Provenance: Georges Donckier de Donceel’s collection with ex libris.

Price: 3 500 €

Victor Hugo’s poetry in politics’ service

Victor Hugo’s poetry in politics’ service.

Guernesey, 1867.

HUGO, Victor. La Voix de Guernesey.
Guernesey, de l’imprimerie de T.-M. Bichard, 1867.

32mo [127 x 90 mm] of 16 pp. printed on very thin paper. Bound in red half morocco, flat spine with gilt title, date gilt-stamped on the foot of the spine. 20th century binding signed by Le Douarin.

Rare first edition printed to be illegally sent to France.
Clouzot p. 92; Carteret, I, 423.

« Quite rare. Printed on silk paper to be illegally sent to France. » (Clouzot)

« There is every indication that it is this edition, printed on very thin paper, without place or date, which has been sent under cover to France ». (Carteret).

« In 1867, Garibaldi, encouraged since a long time by Victor Hugo, takes the initiative in putting an end to the temporal power of the Pope and to give back Rome to the almost unified Italy. But France still protects the Pope, and is not ready to let the initiative to Garibaldi: the latter is arrested at the end of September, then placed under house arrest, at home in Caprera, a small island of the north-east of Sardinia. However he manages to escape and with four thousand men, launches an offensive on Rome at the end of October. Napoleon III decides to send a division, led by the general de Failly, to protect the Papal States: it disembarks on October 28th in Civitavecchia. Much larger and better equipped than Garibaldi’s troops, it wins a riskless victory in Mentana, a small town to the east of Rome, on November 3rd and 4th: six hundred Italians are killed, compared to twenty Papal soldiers and two French soldiers. Garibaldi, arrested again is sent back to Caprera.
When Victor Hugo learns the disaster of Mentana, he writes in three days a long poem that he entitles La Voix de Guernesey. 326 verses in three days, it is a good average. Working on ‘L’Homme qui rit’, Victor Hugo was in a prose period, and according to the chronology, had not written poems in four months. In his agenda, he emphasizes discreetly this feat: ‘ –  I ended today on November 18th the thing entitled La Voix de Guernesey. November 16th. 17th. 18th. Three days.’ […]
On December 11th, a run of 500 copies printed at Thomas Mauger Bichard’s are brought to Victor Hugo. The pamphlet, without wrappers, that has for sole title La Voix de Guernesey, is a 32mo of 16 pages; at the verso of the title is the following inscription: De l’Imprimerie de T.-M. Bichard, rue du Bordage, Guernesey. One hundred copies in gallery proof copies printed in Guernesey and that Victor Hugo names the proofs have been sent to Brussels on November 23rd and will be used as example for the publication of La Voix de Guernesey in the newspapers. […]
After the exile, Victor Hugo will not ever integrate ‘La Voix de Guernesey’ into a poem collection. He will not publish it again before the publication of the second part of Actes et paroles, in 1875; taking up the section VIII of the year 1867, it will be renamed « Mentana ». But this publication will not be complete, the last ten verses of the fifth section, particularly anticlerical, being replaced by lines of dots. It is not until 1883 and the second part of Actes et paroles so that La Voix de Guernesey finally reappears in its entirety.
This piece has an obvious political status. The poem is divided in eight parts of unequal sizes but of similar construction, alexandrine blocks separated by a few line breaks:
I/ Mentana après la bataille, férocité du pape, honte des Français; II/ Responsabilité et hypocrisie du pape; III/ Règne du mal sur la terre, confusion du bien et du mal; IV/ Cynisme de la société et du pape; V/ Invitation de Victor Hugo à Garibaldi; VI/ Ce que Garibaldi aurait pu faire pour l’Italie; VII/ Le vrai responsable: Napoléon III, contraste entre la fête impériale et le champ de bataille; VIII/ Appel au réveil du peuple. »
(Claude Millet, Hugo et la guerre, Paris-2002, pp. 208-212).

At the end the work is dated: « Hauteville House, Novembre 1867 ». Hauteville House is the house of exile that Victor Hugo bought for himself in Guernesey in 1856.

An interesting copy of this fragile pamphlet in which Hugo asserts his political commitment, one of the rare copies which have come down to us.

Our researches allowed us to locate only 3 copies in all the public libraries of the world: in France, only the B.n.F. owns one, another one is preserved at the British Library, and a last one at the Yale University Library.

Price: € 3 000

First edition of the enigma of the Masque de Fer

First editions of two novels from the 18th century: « Le masque de fer » of C. de Mouhy and
« L’Histoire indienne » of la Dixmerie in very attractive contemporary condition.

1747-1759.

MOUHY, Charles de. Le masque de fer ou les Avantures admirables du père et du fils (six parties).
The Hague, Piere de Handt, 1747.
Followed with : LA DIXMERIE. Livre d’airain. Histoire Indienne.
Paris, 1759.

A total of 2 volumes 12mo [139 x 81 mm]. Brown marbled calf, blind-stamped gilt filet on covers, spines ribbed and decorated with gilt fleurons, red edges. Contemporary binding.

First editions of these two historical novels published under the reign of Louis XV.

The first one, dedicated to the countess de Tremes, presents the romanticized episodes of this “so peculiar and so interesting story” of the enigma of the Masque de Fer which excited the minds in the middle of the 18th century.

The first mention that has been made of the prisoner with the iron mask appears in a small anonymous book: « Mémoires secrets pour servir à l’histoire de Perse » (Amsterdam, 1745). This prisoner transferred from the citadel of Ormus (Island Ste Marguerite) to the one of Ispahan (the Bastille) is nobody else but the count de Vermandois, son of Louis XIV and of Miss de la Vallière, incarcerated for slapping in the face the Dauphin and who was passed off as dead because of plague. Voltaire himself tackles this enigma in « Le siècle de Louis XIV » published in 1751.

« Few months after Mazarin’s death, an unknown prisoner, of a height taller than usual, young and with the most beautiful and noble face was sent in the greatest secret to the castle of the Island Ste Marguerite.
This prisoner was wearing a mask which chin strap had steel springs that let him the freedom to eat with the mask on his face.
The order was to kill him if he took it off. He stayed on the island until a reliable officer, named Saint-Mars, governor of Pignerol, appointed governor of the Bastille in 1690 went to take him in the Island Ste Marguerite and brought him to the Bastille, still masked. The marquis de Louvois went to see him before the transfer and talked to him standing with a consideration that could be considered as respect. This anonymous was taken to the Bastille. He was refused nothing. His greatest taste was for linen of an extraordinary delicacy and for laces. He played the guitar. He was having the biggest chair and the governor rarely sat in front of him.
This stranger died in 1703 and was buried at night at the parish of Saint Paul.

Voltaire came back to this question in the seventh edition of his « Dictionnaire encyclopédique », article Ana. He let his editor insert this note that was probably his: “The man with the iron mask was probably an elder brother of Louis XIV. Louis XIII was not living with the queen anymore. The queen might have imagined that it was her fault that no heir was coming for Louis XIII. The birth of the man with the iron mask made her realize her mistake … the queen and the cardinal, both concerned by the necessity to hide from Louis XIII the existence of the man with the iron mask, would have raised him in secret. This secret would have remained until Mazarin’s death.”

Louis XIV judged he couldn’t use a fairer and wiser mean than the one he used to ensure peace and quietness to the state.

This very fine first edition is decorated on each of the six titles printed in red, with different engraved borders.

Bound after, the attractive novel of Bricaire de la Dixmerie, Le Livre d’Airain or Histoire Indienne is preceded with Voltaire’s quote: « que de faibles ressorts font d’illustres destins ».

A very attractive collection of two novels from the 18th century covered with a fine and fresh contemporary binding with particularly decorative spines.

Price: € 3 500

Poems of a great Portuguese poet

Very rare first edition of this Portuguese collection of poems from the 16th century
by “the Prince of pastoral poetry”.

Lisbon, 1594.

BERNARDEZ, Diogo. Varias rimas ao bom Iesus, e a Virgem Gloriosa sua May, e a sanctos particulares. Com outras mais de honesta & proueitosa liçao. Dirigidas ao mesmo Iesus, senhor e salva. Dor nosso. Por Dioguo Bernardez.
Lisbon, Simao Lopez, 1594.

4to [190 x 127 mm], (4) ff., 108. Small restoration on the title-page.
Bound in full green straight-grained morocco, triple gilt fillet on covers, spine ribbed and decorated, inner gilt border, edges gilt. Binding signed Lortic Fils.

Extremely rare first edition of Diego Bernardez’ earliest collection of poems.
Brunet, I, 795 ; Libros antiguos Portuguezes, n°235.

“Diogo Bernardes (1530-1596) was a native of Ponte de Lima, and is called by Machado the Prince of Pastoral Poetry. M. Southey also has named him as one of the best of the Portuguese poets, and as being passionately fond of the scenery of the river Lyma. When Sebastian meditated the conquest of Africa, he selected Bernardes as the poet who should accompany him, and record, in a heroic poem, the victories and deeds of valour by which the conquest was to be ensured. He was taken   prisoner, and, in beautiful language, contrasts his then state with his former happiness. He obtained his liberty, and died at Lisbon in 1596.” (Bibliotheca Lusitana, 82).

The “Varias rimas” are the first of the three collections of poems published by Bernardez. It contains sonnets, elegies, epigrams, stanzas, eclogues, odes, songs, some of which are written in Spanish (pp.15 to 22).
The poet composed these verses between 1578 and 1581, while he is kept prisoner in North Africa.
Indeed, since the death of the King Sebastian of Portugal, the poet is imprisoned in Morocco. In the “Varias rimas”, he remembers his Portuguese homeland; he remembers he left everything to go to war. He recalls the king’s courage, he grieves over his death.

This poet is part of the most important Portuguese mannerists. He lived and wrote in two literary languages, Portuguese and Castilian. He wrote three volumes of poems. The Varias rimas (Lisbon, 1594), are mainly a collection of “pious rhymes” inspired by religious feelings and by the author’s captivity in North Africa.

A fine copy of this very rare 16th Century collection of poems, nicely bound by Lortic Fils in straight-grained green morocco.

The B.n.F. only owns a later edition of this work. This first edition isn’t present in any French Library.
We couldn’t locate a copy of this original edition in any International Libraries through OCLC.

Provenance: Vicente Salva (catalogue, n°462), Ricardo Heredia (Paris, 1892, n°2186 : « Edition originale de toute rareté de ces poésies portugaises ; on y rencontre en outre quelques pièces en espagnol. Diego Bernardez est un des poètes portugais les plus estimés, et l’Académie de Lisbonne le cite pour l’élégance de son style ») ; Jeronimo Ferreira Das Neves (ex libris).

Price: € 13 500

An admirable popular illustration of Rabelais

An admirable popular illustration of Rabelais’ works.

RABELAIS, François. La plaisante, et joyeuse histoyre du grand Geant Gargantua. Prochainement reveue & de beaucoup augmentée par l’Auheur mesme.
-Second livre de Pantagruel, Roy des Dipsodes […] Plus les merveilleuses navigations du disciple de Pantagruel, dict Panurge.
-Tiers livre des faictz, et dictz heroiques du noble Pantagruel, composés par M. Franç. Rabelais […]
Valence, chez Claude La Ville, 1547.

3 parts in 1 volume 16 mo [112 x 73 mm] of: I/ 246 pp. and 58 figures; II/ 320 pp. and 50 figures; III/ 349 pp. and 59 figures.

Red full morocco, double gilt fillet on covers, gilt fleuron in the centre, spine ribbed and decorated with gilt fillets and fleurons, wide inner gilt border, gilt edges. Signed Capé.

A beautiful copy of this precious counterfeit of Claude La ville’s edition, printed towards 1600.
Brun, p. 280 ; Plan 85 ; Brunet, IV, 1051-1052 ; Tchemerzine, V, p. 297.

On the title, a grotesque vignette depicts singers (40 x 50 mm).
Besides that, the illustration is composed of a set of 167 vignettes in the style of Lyons, a classic example of popular imagery. Many of them seem to have been especially engraved.
The copy described by Brun in Le livre français illustré de la Renaissance only had 104 vignettes instead of the 167 present in this copy.

The quality of the issue is a lot better than in the first edition.
« In this counterfeit, the figures are a little more sharper compared to the original »
emphasizes Brunet.
Pp. 215 to 233 of the 2nd part present the Pantagrueline Prognostication, while the end of the same part is dedicated to Voyage & Navigation que fist Panurge, disciple de Pantagruel, aux Isles incongneues & estranges. Pp. 281 to 349 of the 3rd part contain the Quart livre, with the prologue and the first 11 chapters of the fourth book. This text shows few differences with the complete editions of the same book.

A very beautiful copy of this book printed in round characters and admirably illustrated in the popular manner of that time.

Price: € 13 000

The Kehl’s edition of the Mariage de Figaro enriched with a series of figures engraved

The Kehl’s edition of the Mariage de Figaro.
An exceptional copy enriched with the series of figures engraved for the first edition.

Paris, 1785.

Beaumarchais, Pierre-Augustin Caron de. La Folle Journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro, Comédie en cinq actes, en prose. Représentée pour la première fois, par les Comédiens français ordinaires du Roi, le mardi 27 avril 1784.De l’Imprimerie de la Société Littéraire-Typographique ; Paris, Ruault, 1785.

Large 8vo [250 x 160 mm], of LI pp., (1) p., 199 pp., (1) p. for 2 approvals, (1) l. for the errata.
Bound in blue morocco, border fillets in the style of Duseuil on covers, gilt fleurons at the corners, spine ribbed richly decorated with gilt fleurons and dotted fillets, inner gilt border, and gilt edges. Binding signed Perreau.

Second original edition of Le Mariage de Figaro, known as Kehl’s edition, the finest among old editions.

This edition was printed in Kehl by Beaumarchais, with the types he used for Voltaire’s works.
Tchemerzine, I, p. 492 ; Cohen 124-126 ; Le Petit pp. 568-570.

It contains the same approval (Janurary 25th 1785) and the same printing licence ( January 31st, 1785) as the first edition.

« The first edition was published without figures. Immediately after, five plates drawn by St Quentin were added, of which the first four were engraved by Malapeau and the fifth by Roi. As a result, we can find some copies with the figures, and others without […].
The edition printed in Khel with the types used for Voltaire’s works contains the same five figures drawn by St Quentin for the first edition, but taller, more beautiful and engraved by Liénard (1st, 3rd and 5th act), (2nd act) by Halbou, (4th act) by Lingée. »
Tchemerzine

This copy has been exceptionally enriched with the series of engravings originally produced for the first edition.

This copy is not only illustrated with the 5 engravings made by Liénard, Halbou and Lingée for this edition, but also with the series known as Malapeau’s, engraved for the first edition.

This volume was also enriched with the author’s portrait drawn by Cochin and engraved by St Aubin.

A precious wide-margined copy, exceptionally enriched with the series of figures engraved for the first edition and with a portrait of the author.

Price: €4 500

Exceptional copy dedicated by Jean Paul Sartre to Simone de Beauvoir

1908-2008: we are celebrating the centenary of the birth of Simone de Beauvoir
by presenting an exceptional copy of Situations II from Sartre
which testifies to the unique relationship of this legendary couple.

SARTRE, Jean Paul. Situations, II.
[Paris], Gallimard, 1948.

8 vo [187 x 107 mm], 330 pp., (6). Sewed, untrimmed.

One of 5 copies printed on velin pur fil navarre (marked E) from a total edition of 1109, the second paper after 14 copies printed on velin de Hollande.

“Situation II (1948) assembles three texts: “Présentation des Temps modernes”, “La nationalisation de la littérature” and “Qu’est-ce que la littérature?” all published between 1945 and 1947 and all about the role of literature in society. “Présentation des Temps modernes” is the manifest of this review, which Sartre created in 1945. Sartre expounds his plans and his intentions.“La nationalisation de la littérature” exposes the situation of literature after the war. Literature played an important part during the Resistance, that’s why we tend to consider it as a national property, as an official speech. (…)
The most important article of this collection ”Qu’est-ce que la littérature?” was published in the “Temps modernes” in 1947. Sartre analyses his matter in three questions, “Qu’est-ce qu’écrire?” (“What is it to write?”), « Pourquoi écrire? » (“Why to write?”), “Pour qui écrit-on?” (« Who do we write for? »), that form the three parts of this work, ended with a fourth survey, “Situation de l’écrivain en 1947” (“Situation of the writer in 1947”). In the first part, “Qu’est-ce qu’écrire?” (“What is it to write?”) Sartre underlines the specificity of literature in comparison with other arts. Literature is responsible for the senses that it develops (…). The writer has to be fully aware of his means and his intentions, which leads to the question: “Pourquoi écrire?“ (“Why to write?”) . First of all the writer writes to be read. (…) Writing refers to a lecture, which leads to this third question: “Pour qui écrit-on?” (« Who do we write for? »). Sartre insists on the contradictions caused to the writer by his usually “bourgeois” origins and the universality to which he aspires: he wants to apply to everybody. […] In the last part, “Situation de l’écrivain en 1947” (“Situation of the writer in 1947”), Sartre defines in a more precise way the role of the French writer.” (Dictionnaire des Oeuvres, VI, 154).

Exceptional copy dedicated by the author to Simone de Beauvoir. Jean-Paul Sartre judiciously used the term “Situations” of the half-title to write a very personal dedication: “To Simone in remembrance of all the painful or pleasant [Situations] in which we found ourselves together with best wishes from Jean-Paul.”

It was in 1929 that Simone and Sartre met at the Sorbonne and began their communal life as well as their permanent collaboration and intellectual dialogue, which lasted for over fifty years. The couple Beauvoir-Sartre represents an ideal: this unique relationship relies on the respect of each other freedom and on the intellectual equanimity of the two lovers. This couple put his stamp on the 20th century and continues to fascinate.

Price: € 12 000

“The most famous Spanish book after Don Quixote”

“The most famous Spanish book after Don Quixote”.

ROJAS, Fernando de. Célestine en laquelle est Traicte des deceptions des serviteurs envers leurs Maistres et des Macqurelles envers les Amoureux.
Paris, Nicolas Barbou, 1542.

8vo [150 x 99 mm], (176) ff. Old handwritten inscription on the final blank.
Bound in full old vellum, handwritten title on spine. Old handwritten inscription on front cover.

Third edition in french of “Celestine”.

After Don Quixote, the present work is the most famous Spanish book in the world. It had a great influence on theatre and novels.

This masterpiece by Fernando de Rojas was very successful at the court of Francis I.

Rojas (1450-1510) was a Spanish writer and jurist. He wrote his book while he was a law student in Salamanca.

This brilliant work was published in 1499 in Burgos. Originally composed of 16 acts, the work was reissued in 1501 and 1502, and it took its final form in the 1514 edition, composed of 22 acts.

The present work had a lot of influence on theatre and Romance.

This rare edition is illustrated with 17 woodcuts showing the various characters of the novel.

A very nice copy preserved in its old limp vellum.

Price: €25 000

The true first edition of the Diaboliques

The true first edition of the Diaboliques, forbidden by the law.

BARBEY D’AUREVILLY, Jules. Les Diaboliques.
Paris, E. Dentu, 1874.

12mo [188 x 120 mm], sewed. Wrapper slightly stained.

Precious first edition of one of Barbey d’Aurevilly’s most famous works.
Vicaire, I, 305 ; Carteret, I, 110.

The present work is much sought-after. Most copies bear the indication « Deuxième édition » on the cover and are less valuable.

From the 2200 printed copies of the first edition, 480 were destroyed by the author and the editor further to the proceedings started by the public prosecutor’s office.

One of the precious literary first editions from the 19th Century.

A good wide-margined copy preserved as issued in its original wrappers.

Price: €5 000

Very rare first edition of Joubert’s Pensées

One of only 50 copies from the much sought-after first edition of Joubert’s Pensées,
printed by Chateaubriand, the author’s intimate friend,
and saved for his nearest and dearest.

JOUBERT, Joseph. Recueil des pensées de M. Joubert.
Paris, Imprimerie Le Normant, 1838.

8vo [200 x 125 mm], 394 pp., (1) bl.l. Bound in contemporary blue half-calf, flat spine.

Very rare first edition, one of only very few copies printed. Joubert died in 1824 and on Mrs. Joubert’s request, Chateaubriand made a selection among the author’s papers in order to publish the present collection that was distributed to his friends. This first edition is very rare.
(Escoffier, Le Mouvement romantique, p. 294, Clouzot 161).

Very rare first edition limited to 50 copies printed.

The owner of the present copy had the Sentiments de Napoléon sur la divinité de Jésus-Christ by the Chevalier de Beauterne bound at the end of his volume. This owner also wrote on the first endleaf a long bibliographical note about this rare edition of Joubert’s works.

A fine copy saved for one of the author’s friends, without foxing, preserved in its contemporary half-binding.

Provenance: ex libris Elie Petit.

The only copy of this work recorded in ABPC was sold for 23 000 F at Sotheby’s Monaco in 1989, that is to say 3 500 € 18 years ago.

Among French institutions, the B.n.F. is the only one to own a copy of this first edition.
OCLC doesn’t list any copy.

Price: €7 500