//Mid-20th Century
  • Publisher's flapped folder of black velvet paper with dark green embossed vignette, 494 x 325 mm, with a pink limitation label inside the front cover and a printed spade with 'FIN" inside the back cover; a set of 13 lithographs signed Santippa, 936; 480 x 310 mm each, twelve in black and one (title) coloured with sanguine. Limited edition of 250 copies, 1-100 printed on Hollande and 150 on Japon; this is copy № 127.

    Titles: Rêverie, Gaspillage, Exagération, Simplicité, Gourmandise, Abondance, Violence, Fantaisie, Faiblesse, Curiosité, Obligeance, Surprise.

    Contributors:

    Gaston Hoffmann [Santippa] (French, 1883 – 1977)

  • Description: Original tan French flapped wrappers with black lettering to front, 22.7 x 14.5 cm, unbound, printed in b/w on thick wove unmarked paper with no plate mark (lithography?), collated in-4to, 1-94 102, total 38 leaves (2 leaves under front wrapper, 1 blank/limit., 1 h.t./blank, 1 t.p./blank, 31 leaves of illustrations printed on one side, 1 last blank, 1 under back wrapper); in a green marbled cardboard folder with lettered paper label to spine. Limitation: Edition limited to 200 copies on vélin de Rives, copies №№ 1-30 enriched with one original drawing, another 15 copies marked H. C. and numbered I-XV. This copy lacks the number, marked (handwritten) d’artiste A. C. (or H. C.) Catalogue raisonné: Dutel (1920-1970) № 2512, p. 388. Contributor: André Collot (French, 1897 – 1976) – artist.
  • 12 hand-coloured soft-ground etchings by André Collot, unbound, in a paper folder with pink lettering and vignette engraved on wood, with a title-page in black: JEUNESSE | 12 VERNIS MOUS COLORIÉS | tires à exemplaires | réservés aux Amis de l’Artiste | 1933 ||, in a frame. Edition: 1st edition, limited to 60 copies. Catalogue raisonné: Dutel 1920-70: 1786. There is another copy of the same with the cardboard folder SVE-0528.2023.
  • NEW
    Cardboard folder with title label to front, 23.5 x 26.3 cm, containing 12 hand-coloured soft-ground etchings by André Collot, unbound, in a paper folder with pink lettering and vignette engraved on wood, with a title-page in black: JEUNESSE | 12 VERNIS MOUS COLORIÉS | tires à exemplaires | réservés aux Amis de l’Artiste | 1933 || in a frame. First edition, limited to 60 copies. Dutel 1920-70: 1786. There is another copy of the same without the cardboard folder SVE-0469.2021.
  • Description: Suite of 16 hand-coloured drypoints, in 39 x 29 cm, in cream French flapped wrappers with lavender lettering “SYMPHONIES AMOUREUSES” and a sanguine drypoint vignette (platemark 15 x 13 cm) to front, 17 leaves plus 2 leaves in the wrappers, 38.5 x 57 cm vertically folded once, lettering to one page, plate to another page, unbound, only the top margin trimmed, unpaginated, wove paper watermarked "BFK Rives", in a faux chagrin double slipcase 39.8 x 30 cm. Title-page (in lavender and black): SYMPHONIES AMOUREUSES | Suite de seize gravures | à la pointe sèche | rehaussées | {blank} | imprimé aux dépens | de Bibliophiles et non mis dans le commerce || Titles of the plates : 1. Ouverture. 2. Gamme. 3. Rêverie. 4. Pas redoublé. 5 Fantasia. 6. Pastorale. 7. Estudiantina. 8. Presto. 9. Arpège. 10. Menuet. 11 .Symphonie médiévale. 12. Jeux d’eau. 13. Galop. 14. Impromptu. 15. Variation. 16. Ariette. Limitation: Print run of 100 copies, 5 copies on Japon Manchou, numbered №№ 1-5, enriched; 11 copies on vélin à la forme de Rives, numbered №№ 6-16, enriched; 84 copies on vélin à la forme de Rives, numbered №№ 17-100, of which this is copy № 32. Cat. raisonné: Dutel III, № 2478. Contributors: André Collot (French, 1897 – 1976) – artist, engraver.
  • Title page: {vignette} | The | MANIAC | ILLUSTRATED BY G. CHRISTOPHER HUDSON | NEW YORK   BOOKS FOR THE FEW   MCMXLI || Pagination: [1-6] 7-245 [246], full-page plates and in-text vignettes after Mahlon Blaine drawings. Edition: Limited edition of 1050 copies, this one unnumbered. Text – a reprint of the 1909 edition by Rebman (London); 1st edition, thus. Binding: 24 x 16 cm, black moire cloth, green label with black lettering “THE | MANIAC” to spine. Ink stamp “Charles M. Collins, Jr” to front pastedown. Contributors: E. Thelmar (British, fl. c. 1909) – author; a British journalist, who had been committed to an asylum in 1905; nothing else is known. G. Christopher Hudson [Mahlon Blaine] (American, 1894 – 1969) – artist. Books for the Few (NY) – publisher. Ref: TAYLOR, NICK. “Mahlon Blaine, John Steinbeck, and ‘The Maniac’ (1941).” The Steinbeck Review 9, no. 1 (2012): 73–84. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41582924.
  • Portfolio of 14 original watercolour illustrations for Vers Libres by Raymond Radiguet. Painted on wove paper of different sizes, each mounted in a passe-partout 39,5 x 33 cm and enclosed in a flapped portfolio with a white label to front cover lettered "14 études originales | pour | VERS LIBRES | de | Raymond Radiguet | par | ROJAN". For published versions, see:
    1. [LIB-2830.2021] Raymond Radiguet. Vers libres / [Illustrés par Rojan]. — Champigny: Au Panier Fleuri [i.e. Paris, René Bonnel, c. 1935].
    2. [LIB-2827.2021] Raymond Radiguet. Vers libres / Illustrés par Rojan. — Nogent: Au Panier Fleuri [i.e. Paris, c. 1937].
  • Title: IDYLLE | PRINTANIÈRE || Verso: {Headpiece} | Justification du tirage | {7 lines of text} | Exemplaire № 56 (digits by hand) | HP (monogram by hand) | {tailpiece} || Album of 30 hand-coloured lithographs and frontispiece in a cardboard folder; each sheet mounted in a 32.5 x 25 cm passepartout with 19 x 13 cm window; published in Paris in 1938 by Henri Pasquinelli (attributed). No artist, no publisher name indicated. According to Justification du tirage, the print run of 516 copies on Arches laid tinted paper (vergé), copy A – control artist’s uncoloured, 15 copies B–P reserved for collaborators and friends, copies 1–500 – for bibliophiles. This copy № 56, autographed by the publisher's monogram: "HP". Catalogue Raisonné: J.-P. Dutel, vol 2 (1920–1970), #1726, p. 207-8. Provenance: J.-P. Dutel.
  • Title page: Sheila Cousins | TO BEG | I AM ASHAMED | {publisher’s device} | THE OBELISK PRESS | 16, PLACE VENDOME | PARIS || Pagination: [2] – blanks (in wrapper), [4] – h.t. / blank, t.p. / publisher's note (to first impression) & copyright, [1] 2-270, [4] uncut (in wrapper) with imprint "Imprimerie Frère Tourcoing", total 280 pages. Collation: 8vo; [A]8 B-Q8 R4 S8; total 140 leaves. Binding: Publisher’s yellow wrappers, lettering to spine:| TO BEG | I AM | ASHAMED |—| SHEILA | COUSINS | 8th | IMPRESSION | {publisher’s device} |  THE | OBELISK PRESS | PARIS ||; lettered front wrapper in red and black: To beg | I am ashamed |—| by | Sheila Cousins |—| The autobiography | of a London prostitute | Only authorized edition | Complete and unexpurgated | {publisher’s device} | THE OBELISK PRESS ||, publisher’s device in red to back wrapper; margins untrimmed; in an owner slipcase. Edition: 1st edition, 8th impression, France, (in or after August 1838). Size: 19 x 14.5 cm. Contributors: Graham Greene (British, 1904 – 1991) – author. Ronald Matthews (British, 1903 – 1967) – author. The Obelisk Press (Paris) – publisher. Imprimerie Frère Tourcoing – printer. Compare to the presumably 1st impression of the same edition [LIB-2806.2021].
  • Title page: TO BEG | I AM ASHAMED | By | SHEILA COUSINS | KITABISTAN | ALLAHABAD || Pagination:[1-4] 5-285 [286] [2], total 288 pages. Collation: 8vo; [1]8 2-188; total 144 leaves. Binding: Publisher’s red cloth, black lettering to front cover and spine, price-clipped brown and grey dust jacket, lettered front: TO BEG | I AM ASHAMED | SHEILA | COUSINS |The authentic | autobiography | of a | LONDON | PROSTITUTE | KITABISTAN ||; annotation by Diana Frederics to the back. Size: 19 x 13 cm. Edition: 1st Indian edition. Contributors: Graham Greene (British, 1904 – 1991) – author. Ronald Matthews (British, 1903 – 1967) – author. Frances V. Rummell [pseudonym Diana Fredericks] (American, 1907 – 1969) – annotation author. Kitabistan (Allahabad, India) – publisher. J. K. Sharma at the Allahabad Law Journal Press – printer.
  • Title page: Sheila Cousins | TO BEG | I AM ASHAMED | THE VANGUARD PRESS • NEW YORK | 1938 || Pagination:[4] [1] 2-283 [284], total 288 pages. Collation: 8vo; [A]8 B-S8; total 144 leaves. Binding: Publisher’s blue buckram, black lettering to front cover and spine, price-clipped blue dust jacket, lettered front: To beg | I am ashamed |—| THE AUTHENTIC | AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A | LONDON | PROSTITUTE |—| by | Sheila Cousins ||; fore-edge untrimmed. Size: 19.5 x 13.5 cm. Edition: 1st American edition Contributors: Graham Greene (British, 1904 – 1991) – author. Ronald Matthews (British, 1903 – 1967) – author. The Vanguard Press, NY (1926 – 1988) – publisher.
  • Cover: To beg | I am ashamed | by | Sheila Cousins | An autobiography | of a London prostitute | Only authorized edition | Complete and unexpurgated | PUBLISHED IN PARIS || Title page: SHEILA COUSINS | TO BEG | I AM ASHAMED || Pagination:[4] 1-252], total 256 pages. Binding: Original wrappers, black lettering to front, spine, and back: Price in France and Continent 75 Frs. | Price in America Two Dollars |—| OPERA PRESS || Size: 20.2 x 14.5 cm. Edition: Pirated edition. Contributors: Graham Greene (British, 1904 – 1991) – author. Ronald Matthews (British, 1903 – 1967) – author. Opera Press (Paris) – publisher.
  • Title page: Sheila Cousins | TO BEG | I AM ASHAMED | {publisher’s device} | THE OBELISK PRESS | 16, PLACE VENDOME | PARIS || Pagination: [2] – blanks (in wrapper), [4] – h.t. / blank, t.p. / publisher's note & copyright, [1] 2-270, [4] uncut (in wrapper), total 280 pages. Collation: 8vo; [A]8 B-Q8 R4 S8; total 140 leaves. Binding: Publisher’s yellow wrappers, lettering to spine:| TO BEG | I AM | ASHAMED |—| SHEILA | COUSINS | {publisher’s device} |  THE | OBELISK PRESS | PARIS ||; lettered front wrapper in red and black: To beg | I am ashamed |—| by | Sheila Cousins |—| The autobiography | of a London prostitute | Only authorized edition | Complete and unexpurgated | {publisher’s device} | THE OBELISK PRESS ||, publisher’s device in red to back wrapper; margins untrimmed; in an owner slipcase. Edition: 1st edition, France, May (i.e. June) 1838; presumably the first impression. Size: 19 x 14.5 cm. Contributors: Graham Greene (British, 1904 – 1991) – author. Ronald Matthews (British, 1903 – 1967) – author. The Obelisk Press – publisher.
  • Softcover, 228 x 180 mm, tan French flapped wrappers with red lettering to front[1-4, owner’s glassine dustcover, top edge trimmed, printed on thick wove paper without a watermark; pp.: ffl [1-4 h.t., t.p.] 5-154 [2 blanks] colophon to back ffl recto, plus 12 plates with hand-coloured lithographs, extraneous to collation. Pencil and pigment drawing to h.t. signed “J. D’A” with gift manual inscription “A Monsieur et Madame Chalamel [sic] ce tardif mais sincère souvenir de sympathie”, signed “J et Y D’A.” Etching bookplate to front ffl recto: “EX LIBRIS PIERRE CHALLAMEL | JE FONCE DANS LE BROUILLARD”, signed “J A M” (Jean-Adrien Mercier). The signature J. D’A stands for Jean d’Angers, while Y D’A stands for Jean-Adrien’s wife Yvonne (1902—1999), nicknamed Zizi; they married in 1927. According to J.-P. Dutel, the stated illustrator of this edition, Jean d’Angers is indeed Jean-Adrien Mercier. The text belongs to Gustav Droz and, possibly, Auguste Poulet-Malassis. Limitation: the book was printed for subscribers in 30 copies on Japon Impériale paper (№№ 1-30) and 250 copies on vélin du Marais paper (№№ 31-280). This copy bears № 123 and was presented as a gift by the artist and his wife to Pierre Challamel. Title-page (red and black): POUR SERVIR | A L'HISTOIRE | DE NOS MŒURS | UN ÉTÉ | A LA CAMPAGNE | CORRESPONDANCE DE DEUX JEUNES PARISIENNES | RECUEILLIE PAR UN AUTEUR A LA MODE | MDCCCLXVIII || Catalogue raisonné: Dutel III № 2546; honesterotica. Provenance: Pierre Challamel (French, 20th century) Contributors: Gustave Droz (French, 1832 – 1895) – author (presumable). Auguste Poulet-Malassis (French, 1825 – 1878) – author (presumable). Jean-Adrien Mercier (French, 1899 – 1995) – artist. Micro photo of the lithography:
    Micro photo of the original drawing:
  • Description: softcover, 25.5 x 16.5 cm, pink French flapped wrappers with black lettering, printed on laid paper watermarked “ARCHES (France)”, with 10 plates (etchings) bound in and 1 plate (coloured etching) laid in, extraneous to collation, with tissue guards; pp.: ffl, [2] h.t., [2] t.p., 1- 151 [152] [4] colophon, blank, ffl; some pages uncut; margins untrimmed. Title-page: UN ÉTÉ A LA | CAMPAGNE | CORRESPONDANCE DE DEUX | JEUNES PARISIENNES RECUEILLIE | PAR UN AUTEUR A LA MODE | ILLUSTRÉE DE DIX EAUX-FORTES | ET D’UNE AQUARELLE ORIGINALE | {blank} |  IMPRIMÉ SOUS LE MANTEAU | ET NE SE VEND NULLE PART | MCMXVIII || Limitation: a print run of 165 copies, of which this is № 129 on Arches à la forme paper. Cat. Raisonné: Dutel III № 2545, p. 397; Honesterotica. Contributors: Gustave Droz (French, 1832 – 1895) – author (presumable) Frans de Geetere (Belgian, 1895 – 1968) – artist/engraver
  • Description: Hardcover, 19 x 13 cm, contemporary binding, ¾ carrot morocco with raised bands over patterned cloth, similarly patterned endpapers, original pink wrappers preserved, gilt lettering to spine, Japanese previous owner’s stamp フィリップ (Firippu or Philippe) to verso front endpaper. Title-page: EXAMEN | DE | FLORA | à l’effet d’obtenir | son diplôme de putain | PARIS || Collation/pagination: blank flyleaf, original front wrapper with vignette, [1] blank, original watercolour 13.5 x 11 cm bound in, [2] blank, [3] h.t. / frontispiece, [4] t.p., 5-45 [46] [2] limitation / blank, back wrapper, blank flyleaf, with 14 stencil-coloured photogravures (au pochoir), two of them full-page, incl. frontispiece, after Feodor Rojankovsky [Rojan]. Limitation: 15 copies on Japon and 300 copies on Vélin, this is copy № 7. Edition: 1st edition thus, illustrated with 14 coloured photogravures, 2 of them full-page after Feodor Rojankovsky [Rojan], enriched with an original watercolour by the same artist. Catalogue raisonné: Dutel (1920-1970): 1532, p. 160 (same copy); honesterotica.com Provenance: J.-P. Dutel Note: J.-P. Dutel dates the edition as “vers 1935”; however, based on the edition of Le théâtre érotique de la rue de la Santé / [illustré par Rojan]. — Paris: s.n., 1932 [LIB-2816.2021] in this collection, which contains some of the same illustrations, we attribute it to 1932. Contributors: Feodor Rojankovsky [Rojan, Фёдор Степанович Рожанковский] (Russian-American, 1891 – 1970) – artist. Louis Protat (French, 1819 – 1881) – author. Illustrations:

    Le théâtre érotique / Original

    Examen de Flora / Original

    Le théâtre érotique / Original

    Le théâtre érotique / Original

    Examen de Flora / Print

    Examen de Flora / Print

    Examen de Flora / Print

    Examen de Flora / Print

  • Description: Original cream French flapped wrappers, 27.4 x 20 cm, in a white moiré double slipcase 28.5 x 21.5 cm; collated 4to, gatherings with double-page illustrations collated 6to; printed on thick wove paper watermarked “BFK RIVES”, outer and bottom margins untrimmed; paginated: [2 blanks] [1-8] 9-140 [4] [2 blanks], total 44 pages (besides the blanks in wrappers), illustrated with 12 full-page and 4 in-text drypoint plates by Georges Viglino after pencil drawings by Gaston de Sainte-Croix. Enriched with 16 leaves of plates printed in sepia on Arches teinté paper (watermarked). Title-page (in salmon and black): NOUS | DEUX | ILLUSTRE DE | SEIZE POINTES SÈCHES ORIGINALES | ÉDITIONS DU CYCLAMEN – M CM LVI || Limitation: A print run of 200 copies, of which 2 copies (A and B) on Japon Nacré + one suite of plates on Japon Impérial, 30 copies (№ 1-30) on Rives + one suite of plates on Arches, and 168 copies (№ 31-198) on Rives pur fil. This copy is № 29, on BFK Rives with a suite on Arches. Catalogue raisonné: Dutel (1920-1970) № 2055, p. 282. Contributors: Marcel Valotaire (French, 1889 – 1979) – author Gaston de Sainte-Croix (French, 1904 – 1977) – artist Georges Viglino – engraver/printer (attributed by Dutel). Jacques Vialetay – publisher (attributed by Dutel).
  • Seventeen drypoint prints in purple plus one original ink sketch by Marcel Vertés (French, 1895 – 1961) – illustrations to the book by Pierre Louÿs Trois filles de leur mère, in a paper folder. Front : DIX-SEPT POINTES SÈCHES | D'UN ARTISTE INCONNU | POUR | TROIS FILLES | DE | LEUR MÈRE | {space} | AUX DÉPENS D'UN AMATEUR | NON MIS DANS LE COMMERCE || Pencil manuscript Vertés under “ARTISTE”, autograph vignette above “AMATEUR”, erased dedication inscription above “DÉPENS” À L’AMI [erased] X. Back: JUSTIFICATION DU TIRAGE | 17 EXEMPLAIRES SUR VÉLIN D’ARCHES CONTENANT | UNE SUITE DES DIX-SEPT POINTES SÈCHES EN | NOIR : UNE SUITE EN COULEURS COLORIÉE PAR | L’ARTISTE ; UN DESSIN ORIGINAL ET SA PLANCHE | DE CUIVRE ; DIX-SEPT CROQUIS ORIGINAUX | MARQUÉS A à Q. | 50 EXEMPLAIRES SUR VÉLIN D’ARCHES CONTE- | NANT UNE SUITE DES DIX-SEPT POINTES | SÈCHES ET TROIS CROQUIS ORIGINAUX | NUMÉROTÉS DE 1 à 50. | {space} | EXEMPLAIRE № {by hand} H. C. || Size : folder 28 x 17.5 cm; sketch 26.6 x 17.6 cm; prints 27.5 x 19 cm. Printed on wove paper with MBM watermark (Arches MBM Paper). Bookplate pasted to the makeshift extra folder with title: “EX-LIBRIS | Jacques | Crepineau”. Provenance: Jacques Crepineau (French, 1932 – 2017). Description by seller: [CURIOSA - VERTÈS (Marcel)]. Dix-sept pointes sèches d'un artiste inconnu pour Trois filles de leur mère. S.l. : Aux dépens d'un amateur, [1927]. — In-8, en feuilles. Dutel 2517*. Rare suite de 17 pointes-sèches libres réalisées par Marcel VERTÈS, probablement publiée par Marcel Cotinaud. Elle était destinée à accompagner l'édition originale de Trois filles de leur mère de Pierre Louÿs publiée un an plus tôt. Tirage à 67 exemplaires sur vélin d'Arches. Les épreuves sont tirées en violet. Exemplaire sans le feuillet de titre, ni celui de la justification. Il comprend un croquis original de l'artiste, non signé, ayant servi d'étude pour l'une des planches. Selon les tirages, chaque exemplaire devrait comprendre 17 croquis pour les 17 premiers, ou 3 pour les 50 autres, non n'en avons ici qu'un seul. Envoi de Vertès sur la couverture, accompagné d'un dessin original. Le nom du destinataire a été effacé. Manque la chemise et l'étui. Description by DUTEL v.3, p. 389, № 2517: In-4 (28 x 19) de 2 ff., 17 pointes sèches, étui, chemise. … publiée en 1927 probablement par Marcel Cotinaud (SV : publisher of Vertés was Paul Cotinaud)… Les planches sont tirées en violet (SV : like this one). Tirage : 17 ex. …avec une suite coloriée par l’artiste, un dessin, un cuivre et 17 croquis. 50 ex. … avec 3 croquis. Other names: Marcel Vertès, Marcel Vertes, Marcell Vértes