• Hardcover, 28.5 x 21 cm, blue cloth, gilt lettering to spine, pictorial dust jacket with the glued white label “Winner of the Apollo Magazine | Book of the Year 2003 Award”; pp.: [1-9] 10-260, ils.; ISBN 9781872501543, 9781872501239, 1872501540, 1872501230. Title-page: OTTO PÄCHT | Venetian Painting | in the 15th Century | Jacopo, Gentile and Giovanni Bellini | and Andrea Mantegna | Edited by | Margareta Vyoral-Tschapka | and | Michael Pächt | {publisher’s device} | HARVEY MILLER PUBLISHERS || Contributors: Otto Pächt (Austrian, 1902 – 1988) Margareta Vyoral-Tschapka Michael Pächt (Austrian, b. 1942)
  • Title-page: 30 | et quelques… | attitudes. | {vignette} | LITHOGRAPHIES | ORIGINALES DE | JEAN DE L’ÉTANG || Colophon: ACHEVÉ | D’IMPRIMER | EN | M C MLII || Description: Cream French flapped wrappers enforced with cardboard, in a double slipcase, 30.2 x 24 x 4.5 cm, with a lithograph to front and back depicting the female crotch, front and back, respectively. Printed on wove paper watermarked ‘Johannot’ (produced by Arches, France). Unbound; margins untrimmed. Collation: 2 leaves on the front and 2 on the back with two within the wrappers, incl. colophon, 2 leaves: one blank and one t.p. / limitation, 12 loose gatherings of 4 leaves each (48) with glassine interleaving. Pagination: [1-8] 9-102 [2], total 104 pp (leaves in wrappers not counted). Illustrated with 25 full-page lithographs (incl. covers) and 29 smaller images. Artist’s name Jean de l’Étang is most probably a pseudonym attributed by both J.-P. Dutel and Gérard Nordmann to Jean Dulac (French, 1902 – 1968). Limitation: A print run of 200 copies, of which this is copy № 186 (Nordmann's collection had №184). Cat. raisonné: Dutel III №2511, p. 388; Nordmann II №181, p. 89; Honesterotica.
  • Paperback, 17.2 x 12 cm, yellow pictorial wrappers, lettering to front, back, and spine; pp.: [1-4] 5-137 [5]. Title-page: ВЕНЕДИКТ | ЕРОФЕЕВ | МОСКВА — ПЕТУШКИ | ПОВЕСТЬ | Таллинн | “Александра” | 1990 || Print-run: 30,000. Contributors: Венедикт Васильевич Ерофеев [Venedikt Yerofeyev] (Russian, 1938 – 1990) – author.
  • Hardcover volume, 8vo, 21.5 x 14.5 cm, bound by Riviere & Son (stamped on fep verso bottom) in full brown calf, boards with triple gilt fillet border and gilt dentelle inside, spine with raised bands, gilt in compartments, black label with gilt lettering, all margins gilt, blue endpapers, bookplate of Arthur Rau pasted to front pastedown (text: Les hommes sont méchants mais leurs livres sont bons / Arthur Rau; signed: E. H. New – A.D. 1922), traces of removed owner’s label to fep recto; printed on laid paper. Title-page (engraved, in floral frame): LE TEMPLE | DE GNIDE. | Mis en Vers | Par M. Colardeau | {vignette with portrait of Pierre Corneille} | A PARIS | Chez le Jay, Libraire, Rue St. Jacques au dessus de | celle des Mathurins au Grand Corneille || Collation: 2 blanks, h.t., engraved t.p. with a portrait of Pierre Corneille, a8, A-E8 F4 (52 leaves), 2 blanks, plus 7 plates by various engravers after Charles Monnet. Pagination: [i] ii-xvi, [1] 2-88 (104 pp). Ref: MFA (Boston): accession number 37.1747 Catalogue raisonné: Lewine 114, Cohen-DeRicci 245-6. Contributors: Charles Monnet (French, 1732 – after 1808) – artist. Engravers:  Jean Charles Baquoy (French, 1721 – 1777) Nicolas Delaunay (French, 1739 – 1792) Isidore Stanislas Helman (French, 1743 – 1806) Louis Joseph Masquelier (French, 1741 – 1811) François Denis Née (French, 1735 – 1818) Nicholas Ponce (French, 1746 – 1831) Portrait(s) designed by: Guillaume Voiriot (French, 1713 – 1799) Author: Charles-Pierre Colardeau (French, 1732 – 1776) Publisher: Edmé-Jean Le Jay (French, 1734 – 1795) Bookplate artist: Edmund Hort New (British, 1871 – 1931) Provenance: Arthur Rau (British, 1898 – 1972); his obituary can be found in The Book Collector 1973, vol. 22, n°1, p. 86-89. According to the genealogy service Geni, Arthur Aron Rau was born to Jacob Aryeh Rau and Katharina (Kaethe) Rau, and has a sister Cecilia (Tsipporah) Rosenfelder and a brother Frederick Solomon Rau. He went to Oxford and then joined Maggs Brothers in their Paris establishment. "After some years there, he set up on his own, returning to England at the outbreak of the Second World War to be a schoolmaster for ten years". In 1949 he returned to Paris and retired in 1963, "and his last years he happily spent in Wensleydale...". All he published during his lifetime were two catalogues, Livres Rares Et Anciens. Manuscrits et Autographes. — Paris: Arthur Rau, 1932-3 and Cinquante Tres Beaux Livres Avec Un Appendice. — Paris: Arthur Rau, 1933. He also contributed to The Book Collector.
    Seller’s description: In-8° : [2]-t. gr.-xvi-88 pp. ; 7 h.-t. (qqs rouss.). - Poème d'après le roman de Montesquieu ill. de 7 eaux-fortes par Bacquoy, Delaunay, Née, etc., d'après Charles Monnet. Titre gr. orné d'un portr. de Corneille. Cohen, qui cite un ex. millésimé 1773, signale des ex. avec la date de 1772 ou sans date. - Réf. Cohen 245-246. - Conlon 72:675 (éd. à l'adresse d'Amsterdam et Paris, 1772). - Pas dans Reynaud. - Prov. Arthur Rau (1898-1972), gérant de la librairie Maggs à Paris avant d'ouvrir sa propre librairie en 1932 (ex-libris gr. par E.H. New, 1922 ; réf. BnF). - Traces d'ex-libris décollé à la garde sup.
  • Hardcover volume, 38.3 x 26 x 3.8 cm, pictorial boards, lettering to front cover and spine, pp.: [1-6] 7-421 [3], ils. Title-page: Cesare Leonardi Franca Stagi | THE ARCHITECTURE | OF TREES | Introduction to the new edition | ANDREA CAVANI, GIULIO ORSINI | Translated from the Italian by | NATALIE DANFORD | Princeton Architectural Press | New York || Cesare Leonardi (Italian, 1935 – 2021) Franca Stagi (Italian, 1937 – 2008) Natalie Danford (American, b. 1968)
  • Front wrapper: LES MŒURS DU SIECLE - № 1 | Les | six étages | par | GERARD BAUER | illustré de vingt gravures à l’eau-forte | par VERTÈS | {publisher’s device, “PARIS | 17, avenue de Friedland”} | ÉDITIONS DE L’ÉTOILE || Title-page: essais pour servir a1 l’histoire contemporaine | de la galanterie et du plaisir | I | Les six étages | par | GERARD BAUER | illustré de vingt gravures à l’eau-forte | par VERTÈS | | {publisher’s device, “ÉDITIONS DE L’ÉTOILE | 17, avenue de Friedland”} | PARIS […] MCMXXV || Pagination: front wrapper with lettering, [1-8] incl. 1st bank leaf, h.t. / limitation, t.p. / blank, dedication to Abel Hermant / blank, 9-169 [170] [6] incl. table, colophon, and last blank leaf, 17 etchings by Vertès within pagination; advert. of the other books of the series to the back wrapper. Edition: 15 copies on Japon Impérial (№ 1-15), 35 on Hollande Van Gelder Zonen (№ 16-50), 400 on Vélin de Rives BFK (№ 51-450) and 3 on blue paper not for sale. This copy is № 369. Printed on November 10, 1925 by L. Petitbarat in Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône (text) and by Vernant in Paris (etchings). Edition directed by Roger Allard. Binding: 19 x 12.5 cm, French flapped pink wrappers, lettered to front, back, and spine. Contributors: Gérard Bauër (French, 1888 – 1967) – author. Marcel Vertès [Marcell Vértes] (Jewish-Hungarian-French, 1895 – 1961) – artist. Abel Hermant (French, 1862 – 1950) – dedicatee. Roger Allard (French, 1885 – 1961) – editor. L. Petitbarat (Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône) – printer. Éditions de l’Étoile (Paris) – publisher. Other names: Marcel Vertès, Marcel Vertes, Marcell Vértes
  • Hardcover volume, 26.6 x 21.3 cm, ¾ blue crushed morocco over marbled boards, marbled endpapers, original wrappers preserved, raised bands; wove paper, watermarked Van Gelder Zonen, unpaginated, 2 ffl, 1 front cover, 2 blanks, 1 h.t., 1 t.p., 46 leaves of text and plates (18 full-page and 14 half-page lithographs by Marcel Vertès), 1 colophon, 1 blank, 1 back cover, 2 ffl; 52 leaves within the original covers, as per Dutel. Title-page: POÉSIES | ÉROTIQUES | D' | UN | AUTE | UR CÉ | LÈBRE, | ILLUSTRÉ | ES DE TR | ENTE-DEUX | LITHOGRAPHIES | ORIGINALES | DESSINÉES | PAR UN | ARTISTE | INCON | NU | | BARCELONE | ATARAZANAS (BARRIO CHINO) | L'AN I DE LA RÉPUBLIQUE | CATALANE || Limitation: A print run of 165 numbered copies, of which this is copy № 148, and 5 additional presentation copies. The text was printed by Massol, and plates were produced by Mme Duchatel. Catalogue raisonné: Dutel III № 2228 ; Nordmann II (Christie’s) № 321; Éros invaincu № 92, p. 222; Vokaer № 36, p. 16. Contributors: Pierre Louÿs (French, 1870 – 1925) – author. Marcel Vertès [Marcell Vértes] (Jewish-Hungarian-French, 1895 – 1961) – artist. René Bonnel (French, 1884 – 1975) – publisher.
  • КУПИТЬ КНИГУ

    "Разговоры Макиавелли и Монтескье в царстве мертвых” (Dialogue aux Enfers entre Machiavel et Montesquieu) – это политический памфлет, направленный против Наполена III. В 25 диалогах представитель эпохи Просвещения благородный барон де Монтескье отстаивает позиции умеренного правления и соблюдения прав личности, а флорентийский политик Средневековья злокозненный Макиавелли берется доказать своему собеседнику, что управлять людьми можно только силой и хитростью, и что деспотия — это потребность современного общества. Собеседники заключают пари. Макиавелли шаг за шагом описывает те действия, которые предпринял Наполеон III для установления деспотии во Франции, и выигрывает пари.

    В начале XX века «Разговоры» Жоли были использованы в царской России для изготовления антисемитской фальшивки — печально знаменитых «Протоколов сионских мудрецов», книги, переведенной на все языки мира и своими тиражами уступающей только Библии. Плагиат был разоблачен корреспондентом газеты «Таймс» Филипом Грейвсом в 1921 г. Сравнением текстов “Разговоров” и “Протоколов”, равно как и поиском автора плагиата, занималось не одно поколение исследователей.
    В наше время о “Разговорах” знают в основном благодаря “Протоколам”, но книга Жоли представляет интерес отнюдь не только в связи с означенными “Протоколами”. Единственный до сих пор перевод “Разговоров” на русский язык был выпущен в 2004 году издательством “МК-Трейд” под названием “Диалог в аду между Макиавелли и Монтескье”. Это был перевод с немецкого перевода с французского языка. Предлагаемое читателю новое издание книги Жоли является переводом с французского оригинала, хотя и достаточно вольным, что отражено в заголовке: Разговоры Макиавелли и Монтескье в царстве мертвых, записанные злосчастным французом Морисом Жоли в правление императора Людовика-Наполеона и пересказанные полтора века спустя для русского читателя нашим современником. Морис Жоли писал о “политике макиавеллизма в XIX веке”. Однако теперь очевидно, что и в XXI веке политика макиавеллизма не претерпела существенных изменений. Старинный рецепт установления деспотии “в одной, отдельно взятой стране” хорош и по сей день.

    Published in San Francisco, California.

    Paperback, size: 110 x 148 x 10 mm

    КУПИТЬ КНИГУ

  • Two volumes, 168 x 106 mm each, uniformly bound in faux mottled calf ruled in gilt, marbled endpapers. Vol. 1: 3 blank leaves of wove paper, 3 blank leaves of laid paper, half-title/blank, blank/frontispiece, ‘engraved’ t.p./blank, both printed on laid paper watermarked “ARCHES A LA | MAIN”; ‘letterpress’ t.p.,/blank, pp.: [1] 2-115 [116 blank], 3 blank leaves of laid paper, 3 blank leaves of wove paper; collated 12mo: π2 A-I6 K4; total 60 leaves plus 16 ‘engraved’ plates, incl. t.p. and frontis. Vol. 2: 3 blank leaves of wove paper, 3 blank leaves of laid paper, half-title/blank, blank/frontispiece, ‘engraved’ t.p./blank, no watermark, ‘letterpress’ t.p.,/blank, pp.: 1-77 [78 blank], 2 blank leaves of laid paper, 3 blank leaves of wove paper; collated 12mo: π2 A-F6 G3; total 41 leaves plus 24 ‘engraved’ plates, incl. t.p. and frontis. Dutel (I): A-1089, p. 325: in-8 (probably by size only, no formula suggested), pagination 115 and 77 as here, 2 frontispieces, 2 engraved titles dated 1873, “et 36 belles gravures de Binet”. Cohen-DeRicci: p. 734 bottom: in-12, no pagination, no formula. "Thérèse" was offered by a French seller user-75d14f4 on the online auction platform CATAWIKI in December 2021. The seller's description of this two-volume set was: "Re-edition, the date of which I was unable to determine. (London, no name, 1782) 2 duodecimo volumes of 115 and 77 pp., very lovely marbled sheepskin pastiche bindings, gilded triple fillets, adorned spines, black title labels. This classic of 18th-century clandestine erotica was written in 1748 by an author who has remained anonymous, attributed at the time to Montigny, which led to his internment in the Bastille. It is now attributed to the Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens. Edition illustrated with 37 very unrestrained figures, engraved in intaglio after Borel, unsigned." I should have paid more attention to the first phase, about the re-edition, but I didn't. After a few bidding rounds, I won the book when the hammer price was 2,200 Euros. On the 28th of December, 2021, I paid for this little beauty $2,760. The book arrived a few days later.  The paper's quality and texture, the watermark, the absence of the platemark, and the lack of embossing on the back (text and plates) made me suspect it was a fake. The pages were absolutely flat to the touch!  I established clear evidence of a high-resolution 'xerox' copy using Celestron Micro Capture Pro micro-photography.  I wrote to the seller and the auction platform, explaining my doubts regarding its authenticity. To prove my point, I include a few micro photos of the "Thérèse" and some books printed at the end of the 18th century. I explained why I considered it a fake and requested a return/refund. After two months of email exchanges, the seller and the platform refused to pay me back. Today is the 2nd anniversary of the purchase. I still have the book. To celebrate my carelessness, I included it in my library to warn fellow book collectors about buying from an unknown dealer via certain online auction platforms. Ref.: Bamber Gascoigne. How to Identify Prints: A Complete Guide to Manual and Mechanical Processes from Woodcut to Ink. — Thames and Hudson, 1995.

    Thérèse philosophe, 1783.

    Late 18th century books

    Books used for comparison: [LIB-2743.2021] Restif de la Bretonne. Les parisiennes, ou XL caractères généraux pris dans les mœurs actuelles, propres à servir à l’instruction des personnes-du-sexe / 4 vol. — Neufchâtel, et Paris: Guillot, 1787. [LIB-3027.2022] [Héliodore d’Emèse]. Amours de Théagènes et Chariclée: Histoire Éthiopique / 2 vol. — Londres [i.e. Paris]: [s.n.], 1743. [LIB-3252.2023] [Nicolas Chorier.] Le Meursius françois, ou entretiens galans d’Aloysia, orné de figures. — Cythere [i.e. Paris: Cazin], 1782. Below is a Xerox copy for comparison.