//France
  • Edmund Burke. Reflections on the Revolution in France and on the Proceedings of Certain Societies in London Relative to That Event. — London: J. Dodsley, 1790.

    Edmund Burke. Reflections on the revolution in France and on the proceedings of certain societies in London relative to that event / 2nd edition. — London: J. Dodsley, 1790.

    Title: REFLECTIONS | ON THE | REVOLUTION IN FRANCE, | AND ON THE | PROCEEDINGS IN CERTAIN SOCIETIES | IN LONDON | RELATIVE TO THAT EVENT. | IN A | LETTER | INTENDED TO HAVE BEEN SENT TO A GENTLEMAN | IN PARIS. | BY THE RIGHT HONOURABLE | EDMUND BURKE. | — | {in lozenges} THE SECOND EDITION. | —| LONDON: | PRINTED FOR J. DODSLEY, IN PALL-MALL. | M.DCC.XC. || Pagination: [4 blanks] [i-iii] iv, 1-356 [4 blanks]. Collation: 8vo; π2 B-Z8, Aa2. Binding: Quarter calf with marbled boards, gilt fillets, red label with gilt lettering to spine. "King John Haggerston, 1790" handwritten ink inscription to front endpaper, t.p. and p. iii. Seems like Sir John Haggerston, 9th Baronet.
    Favorites
    Details
  • E. de Crauzat. L'Œuvre gravé et lithographié de Steinlen: Catalogue descriptif et analytique suivi d'un essai de bibliographie et d'Iconographie de son œuvre illustré / Préface de Roger Marx. — San Francisco: Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, 1983. — Fac similé de l'édition originale de 1913. — pp.: [i-ix] x-xv [1-3] 4-228 [229-234]. — [Ernest de Crauzat].

    E. de Crauzat. L’Œuvre gravé et lithographié de Steinlen / Préface de Roger Marx. — San Francisco: Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, 1983.

    Title: DE CRAUZAT | L'ŒUVRE | Gravé et Lithographié | DE | STEINLEN | Catalogue descriptif et analytique | suivi d'un essai de bibliographie et d'Iconographie | de son œuvre illustré. | PRÉFACE | DE ROGER MARX | San Francisco | Alan Wofsy Fine Arts | 1983. Edition: Fac-similé de l'édition originale de 1913. Pagination: [i-ix] x-xv [1-3] 4-228 [229-234]. Size: 32 x 24 cm.
    Favorites
    Details

  • Guillaume Apollinaire, Fernand Fleuret, Louis Perceau. L’enfer de la Bibliothèque Nationale. — Paris: Mercure de France, 1913.

    Title: GUILLAUME APOLLINAIRE | FERNAND FLEURET LOUIS PERCEAU | L'Enfer | DE LA | BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE | ICONO-BIO-BIBLIOGRAPHIE | DESCRIPTIVE, CRITIQUE ET RAISONNÉE, | COMPLÈTE A CE JOUR | DE TOUS LES OUVRAGES COMPOSANT CETTE CÉLÈBRE COLLECTION | AVEC UN INDEX ALPHABÉTIQUE | DES TITRES ET NOMS D'AUTEURS | PARIS | MERCVRE DE FRANCE | XXVI, RVE DE CONDÉ, XXVI | MCMXII || Pagination: ffl, [1-5] 6-415 [416], bfl. Collation: [1]8 2-268. Binding: Original tan wrappers, lettering to covers and spine. Edition: First edition of which this is №952. Ref.: BnF
    Favorites
    Details

  • Nouvelle liste des jolies femmes de Paris; leurs noms et leur demeure. — Paris, au Palais des Plaisirs, 1808.

    Title: NOUVELLE | LISTE | DES JOLIES FEMMES | DE PARIS ; | LEURS NOMS ET LEUR DEMEURE. | PRIX TROIS FRANCS. | Se trouve A Paris , au Palais des plaisirs. | — | An 1808. || Pagination : [1-6] 7-70 [2 blank] Collation : 9vo, [A]9 B-D9. Binding: Original blue wrappers, 15 x 9 cm. Ref: OCLC finds only one copy, at the British Library. The BnF has a work of the same title, with the same pagination, dated 1803. The stated publisher seems to be fictitious. Quaritch description: 12mo, pp. 70; a little dusty, a few spots and marks; a very good uncut copy in original blue/grey wrappers; somewhat worn and stained. Very rare guide to Parisian prostitutes providing an extraordinary snapshot of the state of prostitution in the city during the First French Empire. The anonymous compiler begins with a brief history of prostitution in the capital, and its regulation, under Charlemagne and Louis VIII, describes a brothel established by Joanna I of Naples at Avignon and discusses Pierre-Jean Grosley’s estimate of the number of prostitutes in London. He then provides his liste, divided into categories including ‘houses of the first order’, ‘bawdy houses’, ‘actresses’, ‘washerwomen’, and ‘procuresses’, giving the name of each prostitute, an indication of their age, and their physical attributes, character, and particular talents. Rosanne, for example, chez Madame l’Évêque at the Palais du Tribunat, offers ‘unspeakably voluptuous pleasures to the nether regions’; Honorine prefers women; Scholastique likes wine with her lovemaking; Nanette has a penchant for soldiers; Genevieve favours the priapic; Dorsay enjoys S&M, and Madame Laperriere promises rejuvenation to the elderly. One Ducroisy is poetically described as possessing ‘a tuft as black as a crow above two alabaster columns’, while Félicité has skin ‘soft and white, sprinkled with golden freckles, like gold in Maraschino liqueur’. The author hopes that his listed will bring business to the ladies and pleasure to their clients, beseeching both to look after their health so that his guide might ‘serve Love, not Asclepius’.
    Favorites
    Details

  • Memoirs of Vidocq / Illustrations by Cruikshank. — Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson and Brothers, [1859].

    Title: MEMOIRS | OF | VIDOCQ. |THE | Principal Agent of the French Police. | WRITTEN BY HIMSELF, | AND TRANSLATED FROM THE | ORIGINAL FRENCH, EXPRESSLY FOR THIS EDITION. | WITH ILLUSTRATIVE ENGRAVINGS, | FROM | ORIGINAL DESIGNS BY CRUIKSHANK. | PHILADELPHIA: | T. B. PETERSON AND BROTHERS, | 306 CHESTNUT STREET. || Pagination: ffl, engraved frontispiece w/guard, engraved t.p., [2] t.p. / copyright, 19-580, [12], [2] 3-17 [18-30], bfl + 4 plates. Collation: 8vo; [1]8 2-358 362 + 22 leaves of advert., + frontis., t.p., 4 plates. Correct collation despite pagination starts at p. 19. Binding: Publisher's brown pebbled cloth, front stamped in blind, gilt spine lettering, yellow endpapers. Owner's ink inscription to ffl, dated 1936. Ref.: HathiTrust and OCLC identify the plates as 'by George Cruikshank' though none is signed. Authorship of Eugène-François Vidocq (French, 1775 – 1857) is doubtful too. The translator is not stated.
    Favorites
    Details

  • Crébillon fils. Le sopha, conte moral / Illustrations de Carlègle. — Paris: Éditions Mornay, 1933.

    Title: LES BEAUX LIVRES | — | LE SOPHA | de | CRÉBILLON FILS |{vignette}| ILLUSTRATIONS DE CARLÈGLE | — | Éditions Mornay | au 8 de la rue de l’Arrivée, Paris | 1933 || Series: Les beaux livres Binding: Original pictorial wrappers, margins untrimmed, uncut; printed on BFK Rives paper (watermark); the number of copy blacked out. Justification of the print run on p. [329].Pagination: [1-8] 9-326 [327-331], ill., woodcuts in text. Size: 20.2 x 15.5 cm
    Favorites
    Details

  • Crébillon fils. Le sopha, conte moral / Nouvelle édition. — Pekin [i.e. Paris]: l’imprimeur de l’Empereur, 1749.

    Title-page in black and red: LE | SOPHA, | CONTE MORAL. | NOUVELLE EDITION. | PREMIERE PARTIE. | {vignette} | A PEKIN, | Chez l'imprimeur de l'Empereur, | 1749. || Pagination: Two volumes in one. [2] – blanks, [2] – blank / frontis., [i, ii] – t.p. / blank, [iii] iv-xxi [xxii] ; [1] 2-253, [254-256] – table / blank, [2] – blanks; [i, ii] f.t. (seconde partie). [iii] 4-237 [238-240] – table / blank, [2] – blanks ; ills. 1 frontispiece, 4 plates and 2 vignettes by Pelletier after Clavereau, 2 fleurons by Fessard after Cochin. Collation: 12mo; a12, A8B4–T8V4, X8 [*1]; A8B4–T8V4. Binding: Full mottled calf, flat spine, compartments double-ruled in gilt, gilt flowers and foliage in compartments, crimson title label; marbled endpapers. Printed on laid paper, watermarked. Size: 14.8 x 8.8 cm Catalogue raisonné: Cohen, de Ricci (266); J. Lewine (124-5).
    Favorites
    Details
  • [Voltaire]. La Henriade, nouvelle édition / 2 Vol. — Paris: la Veuve Duchesne, Saillant, Desaint, Panckoucke et Nyon, [1769]-1770.

    [Voltaire]. La Henriade, nouvelle édition / 2 Vol. — Paris: [Barbou, pour] la veuve Duchesne [et al.], [1769-]1770.

    A two-volume set. Vol. 1: LA | HENRIADE, | NOUVELLE ÉDITION | A PARIS | [medallion portrait of Voltaire] | Chez la Veuve Duchesne, Saillant, Desaint, | Panckoucke et Nyon, Libraires. || Pagination: [2] – engraved title with medallion portrait of Voltaire / blank, [i-iii] iv-xl, [1-3] 4-272, 10 plates and 10 vignettes after Eisen by de Longueil. Collation: 8vo; a-b8 c4, A-R8 Vol. 2: LA | HENRIADE, | NOUVELLE ÉDITION. | — | SECONDE PARTIE. |— | [Floral device] | A PARIS, | Chez la Veuve Duchesne, Saillant, Desaint, | Panckoucke et Nyon, Libraires. | — | M. DCC. LXX. Pagination: [1, 2] - t.p. / imprim., 3-316 [4 - table, imprint "De l'Imprimerie de Barbou."] Collation: A-V8. Binding: full brown calf, raised bands with the gilt floral tools in compartments, red and dark brown labels with gilt lettering: title, author, vol. number, and year; printed on laid paper. Wear, marks and rubbing, endpapers, corners and spine repaired/replaced; leaves are generally clean with the odd mark here or there. With frontispiece, 10 vignettes and 10 plates in vol. 1 as called for. Size: 19 x 12.5 cm each volume. Catalogue raisonné.: G. Ray, p. 59; Cohen-de Ricci p. 1026. LIB-2581-1.2020 and LIB-2581-2.2020.
    Illustrated by: Charles Eisen (French, 1720 – 1778) Engraved by: Joseph de Longueil (French, 1730 – 1792) Author: François Marie Arouet de Voltaire (French, 1694 – 1778) Publisher: Veuve Duchesne (Nicolas Bonaventure Duchesne died in 1765) Printer: Joseph Gérard Barbou (French, 1723 – 1790)
    Favorites
    Details

  • David Carey. Life in Paris / George Cruikshank (illustrator). — London: John Fairburn, 1822.

    Title: Life in Paris ; | COMPRISING THE | RAMBLES, SPREES, AND AMOURS, | OF | DICK WILDFIRE, | OF CORINTHIAN CELEBRITY, | And his Bang-up Companions, SQUARE JENKINS | AND | CAPTAIN O’SHUFFLETON ; | WITH THE | Whimsical Adventures of the Halibut family ; | Including Sketches of a Variety of other Eccentric Characters in the | FRENCH METROPOLIS. | BY DAVID CAREY |[Vignette]| Embellished with Twenty-One COLOURED PLATES, representing SCENES from REAL LIFE, | designed and engraved by Mr. GEORGE CRUIKSHANK. | Enriched also with Twenty-Two Engravings on Wood, drawn by the same Artist, and | executed by Mr. WHITE. | LONDON : | PRINTED FOR JOHN FAIRBURN, BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL; | Sold by Sherwood, Neely, and Jones ; Langman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown ; and | Baldwin, Craddoc, and Joy ; Paternoster-Row ; Simpkin and Marshall, Statio- | ners’ Court ; Whittakers Ave-Maria-Lane ; Humphrey, St. James’s | Street ; and Wilson, Royal Exchange. | 1822. ||

    Edition: 1st edition in book form, 1st issue; large-paper copy bound from the parts in original blue paper boards, "most scarce" (Cohn).

    Pagination: ffl, [i, ii] – h.t. ‘LIFE IN PARIS’ / ‘MARCHANT, Printer, Ingram-Court, London’, [2] – blank / Frontispiece (Ville la Bagatelle!!) hand-coloured, [iii, iv] – t.p. with vignette / blank, [v] vi-xxiv, [1] 2-489 [490 blank], [2] – 'TO THE BINDER' and 'Marchant, Printer, Ingram-Court, Fenchurch Street' "considered indispensable to a complete copy" (Cohn) / blank, bfl watermarked 1800; 21 hand-coloured aquatints and 22 wood-engraved text vignettes; cancelled leaves 143/4 and 335/6; pinholes from printing visible in most gatherings.

    Collation: 4to; [a]-c4, B-Z4 Aa-Zz4 3A-3Q4 3R1 + [Ω]1

    Binding: Original boards sometime re-backed with red paper, binder's end leaf watermarked 1800; red hard-grained morocco clamshell box.

    Catalogue raisonné: Albert M. Cohn, 1924: № 109 p. 37/8; Abbey, J. R. (Life in England), 112; Tooley (Some English Books with Coloured Plates) 129; Hardie (English coloured books) 199.

    Description of Shapero Rare Books, London: Of the copies that have come to auction since 1975 only one has been a large-paper copy in original boards. "The pictures are extremely spirited and true and are all the more wonderful in view of the fact that the artist’s continental experiences were limited to one day spent in Boulogne." (Hardie). In 1821, the journalist Pierce Egan published Life in London, an immediate success illustrated by the Cruikshank brothers, George and Robert. In order to capitalise on this success, another journalist, David Carey, decided to publish his own Life in Paris in monthly instalments (just like Life in London) and with a very similar frontispiece to the one that appears in Egan’s work; Life in Paris, however, was illustrated only by George Cruikshank. One of the earliest and most notable examples of the work of George Cruikshank, with fine, clean plates.
    Favorites
    Details

  • Venetian Album: 12 lithographs by Lessore after Wyld. — Venice: Charles Hopfner, 1834; (2) Veduta della casa di Loreto: 5 etchings by Filippo Jaffei. – Loreto: Jaffei, 1828; 2 more etchings.

    Owner's convolute binding of the period in quarter tan cloth, yellow marbled boards, no title page, no pagination. Contents: (1) Venetian Album –12 lithographs by Émile-Aubert Lessore (French, 1805 – 1876) after William Wyld (British, 1806 – 1889). — Venice: Charles Hopfner, [1834]. Printed at Premiata Litografia Veneta under the direction of  Ferdinand Wolfgang Flachenecker (German, 1782 – 1847). Inscription: Premiata Litografia Veneta, dirigée par C. Flachenecker.
    1. L'Église de St. Marc
    2. La place St. Marc
    3. Le palais Ducal
    4. Le Môle
    5. L'Arsenal
    6. La Riva dei Schiavoni
    7. Le Grand Canal, (1re vue)
    8. Le Grand Canal (2me vue)
    9. Le Grand Canal (3me vue)
    10. Le Grand Canal (4me vue)
    11. Le Grand Canal (5me vue)
    12. Le Grand Canal (6me vue)
    (2) Veduta della casa di Loreto – 5 etchings by Filippo Jaffei, – Loreto: Jaffei, 1828.
    1. Title: Spiegazione / delli quattro prospetti dei bassi rilievi in marmo che circondano le mura della S. Casa di Loreto / qui annessi in puntata, oltre l'altro prospetto del palazzo pontificio / facciata del tempio, campanile, e cuppola etc.
    2. Prospetto della Basilica, e Piazza Lauretana, ed annesso Palazzo Apostolico / V. Jaffei incise.
    3. Settentrione. Prospetto laterale de Bassirilievi in Marmo, che circondano le Mura di S. Casa di Loreto. Jaffei incise Loreto.
    4. Oriente. Prospetto de Bassirilievi in Marmo, che circ=ondano le Mura di S. Casa.  Jaffei incise Loreto l'Anno 1828.
    5. Mezzo Giorno. Prospetto laterale de Bassirilievi in Marmo, che circondano le Mura di S. Casa di Loreto. Jaffei dis. ed inc. in Loreto.
    6. Occidente. Prospetto de Bassirilievi in Marmo, che circ=ondano le Mura di S. Casa. Jaffei dis. ed inc. in Loreto l'Anno 1828.
    (3) Line engraving signed F. Ferrat (...). (4) View of Cloaca Maxima in Rome etched by Tommaso Cuccioni (Italian, 1790 – 1864), negoziante. Possibly from the album Num. cento vedute di Roma e sue vicinanze. Presso Tommaso Cuccioni, negoziante di stampe in Roma, Via della Croce n. 25. Inscription: Cloaca Maxima. Si vende in Roma da Tommaso Cuccioni Neg.e di Stampe Via della Croce № 25.
    Favorites
    Details

  • Album du Bon Bock. — Paris, 1884 / Privat edition by Émile Bellot.

    An album of the "Le Bon-Bock" dinners for the year 1884. Author, designer and publisher – Emile Bellot (French, 1831 – 1886), a Parisian artist and engraver. "Le Bon-Bock" was a monthly dinner of artists and men of letters, who gathered in Paris for good food, good company, and artistic performances, from 1875 to at least 1925. The story behind these gatherings as told by Emile Bellot, the founder, is this:
    In February 1875, Pierre Cottin1 came to me and said: 'I discovered a poet and tragedian of immense talent and who interprets the poems of the Great Victor Hugo in an astonishing way. Monsieur Gambini. I promised him that I would make it heard by an audience of artists and men of letters. I am counting on you who have many connections to keep my promise to him'. I gathered about 25 of my friends and acquaintances in a picnic dinner which took place at a restaurant 'Krauteimer' on the rue Rochechouart in Montmartre. They heard from Mr Gambini first, then my friends Étienne Carjat2, J. Gros3, Adrien Dézamy4, etc. performed. These gentlemen completed the evening so brilliantly that it was unanimously decided that we would start a similar dinner every month. Poets, musicians, men of letters, singers would be invited to this dinner. I was in charge of the organization of this little party and as it was the dream of my life to bring together old comrades, I was careful not to refuse and I pursued this good idea. Cottin and René Tener5 were kind enough to help me in this joyous task and especially my old friend Carjat. The following March began our 1st monthly dinner.
    The name "Le Bon-Bock" means "The Good Bock", whilst Bock is a kind of beer, a dark, malty, lightly hopped ale. The dinner was named "Le Bon-Bock" in honour of the Éduard Manet painting (1873), a famous portrait of Emile Bellot, called "Le Bon-Bock". The invitations to the dinner were also produced by the artists and looked like this one by Alexandre Ferdinandus (October 3, 1883). Ferdinandus (attrib.), 1870   Besides this sketch of the Parisian social and artistic life at the end of the 19th century, the provenance of the album in our collection generates additional interest. The ink stamp to the front flyleaf reads: "Docteur Henry Uzan, 29 Avenue Perrichont, Paris XVI". Doctor Henry Uzan was Jewish. He was arrested by the Pétain police on October 1, 1941, and interned in Drancy. With the few means at his disposal, he undertook to treat the sick whom he then saw leaving, week after week, towards their terrible destiny in the extermination camps. In October 1943 doctor Uzan was deported to the island of Alderney. After the Normandy Landing of June 6, 1944, Nazis evacuated the island detainees and transfer them to the Neuengamme camp, via northern France and Belgium. During the transfer, doctor Uzan managed to escape from the train on the night of September 3 to 4 around Dixmude in Flanders. He was taken in by the Belgian Resistance, which he joined before being repatriated to France. In France, he continued working as a physician and was one of the founders of Association des internés et déportés politiques (AIDP). In 1945, together with his friends, the doctor designed the symbol for the Fédération nationale des déportés et internés résistants et patriotes: The story behind the number on the emblem (178284) is fascinating but it is out of the scope of this material.
    1. Pierre Cottin (French, 1823 – c. 1887) – Engraver, mezzotinter, genre and landscape painter; born in Chappelle-Saint-Denis (near Paris), a pupil of Jazet. Exhibited at the Salon from 1845, also in London from 1876 to 1879.↩ 2. Étienne Carjat (French, 1828 – 1906) – Journalist, caricaturist and photographer. ↩ 3. Jean Baptiste Louis Gros (French, 1793 – 1870) – Painter. ↩ 4. Adrien Dézamy (French, 1844 – 1891) – Writer, poet, general secretary of the Théâtre des Bouffes in Paris. ↩ 5. Rene Tener (French, 1846 – 1925) – Painter. ↩ Sources: 

    Le chercheur indépendant

    Auguste Lepage. Les dîners artistiques et littéraires de Paris / Bibliothèque des Deux mondes (2e éd.) – Paris: Frinzine, Klein et Cie., 1884. [Accession № LIB-2606.2021 in this collection]

    Le matricule 178284, un emblème de solidarité.

    Favorites
    Details

  • William Wyld. Monuments et rues de Paris. — Paris: Lith. G. Englemann, publiés par Rittner et Goupil, et Susse Frères, 1839.

    Pictorial album 55.5 x 41.0 cm, publisher’s quarter sheepskin over cloth, upper cover and flat spine lettered in gilt. Title: MONUMENTS et RUES de PARIS | Dessinés et lithographiés par William Wyld, | et publiés par Rittner & Goupil, 15 Boulevard Montmartre, | et Susse Frères, Place de la Bourse. | 1839. Collation: Title plate + 20 plates numbered from 1 to 20, printed by Godefroy Engelmann (French, 1788 – 1839) in tone lithography after drawings by William Wyld (British, 1806 – 1889). Published in Paris by Rittner & Goupil and Susse Frères in 1839. Plates: 54.8 x 39.8 cm. Contents:

    Title page: Tombeau d'Heloïse et d'Abélard

    1. Le Pont Neuf
    2. L'église de la Madeleine
    3. La Porte St. Martin
    4. Palais des Tuileries
    5. Pont des Saints-Pères
    6. Hôtel de Ville
    7. Marché des Innocents
    8. Palais Royal
    9. Boulevard des Italiens
    10. Rue de la Paix
    11. Bourse et Tribunal de Commerce
    12. Porte St. Denis
    13. Pont Royal
    14. Place de la Concorde
    15. Paris from Père Lachaise
    16. Notre-Dame
    17. Jardin des Tuileries with Arc de Triomphe in the Distance
    18. Panthéon
    19. Chambre des députés
    20. Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile
    Description of Shapero Rare Books, London: A very rare pictorial record of Paris before the French capital was drastically remodelled by Haussmann during Napoleon III’s Second Empire. William Wyld (1806-1889), an English painter and lithographer, set up his studio in Paris in 1834, becoming friends with the French painters Ary Scheffer and Paul Delaroche. His first subjects were fashionable orientalist scenes, however, he soon turned to classical architectural, winning a gold medal at the Paris Salon for his two-meter wide canvas ‘Venice at Sunrise’ in the same year in which he published Monuments et rues de Paris. This series is a compilation of twenty fine views of Paris, showing both architectural features, street scenes and views over the river Seine, as well as a panorama of the city from the cemetery of Père Lachaise. Some of the views, such as the representations of the Palais des Tuileries, the Marché des Innocents or the Pont des Sts Pères, testify to the beauty of these structures that no longer exist.
    Favorites
    Details
  • Job. La Bataille de Louqsor, par Job., 1869

    Job. La Bataille de Louqsor. – Paris: L’Éclipse, 07-NOV-1869.

    L'Éclipse : journal hebdomadaire, №94, 07-11-1869. La Bataille de Louqsor, par Job. [The Battle of Louqsor, by Job]. Le père Gagne, monté sur l'Obélisque, s'écrie: — Citoyens, du bas de ce monument, quatre-vingt mille…..parapluies me contemplent. [The father Gagne mounted on the Obelisk, cries out: — Citizens, from the bottom of the monument, eighty thousand….umberellas contemplate me]. Étienne-Paulin Gagne, known as Paulin Gagne (French, 1808 – 1876), holding a hat with a tricolour cockade and umbrella with the head of a devil on its grip straddles the obelisk of Luxor at the centre of the Place de la Concorde with marching scarabs on it. A spider dangles from his heel. In the background is The Palais Bourbon, a meeting place of the French National Assembly. The ground is made out of open umbrellas. Paulin Gagne was a graphomaniac poet, essayist, lawyer, politician, inventor, and eccentric, and a perpetual candidate for the Assembly. Ref.: Gallica; Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Philosophie, histoire, sciences de l'homme, FOL-LC13-114
    Favorites
    Details
  • Caporal. Le coup d'Etat du 4 septembre 1871., 1871

    Caporal. Le Grelot: “Le coup d’Etat du 4 septembre 1871”. – Paris, 1871.

    Le Grelot / journal illustré politique et satirique, №21, dimanche, 3 septembre 1871. Artist: Caporal (signed in the lower-left corner) Engraver/Printer: J. Lefman (signed LEFMAN SC in the lower-right corner) Title: LE COUP D'ÉTAT DU 4 SEPTEMBRE  1871. The Coup d'Etat of September 4th 1871. The artist equalled the 4th of September revolution when Napoleon III was ousted and the Second Empire collapsed, to a coup d'Etat. Although the number is marked September 3, it is dedicated to the events of September 4th. This was a usual French newspaper practice to postdate their issues. That's why they almost always operated with categories such as "today", "yesterday", and "tomorrow" instead of definitive calendar dates. "Le Grelot" means "The Sleigh Bell". Personages: Ratapoil – fictional personage invented by Honoré Daumier (French, 1808 – 1879), a Napoleon III caricaturized figure. Ratapoil is addressing the audience holding up Napoléon Bonaparte's tricorn cocked hat. Pietri – Joseph Marie Piétri [Joachim Piétri] (French, – is sitting in the first row, taking notes. Rouher – Eugène Rouher (French, 1814 – 1884), president of the Senat. Canrobert – François Marcellin Certain de Canrobert (French, 1809 – 1895), French Marshal, captured by the Prussian army in Metz with Marshal Bazaine during the surrender of Metz on October 28, 1870. Ollivier – Olivier Émile Ollivier (French, 1825 – 1913), head of the government. Hiding behind the theater decoration are: Napoleon III (Lui!), his wife Eugénie (Elle!), their son Prince Imperial (Le P'tit!), and Pierre Bonaparte (L'Autre). Sitting in the theatre box facing the scene: Adolphe Thiers (French, 1797 – 1877), Jules Favre (French, 1809 – 1880), Louis-Jules Trochu [Le General Trochu] (French, 1815 – 1896), and the other members of the "Government of National Defence". On the gallery: youngsters and two men in sans-culottes hats. An unidentified person on a ladder holding to an eagle figure is having a paintbrush and a bucket with 'tender green' paint. Ref: Musée Carnavalet
    Favorites
    Details

  • Choderlos de Laclos. Les Liaisons dangereuses (2 volumes). — Genève: 1792.

    Four parts bound in two 18mo volumes (1-2 & 3-4), half polished brown calf, dot-ruled, flat spine with gilt bands and lettering, marbled boards, some plates with guard sheets, margins sparkled red. Title-page: LES LIAISONS | DANGEREUSES, | Ou Lettres recueillies dans une | société, et publiées pour l’ins- | truction de quelques autres. | par  C….. de L… | — | J’ai vu les mœurs de mon temps, et j’ai publié | ces Lettres. | J. J. Rous. Préf. De la nouv. Hél. | PREMIÈRE PARTIE. | — | A GENEVE. | 1792. || Vol. 1: Pagination: ffep, blank, [2] – h.t., [i, ii] – t.p. part one, [iii] iv-xxij, [1] 2-245 [246] + 2 plates (p. 26 & p. 75); [1, 2] – h.t., [3, 4] – t.p. part two, [5] 6-233 [234], fep + 2 plates (p. 59 & p. 222). Collation: part 1: a12, A-M18 N5; part 2: A-M18 N9, plus four plates by various engravers after Le Barbier. Vol. 2: Pagination: ffep, blank, [1, 2] – h.t., [3, 4] – t.p. part three, [5] 6-225 [226] + 2 plates (p. 69 & p. 215); [1, 2] – h.t., [3, 4] – t.p. part four, [5] 6-250, fep + 2 plates (p. 25 & p. 201). Collation: part 3: A-M18 N5; part 4: A-N18 O5, plus four plates by various engravers after Le Barbier. Illustrations: After Le Barbier, engravers: Halbou (1), Simonet (1), N. Thomas (2), Dambrun (2), and Delignon (2). In the first illustration (vol. 1, part one, p. 26) Le Barbier signed “Le Barbier Jnv. 1794”, however, the edition was published (anonymously) in 1792. Cohen-De Ricci mentions an edition of 1794 (Paris: Maradan) and 1801 (Genéve) with the same plates. Lewine mentions a reprint of 1794 without naming the publisher. Catalogue raisonné: Cohen-De Ricci: 234-5, Ray: p. 79; Lewine: 109-10. Contributors: Choderlos de Laclos, Pierre Ambroise François (French, 1741 – 1803) – author. Le Barbier, Jean-Jacques-François (French, 1738 – 1826) – artist Engravers: Dambrun, Jean (French, 1741 – c. 1808) Delignon, Jean Louis (French, 1755 – 1804) Halbou, Louis Michel (1730 – 1809) Thomas, N. (French, c. 1750 – 1812) Simonet, Jean-Baptiste Blaise (French, 1742 – 1813)
    Favorites
    Details

  • [Christophe Tassin]. Les plans et profils des principales villes de la province de l’Isle de France. — [Paris: 1636].

    Title page: Text engraved within a vignette with two naked female torses in garlands: Plãs et profilz | des principales villes de | la prouince de L'ISLE DE | FRANCE, auec la carte gene~ | rale & les particulieres de chaf~ | cun gouuernement d'icelles. Below handwritten pencil inscription by a previous owner: "par ... Tassin ... 1634". Size: 17.6 x 23.7 cm, Binding: Italian style, green half-vellum, burgundy morocco title label with vertical gilt lettering to spine, peacock marbled boards. Pagination: Two blank flyleaves in the front and two in the back; 18 numbered engraved plates, including:
    1. Title page
    2. Table of Contents
    3. Normandie
    4. Environs de Paris
    5. Folding map of Paris – a simplified copy of Mathieu Merian's 1615 perspective plan, with minor updates, notably on the current housing estate of Ile Saint-Louis.
    6. Paris
    7. Gouvernment de Soissons
    8. Soissons
    9. Gouvernment de Beauvais
    10. Beauvais
    11. Gouvernment de Compiègne
    12. Compiègne
    13. Gouvernment de Noyon
    14. Noyon
    15. Gouvernment de Coussi
    16. Coussi
    17. Gouvernment de Senlis
    18. Senlis
    Bookplate of Ansar to front pastedown – Selim Hippolyte Ansart (1829-1897), commissar of police in the Second Empire and shortly after. Regarding our copy's dating: The same unusual spelling on the title is at Getty's Library (Library's copy lacks no. 5 of the Isle de France section, i.e. plan of Paris).
    Favorites
    Details

  • The Political and Historical Works of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (2 Vol.) — London: Illustrated London Library, [1852].

    [Bonaparte, Louis Napoleon]. The Political and Historical Works of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, President of the French Republic, Now First Collected With An Original Memoir of His Life, Brought Down to the Promulgation of the Constitution of 1852; and Occasional Notes, Complete in Two Volumes. London: Illustrated London Library, MDCCCLII [1852]. Collation: Vol. 1: [i-v] vi [vii-viii (blank)] [1] 2-462 [463,464 (blank)]; Vol. 2: [1-3] 4-439 [440]. Size: 22.8 x 14.8 cm (8vo), each. Binding: hardcover; half red morocco and cloth boards, five raised bands, gilt title and decoration, top edge gilt. Frontispiece portrait of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte in Vol. 1. Condition: Very good, rubbing to outer joints, leather corners, faint foxing to endpapers, ownership signature on half-title. Internally bright and unmarked. In binding by Brentano's, New York.
    Favorites
    Details
© Copyright  ,  Varshavsky Collection