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Pierre LOUŸS

Pierre LOUŸS

Born10 décembre 1870
Died6 juin 1925
LanguageFrench
NationalityFrance
Poète, romancier et conteur
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Other Names
  • PIBRAC
  • LEWYS Peter
  • CHRYSIS Pierre
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105 results
  2. Les aventures du roi Pausole
    Pierre LOUŸS

    Les aventures du roi Pausole[The Adventures of King Pausole]

    Charpentier|Paris 1901|12 x 19 cm|relié
    First edition, one of 300 numbered copies on vélin paper.
    Half black morocco over marbled paper boards, spine in six compartments with gilt fillets and triple gilt compartments adorned with green, red, and brown morocco central mosaic floral decoration, gilt date to foot of spine, gilt friezes to head and foot, gilt fillet frame to covers, marbled paper endpapers and pastedowns, covers and spine preserved, top edge gilt.
    Autograph inscription signed by Pierre Louys to Jean Lahor, the pen name of Dr. Cazalis, who was close to Stéphane Mallarmé.
    Provenance : from the library of Jean Lahor, with his engraved ex libris pasted to pastedown.
    A very good copy, nicely bound.
    €1,000
  3. "Mallarmé m'a écrit des choses pompeuses sur Lêda."
    Pierre LOUŸS (Stéphane MALLARMÉ)

    "Mallarmé m'a écrit des choses pompeuses sur Lêda."Signed autograph letter

    Paris [18]93|13.50 x 14.50 cm|quatre pages sur un feuillet remplié
    Autograph letter signed by Pierre [Louÿs], dated Christmas [18]93, addressed to Georges Louis. Four pages written in blue ink on a double blue sheet bearing the writer’s initials and headed 49 rue Vineuse.
    A fine letter addressed to his brother Georges Louis, with whom Pierre Louÿs maintained a deeply intimate relationship and whom he regarded as his own father.
    The question of Pierre Louÿs’s true parentage continues to fascinate biographers: “His father, Pierre Philippe Louis, [...] married Jeanne Constance Blanchin in 1842; she died ten years later, having borne him two children, Lucie and Georges. In 1855 he married Claire Céline Maldan, and from this union was born, in 1857, a son, Paul; then, in 1870, our writer, who received the given names Pierre Félix. This late birth, the differences in temperament between father and son, the father’s indifference toward the latter, and the profound intimacy that always united Louÿs and his brother Georges—all of this has led some biographers and critics to suspect that Georges was in fact the writer’s father. The exceptionally close and lifelong bond between Pierre and Georges might well support such an argument. Of course, no conclusive proof has ever been found, and doubtless never will be. Still, certain letters [...] are quite troubling. In 1895, for example, Louÿs gravely wrote to his brother that he knew the answer to ‘the most painful question’ he could ever put to him, a question that had been ‘on his lips for ten years.’ The following year, at the height of Aphrodite’s success, he thanked Georges effusively and closed his letter with these words: ‘Pas un de mes amis n'a un PERE qui soit pour lui comme tu es pour moi.’ Arguing from the close relationship between Georges and Claire Céline in 1870, and from the jealousy the father continually displayed toward his younger son, Claude Farrère did not hesitate to side with Georges Louis. And what are we to make of this dedication by Louÿs to his brother in a copy on japon of the original Pausole: Pour Georges, son fils aîné / Pierre.” (Jean-Paul Goujon, Pierre Louÿs)
    Pierre Louÿs sent this letter to his brother when the latter had just taken up his post as France’s delegate to the International Commission of the Egyptian Debt and was in Cairo: “La lettre où tu me demandais d'acheter un cadeau de jour de l'an m'est arrivée trop tard (vingt quatre heures) pour que je puisse l'envoyer à temps. J'espère que tu auras pu trouver quelque chose là-bas.” Lacking a gift, Pierre sent his brother a portrait of himself: “En même temps que ma dernière lettre j'ai mis à la poste pour toi une photo du photographe ordinaire de Jane Hading, et qui représente un Pierre posthume et sentimental, assez ressemblant tout de même. L'épreuve n'était pas très propre, mais c'était la seule que j'eusse encore reçue.” Only a handful of photographic portraits of the writer are known today, and we have been unable to identify the photograph mentioned here.
    The year 1893 marked several literary successes for Pierre Louÿs, who until then had published only Astarté at his own expense in 1891 and, together with his friend from the École Alsacienne André Gide and Paul Valéry, had founded La Conque, an ‘anthology of the youngest poets,’ whose first issue appeared on 15 March 1891. In quick succession came Chrysis ou la cérémonie matinale, the translation of the Poésies de Méléagre, and finally Lêda ou la louange des bienheureux ténèbres. The latter work is even mentioned in this letter: “Mallarmé m'a écrit des choses pompeuses sur Lêda; mais de sa part cela ne signifie rien.” Louÿs had been acquainted with Mallarmé since the early 1890s and met many leading figures at his celebrated ‘Tuesdays,’ among them Henri de Régnier. Deeply admiring the verses of the Symbolist master, whom he considered ‘the supreme incarnation of the artist, one who has sacrificed everything to his ideal’ (Ibid.), Louÿs seems here somewhat wounded by his elder’s remarks. Yet nothing could dampen his enthusiasm: “J'aime pour moi la surprise que j'ai eue la semaine dernière, étant dans l'arrière-boutique de Bailly, en entendant Mme de Bonn...[ières] en demander cinq exemplaires pour ses amies. Cela est en vrai plaisir.”
    A splendid letter testifying to Pierre Louÿs’s early literary triumphs.

    €850
  4. Dix-sept histoires de marins
    Claude FARRÈRE (inscribed to Pierre LOUŸS)

    Dix-sept histoires de marins

    Paul Ollendorff|Paris 1914|11.50 x 19 cm|relié

    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.

    €2,500
  5. Lettre autographe signée adressée depuis Algésiras à son ami Pierre Louÿs : "Il est simplement five o' clock, et je n'ai pas reculé aujourd'hui devant deux heures et demie de bateau à vapeur"
    (Pierre LOUŸS) Claude FARRÈRE

    Lettre autographe signée adressée depuis Algésiras à son ami Pierre Louÿs : "Il est simplement five o' clock, et je n'ai pas reculé aujourd'hui devant deux heures et demie de bateau à vapeur"

    s. n.|21 avril 1908|11.2 x 17.5 cm|Deux bi-feuillets + une enveloppe

    Autograph letter signed with his real surname, Fargonne, addressed to his friend Pierre Louÿs, 7 pages written in black ink on two bifolia bearing the letterhead of the Reina Christina Hotel in Algeciras.

    Folding marks inherent to mailing, envelope included.

    After postponing his reply, Claude Farrère finally decides to write to his friend: "Et plutôt que d'attendre toute ma vie (on ne sait jamais, affirmait la Mirabelle du roi Pausole), je préfère vous dire aujourd'hui que je ne sais rien." He takes the opportunity to evoke a recently deceased mutual friend: "j'ai eu une vraie désolation, en apprenant que la pauvre Nite était morte - je vous jure que je serais bien le dernier à rire du vers moliéresque - n'importe en quelle circonstance - mais en celle-ci, c'est très pire ; figurez-vous que j'adorais cette petite bête blanche pour l'avoir vue peut-être douze fois en tout"

    He wryly comments on the military diligence that earned him favor with his superiors: "Et j'ai su d'autre part, - voie féminine - que mon empressement et mon enthousiasme à rallier le Cassini furent remarqués et commentés à Toulon - Qu'est-ce qu'on va dire quand on me verra revenir, mein Gott !!!! Il va falloir que je cherche un home à quadruple sortie. Nous chercherons ensemble, le mois prochain, entre Tamaris et Mourillon."

    €300
  6. Lettre autographe datée et signée adressée à son ami Pierre Louÿs relatant son réveillon de Noël mouvementé : " la célèbre Edith et la belliqueuse Lulu, - toutes deux ayant constaté que je m'étais permis d'embrasser l'une et l'autre."
    (Pierre LOUŸS) Claude FARRÈRE

    Lettre autographe datée et signée adressée à son ami Pierre Louÿs relatant son réveillon de Noël mouvementé : " la célèbre Edith et la belliqueuse Lulu, - toutes deux ayant constaté que je m'étais permis d'embrasser l'une et l'autre."

    26 décembre 1908|13.3 x 21.5 cm|Un double feuillet + une enveloppe

    Autograph letter, dated and signed, sent from Toulon to his friend Pierre Louÿs, four pages penned in violet ink on a bifolium.

    Folding crease from mailing, manuscript envelope included.

    Through this correspondence, Claude Farrère reproaches his friend for deepening his sadness and distress: "Votre petite lettre de l'autre jour m'a très bien fait comprendre que vous avez dix mille ennuis en ce moment. Et vous en ajoutez un de plus, pour m'envoyer plus vite cette bêtise à laquelle je ne songeais pas du tout , Pourquoi, encore ! Je suis votre ami, enfin ! Et je vous jure que cela m'a fait de la peine, de songer que j'avais involontairement augmenté cette fois vos embêtements."

    He longs to express the depth of his friendship: "Surtout, je vous en suplie, n'oubliez pas ceci : que mon meilleur jour sera celui où vous me permettrez de vous rendre un vrai service... ne l'oubliez jamais, je vous en supplie."

    Claude Farrère recalls a Christmas Eve filled with female quarrels: "A propos, réveillon d'une gaieté inouïe, ici - on en aurait pleuré... Vers minuit, on a soupé sur des nattes, après scission en deux bandes, scission nécessitée par le dissentiment de deux de ces dames, dont chacune 'n'était un société' pour l'autre. Du côté où j'étais resté, ça a failli recommencé entre deux autres, - la célèbre Edith et la belliqueuse Lulu, - toutes deux ayant constaté que je m'étais permis d'embrasser l'une et l'autre. L'orage s'apaisa cependant."

    €250
  7. Lettre autographe signée à son ami Pierre Louÿs évoquant leur ami commun Auguste Gilbert des Voisins
    (Pierre LOUŸS) Claude FARRÈRE

    Lettre autographe signée à son ami Pierre Louÿs évoquant leur ami commun Auguste Gilbert des Voisins

    s. n.|Toulon 1908|13.2 x 21.7 cm|Une feuille + une enveloppe

    Autograph letter signed, addressed to his friend Pierre Louÿs from Toulon, 16 lines written in violet ink, expressing concern about a mutual friend nicknamed Augusto, almost certainly Auguste Gilbert de Voisins.

    Folding crease from mailing, envelope enclosed. A handsome copy.

    "Friday,

    my dear friend, it's mail time. Quickly, quickly! I received your telegram this morning and have replied. Your opening words were very sweet to me. Thank you. I'm forwarding you a letter from Augusto. It frightened me terribly. I’ll telegraph you as soon as I know more. Yours with all my heart. C.B."

    €180
  8. Belle lettre autographe datée et signée adressée depuis le Maroc à son ami Pierre Louÿs : "J'aurais tellement besoin de regarder vos Hok'saï avant d'écrire certaines pages de mon sale bouquin ! "
    (Pierre LOUŸS) Claude FARRÈRE

    Belle lettre autographe datée et signée adressée depuis le Maroc à son ami Pierre Louÿs : "J'aurais tellement besoin de regarder vos Hok'saï avant d'écrire certaines pages de mon sale bouquin ! "

    s. n.|No Location 11 mai 1908|13.3 x 21.6 cm|7 pages sur deux doubles feuillets + une enveloppe

    Fine autograph letter, dated and signed, addressed to his friend Pierre Louÿs; 7 pages in violet ink on two bifolia, with the original envelope preserved.

    Folds from original mailing.

    Soon to be on leave from the Moroccan Expeditionary Corps, Claude Farrère announces to his friend his imminent return to France following an Andalusian journey: "je pendrai au plus tardle train du 4 juin, à Algéciras ; lequel train, après escales à Grenade, Cordoue, Séville et Tolède, me déposera, le 11 au matin, à Toulon - Voilà !"

    He mentions a book that struck him and evokes two women: "feuilletez, vous comprendrez l'in térêt que j'attache au cas, intérêt tout à fait analogue à celui que vous inspire une jeune personne à ui je vais dédier mon prochain conte au journal intitulé : 'sur le Boul' Mad'... La préface du bouquin en question est un chef d'oeuvre d' (je ne sais pas de quoi ! Fichtre ! On va bien, de nos jours... [...] voyez-vous qu'on publiât des histoires comme ça sur notre... dos- quatre ans après notre mort ???"

    Claude Farrère ironically comments on his literary and epistolary activity shared with his friend: "J'aurais tellement besoin de regarder vos Hok'saï avant d'écrire certaines pages de mon sale bouquin ! ... Mon Maroc n'est pas du temps perdu. Je l'ai considéré comme dix mois de travail forcé. Et je vous en rapporte un manuscrit qui en est aujourd'hui à sa 392e pages, - qui toutes ensemble ne valent pas une ligne de Psyché !"

    His rebellious and independent spirit draws suspicion from the military establishment: "Votre lettre datée du 8 mai, ne m'est arrivée qu'hier 18. J'ai lieu de croire que ma correspondance est très surveillée depuis quelque temps."

     

    €300
  9. " Les Hamadryades "
    Pierre LOUŸS

    " Les Hamadryades "Signed autograph poem

    Paris s. d. [ca 1896]|21.50 x 26 cm|trois pages sur trois feuillets
    Autograph manuscript signed by Pierre Louÿs, entitled "Les Hamadryades" composed of sonnets on three sheets pasted onto more rigid leaves.
    The first two sonnets are written in blue ink, the third in black ink.
    This poem was published in September 1896 in Volume II of the famous symbolist review "Le Centaure" to which notably contributed André Gide, Paul Valéry, Henri de Régnier, Jean de Tinan and Pierre Louÿs.
    "Elles marchent dans l'herbe et boivent aux ruisseaux
    Celles q'un destin clair fit nymphes des prairies.
    D'autres, essaim lucide, âmes des eaux fleuries
    Nagent sous nos cent bras, croisés en noirs arceaux...
    ...
    Maîtres des foudres, Dzeus sauveur, le verrons nous
    Frapper l'arbre mortel qui ferme nos genoux
    Et livrer la terre ivre à nos jambes écloses ?
    Connaîtrons-nous les grands horizons nébuleux,
    L'eau du fleuve, le lac de lumière, les roses
    Et l'humide sommeil, les champs profonds et bleus..."

    A fine poem by Pierre Louÿs, one of the two, with Byblis, that was published in the luxurious and ephemeral review "Le Centaure".
    €1,200
  10. "C'est à cela seul que je dois mon indépendance littéraire et cette inestimable liberté du silence, qui n'est pas l'idéal de tous, mais qui me paraît être le bonheur du poëte..."
    Pierre LOUŸS

    "C'est à cela seul que je dois mon indépendance littéraire et cette inestimable liberté du silence, qui n'est pas l'idéal de tous, mais qui me paraît être le bonheur du poëte..."Important signed autograph letter addressed to Alfred Vallette about the unexpected success of his Aphrodite

    Paris 1896|13 x 20.50 cm|3 pages sur un double feuillet
    Autograph letter signed by Pierre Louÿs, addressed to his publisher Alfred Vallette, 50 lines written in purple ink on a double sheet.
    Pierre Louÿs responds to his friend and publisher Alfred Vallette after a controversy launched by a journalist from Comoedia, a controversy that could damage their friendship: "Je ne suis pour rien dans l'écho publié par Comoedia... Mais ce que vous en citez suffit à me montrer que le rédacteur s'est mal informé." ("I had nothing to do with the piece published by Comoedia... But what you quote from it is enough to show me that the writer was misinformed.") and he intends to remind him that they had not been able to agree on the publishing terms for Aphrodite and that he envisioned only a confidential distribution for his latest book: "L'histoire de notre édition est très simple. Vous m'avez proposé un traité que je n'ai pas trouvé bon ; j'ai préféré le "compte d'auteur" et je ne peux pas vous accuser d'avoir mal prévu le succès du livre puisque moi-même j'avais écrit mon roman pour vingt amis et quelques inconnus." ("The story of our edition is very simple. You offered me a contract that I did not find good; I preferred the 'author's account' and I cannot accuse you of having poorly predicted the book's success since I myself had written my novel for twenty friends and a few strangers.")
    This is why the father of Aphrodite is astonished by the triumph achieved by the work: "Si une diseuse de bonne aventure nous avait prédit alors qu'Aphrodite dépasserait un jour le 300e mille, nous l'aurions traitée comme une pauvre folle." ("If a fortune teller had predicted then that Aphrodite would one day exceed 300,000 copies, we would have treated her as a poor madwoman."); the latter consecrating his fame and wealth in the literary world: "J'ai en outre une seconde raison pour ne pas vous en vouloir du traité que j'ai signé avec vous : c'est qu'en préservant mes droits d'autuer sur ce roman, j'ai fait sans le savoir, ma fortune. C'est à cela seul que je dois mon indépendance littéraire et cette inestimable liberté du silence, qui n'est pas l'idéal de tous, mais qui me paraît être le bonheur du poëte..." ("I have furthermore a second reason for not resenting the contract I signed with you: it is that by preserving my author's rights on this novel, I made my fortune without knowing it. It is to this alone that I owe my literary independence and this invaluable freedom of silence, which is not everyone's ideal, but which seems to me to be the poet's happiness...")
    Very fine autograph on Pierre Louÿs's literary triumph.


    €1,000
  11. Bristol autographe signé adressé à Henri Davray à propos de frais inhérents à une traduction
    Pierre LOUŸS

    Bristol autographe signé adressé à Henri Davray à propos de frais inhérents à une traduction

    Paris s. d. [circa 1900]|14 x 9 cm|un bristol recto verso + une enveloppe
    Autograph signed postcard from Pierre Louÿs addressed to Henri Davray, 14 lines in purple ink, envelope included.
    "Il n'a jamais été question entre nous de "fonds à déposer" pour cette traduction. Vous savez comment se font mes éditions au Mercure. Si votre traducteur est bon et s'il veut se hâter, je prends tout à ma charge. Mais il faudrait que je fusse fixé assez vite sur ce point car on me presse d'autre part. Je vous dirai qui.Votre Pierre Louÿs." (There has never been any question between us of "funds to deposit" for this translation. You know how my editions at Mercure are done. If your translator is good and wants to hurry, I'll take everything on myself. But I would need to be settled quite quickly on this point because I am being pressed from elsewhere. I will tell you who. Yours, Pierre Louÿs.)
    €200
  12. Sanguines
    Raymond BRENOT, Pierre LOUŸS

    Sanguines

    Editions de l'Odéon|Paris 1961|19 x 25.50 cm|reliure de l'éditeur
    Illustrated edition with color watercolor plates by Raymond Brenot, one of 134 copies on tinted Renage vellum.
    Publisher's full caramel sky binding, smooth spine very lightly discolored, first cover decorated with a gilt illustration, orange paper endpapers and pastedowns, top edge gilt.
    Handsome copy complete, as stipulated in the justification page, with a duplicate suite of the illustrations in sanguine.
    €200
  13. Le trophée des vulves légendaires - Neuf sonnets sur les héroïnes de Wagner rêvés au pied du Vénusberg en Août 1891
    Francis HERTENBERGER, Pierre LOUŸS

    Le trophée des vulves légendaires - Neuf sonnets sur les héroïnes de Wagner rêvés au pied du Vénusberg en Août 1891

    Aux dépens d'un groupe de bibliophiles parisiens|Paris 1948|18.50 x 23.50 cm|en feuilles

    First edition printed in 300 numbered copies on pure rag vellum from the marais, ours being one of the 246 containing illustrations in the text.
    Work illustrated with 18 unsigned drypoints in the text by Fernand Hertenberger.
    Boards uniformly and lightly sunned.
    Rare and handsome copy.

    €1,000
  14. Among the most handsome achievements of "Fin de Siècle" art publishing
    L'Image : revue artistique et littéraire ornée de figures sur bois
    Jules RAIS, Léon RUFFE

    L'Image : revue artistique et littéraire ornée de figures sur bois

    Floury|décembre 1896-décembre 1897 (le mois de novembre n'est pas paru)|23 x 31 cm|13 numéros en feuilles sous couvertures le tout sous une chemise

    One of 100 copies of the magazine printed on China paper for issues 1 to 11. The specimen issue and no. 12 are on laid paper. Our copy is complete with the spine and covers of the general binding, and the twelve illustrated covers.
    First edition of the complete collection of L'image, published between 1896 and 1897.
    All issues of the magazine are bound together under a half sheep binding with corners, spine with five raised bands titled in gilt, marbled paper boards. Some rubbing.
    Scattered foxing and marginal tears.
    Complete copy of this magazine founded by the young French corporation of wood engravers, and published by the publisher of Toulouse-Lautrec's lithographs (Au pied du Sinaï, Histoires naturelles, Café-Concert).

    €2,300
  15. Aphrodite
    Pierre LOUŸS, François Edouard ZIER

    Aphrodite

    J. Tallandier|Paris s. d. [ca 1900]|16.50 x 25.50 cm|relié
    New edition illustrated by François-Edouard Zier.
    Contemporary binding in full sheep, smooth spine with title and floral motifs in blind, first cover with embossed leather forming the profile of a woman and title in Greek stamped in blind after an illustration by Lina Bill, second cover stamped in blind with a comb, necklace and mirror, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, illustrated wrappers preserved, top edge gilt on deckled edges. The binding shows scratches and rubbing. Some foxing, mainly on edges and second wrapper. A small marginal tear without loss to first blank endpaper.
    Handsome copy in Art Nouveau binding.
    €600
  16. Les chansons de Bilitis
    Pierre LOUŸS

    Les chansons de Bilitis

    Devambez|Paris 1925|23 x 32.50 cm|relié
    First issue illustrated edition with twelve original etchings by Edouard Chimot. Edition of 576 copies. This copy, one of 100 on Van Gelder Holland laid paper containing the color and black and white states of each figure. Chimot's illustration celebrates the sapphic loves of Bilitis.
    Unique copy, expanded with an original signed drawing by Edouard Chimot and a quadruple suite on Japan paper of 8 different etchings from the edition's illustration: 1. Linear state, unreduced plate; 2. Linear state, unreduced plate with remarques; 3. In black, reduced plate; 4. Final state in colors. This quadruple suite is perhaps the one announced in the justification for the 40 hors-commerce copies. Being larger in dimensions than the book, it gives the copy its grand format. To fill the void at the foot, paper tabs have been mounted on hinges. Dimensions of the original book, 20x25, of the drawing 21.5x31.5cm, the Japan suite in the same format as the drawing.
    Doublure binding in full caramel morocco with an important continuous gilt and mosaic Art Deco decoration on the covers and spine, signed at the bottom of the pastedown Marie-Madeleine Lorthiois. Teal blue morocco pastedowns with gilt and mosaic decoration, black and gold silk endpapers, double endpapers of silvered marbled paper, gilt fillet on the leading edges, gilt engine-turned headcaps, edges gilt on deckled edges, covers and spine preserved.
    Half-caramel morocco chemise with flaps bearing gilt title on spine, and a matching bordered slipcase. Rubbing marks on the slipcase, one rubbing mark at the head of the chemise.
    Personal copy of the binder and bibliophile Marie-Madeleine Lorthiois, with her ex-libris label.
    Magnificent binding, "One of the finest by Marie-Madeleine Lorthiois" (Christian Galantaris).


    €6,500
  17. Carte lettre autographe signée adressée à Georges Louis
    Pierre LOUŸS

    Carte lettre autographe signée adressée à Georges Louis

    Paris juillet 1887|11.20 x 14.20 cm|une carte-lettre
    Autograph signed letter-card from Pierre Louÿs addressed to his brother Georges Louis with whom Pierre Louÿs maintained a very intimate relationship and whom he considered as his own father.
    The question of Pierre Louÿs's real paternal identity still fascinates biographers today: "His father, Pierre Philippe Louis, [...] had married in 1842 Jeanne Constance Blanchin, who died ten years later after having given him two children, Lucie and Georges. In 1855, he remarried Claire Céline Maldan, and from this union was born, in 1857, a son, Paul; then, in 1870, our writer, who received the first names Pierre Félix. This late birth, the differences in character between father and son, the former's disaffection toward the latter, the profound intimacy that always reigned between Louÿs and his brother Georges, all this has led certain biographers and critics to suspect that the latter was in reality the writer's father. The exceptionally intimate and constant relationship that Pierre and Georges maintained between them throughout their lives, could be an argument in this sense. Of course, no irrefutable proof has been discovered, and none probably ever will be. Nevertheless, certain letters [...] are quite troubling. In 1895, for example, Louÿs writes seriously to his brother that he knows the answer to 'the most poignant question' he could ask him, a question he has had 'on his lips for ten years.' The following year, in the full triumph of Aphrodite, he thanks Georges effusively and ends his letter with this sentence: 'Not one of my friends has a FATHER who is for him what you are for me.' Arguing from the close intimacy of Georges and Claire Céline during the year 1870, and from the jealousy that the father never ceased to show toward his younger son, Claude Farrère did not hesitate to conclude in favor of Georges Louis. And what to think of this dedication from Louÿs to his brother on a Japan paper copy of the first edition of Pausole: For Georges, his eldest son / Pierre." (Jean-Paul Goujon, Pierre Louÿs)
    Brief note to his brother upon arrival in Epernay: "Rien de nouveau. Personne à la gare. J'ai fait très bon voyage. Mon bouquin était mourant d'ennui, et mes trois voisins aussi. Je t'embrasse. Pierre" ["Nothing new. Nobody at the station. I had a very good journey. My book was dying of boredom, and so were my three neighbors. I embrace you. Pierre"]
    €300
  18. "Aujourd'hui, après une journée qui a déjà duré 11 h je n'ai fumé qu'un demi paquet de cigarettes."
    Pierre LOUŸS

    "Aujourd'hui, après une journée qui a déjà duré 11 h je n'ai fumé qu'un demi paquet de cigarettes."Signed autograph card addressed to Georges Louis

    Paris s. d. [après 1897]|13.80 x 9 cm|une carte autographe recto et verso
    Autograph card by Pierre Louÿs signed with his initial, addressed to Georges Louis and written in violet ink on both sides.
    Note addressed to his brother Georges Louis with whom Pierre Louÿs maintained a very intimate relationship and whom he considered as his own father.
    The question of Pierre Louÿs's real paternal identity still fascinates biographers today: "His father, Pierre Philippe Louis, [...] had married in 1842 Jeanne Constance Blanchin, who died ten years later after giving him two children, Lucie and Georges. In 1855, he remarried Claire Céline Maldan, and from this union was born, in 1857, a son, Paul; then, in 1870, our writer, who received the given names Pierre Félix. This late birth, the differences in character between father and son, the former's disaffection toward the latter, the profound intimacy that always reigned between Louÿs and his brother Georges, all this has led certain biographers and critics to suspect that the latter was in reality the writer's father. The exceptionally intimate and constant relationship that Pierre and Georges maintained between themselves throughout their lives, could be an argument in this direction. Of course, no irrefutable proof has been discovered, and probably never will be. Nevertheless, certain letters [...] are quite troubling. In 1895, for example, Louÿs writes seriously to his brother that he knows the answer to 'the most poignant question' he could ask him, a question he has had 'on his lips for ten years.' The following year, in the full triumph of Aphrodite, he thanks Georges effusively and ends his letter with this sentence: 'Not one of my friends has a FATHER who is for him what you are for me.' Arguing from the close intimacy of Georges and Claire Céline during the year 1870, and the jealousy that the father never ceased to show toward his younger son, Claude Farrère did not hesitate to conclude in favor of Georges Louis. And what to think of this dedication by Louÿs to his brother on a Japan paper copy of the first edition of Pausole: To Georges, his eldest son / Pierre." (Jean-Paul Goujon, Pierre Louÿs)
    Pierre Louÿs revolutionizes his living conditions: "I am taking serious care of myself. For two days now I have been going to bed at half past midnight to wake up between 9 and 10. Today, after a day that has already lasted 11 hours I have only smoked half a pack of cigarettes. That's a quarter of my usual consumption during the same time. Moreover I walked more than a league on foot, I took the air as much as I could...Well with all that I feel quite unwell, or rather as if I were the day after a long and serious illness. Neither strength nor nerves. I have trouble listening, speaking, following an idea. Should this be attributed to my cigarette rationing? It's possible. But honestly I don't think I have felt so low since '97, since the month when you came to see me in Algiers."
    Amusing note from the most tobacco-addicted of writers (nearly 60 cigarettes per day...!) who wrote in Une volupté nouvelle: "One night, as I found myself there, in silent conversation with two blue porcelain cats crouched on a white table, I hesitated to choose between two pastimes of solitude: write a regular sonnet while smoking cigarettes, or smoke cigarettes while looking at the ceiling carpet. The important thing is to always have a cigarette in hand; one must envelop objects in a celestial and fine cloud that bathes lights and shadows, erases material angles, and, by a perfumed spell, imposes on the agitated mind a variable balance from which it can fall into reverie."
    €800
  19. "Il est excellent, le projet d'ouvrir le Panthéon aux héros qui ont tout offert à la Patrie, jusqu'à perdre leur nom pour elle."
    Pierre LOUŸS

    "Il est excellent, le projet d'ouvrir le Panthéon aux héros qui ont tout offert à la Patrie, jusqu'à perdre leur nom pour elle."Signed autograph letter addressed to Georges Louis

    Paris s. d. [novembre 1920]|13.50 x 18 cm|4 pages sur 4 feuillets
    Autograph letter signed by Pierre Louÿs, addressed to Georges Louis. Four pages written in blue ink on four sheets.
    Handsome letter addressed to his brother Georges Louis with whom Pierre Louÿs maintained a very intimate relationship and whom he considered as his own father.
    The question of Pierre Louÿs's real father's identity still fascinates biographers today: "His father, Pierre Philippe Louis, [...] had married in 1842 Jeanne Constance Blanchin, who died ten years later after having given him two children, Lucie and Georges. In 1855, he remarried Claire Céline Maldan, and from this union was born, in 1857, a son, Paul; then, in 1870, our writer, who received the first names Pierre Félix. This late birth, the differences in character between father and son, the former's disaffection toward the latter, the profound intimacy that always reigned between Louÿs and his brother Georges, all this has led certain biographers and critics to suspect that the latter was in reality the writer's father. The exceptionally intimate and constant relationship that Pierre and Georges maintained between them throughout their lives could be an argument in this sense. Of course, no irrefutable proof has been discovered, and probably never will be. Nevertheless, certain letters [...] are quite troubling. In 1895, for example, Louÿs writes gravely to his brother that he knows the answer to 'the most poignant question' he could ask him, a question he has had 'on his lips for ten years.' The following year, at the height of Aphrodite's triumph, he thanks Georges effusively and ends his letter with this sentence: 'Not one of my friends has a FATHER who is to him what you are to me.' Arguing from the close intimacy between Georges and Claire Céline during the year 1870, and from the jealousy that the father never ceased to show toward his younger son, Claude Farrère did not hesitate to conclude in favor of Georges Louis. And what to think of this dedication by Louÿs to his brother on a deluxe copy of the first edition of Pausole: To Georges, his eldest son / Pierre." (Jean-Paul Goujon, Pierre Louÿs)
    This letter was written after the First World War: "The project to open the Panthéon to heroes who offered everything to the Fatherland, even losing their name for her, is excellent. And it would be, for the archbishopric of Paris, an unhoped-for opportunity to spontaneously render to our great dead of the crypt the respects that it alone in the world denies them. It would thus repair an error that has lasted too long for its glory. Cemeteries are deconsecrated. No theological reason can attribute to them a more religious character than to the basement of a monument surmounted by a colossal cross and sanctified by ashes." Indeed, in November 1920, Charles Dumont, the general budget reporter, expressed his wish to bring the unknown soldier into the Panthéon. Finally, only the ceremony took place there and the remains of the most famous of the combatants remained, as everyone knows, under the Arc de Triomphe. The only soldier to join the Panthéon, Maurice Genevoix, would not enter until a hundred years later, on November 11, 2020.
    Louÿs concludes his letter with a very handsome tribute to the writer he has always admired: "One is ill-advised to forbid the faithful such a pilgrimage. They do it. For immense humanity, the earth where Hugo's corpse lay down is holy ground."

    €1,200
  20. Lettre autographe signée de 20 pages adressée à Georges Louis : "Et j'ai une grande nouvelle à t'annoncer, qui décidera du bonheur de ma vie : je me marie."
    Pierre LOUŸS

    Lettre autographe signée de 20 pages adressée à Georges Louis : "Et j'ai une grande nouvelle à t'annoncer, qui décidera du bonheur de ma vie : je me marie."

    Dizy [Dizy-le-Gros] samedi 15 septembre 1888|13.70 x 21.20 cm|20 pages sur 5 doubles feuillets & une enveloppe
    Very long autograph letter signed by Pierre Louÿs, addressed to Georges Louis. Twenty pages written in blue ink on five double sheets of graph paper. Enclosed is an envelope on which is written in pencil in Pierre Louÿs's hand: "Letter of 20 pages about my stay in Limé"
    Amusing letter addressed to his brother Georges Louis with whom Pierre Louÿs maintained a very intimate relationship and whom he considered as his own father.
    The question of Pierre Louÿs's real father's identity still fascinates biographers today: "His father, Pierre Philippe Louis, [...] had married in 1842 Jeanne Constance Blanchin, who died ten years later after having given him two children, Lucie and Georges. In 1855, he remarried Claire Céline Maldan, and from this union was born, in 1857, a son, Paul; then, in 1870, our writer, who received the first names Pierre Félix. This late birth, the differences in character between father and son, the former's disaffection toward the latter, the profound intimacy that always reigned between Louÿs and his brother Georges, all this has led certain biographers and critics to suspect that the latter was in reality the writer's father. The exceptionally intimate and constant relationship that Pierre and Georges maintained between them throughout their lives could be an argument in this sense. Of course, no irrefutable proof has been discovered, and probably never will be. Nevertheless, certain letters [...] are quite troubling. In 1895, for example, Louÿs writes gravely to his brother that he knows the answer to 'the most poignant question' he could ask him, a question he has had 'on his lips for ten years.' The following year, at the height of Aphrodite's triumph, he thanks Georges effusively and ends his letter with this sentence: 'Not one of my friends has a FATHER who is to him what you are to me.' Arguing from the close intimacy between Georges and Claire Céline during the year 1870, and from the jealousy that the father never ceased to show toward his younger son, Claude Farrère did not hesitate to conclude in favor of Georges Louis. And what to think of this dedication by Louÿs to his brother on a deluxe copy of the first edition of Pausole: To Georges, his eldest son / Pierre." (Jean-Paul Goujon, Pierre Louÿs)
    In this titillating letter bearing at the top the mention "Papa doesn't know I'm writing you this letter" underlined three times, young Pierre Louÿs (eighteen years old) tells his elder about his vacation in Limé (Aisne) with the Glatron family. Visibly very excited, he announces to his brother after some brief family news: "And I have great news to announce to you, which will decide the happiness of my life: I'm getting married. Don't look for a match for me anymore: I've found one." In order to keep his reader in suspense, he first tells him at length about his stay in Limé and paints a portrait of the Glatron family: "Here first is the introduction to the little work I'm sending you by way of a letter, and which may be very boring. It's the tableau of the Glatron family; it amused me to study them a bit while I was there. I wanted to find for each of them three or four words to paint them completely but I soon realized that I couldn't do so for any of them." Far from being "boring," this very long passage allows Pierre Louÿs to deploy his talents as storyteller and caricaturist. Each member receives a colorful description ("the queen mother," "a nonentity," "a very special character," "petrified phlegm," "a repetitive Paulus," "the little invalid"...) and Louÿs also gives pride of place to dialogues which he deliberately exaggerates: "'I tell you that you took her by the waist! I saw you! Don't say no, I saw you!'" These humorous observations continue with the quasi-anthropological description of a village festival in Limé: "I arrived in Limé the day before the patron saint's festival. [...] For orchestra, two good pig merchants with big chins and black mustaches, who blow outrageously into a cornet and a clarinet. [...] The lighting consists of the good Lord's stars, and six Venetian lanterns trembling on two wires. It was there that I developed [...] the notions of choreography that good Madame Gendron instilled in me last year. [...] For I must tell you that the Limé women have a way of dancing which, while being less elegant, is nonetheless very attractive." Then come the first emotions produced by this local dance: "The female dancer grips her two hands (without gloves naturally) on the dancer's shoulders, while he places his hands around her waist [...] I bet you think me capable of having danced with just anyone? Undeceive yourself. I had only three dancing partners [...] Or else we go to 'suck a quadrille.' This picturesque expression which is missing from the Academy dictionary, means that one 'pays' one's dancing partner a barley sugar worth a sou and...that each sucks it from one end as a sign of union and good understanding." He confides to his brother his first kiss with his fiancée, a certain Jeanne Bécret: "One of my dancing partners (the one I kissed) is a little jewel. She is tall, well-made, with a Louis XV face, exactly like the sanguine drawing in the salon. (Pay close attention, it's my wife I'm describing to you)." The young man then relates at length his marriage proposal before concluding with assurance: "And thus we are getting married, in the second half of December. That will make a young couple, won't it?" The marriage will never take place and even in the author's biography, this vacation romance will only be very briefly mentioned.
    €2,800
  21. "H.[eredia] refuse [...] la dédicace d'Aphr.[odite] parce qu'il a encore deux filles à marier."
    Pierre LOUŸS

    "H.[eredia] refuse [...] la dédicace d'Aphr.[odite] parce qu'il a encore deux filles à marier."Signed autograph letter addressed to Georges Louis

    Paris 12 novembre 1895|12.50 x 20 cm|4 page sur un double feuillet
    Autograph letter signed by Pierre Louÿs, signed with his initial, addressed to Georges Louis. Four pages written in blue ink on a double sheet. Envelope enclosed bearing, on the verso, the intact wax seal with the writer's cipher. Transverse fold inherent to the mailing.
    Important letter addressed to his brother Georges Louis with whom Pierre Louÿs maintained a very intimate relationship and whom he considered as his own father.
    The question of the real identity of Pierre Louÿs' father still fascinates biographers today: "His father, Pierre Philippe Louis, [...] had married in 1842 Jeanne Constance Blanchin, who died ten years later after giving him two children, Lucie and Georges. In 1855, he remarried Claire Céline Maldan, and from this union was born, in 1857, a son, Paul; then, in 1870, our writer, who received the first names Pierre Félix. This late birth, the differences in character between father and son, the former's disaffection towards the latter, the profound intimacy that always reigned between Louÿs and his brother Georges, all this has led certain biographers and critics to suspect that the latter was in reality the father of the writer. The exceptionally intimate and constant relationship that Pierre and Georges maintained between them all their lives, could be an argument in this sense. Of course, no irrefutable proof has been discovered, and probably never will be. Nevertheless, certain letters [...] are quite troubling. In 1895, for example, Louÿs writes seriously to his brother that he knows the answer to 'the most poignant question' he could ask him, a question he has had 'on his lips for ten years.' The following year, in the midst of Aphrodite's triumph, he thanks Georges effusively and ends his letter with this sentence: 'Not one of my friends has a FATHER who is for him what you are for me.' Arguing from the close intimacy of Georges and Claire Céline during 1870, and the jealousy that the father never ceased to show towards his younger son, Claude Farrère did not hesitate to conclude in favor of Georges Louis. And what to make of this dedication by Louÿs to his brother on a Japan paper copy of the first edition of Pausole: To Georges, his eldest son / Pierre." (Jean-Paul Goujon, Pierre Louÿs)
    As attested by the enclosed envelope, Pierre Louÿs sends this letter to his brother while the latter is exercising the function of France's delegate to the International Commission of Egyptian Debt and is in Cairo. Like a good socialite, Pierre tells his brother about his new encounters: "I met yesterday at a friend's house one of the sons of your minister [Marcellin Berthelot]. I have known all four of them for a long time, but I see little of them. One of them (André) is a friend of Henri Mougeot with whom he has rented, along with two or three other young men, a house in Chevreuse and a mistress in Paris. [...] The other, Daniel is a professor at the School of Pharmacy. A remarkable chemist, they say. Philippe does nothing special [...] Finally René, the youngest, is Blum's oldest friend and his great rival of former times in the general competition. [...] It is Philippe who formed five or six years ago with Léon Daudet and Georges Hugo such a famous trinity. He is also known for having written a sonnet containing six rhymes in omphe, which stupefied Heredia."
    But these worldly matters do not distance Pierre Louÿs from literature. Indeed, his first novel entitled Aphrodite is about to appear and he wonders to whom he could dedicate it. He first thought of José Maria de Heredia but... "H. refuses [...] the dedication of Aphr. because he still has two daughters to marry. I myself had put a thousand reservations in my offer, and his response, after all, is not unobliging. I know on the other hand that he repeats before strangers and indifferent persons everything he told me about the book and in the same hyperbolic terms. Finally he gave me this argument: I want to write you an article in the Débats; I could not write it if the book were dedicated to me. - So I am thinking of Besnard. What do you say?"
    The question takes on full importance: Louÿs had until then published only booklets printed in limited editions. The work, which will finally be dedicated to Albert Besnard, will achieve immense success, contributing greatly to the launch of the Mercure de France publishing house. We also know what other great success Pierre Louÿs will achieve with the Heredia daughters.
    Very fine letter written on the eve of Pierre Louÿs' first great public success, the novel Aphrodite.
    €1,200
  22. "Sais-tu qu'avant quinze jours je serai auprès de toi ? [...] Puis-je espérer que d'ici là tu auras repris un peu de forces ?"
    Pierre LOUŸS

    "Sais-tu qu'avant quinze jours je serai auprès de toi ? [...] Puis-je espérer que d'ici là tu auras repris un peu de forces ?"Autograph letter from his youth, one of the last addressed to his father Pierre-Philippe Louis

    Paris jeudi 4 avril [1889]|12.50 x 20 cm|4 pages sur un double feuillet
    Autograph letter signed by Pierre [Louÿs], addressed to his father, four pages written in black ink on a double sheet of white paper. Transverse folds inherent to folding for mailing.
    This letter was sent by the young Pierre Louÿs while he was studying at the Janson-de-Sailly lycée (Paris - 16th arrondissement).
    This is very likely one of Pierre Louÿs's last letters to his father, ten days before the latter's death: "Do you know that in less than two weeks I will be beside you? [...] May I hope that by then you will have regained some strength?"
    The question of Pierre Louÿs's real paternal identity still fascinates biographers today: "His father, Pierre Philippe Louis, [...] had married in 1842 Jeanne Constance Blanchin, who died ten years later after giving him two children, Lucie and Georges. In 1855, he remarried Claire Céline Maldan, and from this union was born, in 1857, a son, Paul; then, in 1870, our writer, who received the first names Pierre Félix. This late birth, the differences in character between father and son, the first's disaffection toward the second, the profound intimacy that always reigned between Louÿs and his brother Georges, all this has led certain biographers and critics to suspect that the latter was in reality the writer's father. The exceptionally intimate and constant relationship that Pierre and Georges maintained between them throughout their lives, could be an argument in this sense. Of course, no irrefutable proof has been discovered, and none will probably ever be discovered. Nevertheless, certain letters [...] are quite troubling. In 1895, for example, Louÿs writes seriously to his brother that he knows the answer to 'the most poignant question' he could ask him, a question he has had 'on his lips for ten years.' The following year, in the midst of Aphrodite's triumph, he thanks Georges effusively and ends his letter with this sentence: 'Not one of my friends has a FATHER who is to him what you are to me.' Arguing from the close intimacy of Georges and Claire Céline during the year 1870, and from the jealousy that the father never ceased to show toward his younger son, Claude Farrère did not hesitate to conclude in favor of Georges Louis. And what to think of this dedication by Louÿs to his brother on a Japan paper copy of the first edition of Pausole: To Georges, his eldest son / Pierre." (Jean-Paul Goujon, Pierre Louÿs)
    Pierre Louÿs was only nine years old when his mother died suddenly. The father from then on entrusted his education to his brother Georges, twenty years his senior, and Pierre then joined him in Paris where he attended the École Alsacienne then the Janson-de-Sailly lycée.
    Despite the little affection shown to him, the young man writes every week to his "dear papa," residing at Dizy-Magenta near Épernay. The young man inquires about his poor health: "May I hope that by then you will have regained some strength? No doubt. Your eczema, we hope, will not have worsened; and the green leaves that are beginning to appear will perhaps give you hope yourself, for improvement next summer." The "improvement" would sadly never come, and Pierre Philippe Louis would breathe his last on April 14, 1889. In the meantime, Pierre Louÿs gives family news, more precisely about Germaine, his sister Lucie's daughter: "Today I went to rue de la Santé to get news of Germaine. I found the little one who had been operated on in very good condition, very cheerful and in good health. She was up, and playing on the floor. [...] Finally I ended my day by going to my aunt Marie's and to Elisabeth's. Everyone is well in both houses..." As usual, always anxious not to disappoint his father, he finally transmits his school results: "I return to the lycée tomorrow (did Georges tell you that I was second in English?)"
    €800
  23. "Mon souhait, ce serait que nous choisissions deux petites maisons contigües près de Paris. "
    Pierre LOUŸS

    "Mon souhait, ce serait que nous choisissions deux petites maisons contigües près de Paris. "Signed autograph letter addressed to Georges Louis

    Tamaris [Tamaris-sur-mer] 19 juin 1907|13.50 x 20.50 cm|4 pages sur un double feuillet
    Autograph letter signed by Pierre [Louÿs], addressed to Georges Louis. Four pages written in purple ink on a double sheet. Envelope included.
    Fine letter addressed to his brother Georges Louis with whom Pierre Louÿs maintained a very intimate relationship and whom he considered as his own father.
    The question of Pierre Louÿs's real paternal identity still fascinates biographers today: "His father, Pierre Philippe Louis, [...] had married in 1842 Jeanne Constance Blanchin, who died ten years later after giving him two children, Lucie and Georges. In 1855, he remarried Claire Céline Maldan, and from this union was born, in 1857, a son, Paul; then, in 1870, our writer, who received the first names Pierre Félix. This late birth, the differences in character between father and son, the first's disaffection toward the second, the profound intimacy that always reigned between Louÿs and his brother Georges, all this has led certain biographers and critics to suspect that the latter was in reality the writer's father. The exceptionally intimate and constant relationship that Pierre and Georges maintained between them throughout their lives, could be an argument in this sense. Of course, no irrefutable proof has been discovered, and none will probably ever be discovered. Nevertheless, certain letters [...] are quite troubling. In 1895, for example, Louÿs writes seriously to his brother that he knows the answer to 'the most poignant question' he could ask him, a question he has had 'on his lips for ten years.' The following year, in the midst of Aphrodite's triumph, he thanks Georges effusively and ends his letter with this sentence: 'Not one of my friends has a FATHER who is to him what you are to me.' Arguing from the close intimacy of Georges and Claire Céline during the year 1870, and from the jealousy that the father never ceased to show toward his younger son, Claude Farrère did not hesitate to conclude in favor of Georges Louis. And what to think of this dedication by Louÿs to his brother on a Japan paper copy of the first edition of Pausole: To Georges, his eldest son / Pierre." (Jean-Paul Goujon, Pierre Louÿs)
    Written from Tamaris where the writer is on vacation and attempting to buy Psyché, this fine letter forms a veritable ode to literature and bibliophilia. Louÿs "fill[s] two pages of letter on this question" and indeed writes: "When I leave I always lock everything up so that my maids don't browse through my books in my absence, which would be disastrous. I unfortunately have book titles that could sometimes tempt them. [...] What to do? Leave you the keys? I would certainly do so if I were leaving for six months, but for a short absence... [...] I don't have duplicates and [...] the key to my study locks up my desk which is the soul of the house." Georges very quickly transmitted to his brother the love of books and texts and the latter recalls here this profound spiritual communion: "When I look at my library, I constantly regret that you don't benefit from it more. I would always like to unite it with yours, and that the day when your life is free, you would only have to leave your bedroom to take from my place what you desire." Although happy to take some leave, he misses his brother: "That's somewhat what prevents me from loving Biarritz, it's that I see there a threat of such complete separation for us both. [...] I couldn't follow you there and I would only see you one or two months a year; that frightens me. My wish would be that we choose two small adjoining houses near Paris. [...] But it's not time to speak of it." This sentimental reverie of a future together quickly gives way to a long passage concerning international politics and the game of European alliances. Georges is then Director of Political Affairs at the Quai d'Orsay and the two brothers naturally discuss this subject: "The circle of alliances built in recent months around Berlin is very remarkable; but how can one ally with us, I mean with our current Parliament? [...] Whatever the case, these agreements certainly do honor to French and English diplomacies and do not honor German diplomacy which appears quite feeble. To be so strong and find as allies only two nations in full political and ethnographic putrefaction, Austria and Turkey, is extraordinary."

    €800
  24. "Edison est en France..."
    Pierre LOUŸS

    "Edison est en France..."Signed autograph letter addressed to Georges Louis

    Paris Lundi 11 septembre [1911]|13.50 x 18 cm|5 pages sur un double feuillet et un feuillet libre
    Autograph letter signed by Pierre [Louÿs], addressed to Georges Louis. Five pages written in violet ink on a double leaf and a loose leaf. A press article pasted on the recto of the single leaf. Transverse creases inherent to posting.
    Fine letter addressed to his brother Georges Louis with whom Pierre Louÿs maintained a very intimate relationship and whom he considered as his own father.
    The question of the real identity of Pierre Louÿs's father still fascinates biographers today: "His father, Pierre Philippe Louis, [...] had married in 1842 Jeanne Constance Blanchin, who died ten years later after giving him two children, Lucie and Georges. In 1855, he remarried Claire Céline Maldan, and from this union was born, in 1857, a son, Paul; then, in 1870, our writer, who received the first names Pierre Félix. This late birth, the differences in character between father and son, the former's disaffection toward the latter, the profound intimacy that always reigned between Louÿs and his brother Georges, all this has led certain biographers and critics to suspect that the latter was in reality the writer's father. The exceptionally intimate and constant relationship that Pierre and Georges maintained between themselves all their lives, could be an argument in this sense. Of course, no irrefutable proof has been discovered, and none will probably ever be discovered. Nevertheless, certain letters [...] are quite disturbing. In 1895, for example, Louÿs writes seriously to his brother that he knows the answer to "the most poignant question" he could ask him, a question he has had "on his lips for ten years." The following year, in the full triumph of Aphrodite, he thanks Georges effusively and ends his letter with this sentence: "Not one of my friends has a FATHER who is to him what you are to me." Arguing from the close intimacy of Georges and Claire Céline during the year 1870, and the jealousy that the father never ceased to show toward his younger son, Claude Farrère did not hesitate to conclude in favor of Georges Louis. And what to think of this dedication by Louÿs to his brother on a deluxe paper copy of the first edition of Pausole: For Georges, his eldest son / Pierre." (Jean-Paul Goujon, Pierre Louÿs)
    Pierre Louÿs comments in this letter on Thomas Edison's visit to Paris: "Edison is in France. Toward the end of last month, a journalist questioned him. I regret not having kept the article." The writer then launches into a true dialogue, from his memories of said article, paraphrasing the inventor in the manner of a witness who himself attended the interview: "To the simple question "Are you pleased with your trip?" Edison answered with amiable phrases, and immediately, on his own, he brought the conversation to the subjects: Monoplane. War. He said (I only repeat from memory the sense of what I read:) He said in substance: "You are not yet enthusiastic enough about the value of your new weapon: it is formidable. You take aeroplanes for scouts. Say first: combatants. From the heights where the monoplane evolves easily today, there is an effective military power, but especially an incalculable moral power." He explained himself thus: "Give grenades to an aviator who will drop them. Even if they are not very dangerous, even if they rarely hit their target, the entire enemy army will scatter like a flock of sheep under the flight of the eagle. Five, six grenades falling from the sky will provoke panic terror. Nothing is frightening for a crowd like a peril that comes from above." " This "remarkable interview" related by the writer who finds that "the theory is correct," underlines the visionary character of Edison who seems here to relate the facts of the coming First World War. The erudite Pierre Louÿs illuminates this theory of "Edison the prophet" with his classical culture: "It agrees with the old phrases about the limits of bravery: the Gaul fears only that the sky might fall... [...] It agrees with the ancient principle of defense by tower, battlement and machicolation [...] Still the tower is accessible; but the aviator who flies at 1500 m, he is invulnerable like a god of the Iliad."
    €1,000
  25. Lettre autographe signée adressée à Georges Louis
    Pierre LOUŸS

    Lettre autographe signée adressée à Georges Louis

    Paris 15 mai 1916|11 x 16 cm|6 pages sur un double feuillet et un feuillet simple
    Autograph letter from Pierre Louÿs signed with his initial, addressed to Georges Louis. Six pages written in violet ink on a double leaf and a single leaf. Central creases inherent to posting.
    Very fine letter addressed to his brother Georges Louis with whom Pierre Louÿs maintained a very intimate relationship and whom he considered as his own father.
    The question of the real identity of Pierre Louÿs's father still fascinates biographers today: "His father, Pierre Philippe Louis, [...] had married in 1842 Jeanne Constance Blanchin, who died ten years later after giving him two children, Lucie and Georges. In 1855, he remarried Claire Céline Maldan, and from this union was born, in 1857, a son, Paul; then, in 1870, our writer, who received the first names Pierre Félix. This late birth, the differences in character between father and son, the former's disaffection toward the latter, the profound intimacy that always reigned between Louÿs and his brother Georges, all this has led certain biographers and critics to suspect that the latter was in reality the writer's father. The exceptionally intimate and constant relationship that Pierre and Georges maintained between themselves all their lives, could be an argument in this sense. Of course, no irrefutable proof has been discovered, and none will probably ever be discovered. Nevertheless, certain letters [...] are quite disturbing. In 1895, for example, Louÿs writes seriously to his brother that he knows the answer to "the most poignant question" he could ask him, a question he has had "on his lips for ten years." The following year, in the full triumph of Aphrodite, he thanks Georges effusively and ends his letter with this sentence: "Not one of my friends has a FATHER who is to him what you are to me." Arguing from the close intimacy of Georges and Claire Céline during the year 1870, and the jealousy that the father never ceased to show toward his younger son, Claude Farrère did not hesitate to conclude in favor of Georges Louis. And what to think of this dedication by Louÿs to his brother on a deluxe paper copy of the first edition of Pausole: For Georges, his eldest son / Pierre." (Jean-Paul Goujon, Pierre Louÿs)
    A true reflection on literature and the choice of words, this letter was written while Pierre Louÿs was working on a work that would appear the following year: Poëtique.
    "Louÿs decides [...] to write a Poëtique which will be like the testament of his work as well as a message to young writers. He had always reflected on poetic art and accumulated dozens of notes, both on poets and on poetry itself." (Ibid.) To reflect on poetic art is precisely what he does in this fine letter: "Regarding negation, I wondered why the principle I tried to establish (nuance, ruse or error) was not classical. I believe the answer is: Chimène. - We take the word as a text to teach high school students that negation is an additional force. - Ex. "Je ne te hais point" ["I do not hate you"] more expressive than "Je t'aime" ["I love you"]. But no. Rodrigue has just said: "Votre haine" ["Your hatred"]. It is Rodrigue who imprints the image. The response "Je ne te hais point" ["I do not hate you"] is the passage from shadow to light: it is to speak the nuance. [...] It is terribly delicate to write "ne pas" ["not"]."
    Then in a period of great trouble and isolation, the poet is touched by Paul Valéry's support: "The other day I had written a long letter to Valéry, about my "Poëtique." - He answered me immediately, a letter where he began by thanking me for all that he had felt of affection for him in the very fact that I had spent part of my evening with him without his being there. I answer him in turn - as much as I remember - "It is so rare, friends who suspect affection beneath something. There are hardly more than two kinds of people: those who do not lift the stone because they are certain there is nothing underneath, and those who do not lift the stone because they are certain to find a woodlouse there." I believe that is true, isn't it?"
    €1,200
  26. "Oh ! En 1930 ce sera bien différent sans doute ; mais j'aurai 60 ans dans quinze ans ; et je m'inquiète d'abord de 1917 ; même de 1916."
    Pierre LOUŸS

    "Oh ! En 1930 ce sera bien différent sans doute ; mais j'aurai 60 ans dans quinze ans ; et je m'inquiète d'abord de 1917 ; même de 1916."Signed autograph letter addressed to Georges Louis

    Paris Lundi 11 septembre [1916]|13 x 20.50 cm|3 pages sur 2 feuillets
    Autograph letter signed with initial by Pierre Louÿs, addressed to Georges Louis. Two pages written in purple ink on two sheets. Central folds inherent to posting.

    Fine letter addressed to his brother Georges Louis with whom Pierre Louÿs maintained a very intimate relationship and whom he considered as his own father.

    The question of Pierre Louÿs' real paternal identity still fascinates biographers today: "His father, Pierre Philippe Louis, [...] had married in 1842 Jeanne Constance Blanchin, who died ten years later after giving him two children, Lucie and Georges. In 1855, he remarried Claire Céline Maldan, and from this union was born, in 1857, a son, Paul; then, in 1870, our writer, who received the Christian names Pierre Félix. This late birth, the differences in character between father and son, the former's disaffection towards the latter, the profound intimacy that always reigned between Louÿs and his brother Georges, all this has led certain biographers and critics to suspect that the latter was in reality the writer's father. The exceptionally intimate and constant relationship that Pierre and Georges maintained between themselves throughout their lives, could be an argument in this direction. Of course, no irrefutable proof has been discovered, and probably never will be. Nevertheless, certain letters [...] are quite troubling. In 1895, for example, Louÿs writes gravely to his brother that he knows the answer to 'the most poignant question' he could ask him, a question he has had 'on his lips for ten years'. The following year, at the height of Aphrodite's triumph, he thanks Georges effusively and ends his letter with this sentence: 'Not one of my friends has a FATHER who is to him what you are to me.' Arguing from the close intimacy between Georges and Claire Céline during the year 1870, and from the jealousy that the father never ceased to show towards his younger son, Claude Farrère did not hesitate to conclude in favor of Georges Louis. And what should we think of this dedication by Louÿs to his brother on a Japan paper copy of the first edition of Pausole: To Georges, his eldest son / Pierre." (Jean-Paul Goujon, Pierre Louÿs)

    In this interesting letter, Louÿs discusses at length the difficulty writers face in living by their pen. Titling his missive "Continuation of our conversation about war and literature", he first makes a very pessimistic observation: "In the 16th century? It was even worse! In the 16th, the independent man of letters did not exist at all - to write one needed an office, a benefice, - or land and income, rare fortune among writers. [...] It is only in the 19th century that we find a very small number of conscientious writers living by their pen. And even then... Do you want to count them? Hugo almost alone succeeds. Lamartine fails and is obliged to beg pitifully at the end of his life. Gautier, who had magnificent gifts, only subsists by writing in newspapers [...] you see what I mean: Theatre and Journal." He continues: "That works well in peacetime. - In 1890, l'Echo de Paris inserted prose poems in the first column. - In "[date illegible because crossed out] "le Figaro had a literary supplement. [...] But in wartime, in this century, and ten, twelve or fifteen years after the war, we shall go to the woods no more; the laurels are cut down. Oh! In 1930 it will doubtless be very different; but I shall be 60 in fifteen years; and I worry first about 1917; even about 1916."

    This very pessimistic letter was written at a period when Louÿs was at his worst "The man who wrote these pages was a solitary man, reclusive, sick, drugged, surrounded by dubious creatures and having as confidant only this adored brother who would die less than a year later." (Ibid.)

    €1,000
  27. Les trois roses de Marie-Anne
    Léon LEBEGUE, Pierre LOUŸS

    Les trois roses de Marie-Anne

    A. Ferroud - F. Ferroud, Successeur|Paris 1909|16 x 23.50 cm|broché
    Illustrated edition with original etchings by Léon Lebègue, one of 30 numbered copies on grand Japan paper, deluxe issue.
    Our copy, as stipulated in the justification page, is complete with the triple state of the engravings.
    Handsome copy.
    €450
  28. Aphrodite
    Edouard CHIMOT, Pierre LOUŸS

    Aphrodite[Aphrodite]

    Editions d'Art de l'Intermédiaire du Bibliophile|Paris 1929|25 x 33 cm|relié sous étui
    Edition illustrated with 16 original color etchings by Edouard Chimot, one of 25 copies on Imperial Japan paper, deluxe copy after 46 other Japan copies variously enhanced.
    Full red morocco binding, spine with four large raised bands set with gilt fillets, burgundy watered silk endpapers and pastedowns, frame of triple gilt fillets on the pastedowns, following endpapers of marbled paper, all edges gilt, original wrappers preserved, slipcase with red morocco entry, moiré-effect paper boards, marbled paper interior, superb full morocco binding signed Vaissière relieur castrais.
    Our copy contains the three states of the 16 plates hors-texte and an original color drawing signed by Edouard Chimot as indicated in the justification page.
    Fine copy perfectly established in a signed full morocco binding with an original color drawing by Edouard Chimot.


    €2,000
  29. Une volupté nouvelle
    Jeanne BARDEY, Pierre LOUŸS

    Une volupté nouvelle

    A. Ferroud - F. Ferroud, Successeur|Paris 1929|17.50 x 24.50 cm|broché
    Illustrated edition with lead pencil drawings heightened in colors by Jeanne Bardey, one of 60 numbered copies on grand Japan imperial paper, deluxe copies after 15 other grand Japan imperial copies.
    Our copy contains all 3 states of the illustrations and the reproduction of 2 sketches at the end of the volume.
    Very fine copy.






    €300
  30. Les aventures du roi Pausole
    Pierre VIDAL, Pierre LOUŸS

    Les aventures du roi Pausole[The Adventures of King Pausole]

    Auguste Blaizot|Paris 1906|21 x 28 cm|relié
    Illustrated edition with 82 original color compositions by Pierre Vidal, one of 325 numbered copies on Rives laid paper.
    Bound in half mouse-grey morocco with corners, smooth spine decorated with brown and red mosaicked morocco pieces depicting clusters of fruit and foliage, gilt date at foot, double black fillets on marbled paper boards, pebbled paper endpapers and pastedowns, covers and spine preserved, top edge gilt, elegant contemporary binding signed by René Kieffer.
    Signed and inscribed by Auguste Blaizot to the bibliophile writer Léon Hennique below the justification page.
    Provenance: from the library of Léon Hennique with his bookplate designed by Léon Glaize and engraved by Eugène Dété pasted on a pastedown.
    Fine copy perfectly executed by René Kieffer in a mosaicked binding.






    €800
  31. Archipel
    Pierre LOUŸS

    Archipel

    Charpentier|Paris 1906|11.50 x 18.50 cm|relié
    First edition on ordinary paper.
    Half red morocco binding with corners, spine with five raised bands set with gilt fillets, light rubbing to spine, gilt fillet border on marbled paper boards, decorative patterned endpapers and pastedowns, top edge gilt, illustrated covers and sunned spine with lacks preserved, binding signed by Alix.
    Handsome copy.
    €100
  32. Les chansons de Bilitis
    Pierre LOUŸS

    Les chansons de Bilitis

    Société du Mercure de France|Paris 1898|14 x 22.70 cm|relié
    Edition with some parts in first edition, containing 52 previously unpublished pieces out of 158. A portrait of Bilitis by Albert Laurens as frontispiece, after the polychrome bust in the Louvre Museum. One of 550 copies on vellum, no. 445.
    Half brown shagreen binding with corners signed Champs-Stroobant at the top of the endpaper. Smooth spine with mosaic work, decorated with mirrored mosaic tooling in red and black, with Greek key roll borders. Fillet lines on boards. Top edge gilt. Spine uniformly faded. Traces of rubbing.
    Very fresh copy, with original wrappers preserved, uncut paper, full margins.
    Handsome copy.
    Literary hoax in which Bilitis is presented in the translator Pierre Louys's preface as a young Greek woman from the 6th century who would have lived on the island of Lesbos where she would have been Sappho's rival. Pierre Louys pushed the hoax so far as to create false bibliographic references, and a large part of the critics were deceived by it. Debussy set 3 of these pieces to music as early as 1897. The poems and songs trace the life of a young virgin, her first erotic stirrings and her sapphic loves.
    €700
  33. Lettre autographe signée adressée à un ami qu'il nomme "khiliarque"
    Pierre LOUYS

    Lettre autographe signée adressée à un ami qu'il nomme "khiliarque"

    1er février 1921|11.10 x 14.60 cm|4 pages sur un double feuillet
    Autograph letter signed by Pierre Louÿs addressed to a friend whom he calls "khiliarque". Ample and calligraphic handwriting in violet ink. A tear without loss of text to the first page.
    Eloquent letter testifying to Pierre Louÿs' fragile health in the last years of his life: "Vous me retrouvez en pleine crise d'emphysème. Médecins. Ventouses. Potions. Régime. Intertitude chaque jour sur la journée du lendemain." [You find me in the midst of an emphysema crisis. Doctors. Cupping. Potions. Regimen. Uncertainty each day about the next day.]
    The letter also reveals the writer's passion for dramaturgy, notably through the mention of Gustave Quinson, then director of the Palais-Royal theatre. "Voulez-vous être tout à fait gentil ? Envoyez-moi d'abord votre livret que je suis si curieux de connaître..." [Would you be so kind? First send me your libretto which I am so curious to know...]
    €280
  34. Au temps des juges
    André COLLOT, Pierre LOUŸS

    Au temps des juges

    Aux dépens d'un amateur|Paris 1933|15.50 x 23 cm|broché sous double chemise et étui
    First edition published in a small number of copies on grand vélin d'Arches, ours unnumbered.
    Work illustrated with 12 original illustrations attributed to André Collot.
    Our copy is complete with the duplicate suite in blue of the 12 illustrations.
    Some rubbing to the slipcase.
    Handsome copy.
    €400
  35. Suite de six eaux-fortes de Albert Laurens pour Aphrodite de Pierre Louÿs
    Paul-Albert LAURENS, Pierre LOUŸS

    Suite de six eaux-fortes de Albert Laurens pour Aphrodite de Pierre Louÿs

    Pierre Duffau|Paris 1897|23 x 32 cm|en feuilles
    First edition, one of 40 copies on China, ours one of the 10 copies out of business literati with remark and signature of Paul Albert Laurens .
    Nice copy despite tiny marginal freckles not serious at the head of some leaflets.
    €500
  36. An exceptional binding in the Arabo-Andalusian style
    La femme et le pantin
    Pierre LOUŸS, Pablo ROIG

    La femme et le pantin[Woman and Puppet]

    L'édition d'art|Paris 1903|16 x 22.20 cm|relié sous étui

    New illustrated edition 300 numbered copies printed, ours on marble Vellum paper. The book is embellished with 50 drawings in color by Pablo Roig and decorated with a frame in the Art Nouveau style by Riom.


    Full brown shagreen, the spine sunned in five compartments completely blindtooled from half circle embellished with golden carnations, fillets by cold soldering outline the raised band, date and place of publication to foot, covers are completely framed with a grid pattern of blindtooled fillets forming decorative compartments in their center a golden hoop, the large plate achieved by Saint-André in the center of the first chiseled cover in a sunken Andalusian pattern representing “golden roots surrounding a phantom tree like in the novel, of P. Louys, the women are surrounded by a phantom man” in the double golden frame, signed by the artist on the outside of the plate, golden wheels outline the headband and the spine head, the end pages and the fly pages of silk with a painted rose pattern by Saint- André, the golden fillets and the wheels and the pattern incised in emerald morocco and garnet in frames the end pages, the fly pages doubled with paper in a grey and orange floral pattern, the covers preserved, gilt edges. The slipcover is covered in silk to give the effect of iridescence trimming in brown shagreen. Binding by Noulhac in collaboration with Saint-André.


    Manuscript note by Saint-André: this binding was probably presented at the Salon of French artists at the Grand Palais Beaux-Arts at the Champs-élysées it was probably not submitted to the competition and to the members of the jury. Moreover, a note on the manuscript written by the artist on a broad-sheet explains the meaning of the central pattern of the first cover. Very light repair on the foot of a joint.


    Exceptional Andalusian inspired Art Nouveau binding presented at the Salon of French artists.

    €4,000
  37. Les trois roses de Marie-Anne
    Léon LEBEGUE, Pierre LOUŸS

    Les trois roses de Marie-Anne

    A. Ferroud - F. Ferroud, Successeur|Paris 1909|16 x 23.50 cm|broché
    Illustrated edition with original etchings by Léon Lebègue, one of 30 numbered copies on deluxe Japan paper, deluxe issue.
    Our copy, as stipulated in the justification page, is indeed complete with the triple state of the engravings.
    Handsome copy.
    €450
  38. Les aventures du roi Pausole
    Pierre LOUŸS

    Les aventures du roi Pausole

    Charpentier|Paris 1901|12 x 19 cm|relié
    first edition on the current paper.
    Binding to bradel half red calico, smooth back thinned with a floral pattern golden specks of marginal discoloration on back foot, double net gilded tail, shagreen as Exhibit tan with a small angular lack, boards marbling, contemporary binding.
    Signed autograph of Peter Louÿs the Symbolist poet Albert Mockel.
    Provenance: Library of Albert Mockel with his bookplate pasted leading a contreplat.
    €400
  39. Ariane ou le chemin de la paix éternelle
    Pierre LOUŸS

    Ariane ou le chemin de la paix éternelle

    Librairie de l'Art Indépendant|Paris 1894|14.50 x 23 cm|relié
    First edition, one of 20 numbered copies on Chine, the tirage de tête after 5 Japon.
    Near contemporary half light brown morocco over marbled paper boards by Yseux successeur de Thierry-Simier, spine in six compartments, date gilt at foot of spine, marbled pastedonws and endpapers, covres preserved.
    Handsome autograph inscription from Pierre Louÿs : "A Mr. Georges Vicaire, au bibliophile et au bibliographe en souvenir reconnaissant de sa visite."
    A few inevitable spots due to the quality of the paper.
    A nicely bound copy
    €3,000
  40. La femme et le pantin
    Pierre LOUŸS

    La femme et le pantin

    Mercure de France|Paris 1898|11 x 18 cm|relié
    First edition printed on ordinary paper, with statement of second edition.
    Half dark green sheep binding, spine sunned with four raised bands decorated with gilt fleurons, marbled paper boards, minor tears without consequence to top edges, top corners slightly bumped, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers preserved with a small library shelf label pasted on bearing the printed mention "Paul Reboux", contemporary binding.
    Precious autograph inscription from the author to Paul Reboux.
    Some pages dog-eared at head by the dedicatee as reading markers, some marginal annotations in red colored pencil, a small marginal tear with minimal lack at head of the final pages of the volume.
    €380
  41. Aphrodite
    Pierre LOUŸS

    Aphrodite

    Charpentier & Fasquelle|Paris 1906|12 x 18.50 cm|broché
    New illustrated edition with drawings by A. Calbet, of which no deluxe copies were printed.
    On the front cover, the first two letters of the title are slightly discolored, spine cracked, handsome interior condition.
    €30
  42. Sanguines
    Pierre LOUŸS

    Sanguines

    Charpentier|Paris 1903|12 x 19.50 cm|relié
    First edition on ordinary paper.
    Bradel binding in full blue boards, spine very slightly faded, navy shagreen title-label, covers and spine preserved (tiny marginal corner lacks restored on first cover and three lacks to spine).
    Signed and inscribed copy from Pierre Louys to André Beaunier.
    €250
  43. Les aventures du roi Pausole
    Pierre LOUŸS

    Les aventures du roi Pausole

    Charpentier|Paris 1901|12 x 19 cm|relié
    First edition on ordinary paper.
    Bradel binding in half lemon yellow shagreen with corners, smooth spine decorated with a mosaic decorative element in green, red, orange and brown morocco representing a cluster of fruit and leaves, date at foot, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, covers and spine preserved, contemporary binding signed in blind by Brisson.
    Rare autograph inscription signed by Pierre Louys.
    Handsome copy attractively bound.
    €800
  44. Lettre autographe datée et signée adressée à son ami Pierre Louÿs à propos de l'achèvement de son ouvrage La bataille illustré par Charles Fouqueray : "Je suis triste comme un bonnet de nuit abandonné"
    (Pierre LOUŸS) Claude FARRÈRE

    Lettre autographe datée et signée adressée à son ami Pierre Louÿs à propos de l'achèvement de son ouvrage La bataille illustré par Charles Fouqueray : "Je suis triste comme un bonnet de nuit abandonné"

    s. n.|29 août 1908|13.2 x 21 cm|3 feuillets + une enveloppe

    Autograph letter, dated and signed, addressed to his friend Pierre Louÿs while at sea, 3 numbered leaves written in violet ink.

    Folds from original mailing, manuscript envelope enclosed.

    Pierre Louÿs had delivered Claude Farrère’s manuscript of "La bataille"—likely to the painter Charles Fouqueray—and the author had failed to thank him: "Vous ai-je seulement remercié d'avoir vous-même porté chez F un manuscrit du poids de 2.780 grammes, à travers les XVe, VIIe et XIVe arrondissements ? A propos ? J'espère bien que ce n'est pas pour moi que vous êtes obligé d'attendre le retour de F avant de quitter Paris ?"

    Claude Farrère misses his friend’s company and, despite his amorous entanglements, expresses a deep sense of boredom: "Je m'ennuie fort, ici, en votre absence. La dame aux rubans roses et sa mère compliquent inutilement son existence. Je suis triste comme un bonnet de nuit abandonné. et à présent que mon bouquin est fini, je ne sais plus que faire, Vide insondable. Écrivez-moi un peu."

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  48. "... Mais de l'autre côté du polygone tout change ; il y a un autre bois de Vincennes, beau comme la Muette, et d'aussi grand air..."
    Pierre LOUYS

    "... Mais de l'autre côté du polygone tout change ; il y a un autre bois de Vincennes, beau comme la Muette, et d'aussi grand air..."Signed autograph letter addressed to his brother Georges Louis concerning his pleasant discovery of the Bois de Vincennes and his desire to become a Vincennes resident

    Paris s.d. (ca 1910)|13.50 x 17.50 cm|4 pages sur un double feuillet + une enveloppe
    Autograph letter signed by Pierre Louÿs, addressed to Georges Louis. 61 lines on four pages written in violet ink on a double folio, envelope included.
    Letter addressed to his brother Georges Louis with whom Pierre Louÿs maintained a very intimate relationship and whom he considered as his own father.
    The question of Pierre Louÿs's real paternal identity still fascinates biographers today: "His father, Pierre Philippe Louis, [...] had married in 1842 Jeanne Constance Blanchin, who died ten years later after bearing him two children, Lucie and Georges. In 1855, he remarried Claire Céline Maldan, and from this union was born, in 1857, a son, Paul; then, in 1870, our writer, who received the first names Pierre Félix. This late birth, the differences in character between father and son, the former's disaffection toward the latter, the profound intimacy that always reigned between Louÿs and his brother Georges, all of this has led certain biographers and critics to suspect that the latter was in reality the writer's father. The exceptionally intimate and constant relationship that Pierre and Georges maintained between them throughout their lives could be an argument in this direction. Of course, no irrefutable proof has been discovered, and none probably ever will be. Nevertheless, certain letters [...] are quite troubling. In 1895, for example, Louÿs writes seriously to his brother that he knows the answer to 'the most poignant question' he could ask him, a question he has had 'on his lips for ten years.' The following year, at the height of Aphrodite's triumph, he thanks Georges effusively and ends his letter with this sentence: 'Not one of my friends has a FATHER who is to him what you are to me.' Arguing from the close intimacy between Georges and Claire Céline during the year 1870, and from the jealousy that the father never ceased to show toward his younger son, Claude Farrère did not hesitate to conclude in favor of Georges Louis. And what to think of this dedication by Louÿs to his brother on a Japan paper copy of the first edition of Pausole: To Georges, his eldest son / Pierre." (Jean-Paul Goujon, Pierre Louÿs)
    Pierre Louÿs is positively surprised by the beauty of the Vincennes woods, of which he knew only one part, Lake Daumesnil, which he detests: "I knew only Lake Daumesnil from the Woods, a sort of dump even filthier than the Bois de Boulogne, full of greasy paper, bottle bottoms, chicken bones, girls in the grass. But on the other side of the polygon everything changes; there is another Vincennes woods, beautiful as la Muette, and equally grand in appearance...", which incites him to settle very nearby: "The house I have in view is situated in Vincennes itself, avenue Marigny. From its door to the Metropolitan station = 10 minutes. From this station to Concorde = 16 minutes, total journey = 26 minutes... No, it really is a charming and suitable place of residence."
    Henceforth, the only impediment to his move to Vincennes is of a pecuniary nature: "Regarding the house I am considering, the agency responded: 7000 monsieur, but the owners... I am sure you could have that for 4000. I might offer 3000, not a penny more."

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  49. Aphrodite
    Antoine CALBET, Pierre LOUŸS

    Aphrodite

    Librairie Borel|Paris 1899|9.50 x 19.50 cm|relié
    Sold
  50. Archipel
    Pierre LOUŸS

    Archipel

    Charpentier|Paris 1906|11.50 x 18.50 cm|broché
    First edition on ordinary paper.
    Spine split.
    Autograph inscription signed by Pierre Louys to the diplomat, politician and historian Gabriel Hanotaux.
    Sold
  51. Aphrodite
    Paul-Emile BECAT, Pierre LOUŸS

    Aphrodite

    L'Edition d'art H. Piazza|Paris 1929|14 x 20.50 cm|broché
    Sold
  54. Correspondance
    Pierre LOUŸS, Jean de TINAN

    Correspondance

    Editions du Limon|Paris 1995|14.50 x 22 cm|broché
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  55. Les chansons de Bilitis
    André-Edouard MARTY, Pierre LOUŸS

    Les chansons de Bilitis

    Editions de Cluny|Paris 1937|14.50 x 21.50 cm|broché
    Sold
  56. Aphrodite
    Pierre LOUŸS, Raphaël COLLIN

    Aphrodite

    A. Ferroud - F. Ferroud, Successeur|Paris 1909|12 x 19.50 cm|relié
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  60. Contes choisis
    Jean-Gabriel DARAGNES, Pierre LOUŸS

    Contes choisis

    Georges Crès & Cie|Paris 1919|12.50 x 18.50 cm|relié
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  61. La femme et le pantin
    Pierre LOUŸS, Pierre-Eugène VIBERT

    La femme et le pantin

    G. Charpentier & Cie|Paris 1912|13 x 19.50 cm|relié
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  63. L'Image : revue artistique et littéraire ornée de figures sur bois
    [Alphonse MUCHA] Alfons MUCHA, Henri de TOULOUSE-LAUTREC

    L'Image : revue artistique et littéraire ornée de figures sur bois[L'Image: An Illustrated Artistic and Literary Review with Wood Engravings]

    Floury|décembre 1896-décembre 1897 (le mois de novembre n'est pas paru)|27.50 x 30.60 cm|relié
    Complete collection in volume of the magazine L'image, published between 1896 and 1897. 12 issues published, well complete of its copy number, enriched by an exceptional autograph dedication of the author of the directors of publication Tony Beltrand, Auguste Lepère, Leon Ruffe, Jules Rais , to Monsieur Floury, the publisher of the magazine. Personal copy of the editor of the magazine, Henri Floury (handwritten in pencil repeated several times in the lower margin of the inset "QUOTE THE MENTION").
    Well complete covers illustrated at the end of the volume, made by masters of the time (Toulouse-Lautrec, Alfons Mucha).
    (LUXURY EDITION TAKEN 100 EXAMPLES ON CHINA containing a separate print on China of all the engravings and smokes of all the plates before the text, one of the 12 copies on China of the number-copy ???)
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  64. Le Centaure, collection complète
    André GIDE, Pierre LOUŸS

    Le Centaure, collection complète

    Le Centaure|Paris 1896|19 x 24.50 cm|2 volumes reliés
    Le Centaure, complete collection
    Le Centaure | Paris 1896 | 19 x 24.5 cm | 2 bound volumes
    First edition of the complete collection of this luxurious magazine founded by André Gide,Pierre Louys and Paul Valéry, copy numbered by hand offered to the publisher Henri Floury.
    Publisher’s binding in full green cloth, gilt titles and volume numbering on the first boards of the bindings, first cover boards and publisher’s catalogues preserved.
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  65. Cydalise
    Jean TRAYNIER, Pierre LOUŸS

    Cydalise

    Les amis de l'écrivain|Paris 1949|19.50 x 29.50 cm|en feuilles sous chemise et étui
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  69. Les aventures du roi Pausole
    Suzanne BALLIVET, Pierre LOUŸS

    Les aventures du roi Pausole

    Editions du Livre|Monte-Carlo [Monte Carlo] 1927|24 x 28.50 cm|en feuilles sous chemise et étui
    Edition illustrated with 20 original in-text illustrations and illustrations hors-texte by Suzanne Ballivet, one of 925 numbered copies on grand vélin Renage.
    Our copy contains an additional unreported suite of 11 loose plates.
    Handsome copy.


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  70. Correspondance 1894-1898
    Pierre LOUŸS, Jean de TINAN

    Correspondance 1894-1898

    Editions du Limon|Paris 1995|14.50 x 21.50 cm|broché
    First edition on ordinary paper.
    A nice copy.
    Sold
  80. La femme et le pantin
    Pierre LOUŸS

    La femme et le pantin

    Mercure de France|Paris 1898|14.50 x 23 cm|broché sous chemise et étui
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  83. Aphrodite
    Pierre LOUŸS

    Aphrodite

    Fasquelle|Paris 1929|12 x 18.50 cm|relié
    Sold
  84. Pervigilium mortis
    Pierre LOUŸS

    Pervigilium mortis

    Albin Michel|Paris 1947|25.50 x 16.50 cm|broché sous chemise et étui
    Sold
  85. Poésies érotiques
    Pierre LOUŸS

    Poésies érotiques

    S. n.|Rome [Rome] 1937|14.50 x 21 cm|en feuilles sous chemise et étui
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  86. Les chansons de Bilitis
    Pierre LOUŸS, Paul-Émile BÉCAT

    Les chansons de Bilitis

    L'Edition d'art H. Piazza|Paris 1943|14.50 x 20.50 cm|broché
    Sold
  90. Aphrodite
    Pierre LOUŸS

    Aphrodite

    Mercure de France|Paris 1896|18 x 26.50 cm|relié
    Sold
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