First edition, with no copies issued on deluxe paper.
A handsome copy.
With Pierre Bourdieu’s signed presentation inscription to the anthropologist Emmanuel Terray.
Original ink drawing by Marie-Laure de Noailles, signed "Marie-Laure" within the artwork (appearing twice as a result of folding the paper while the ink was still wet). With an autograph postcard signed to Valentine Hugo, with 2 inscriptions and some parts of the photograph drawn over.
A Rorschach-like Surrealist decalcomania by Marie-Laure de Noailles created for painter and photographer Valentine Hugo, the “Queen of Hearts” of the Surrealists.
Rare and sought-after first edition, first issue.
Includes the subscribers' list and the foreword, later removed when the remainder of this edition passed into the hands of another publisher, Dion-Lambert. It also features the pagination error in volume two: page 164 instead of 364.
Black half-morocco bindings, smooth spines with double gilt fillets and double blind-stamped compartments, black paper boards, slight superficial rubbing to some boards, marbled paper pastedowns and endpapers, sprinkled edges; contemporary bindings. Sparse foxing.
Outstanding copy in a contemporary binding of this masterpiece expertly described by Proust : "And when Chateaubriand even as he laments, allows the marvellous and transcendental being that he is to soar aloft we smile, for at the very moment he declares himself to have been annihilated he makes his escape, he lives with a life in which death is not." (Against Sainte-Beuve and other essays)
First edition, of which no deluxe copies were printed.
Pleasing copy.
Inscribed and signed by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing to Michel and Suzanne Blanvart.
Manuscript of 83 leaves of this French–Bunda dictionary, probably unpublished and unsigned.
This manuscript is certainly the first French–Bunda vocabulary (cf. Gay 3068 and Brunet I-1544).
Half red shagreen binding, spine with four raised bands ruled in black, gilt date at foot, minor rubbing to spine, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, contemporary binding.
First edition of the French translation, of which no copies were printed on deluxe paper, one of the review copies.
A few small spots on the slightly rubbed spine, light foxing mainly affecting the endpapers.
Very rare autograph inscription signed by Otto Rank: "à Monsieur Sébastien Charlety en hommage de ma très haute estime. Otto Rank."
First edition in English.
Elegant pastiche marbled paper Bradel binding by Thomas Boichot, black morocco title-piece, covers preserved (small marginal repairs to upper cover).
Autograph inscription signed by Josselin de Jong to head of upper cover.
Rare first edition.
Spine and boards slightly sunned along the margins.
Dated and signed autograph inscription from C. Martin Saint-Léon to Baron Hulot, Secretary General of the Société de Géographie, on the front free endpaper.
The character and spirit of the Vietnamese as seen from a French perspective.
Autograph letter signed and dated April 16, 1912, by Henri Bergson, addressed to M. Masson de Saint-Félix. Includes the original autograph envelope, bearing an inscription by the recipient: "Lettre de M. Bergson / Membre de l'Institut / mon professeur de philosophie au Lycée de Clermont Fd".
Touching letter of condolence from Henri Bergson to a former student from his philosophy class in Clermont-Ferrand, where he taught for five years — from 1883 to 1888 — at the Lycée Blaise-Pascal and the Faculty of Letters.
"Mon cher ami,
La nouvelle du grand deuil qui vous frappe me touche profondément. Laissez-moi vous envoyer l'expression de ma très vive sympathie. Depuis plus de 2 mois j'avais préparé une lettre pour vous, en réponse à celle que vous m'aviez adressée ; j'attendais pour vous l'envoyer d'avoir un de mes travaux que je désirais y joindre et dont l'édition est épuisée vous le recevrez bientôt. Je n'ai pas besoin de vous dire combien j'ai été heureux d'apprendre que vous ne perdez pas de vue la philosophie. Hélas quelle philosophie, si consolante soit-elle, vous consolera tout à fait des tristesses de la vie ? Cordialement à vous / H. Bergson"
["My dear friend,
The news of the great sorrow that has befallen you has deeply moved me. Allow me to extend to you the expression of my heartfelt sympathy. For over two months I had prepared a letter in response to the one you sent me; I was waiting to send it until I could enclose one of my works, which I wished to share with you, but whose edition is currently out of print — you will receive it soon. I need not tell you how glad I was to learn that you have not lost sight of philosophy. Alas, what philosophy, however comforting it may be, could truly console you for the sorrows of life? / Cordially yours / H. Bergson"]
Autograph card signed and dated 18 February 1909 by Henri Bergson, to Mr. Masson de Saint-Félix.
Two years after the publication of L'Evolution créatrice, Bergson expresses his gratitude to a former student from his philosophy class in Clermont-Ferrand, where he taught for five years — from 1883 to 1888 — at the Lycée Blaise-Pascal and the Faculty of Arts.
"Thank you, my dear friend, for your kind note. I hardly need to tell you how fondly I remember your time in my class at Clermont. I do not know whether I shall be able to visit Lozère any time soon, as you kindly encourage me to do; but if you happen to be in Paris, it would give me great pleasure to have a talk with you. / Very cordially / H. Bergson"
First edition, with no deluxe copies printed on special paper.
A handsome copy.
Inscribed and signed by Pierre Bourdieu to a friend named Emmanuel.
First edition, one of 100 hors commerce copies printed on deluxe paper, this copy specially printed for Louis Barthou.
A pleasant copy despite two sunning marks to the head and foot of the spine and to the margins of the rear board.
Henri Bergson's handwritten signature beneath the limitation statement.
Offprint from this prestigious publication directed by François Albert-Buisson, President and Perpetual Secretary of the "Académie des Sciences Morales & Politiques", and Claude Pellegrin, editor-in-chief and attaché to the Academy. The text featured here, Le problème de l'éthique dans l'évolution de la pensée humaine (The Problem of Ethics in the Evolution of Human Thought), is the work of a newly elected member of the Academy, who had been a member for only a few months when this offprint was published, having taken the seat previously held by Marshal Pétain; namely, Dr. Albert Schweitzer.
Our copy is enriched with an inscription by the latter in brown ink, written two years later, while he was in France for an extended period during which he frequently attended the Academy's sessions: "to Andrée Eekman [née Herrenschmidt, niece of his great friend Tata (Adèle Herrenschmidt) and wife of the painter-engraver Nicolas Eekman] my dear goddaughter Albert Schweitzer / 19 oct 1954."
Discrete marginal dampstaining to the wrappers. A fine copy, very slightly sunned.
(our own translation)
Rare and sought-after first edition, first issue, with exceptionally added plates from the first illustrated edition, publisher that same year. 34 full-page engravings after Demoraine, Gagnier, Staal and engraved by F. Delannoy.
Includes the subscribers' list and the foreword, lacking in the second issue when the remainder of this edition was sold to another publisher, Dion-Lambert. It also features the pagination error in volume two: page 164 instead of 364. With a letter by the author, bearing his autograph signature, written and dated 14 April 1839, in the hand of his secretary. One page written in black ink on a leaf. Slightly darkened at the upper edge, with occasional foxing, and the usual folds from postal handling.
With an exceptional, prophetic and macabre letter by François-René de Chateaubriand: "mais moi je suis mort, absolument mort et s'il me fallait écrire un mot dans un journal, j'aimerais mieux être enseveli à mille pieds sous terre." ["but I am dead, utterly dead, and if I were required to write a single word in a newspaper, I would rather be buried a thousand feet underground."]
Signed with the author’s faltering hand, this apparently unpublished letter was penned by his secretary: "Vous connaissez la main de [Hyacinthe] Pilorge que j'employe pour remplacer la mienne souffrante de la goutte" ["You will recognise the hand of [Hyacinthe] Pilorge, whom I employ to replace my own, suffering from gout,"] the author explains in the introduction to the letter.
Black half-morocco bindings, flat spines with double gilt fillets and double blind-stamped compartments, black paper boards, slight superficial rubbing to some boards, marbled paper pastedowns and endpapers, sprinkled edges; contemporary bindings. Sparse foxing.
First edition printed on laid paper and illustrated with numerous tables embellished with Chinese ideograms.
Contemporary full brown Russia morocco binding, spine slightly faded, with five raised bands decorated with triple black panels, a few rubs to the spine, gilt initials W. H. W. to the centre of the upper cover, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, triple gilt fillet border to the pastedowns, all edges gilt, double gilt fillets to the turn-ins, corners slightly bumped, unsigned period binding attributable to R. Petit.
Born in Poland, Michel-Alexandre Kleczkowski (1818–1886) served as Consul General of France, Minister Plenipotentiary in China, and Professor of vernacular Chinese at the École nationale des Langues orientales vivantes.
It was in the latter capacity that he began publication of this work, which remained unfinished. A fine copy.
On a flyleaf, autograph signed presentation inscription by Michel-Alexandre Kleczkowski to William Henry Waddington (1826–1894), industrialist and archaeologist, then Minister of Public Instruction in the Dufaure cabinet, who had his initials W. H. W. gilt-stamped at the centre of the upper cover.
A fine copy, handsomely bound at the time in a personalised monogram binding.
First edition printed in small numbers.
Traces of horizontal folds on the first cover, otherwise a nice copy.
Signed by Charles-Louis-Augustin Letellier at the top of first cover.
Very important and last remaining archives in private hands, including autograph manuscripts, typescripts, corrected proofs, offprints, first editions, etc.
Exceptional collection of manuscript and printed archives – the last in private hands – of the founder of liberalism and modern economics, Léon Walras, preserved and annotated by his most prominent scholar William Jaffé. One of the 5 most important sets of personal archives belonging to Walras, considered by Schumpeter “the greatest of all economists”.
This collection of 42 important documents, including complete autograph manuscripts, corrected proofs, abundantly annotated offprints and expanded printed material, was given by his daughter Aline Walras and then Gaston Leduc to William Jaffé, who added his autograph notes to some of them and used them to edit the first translation of Éléments d’économie politique pure.
Complete autograph manuscript dated and signed of the article “Note sur la Solution du problème monétaire anglo-indien”. 5 pages in black ink on a leaf and a bifolium; 4th page signed and dated: “Léon Walras Vers chez les Blancs sur Lausanne, 3 juillet 1887”. The 5th page was added later and includes numerous autograph corrections and added remarks.
◇ Autograph manuscript of the reviewed version of the last page. A page dated and signed “Léon Walras Vers chez les Blancs sur Lausanne, juillet 1887.”
◇ Autograph manuscript with the economist's calculations, 4 pages on 2 leaves.
◇ Autograph manuscript of the English translation for the last part, a page written by Walras on the verso of an envelope addressed to him.
◇ Typescript of the transcription by William Jaffé, typed on 4 leaves of thin paper with corrections and crossed out sections by Jaffé.
◇ Note on the solution of the Anglo-indian monetary problem. Two copies of the proofs, one twice signed by Walras with numerous autograph corrections and notes by Walras.
◇ “Note sur la solution du problème monétaire anglo-indien”, offprint of the Revue d'économie politique, November-December 1887. A sizable tear not without lack of text.
Unique set of manuscripts, typescripts, translations, corrected proofs and offprints of one of Léon Walras' first forays into international economics. This work helped the economist gain recognition among English-speaking peers at a time when their language was becoming the official scientific standard instead of French.
“L. Walras [was] one of the first to recommend the use of a price index to guide monetary policy. Its multiple standard provides the information that determines interventions intended to eliminate variations in the value of money. This multiple standard is nothing more than a price index used for specific purposes. The usefulness of such an index, which was far from universally accepted at the time when L. Walras demonstrated its usefulness, is now recognized.” (Jacoud Gilles. “Stabilité monétaire et régulation étatique dans l'analyse de Léon Walras” in Revue économique)
Autograph manuscript of 12 pages on squared sheets, written in blue ink, with numerous passages underlined.
A previously unpublished set of reflections by Jean-Paul Sartre on social structure and bourgeois ideology, probably written in 1952 as part of a projected screenplay on the revolutionary period. This series of interior dialogues on the nature of individual and collective power constitutes an early draft of the ideas later developed in his 1960 masterpiece, Critique of Dialectical Reason. Through the example of the French Revolution and the Terror, Sartre questions the role of the citizen and of property, drawing on the writings of Kant, Marx, Rousseau, Hobbes, Saint Paul and Luther.
