FRENCH

[Sir Charles Craufurd [Sir Charles Gregan Craufurd], gallant British soldier.] Autograph itemised financial statement: 'Major Craufurd's Account', with signed receipt, for costs including the Duke of York's 'Pellice' and 'Post Horses'.

Author: 
Sir Charles Craufurd [Sir Charles Gregan Craufurd] (1761-1821), gallant British soldier, equerry to the Duke of York, and later a Tory Member of Parliament
Publication details: 
16 January 1794. No place [on active duty in the Netherlands].
£150.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. In 1787 he had been appointed equerry to the Duke of York, and he accompanied him to the Netherlands as Aide-de-Camp. The present item was written a three months before the Battle of Villers-en-Cauchies, at which Craufurd, at the head of two squadrons, is said to have captured three guns and a thousand men. 1p, 12mo. On watermarked laid paper. In good condition, lightly aged, with creases from having been folded into a packet. Docketed on reverse. Reads: ‘Major Craufurd’s Account. / Paid to the Russian Minister at Brussels for a Pellice for the Duke ..

[Maurice Chevalier, celebrated French singer, actor and entertainer.] Signed Autograph Inscription (‘Maurice’) to publicity postcard with photographic portrait of him, by Studio Virgine, Paris.

Author: 
Maurice Chevalier (1888-1972), French singer, entertainer and actor [Studio Virgine, photographers, Paris]
Publication details: 
No date. Image by Studio Virgine, Paris.
£50.00

14 x 10.5 postcard with 7 x 10 cm matte black and white metallic photographic portrait print by Studio Virgine of Paris to the right, and blank space to the left, in which Chevalier has written in blue ink, ‘Thanks to you both. Everything went fine. / Maurice’. The phtograph shows an urbane Chevalier in evening dress, hands in pockets, smiling. Somewhat aged and worn, with crease to top right corner going through Chevalier's head. See IMage.

[Alphonse Legros, French painter and etcher, who settled in England in 1863.] Autograph Note Signed to an unnamed woman, accepting a dinner invitation.

Author: 
Alphonse Legros (1837-1911), French painter and etcher, who settled in England in 1863
Publication details: 
21 June 1900 ('21 jui 00'). On embossed letterhead of 57 Brook Green, W. [London]
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On first leaf of a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with the blank second leaf damaged on removal from mount. Addressed to an unnamed woman (‘Chère Madame’) and boldly signed ‘A. Legros’. He accepts her dinner invitation with ‘le plus grand plasir’.

[ Alfred D'Orsay, Count D'Orsay, French dandy. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('A. d'Orsay') to his attorney 'Du Pasquier' [J. M. Du Pasquier], touching on his financial embarrassment and his bust of the Duke of Wellington.

Author: 
Count D'Orsay [ Alfred, Comte d'Orsay (1801-1852), French dandy and artist, notorious for his liaison with the Countess of Blessington ] [ John McMahon Du Pasquier (d.1873), London attorney ]
Publication details: 
Place not stated. 23 October 1851.
£250.00

4pp., 8vo. Bifolium. In very good condition, lightly-aged. Neatly placed with a windowpane mount onto a leaf of cream paper. Writing within a year of his demise, D'Orsay begins by defending himself to his attorney: 'My Dear Du Pasquier | You received my letter yesterday about Mousley. I could not act otherwise, and even I have no right to complain when a man is losing more than 5000 by me, to find fault that he did not send me £1300. I am astonished that you are so severe. I am sorry that you will not give your assistance in this affair. Do as you like.

[book, limited edition; hieroglyphics] Causeries sur les Hiéroglyphes, et deux Étapes de l'Histoire Ancienne de l'Égypte [Egyptology].

Author: 
Adolphe Cattaui Bey [Egyptology; Egyptologist]
Publication details: 
Cairo: Librarie d'Art Stavrinos et Cie, 23, Rue Kasr el-Nil. 1925. [Imprimé sur les Presses de l'Imprimerie de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale au Caire]
£125.00

Small 4to, [vi] + 135 pp. Frontispiece and three plates, with illustrations and cartouches in text. Internally tight and sound, on aged paper, in worn and stained brown-cloth half-binding, decorative endpapers, sprung hinges. Number 43 of 400 copies. Scarce: no copy in the British Library, and the only copy on COPAC at the University of London SOAS.

[Dumas fils: Alexandre Dumas the younger, French novelist and playwright.] Autograph Letter Signed [to a prospective agent?] with regard to the sale of paintings in his Paris house.

Author: 
Dumas fils: Alexandre Dumas the younger (1824-1895), French novelist and playwright, author of ‘La Dame aux Camélias’, on which Giuseppe Verdi based his opera ‘La traviata’
Publication details: 
[1883.] On letterhead of Salneuve par Montcresson (Loiret).
£250.00

An interesting item occupying the zone in which French connoisseurship and literature overlap. In 1880 - three years before the present item - Maurice Mauris (Marchese di Calenzano) described a visit to Dumas fils’s Paris house in Rue de Villers. ‘The walls above the library are enriched with a priceless collection of paintings, modern and antique. Diaz, Fortuny, Marchal, Vernet, Delacroix are there seen at their best. Dumas generally presents himself with a new painting after he has presented a new book to the public.

[Alice Delysia [stage name of Alice Henriette Lapize], French actress and singer who moved to England and worked with C. B. Cochran and Noel Coward.] Autograph Signature on publicity photograph by Janet Jevons of London.

Author: 
Alice Delysia [stage name of Alice Henriette Lapize] (1889-1979), French actress and singer at the Moulin Rouge, who worked in England with C. B. Cochran and Noel Coward [Janet Jevons of London]
Alice Delysia
Publication details: 
Without date. At bottom right of image: ‘Portrait by Janet Jevons, 19/20 New Bond Street, W.1.’
£35.00
Alice Delysia

8.5 x 14 cm glossy publicity photograph on post card. In good condition, lightly aged. Inscribed across the bottom of the image: ‘Souvenirs / Alice Delysia’. A soft-toned head and shoulders image in black and white, of a smiling Delysia, eyebrows plucked, lips made up, and short hair Marcell-waved. See Image.

[Comte de Montalembert.] Three items, in French, relating to Charles Forbes René, Comte de Montalembert: Lithographed funeral announcement and notice, and a page of autograph.

Author: 
Charles Forbes René, Comte de Montalembert (1810-1870) of the Académie française, liberal Catholic French historian and publicist
Publication details: 
Funeral announcement and notice: Paris, 1870. Announcement: ‘Administration spéciale des Funerailles, 70, rue des Saints Pères, Henri de Borniol, Directeur.’ The other item undated.
£90.00

The three items in good condition, lightly aged. Each folded. ONE: Lithographed copperplate funeral announcement. 1p, 4to. Black bordered. At foot: ‘Administration spéciale des Funerailles, 70, rue des Saints Pères, Henri de Borniol, Directeur.’ Headed ‘M’. Begins: ‘Vous êtes prié d’assister aux Convoi, Service et Enterrement, de Monsieur Charles-Rene-Forbes Conte de Montalembert, ancien Pair de France, Membre de l’Académie Française, décédé le 13 Mars 1870, muni des Sacraments de l’Eglise, en sa demeure, rue du Bac, No.

[Joan of Arc: Rev. Dr Walter Sidney Scott of Shortfield House, Frensham.] Autograph and Typescript material by him relating to Joan of Arc (talk, paper, article, dramatic ‘Reverie’), with material relating to his family pedigree.

Author: 
[Joan of Arc] Walter Sidney Scott (1900-1980) [Rev. Dr W. S. Scott of Shortfield House, Frensham], English cleric, author and biographer of Joan of Arc [Jeanne d’Arc]
Publication details: 
Between 1956 and 1974. (Genealogical material earlier?)
£580.00

Scott was the author of books on subjects as diverse as the bluestockings and metaphysical poets. He produced two works on Joan of Arc: first, in 1956, the Folio Society published his edition of ‘The trial of Joan of Arc, being the verbatim report of the proceedings from the Orleans Manuscript’; then, in 1974, appeared his biography ‘Jeanne d’Arc’, published by Harrap. With regard to the present material, Items One to Five are all typed, and Item Seven contains exclusively-autograph material.

[General Sir David Dundas, Scottish soldier, British Army officer and military author, Commander-in-Chief of the Forces.] Manuscript Document regarding Alexander Adair and the clothing of his regiment, Signed by him with his seal.

Author: 
General Sir David Dundas (c.1735-1820), Scottish soldier, British Army officer in the Seven Years' War and French Revolutionary Wars and military writer, Commander-in-Chief of the Forces
Publication details: 
23 June 1796. 'Entered in the Office for Auditing the Public Accounts the 9th of February 1797'.
£320.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, folio. Text clear and entire, on worn and grubby paper, with chipping to edges and slight loss to one corner, with one closed tear repaired with archival tape. Embossed tax stamps at head. Good firm signature at bottom right ‘David Dundas.’, beside small seal in red wax, with crumbling impression. At bottom left: ‘Signed Sealed and Delivered (being first duly stampt) in the Presence of us / John Landon / M King’. Downwards in left-hand margin: 'Entered in the Office for Auditing the Public Accounts the 9th of February 1797 / Thos Gibbes’.

[Louis-Arsène Delaunay, French actor with the Comédie Française.] Autograph Letter Signed, in French, to Tom Taylor, playwright and editor of Punch, in enveloped addressed by him to 'Sir Tom Taylor'.

Author: 
Louis-Arsène Delaunay (1826-1903), French actor who over four decades created almost two hundred parts with the Comédie Française [Tom Taylor (1817-1880), playwright and editor of Punch]
Publication details: 
'London July 4 1879 / Upper Montagu st. W'.
£50.00

See his entry in Encyclopaedia Britannica, and Taylor's in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, and folded once. In worn envelope with Penny Red stamp and postmark, and slight loss around flap. The envelope was no doubt retained because it was addressed by Delaunay to 'Sir Tom Taylor / Lavender Sweet [sic] / Wandsworth'. A neatly laid written and laid out communication, addressed to ‘Cher Monsieur Taylor’ and signed ‘Yours truly / L Delaunay / de la Comedie française’.

[Philar?te Euphemon Chasles, French critic.] Autograph Letter Signed, in French, [to Charles Wentworth Dilke, editor of the Athenaeum,] criticising John Payne Collier?s scholarship.

Author: 
Philar?te Euphemon Chasles (1798-1873), French man of letters [John Payne Collier (1789-1883), Shakespearean critic and forger; Charles Wentworth Dilke (1789-1864), editor of the Athenaeum]
Publication details: 
No date or place. [Circa 1842.]
£100.00

See the entries on Collier and Dilke in the Oxford DNB. The eight volumes of Collier?s edition of Shakespeare?s works were first published between 1842 and 1844, with the sonnets and other poems in the last volume. The Athenaeum carried a long review of vols.2 and 3 of Collier?s edition on 9 July 1842, and another dealing with the biographical element of the entire work on 2 March 1844. From this letter it is clear that Chasles intended to review the eighth and last volume containing the sonnets (and may well have done so). The present item is 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium.

[Sophie-Ernestine de Tott, French émigrée artist.] Signed Autograph order for David Morier to pay Gregorio Francisco de Queiroz for Francisco Bartolozzi’s engraving of her painting of the Prince de Condé. With de Queiroz’s signed receipt.

Author: 
Sophie-Ernestine de Tott (1758-1848), French émigrée artist; Gregorio Francisco de Queiroz (1768-1845), Portuguese engraver, pupil to Francesco Bartolozzi (1727-1815) [David Morier, banker]
Gregorio Francisco de Queiroz
Publication details: 
Signed order by de Tott: ‘No. 13. Princes Street hanover Square / a Londres - ce 16. Juin 1802 -’. Receipt signed by de Queiroz: 16 June 1802; no place.
£280.00
Gregorio Francisco de Queiroz

A nice set of documents relating to the London émigré art scene. A copy of the engraved portrait to which these two items refer, titled ‘Louis Joseph de Bourbon, prince de Condé, prince du sang’, is BM P&D 1850,0211.17, and carries the information M.de de Tott pinx., F. Bartolozzi RA sculp., and her details, as publisher: London Publish'd by M.de de Tott Octo. 1 1802. De Tott’s original painting is in the Musée Condé in Paris. See Bartolozzi’s entry in the Oxford DNB and the second (1885) edition of Tuer’s monograph on him. The two items are attached with a wafer at top inner corner.

[George Ticknor, Professor of French and Spanish at Harvard.] Autograph Letter Signed [to the novelist Thomas Henry Lister?], presenting a copy of Prescott’s ‘Ferdinand and Isabella’, ‘written by a friend in America’ and liked by Hallam and Southey.

Author: 
George Ticknor (1791-1871), Professor of French and Spanish at Harvard [William Hickling Prescott (1796-1859), American historian; Thomas Henry Lister (1800-1842), English novelist]
Publication details: 
‘Brunswick Hotel [Jermyn Street, London] / May 26. 1838.’
£380.00

Signed ‘Geo. Ticknor’. The male recipient is not named, but the item is from the papers of the author Lady Theresa Lewis (1803-1865), successively wife of the novelist Thomas Henry Lister (1800-1842) and the Liberal politician Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863), all of whom have entries in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On first leaf of a bifolium, with a trace of glue from mount to the second leaf. In good condition, lightly aged and folded for postage.

[François Guizot, Prime Minister of France, historian and statesman.] Autograph Letter in the third person, in French, to ‘Mesdemoiselles Berry’ [i.e. Horace Walpole’s friends Agnes and Mary Berry]

Author: 
François Guizot [François Pierre Guillaume Guizot] (1787-1874), Prime Minister of France, historian and statesman [Agnes and Mary Berry]
Publication details: 
‘Vendredi 10 Avril’ [no year and no place].
£80.00

See Mary Berry’s entry in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, lightly aged and folded for postage. 1p, 16mo. Neatly written in his distinctive close hand: ‘M. Guizot regrette beaucoup qu’un engagement antérieur ne lui permette pas d’accepter, pour le 11 avril, l’aimable invitation de Mesdemoiselles Berry. Il a l’honneur de leur envoyer deux volumes qui les amuserons peut-être quelques momens, et de leur offrir ses hommages respectueux’. The item is from the papers of Lady Maria Theresa Lewis (1803-1865), to whom Mary Berry left her papers for publication.

[George Ticknor, Professor of French and Spanish at Harvard.] Autograph Signature and address of letter to Lady Theresa Villiers from cover of envelope.

Author: 
George Ticknor (1791-1871), Professor of French and Spanish at Harvard [Lady Theresa Lewis (1803-1865), author]
George Ticknor
Publication details: 
With partial Boston postmark. No year [but between 1844 and ]
£80.00
George Ticknor

The recipient Lady Theresa Lewis (1803-1865) was successively wife of the novelist Thomas Henry Lister (1800-1842) and the Liberal politician Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863), all of whom have entries in the Oxford DNB. The present item is an 11.5 x 8 cm panel of light-brown paper from the front cover of an envelope. Part of a large Boston postmark is at the left, with a manuscript ‘2’ written over a few letters of the address. All in Ticknor’s hand, it reads: ‘Lady Teresa Lewis / South Place, / Knightsbridge / London, SW.’, with the signature ‘Geo: Ticknor’ at bottom left.

[Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, 1800.] Printed Privy Council Order in Council, in the name of ‘W. Fawkener’, regarding ‘modes of Payment by Allotments, and other new Regulations respecting Tickets’.

Author: 
Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, 1800 [William Augustus Henry Fawkener (c.1750-1811), Clerk to the Privy Council; the Royal Navy; King George III]
Publication details: 
‘At the Court at St. James’s, The 28th of May, 1800.’ Slug: ‘Printed by G. Roberts, Admiralty Office.’
£50.00

1p, folio. On recto of the first leaf of a bifolium of watermarked laid paper. In fair condition, lightly aged, with slight wear and spotting to the extremities. With ‘(L.S.)’ at top right and at the foot the slug ‘Printed by G. Roberts, Admiralty Office.’ Headed: ‘At the Court at St. James’s, / The 28th of May, 1800. / PRESENT, / The King’s Most Excellent Majesty / in Council.’ Thirty-four lines of text, including a twenty-three line transcription of an Admiralty memorandum, in smaller type.

[Marshal Petain [Marechal Philippe Petain], French general, 'the lion of Verdun' in WW1 and head of the collaborationist Vichy regime in WW2.] Calling card of 'LE MARECHAL PETAIN / Ministre de la Guerre', with autograph inscription by him.

Author: 
Marshal Petain [Marechal Philippe Petain; Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Petain; Petain] (1856-1951), French general, 'the lion of Verdun' in WW1 and head of the collaborationist Vichy regime in WW2
Petain
Publication details: 
No date or place (but in 1934, while Petain was Minister of War).
£85.00
Petain

There can be few greater falls from grace than Petain's in the whole of human history. A 10 x 6.25 calling card. In good condition, lightly aged and ruckled, with glue and traces of paper mount on the blank reverse. The engraved text ('LE MARECHAL PETAIN / Ministre de la Guerre') is centred, with the top line in shaded block capitals and the bottom in copperplate. Beneath this Petain writes: 'avec ses remer'. See Image.

[Jean-Baptiste Louvet de Couvray, French novelist, playwright and journalist and Girondin during the French Revolution.] Autograph Manuscript of seven political memoranda, titled ‘un mot sur notre situation.’

Author: 
Jean-Baptiste Louvet de Couvray (1760-1797), French novelist, playwright and journalist and Girondin during the French Revolution
Jean-Baptiste Louvet de Couvray,
Publication details: 
No date or place. [During the French Revoultion: 1780s or 1790s.]
£450.00
Jean-Baptiste Louvet de Couvray,

See his entry in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1p, 16mo. Twenty-two lines. On watermarked laid paper. Seven numbered memoranda, possibly an aide-mémoire for a speech. Begins: ‘1o. la loi égale pour tous.’ Later on: ‘1o Ce n’est point un droit que la loi accorde; c’est un devoir qu’elle impose. et pour imposer ce devoir, elle n’a vue que son interêt. / une fonction publique n’est pas le droit de tous; elle est le devoir de quelques uns.’ And later: ‘5o. Quoi le Pere est b[?] . . . . les Dieux de l’oncle sont confisqués.’ The seventh and last memorandum concerns ‘Les malheureux!

[Léon Gozlan, French novelist and playwright.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Monsieur le President des Ministres’ [Soult or Thiers??]

Author: 
Léon Gozlan (1803-1866), French novelist and playwright
Publication details: 
‘rue Meslay - 46 / ce 7. juin 1840.’
£180.00

1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged and creased, with thin stub from previous mounting neatly adhering to inner edge. He explains that his request for an audience is ‘exclusivement littéraire’, and that it is as a ‘titre d’honneur de lettres’ that he hopes to obtain ‘la haute faveur’ of consideration of various factors ‘soumis à ces attributions’. From the celebrated collection of Baron Houghton (in Lot acquired at Chiswick Auctions)

[Marie Descorches, French revolutionary diplomat, formerly Marquis d`Escorches de Sainte Croix.] Two communications as ‘Préfet du Département de la Drome’: a Secretarial Letter Signed by him to Mayor of ‘Commune de Propiac’, and printed decree.

Author: 
Marie Descorches [Marie Louis Henri Descorches] (1749-1830; Marquis d`Escorches de Sainte Croix), French soldier and revolutionary diplomat, Ambassador to Poland and Ottoman Empire, Prefect of Drôme
DESCORCHES
Publication details: 
Both on revolutionary letterheads. Secretarial letter: ‘Valence, le 20 frimaire, an 12 de la République française. [i.e. 12 December 1803]’ Printed decree: ‘Valence, le 7 brumaire, an 12 de la République française. [i.e. 30 October 1803]’
£180.00
DESCORCHES

The two items are on variations of the revolutionary letterhead of the Prefect of the Drôme Department, with oval medallion illustration of a seated liberty with a phrygian cap on a stick, forearm leaning on the fasces and the words ‘Libérté’ and ‘Égalité’. The printed decree is in good condition, lightly aged, with slight foxing and discoloration. The secretarial letter is in fair condition, with darker patches of discoloration.

[Yves Delage, Professor at the Sorbonne, French zoologist who believed in the authenticity of the Turin Shroud; critic of Darwinism] Printed publishers? catalogue, headed by Delage's ?La Structure du Protoplasma et les Th?ories sur l?H?r?dite?.

Author: 
Yves Delage (1854-1920), French zoologist who discovered the function of the canals in the inner ear and believed in the authenticity of the Turin Shroud [Librairie C. Reinwald & Cie, Paris.]
Publication details: 
Librairie C. Reinwald & Cie, 15, rue des Saints-P?res, Paris.
£180.00

A scarce piece of scientific publishing ephemera. No other copy traced. 8pp, 8vo. Aged, worn and spotted, with staples rotted away. The cover is headed 'Librairie C. Reinwald & Cie, 15, rue des Saints-P?res, Paris / Derni?res publications / relative aux sciences m?dicales et naturelles.' Delage's work ('Vient de para?tre') is noticed on the cover, with an 'Extrait de la table des mati?res' extending to the end of the second page. Other many other publications noticed are 'L'Embryologie compar?e par Le Dr Louis Roule'. and 'Trait? d'anatomie compar?e pratique par Carl Vogt et ?mile Yung'.

[André Siegfried of l’Académie Française, French geographer and political writer, Petainist collaborator as member of Vichy National Council.] Autograph Letter Signed in English to the wife of W. D. Ross [Sir David Ross].

Author: 
André Siegfried (1875-1959) of l'Académie Française, French geographer and political writer, Petainist collaborator as member of Vichy National Council [W. D. Ross [Sir David Ross]]
Publication details: 
'Paris. 82. de Courty / la 9 Dec. 31' [1931].
£45.00

2pp, 12mo. On the rectos of the two leaves of a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Begins: ‘Dear Mrs Ross. / We had the pleasure of having your daughter for tea yesterday & I hasten to tell you our pleasure in making her acquaintance. She is indeed charming & intelligent & bright; I am sure she will make the most of her stay here.

[Louis Peisse [Jean Louis Hippolyte Peisse] of the Ecole Impériale des Beaux-arts in Paris, French author.] Autograph Letter Signed, putting detailed questions regarding a proposal that he translate the lectures of Sir William Hamilton into French.

Author: 
Louis Peisse [Jean Louis Hippolyte Peisse] (1803-1880), of the Ecole Impériale des Beaux-arts in Paris, medical author, translator of Sir William Hamilton (1788-1856), Scottish metaphysician
Publication details: 
‘Paris. 20 avril 1858’. [‘Louis Peisse, conservateur de l’ecole impériale des Beaux-arts. 2. Rue Boursault.’]
£220.00

Peisse had already published his translation of ‘Fragments de Philosophie de M. William Hamilton’ (Paris, 1840), and had followed this with one from Dugald Stewart (1842-5). 2pp, 12mo. Forty-one lines of closely-written text. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with chipping and closed tears to edges. Folded once. Signed ‘L. Peisse / Louis Peisse, conservateur de l’ecole impériale des Beaux-arts. 2. Rue Boursault.’ The British recipient (one of Hamilton’s executors?) is not named (in a postscript Peisse apologises for being unable to decipher his details, or those of his co-editors).

[Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian, French poet, author and fabulist.] Autograph Text of his poem ‘Le charlatan | fable’.

Author: 
Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian (1755-1794), French poet, author and fabulist
Florian
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£220.00
Florian

A nice original item, unsigned but certainly in Florian’s distinctive hand. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with neat white-paper mount adhering to one edge on the blank reverse. Foliated 93. Sixteen-line poem, beginning ‘Sur le pont-neuf, entouré de badauds, / un charlatan criait a pleine tete, / venez, messieurs, accourez faire emplette / du grand remede a tous les maux.’ In the last line the remedy is revealed as ‘un peu de poudre d’or’.

[Poisoned on the orders of the French government? François-Antoine Chevrier, satirist.] Autograph Letter Signed to Dom Ambroise Pelletier, praising his recent work, and attacking the powerful and the church.

Author: 
François-Antoine Chevrier [François-Antoine de Chevrier] (1721-1762), satirical French author, who fled to Holland [Dom Ambroise Pelletier (1703-1757), curate of Senones, genealogist and illustrator]
Chevrier
Publication details: 
‘Pais le 7. Xbre. [October] 1756.’
£500.00
Chevrier

An excellent letter, exhibiting precisely the sort of indignation one would wish for from such a renowned satirist. As a result of the furore caused by the publication in 1762 of his best-known work, ‘Le Colporteur’, Chevrier fled to Holland. The French government attempted to have him extradited, and his death that same year was rumoured to have been caused by poisoning. 3pp, 4to. On bifolium. Thirty-nine lines of text. In good condtion, lightly aged. The item has been expertly mounted, and the thin white-paper mount still adheres to reverse of the final leaf.

[Charles de Gaulle, army officer and statesman] Flamboyant Autograph Signature C. de Gaulle on an Oxford College headed notepaper, with the signatures of William Walton and Malcolm Sergant on reverse. WITH; Programme of former's Memorial Servic.

Author: 
Charles de Gaulle, army officer and statesman [William Walton, composer; Malcolm Sargent, conductor].
Publication details: 
[Headed notepaper] The Provost's Lodgings | Oriel Collegeg | Oxford. No date
£400.00

One page of letterheard, 12mo, minor foxing not affecting text. WITH: Printed Programme for the Memorial Service for Charles de Gaulle former President of the French Republic 1890 1970, in St Paul's Cathedral, pamphlet, 10 pp.4to, fold mark down middle. See Images.

[Victor de Cottens, French dramatist and director, associated with the Folies Bergère in Paris.] Two Autograph Letters Signed and an Autograph Note Signed, in French, one from London to ‘Monsieur Clarkson’, and the other two to the same recipient.

Author: 
Victor de Cottens (1862-1956), French dramatist, librettist and director, associated with the Folies Bergère, Olympia music hall and Théâtre du Vaudeville in Paris
Publication details: 
ONE (ANS to 'Monsieur Clarkson): 14 May [no year]. On illustrated letterhead of the Queen's Hotel, Leicester Square, London. TWO: ALS, 26 [March? 1910?]; on letterhead of the Olympia, 8 Rue Caumartin, Paris. THREE: ALS, 22 Mai [no year or place].
£50.00

The material is in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Items Two and Three are addressed to ‘Cher ami’. De Cottens’ handwriting is somewhat opaque. ONE: ANS, 14 May [no year]. The letterhead includes an engraved illustration of the Queen’s Hotel in Leicester Square. 1p, 12mo. ‘Cher Monsieur Clarkson / tous mes bien vifs remerciements pour votre aimable envoi de tickets. / Bien votre / Victor de Cottens.’ TWO: ALS, 26 [March? 1910?]. 1p, 12mo. He wonders whether the recipient might put his ‘experience à la disposition’ of a named colleague from Brussels. THREE: ALS, 1p, 16mo.

[Napoleonic Wars: the arming of six British merchant ships, c.1807.] Manuscript ‘Account of Sundry Stores received from the Pilot Boates [sic]’, ‘Respecting Arming Pilot Boates / Account of Stores’.

Author: 
Napoleonic Wars: the arming of six British merchant ships, c.1807 [Brittania, Stephen Brown; Sloop Neptune, John Hurry; Syren, William Jackson; Fox, Thomas Lundie; Rover, Robert Jackson]
Publication details: 
Entries dated between May 1805 and June 1809. On paper watermarked ‘J WHATMAN / 1807’.
£280.00

None of the boats and captains named in the present item are present in contemporary Navy Lists, so they would appear to be merchant ships. 2pp, foolscap 8vo. Aged and worn, with slight loss along edges and faded to a small portion of text. Folded four times into a packet, named (on the reverse): ‘Respecting Arming Pilot Boates / Account of Stores’. The whole of the recto is filled with text, divided into six rectangles in two columns of three rectangles each, under the heading ‘Account of Sundry Stores received from the Pilot Boates’.

[‘Mirbel the naturalist’: Charles-François Brisseau de Mirbel, French botanist.] Autograph Signature (‘Mirbel’) over printed device of the Museum d’Histoire Naturelle au Jardin du Roi.

Author: 
Charles-François Brisseau de Mirbel (1776-1854), French botanist, a founder of cytology, plant histology and plant physiology in France, on the staff of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris
Mirbel
Publication details: 
No date. [Museum d’Histoire Naturelle au Jardin du Roi.]
£90.00
Mirbel

See his entry in the Encylopaedia Britannica. The signature ‘Mirbel’ is written on a clear area of a circular printed device of 4.5 cm diameter, in grey tone, within decorative border. The text reads: ‘MUSEUM / D’HISTOIRE NATURELLE / AU JARDIN DU ROI / Entrée aux Jours et Heures / consacrés à l’Etude. / Prof. Admin.’ Laid down on a 7 x 7.5 cm piece of paper, on which is written, in a neat early nineteenth-century hand, ‘Mirbel the naturalist’. See image.

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