French

Manuscript Memorandum, in English, docketed 'General Bernard's information respecting ettiquette [sic] of the french Court'.

Author: 
Baron Simon Bernard (1779-1839), French general of engineers, who did much military work for the United States government
Publication details: 
Date and place not stated.
£56.00

Written in a neat, close hand (not Bernard's) on one page (the recto of the first leaf of a 12mo bifolium). Twenty-one lines. Text clear and complete. On aged, grubby and lightly-creased paper.

Le Bon Anglais Text de Roger Boutet de Monvel. Images de Guy Arnoux.

Author: 
Roger Boutet de Monvel; Guy Arnoux (1886-1951), French illustrator
Publication details: 
Chez Devambez 43 boulevard Malesherbes à Paris.
£165.00

Landscape 12mo (leaf dimensions 12 x 16 cm): 27 pp. Stitched with no jacket as issued. Covers a little grubby, but a good copy of a scarce item. Title page and twelve delightful full-page pochoir illustrations by Arnoux, all hand-coloured: 'En temps de Paix', 'Premier contact', 'Le sous-lieutenant', 'Les Indiens', 'Black-Watch', 'Le capitaine et l'infirmiere', 'Les Irlandais', 'Le Major', 'La Mascotte', 'Ship ahoy!!', 'Le bon Ecossais' and 'God save the King'.

Autograph Signature ('Jules de Polignac') on part of letter to 'mon cher Baron'.

Author: 
Jules Auguste Armand Marie, Prince de Polignac (1780-1847), French Prime Minister under Charles X.
Publication details: 
17 September [no year].
£28.00

On rectangle of paper roughly 9 x 17 cm. Cut from the head of a letter for an autograph hunter. Fair, on aged paper, with traces of previous mount on the reverse. Above the signature a florid five-line valediction in the best courtly style. Date and beginning of letter on reverse.

Catalogues 1, 2, 5 and 16 of the 'Bibliothèque Entomologique'.

Author: 
Ed. André [Édouard François André (1840-1911)], editor [entomology; book catalogues]
Publication details: 
February and September 1883, October 1884 and January 1888. 21, Boulevard Bretonnière, a Beaune (Cote-d'Or)'.
£125.00

All four catalogues are stitched and unbound. All four are 8vo, with nos. 1 and 5 of 32 pp, no. 2 of 64 pp, and no 16 of 40 pp. The last leaf of catalogue 2, carrying advertisements is torn with some loss, otherwise the texts are clear and complete, on aged and spotted paper. Providing valuable bibliographical information, in a specialised scientific field.

Autograph Letter Signed ('C. Genest'), in French, to unnamed male recipient.

Author: 
Claude Genest [editor, 'La Revue du XIXème siècle']
Publication details: 
Undated, on printed 1840s lettehead of the 'Revue du XIXème siècle', 'Bureaux, 11, rue de Lille', Paris.
£38.00

12mo, 1 p. 20 lines of text. Clear and complete. On aged paper and lightly-creased paper. Writing to ask how the recipient wishes to deal with 'traités de Botanique et de Chimie' in his reviews. Written during the first of several incarnations of the 'Revue', this one beginning around 1836.

Autograph Letter Signed and three Autograph Cards Signed ('jean Duranel' and 'J. Duranel'), to his patron Lawrence Ives, with two invitations to his shows and a paper cut-out.

Author: 
Jean Duranel (born 1946), French artist [Lawrence A. Ives]
Publication details: 
Between 1982 and 1992; France.
£100.00

All the items except the cut-out and the last card (in which he gives the price of a painting) are damp-stained, with part of the text of the letter illegible. One card in French. The first card, from 1982, thanks Ives for payment for 'watercolors'. The cut-out, in red paper, is roughly 10 x 10 cm. Intricately-cut, it depicts a long-leaved plant in a basket on legs. Although found with the other items, there is no indication that it is by Duramel. Ives made the news in 2000, when his extensive collection of paintings by L. S. Lowry was put up for sale.

Autograph manuscript paper entitled 'Rapport au congrès Scientifique de Douai sur Les coutumes locales du Bailliage d'Amiens considerée comme documents historiques.' Autograph Letter Signed ('Bouthors') to Dinaux.

Author: 
Alexandre Bouthors (1796-1869), Greffier en chef de la Cour royale d'Amiens [Arthur Dinaux (1795-1864)]
Publication details: 
Paper undated [1835]. Letter dated 18 September 1835; Frévent.
£150.00

Paper: 4to, 6 pp. With addendum slip of a third of a page. Text clear and complete. On aged paper and lightly-creased paper. Closely written, with several deletions. This paper held some significance for Bouthors. The 'Bulletins de la Société des antiquaires de Picardie' (1864) quotes an address by him, in which he describes that society as 'la fille de l'association des Congrès scientifiques de France.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Charle | Geographe rue de Sevres | No. 48.'), in French, to the French Minister of War, 'Monseigneur le Maréchal Duc de Bellune'.

Author: 
J. B. L. Charle, French cartographer [Claude Victor-Perrin (1764-1841), Duc de Belluno (Bellune)]
Publication details: 
4 October 1823; Paris.
£85.00

One page, on the recto of the second leaf of a bifolium, leaf dimensions 31 x 20 cm. In fair condition on lightly-aged paper with slight wear to extremities. According to his entry in the catalogue of the Bibliothèque Nationale, Charles was a 'Géographe attaché au Dépôt général de la guerre en 1933 [sic], ancien membre de la Société de Géographie. - Dessinateur, il eut une production cartographique très abondante à partir de 1823'. Neatly laid out.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Péclet'), in French, to 'Monsieur Danjou'.

Author: 
Jean Claude Eugène Péclet (1793-1857), French physicist after whom the 'Péclet number' is named
Publication details: 
Postmarked September 1837.
£56.00

12mo, 1 p. Ten lines of text. Good, on aged paper with slight wear to extremities. In a bifolium, with address and four circular postmarks (two in black and two in blue ink) on verso of second leaf. He is 'a la fin de l'impression d'un ouvrage qui doit être pret pour la rentrée et qui depuis longtemps absorbe tous mes instants'. It is impossible for him to write the requested articles. He is 'tellement fatigué' that he awaits with impatience the end of the printing, so that he can take 'un peu de repos'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Robt. Walpole'), in French, to 'J. Fr. Ostervald Esq'.

Author: 
Robert Walpole (1736-1810), Clerk of the Privy Council and British Ambassador to Portugal (nephew of the Prime Minister) [J. F. Ostervald; the French Revolution]
Publication details: 
30 October 1792; Clifford Street [London].
£180.00

4to, 3 pp. Bifolium. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper with damp staining causing the fading of ink in some parts, and a little chipping to bottom edge. Since writing there has been no packet from Falmouth, and the news from the continent are reported with sufficient detail in the gazettes, so 'il est inutile de vous en parler. Les procedes du Duc de Brunswick [he led an invading German army into France], et le systeme du Roi de Prusse sont egalement mysterieux [...] Les Emigrants [...] sont reduits a la derniere necessite'.

Inventaire des documents provenant de la mission Frantz Cornet au Congo (1948-49) et conservés au Musée royal de l'Afrique centrale a Tervuren.

Author: 
Marcel Luwel [Frantz Cornet; the Belgian Congo; Musée royal de l'Afrique centrale; Belgium]
Publication details: 
1960: Académie royale des Sciences d'Outre-Mer. Classe des sciences morales et politiques. Mémoires in-8o. Nouvelle série. Tome XXIV, fasc. 1. (Histoire). Rue de Livourne, 80A, Bruxelles 5. [Musée royal de l'Afrique centrale.]
£85.00

8vo: 87 pp. In original light-green printed wraps. Internally very good. Front wrap with minor spotting and slight damage to one corner. Presentation copy, signed on title 'To Mrs. H. Stanley from M. Luwel | 14. XI. 1960.' Inventory divided into ten sections, beginning with 'Baptist Missionary Society' and 'Missions protestantes au Katanga', and ending with 'Uele'. Uncommon: copies at the British Library, Oxford, Cambridge, University of London and SOAS.

Les vacances de Lumineux petit cheval de cirque.

Author: 
Cécile Aubry
Publication details: 
Paris: Éditions Émile-Paul Frères, 14 Rue de L'Abbaye, VI. 1955.
£60.00

PRESENTATION COPY: inscribed on half-title 'Pour Louise | avec mon bien amical souvenir - | Cécile Aubry'. 32 pages, quarto. In printed coloured boards, with decorated endpapers. llustrated by Aubry in colour (one double-page and nine full page) and black and white (five vignettes) and red (final page and endpapers). On the poor side of good, with minor staining, spotting and wear; negligible damp damage to boards.

Autograph Letter Signed "Ch. Teste" to "Monsieur le redacteur de la Trib[une]" [Deroche?]. In French.

Author: 
Charles Teste
Publication details: 
Paris, 5 May 1831.
£250.00

Two pages, folio, chipped with small loss of letters (e.g. the end of "Tribune"), mainly clear. He says: "Mon nom a figure ces jours-ci dans le moniteur et par suite dams plusieurs autres journaux de la capitale. Cette publicite m'oblige a parler de moi . . .

No. 271. Essai sur le Plaisir, considéré relativement a la Médecine; Thèse présentée et soutenu a la Faculté de Médecine de Paris, le 28 novembre 1820, pour obtenir le grade de Docteur en medecine.

Author: 
Augustin Haguette, de Saint-Denis, Départment de la Seine [Didot le jeune, Paris printer]
Publication details: 
A Paris, De l'Imprimerie de Didot le Jeune, Imprimeur de la Faculté de Médecine, rue des Maçons-Sorbonne, no. 13. 1820.
£40.00

4to: viii + 47 pp. Disbound. On foxed paper with occasional light staining. On the title-page Haguette is described as 'Bachelier-ès-lettres; ex-Officier de santé des armées; ancien Elève de l'Ecole pratique et des hôpitaux civils de Paris.' 'No. 9.' in manuscript at head of the title-page. Dedicated, somewhat unusually for a thesis, 'Au meilleur des pères. A la mère la plus tendre. Leur fils reconnaissant. A Monsieur Fouquier, [...] Hommage de respect et de reconnaissance. Aug. Haguette, son élève.

Autograph Note Signed " "C. Cochelet" to "Monsieur Le President de la Chambre des Deputes". WITH autograph letter signed "Cochelet" to Mocquard (?)

Author: 
Charles Cochelet
Publication details: 
Paris 24 November 1821 and Paris, 31 [October?] [1859?]
£100.00

Author of "Naufrage du Brick francais la Sophie, et captivite des naufrages dans le desert de Shara . . ." (published Paris 1821). One page, folio. IN FRENCH. He has the honour of sending them a copy of his book (as above) with his respects. He describes himself as "ancien payeur general en Catalogne".

Autograph Letter Signed ('A Guinnard'), in French, to an unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Auguste Guinnard, French traveller, who wrote an account of his three-years' captivity in Patagonia [Jules Verne; Pierre Kalfon; Benard]
Publication details: 
7 January 1863. 4 rue St Louis en l'Ile [Paris].
£100.00

8vo, 2 pp. Bifolium. Thirty-two lines of text. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged and creased paper. It is only now that he is able to thank him for the 'bon accueil que m'a fait Monsieur Benard grâce à votre Gracieuse recommendation'. Benard has lent him 'quelques ouvrages', including 'ceux que vous aviez bien voulu <?> sur la petite note'. He has not had time to look at them, 'pressé que j'etais tout d'abord de vous remettre ceux que vous m'avez bien voulu prêter'. He has not been able to 'les compulser', but has 'sommairement lu le contenu qui je l'espere me suffira'.

A Detail of the Wonderful Revolution at Paris; Or, An Exact Narrative of All that passed in the Capital of France, particularly the Siege and Capture of the Bastille, from the 11th of July, 1789, to the 23d of the same Month.

Author: 
M. D** C** [i.e. Monsieur de Courtive] [translated by 'S. M.'] [James Ridgway, London publisher; the fall of the Bastille, 1789]
Publication details: 
London: Printed for James Ridgway, No. I, York Street, St. James's Square. 1789.
£450.00

8vo: [iv] + 48 pp. Stabbed as issued. In modern brown paper wraps. Good, on lightly aged paper. Beneath the author's name on title-page: 'Dedicated to the District of PETIT ST.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Quatremère'), in French, to 'Monsieur Feuillet, Bibliothecaire de l'Institut'.

Author: 
Étienne Marc Quatremère (1782-1857), French Orientalist [Laurent François Feuillet (1768-1843), from 1823 chief librarian of the Institut de France]
Publication details: 
Undated [between 1823 and 1843].
£45.00

12mo: 1 p. Eight lines of text. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. A bifolium, addressed by Quatremère on the reverse of the second leaf. He is returning a work borrowed from the library of the Institut, and asks Feuillet 'de vouloir bien me communiquer le Voyage de l'Anglois en Afrique, et le 5e. volume de la nouvelle histoire des voyages.'

Letter, in a secretarial hand, signed by Cuvier ('Bn G Cuvier'), to 'Mr. Raynal, Proviseur du college Royal de Nismes'. With engraved portrait of Cuvier by T. Richomme, from a drawing by 'Mme Lizinka de Mirbel'.

Author: 
Baron Georges Cuvier [Baron Georges Léopold Chrétien Frédéric Dagobert Cuvier] (1769-1832), French naturalist [Theodore Richomme; Aimée Zoe Lizinka de Mirbel]
Publication details: 
Letter of 2 April 1822; on letterhead of the Conseil royal de l'Instruction publique. Engraving undated (circa 1840?).
£225.00

Letter: Folio (30.5 x 20 cm), 1 p. Bifolium, with text on recto of first leaf and address (with several postmarks) on reverse of second. Five lines. Text clear and complete, with good clear signature. Fair, on aged and lightly-creased paper, with 1.5 cm closed tear in top left-hand corner (not affecting text). The 'Objet de la lettre' is given as 'Envoi d'un Brevet de Pension'. The pension will be paid 'par la Caisse d'Amortissement'. Engraving: Original, on paper 24 x 15.5 cm. Captioned 'G. CUVIER.' A good clear impression on grubby, spotted and lightly-creased paper.

Autograph Letter Signed ('La Ctesse. De Maudet'), in French, to an unnamed 'Chevalier' [English knight?].

Author: 
The Countess de Maudet [La Comtesse de Maudet], wife of the Count de Maudet [Le Comte de Maudet], Governor of Corsica, who surrended Toulon to Admiral Hood in 1793 [Samuel Hood, Viscount Hood]
Publication details: 
Docketed 'Comtesse De Maudet | Apl. 11th. 1795.'
£85.00

4to: 1 p. Twenty-four lines of text. On a bifolium of laid paper, and docketed on the reverse of the second leaf. Good, in faded ink on lightly-aged paper. Begins 'La france republicainne [sic] me fait perdre des renttes [sic] viageres'. She complains of the attack on her 'legitimes droits a mes biens de Corses que le roy de france garrante par un Contract', and speaks of 'droits inalterables et inprescriptible'. She asks for a 'paquet' to be passed to 'Milord Hood'.

French broadside celebrating the accession of 'Napoléon III, Empereur des Français.', containing a biography, a panegyric poem, and a handcoloured engraved portrait.

Author: 
Pellerin, Imprimeur-Libraire, à Epinal, Vosges, France [Napoléon III, Empereur des Français]
Publication details: 
[1852.] 'Fabrique de PELLERIN, Imprimeur-Libraire, à EPINAL.' [Vosges, France]
£250.00

Printed on one side of a piece of wove paper, dimensions roughly 65 x 41.5 cm. Within a ruled border. On lightly aged paper, with chipping and slight loss to extremities. Three closed tears (two of them affecting the portrait) have been repaired on the reverse with archival tape. Text entirely legible and portrait clear, bright and without loss. The full-length portrait (31 x 25 cm), crudely coloured in yellow, red and blue, depicts the Emperor, in full regalia, standing in a sumptuous throne room. Sixty-six line biography, arranged in two columns.

Allegorical coloured engraved portrait of 'Bernadotte', with explanation, 'Drawn & Etchd by W Heath'.

Author: 
William Heath ('Paul Pry'); Rudolph Ackermann, publisher, 'The Repository of the Arts', Strand [Napoleon Bonaparte; Battle of Leipzig, 1814; Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte; Charles XIV John, King of Sweden]
Publication details: 
Pub March 4th 1814 R Akermann Strand'.
£250.00

BM 13489. Landscape. On a piece of wove paper, roughly 215 x 305 mm. Good, on heavily-aged paper and with strip of blue paper mount adhering to the blank reverse. The title 'BERNADOTTE' is at the head, and the publication details and caption at the foot. Shows Bernadotte in martial pose and uniform, riding his white horse over a fearsome serpent. He wears a sash on which are written the words 'Leipsic' and 'Victory'.

Belle Fresque Napoléonienne', in the form of a broadside poster in a wallet, inscribed by de Régie to Jules Dechamps, together with twenty cuttings of newspaper and magazine articles by de Régie.

Author: 
René de Vivie de Régie, 'Rédacteur à la "Revue des Études Napoléoniennes" [Napoleon Bonaparte; Professor Jules Dechamps (1888-1968), Queen Mary College]
Publication details: 
The poster dated 1925; the cuttings circa 1928-29.
£250.00

The poster is printed on one side of a piece of paper approximately 110 x 75 cm. Good, on lightly-aged paper. With its green printed wallet (21 x 28.5 cm), lightly worn and creased. Wallet covered in text, including the words 'NAPOLÉON FLORILÈGE' in large type. A curious piece of Napoleonic hagiography, with the text, consisting of a large number of unconnected effusions on his greatness ('Astre humain. Dieu terrestre'), in a variety of types and point sizes, arranged in six columns.

Autograph Letter Signed ('S. Bannister'), in French, to 'Monsieur de Monglave, l'Institut Historique'.

Author: 
Saxe Bannister (1790-1877), English writer and lawyer, the first Attorney-General of New South Wales [Eugène Garay de Monglave (1796-1873)]
Publication details: 
Au Mai, Jouy, Près Versailles, 23 Juin 1834'.
£85.00

12mo, 4 pp. Bifolium. Good, on lightly aged paper. Addressed to 'Monsieur et Confrère'. He replied to de Monglave's last letters a couple of days previously, and he has addded 'deux ou trois propositions que je vous de traduire en bon François, et de lire à notre comité, au Conseil'. He wants to get to know 'quelques uns de mes voisins dans ce village où j'ai l'intention de passer six mois', and asks for letters of introduction. Lists four families he wishes to get to know and names some individuals with whom he is a little acquainted.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Philippe de Larenaudière'), in French, to unnamed male editor of a journal.

Author: 
Philippe de Larenaudière [Philippe François de La Renaudière], nineteenth-century French mining engineer, geographer and traveller in the Americas
Publication details: 
Date and place not stated.
£65.00

4to, 1 p. Fourteen lines of text, on the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium. Text clear and complete, on lightly aged and creased paper. Slight staining at foot of text (affecting part of signature), and on the reverse of the second leaf of the bifolium, which is docketed 'la renaudié | A. S.' He is sending an article on 'la Bibliotheque des voyages'. Asks that the article on the work entitled 'Des Beaux arts en Angleterre', 'que Buisson vous adressa il ya prés de Deux mois', be inserted. 'Je vous prie en grace de laisser ma Signature en entier.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Mel. Alcan'), in French, to 'Monsieur le Conseiller d'Etat Commissaire Général'.

Author: 
Michel Alcan (1801-1877), French politician and engineer who made numerous innovations in the field of textiles [Exposition Universelle de 1867, Paris, France]
Publication details: 
Paris le 13. Dbre 1866'.
£65.00

4to (27 x 21 cm), 1 p. Nine lines of text. Text clear and complete on lightly aged, creased and foxed paper. Small closed tear at edge along crease line (not affecting text). Bearing the numbered stamp of the Exposition Universelle de 1867, Commission Imperiale. Accepting the position, conferred on him by the Commission, of 'membre de Jury de l'Exposition dans la 55me. classe': 'J'accepte cette tâche de confiance, et ferai tous mes éfforts pour la remplir avec l'activité reclamée par le reglement concernant les travaux du Jury'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('de Tessan'), in French, to 'Monsieur Pingard, Chef du Secretariat de l'Institut'.

Author: 
Urbain Dortet de Tessan (1804-1879), French geographer who between 1836 and 1839 circumnavigated the world
Publication details: 
Paris le 11 Avril 1866'.
£56.00

12mo, 1 p. Good, on lightly aged paper. Asking Pingard, as Secretary of the Institut de France, to convene a meeting of the members of the 'Section de Géographie et Navigation'. Postscript: 'P.S. Je suis, connais vous, près <?> une Jambe.'

Autograph Letter Signed ('C Crapelet'), in French, to 'Monsieur Deterville'

Author: 
Charles Crapelet (1762-1809), French printer, based in Paris
Publication details: 
27 October 1807. [Paris.]
£75.00

12mo: 1 p. Eight lines of text. On a piece of grey laid watermarked paper. Complete and clear. Lightly aged and creased. Unusually frank business communication. He is angry at having to tell Deterville that he cannot have 'd'exemplaire des Rudimens'. He will do his best to let him have them soon. However weak the excuse, it is nevertheless true that the 'ouvriers ne m'ont pas tenu parole'.

Le Chapitre des Accidents.

Author: 
Maurice Alhoy, French author; Victor Adam, lithographic engraver and artist [Le Figaro]
Publication details: 
1845. Paris: Soulié, Editeur, 10, Rue de Seine. [Paris. - Typographie Lacrampe et comp., Rue Damiette, 2.]
£100.00

Landscape 8vo (leaf dimensions roughly 15.5 x 23.5 cm): [iv] + 98 pp of letterpress, and 24 tipped-in full-page lithographic engravings ('taille-douce' over a tinted background), one illustrating each of the book's twenty-four chapters. Woodcut engraving on title-page. In contemporary brown cloth with green patterned endpapers. A tight copy, with the first few leaves somewhat grubby and worn at bottom outer corners. Occasional foxing throughout. Alhoy (1802-1856) was co-founder of 'Le Figaro'. Second and last edition.

Coloured lithographic dioramic print, captioned 'Dawson's Diorama No. 1. The Emperor Napoleon in Captivity at Elba, changing to his reception by the Army whom he walked up to with these words "If there be among you a Soldier [...] Here I am!'

Author: 
T. Dawson, London printseller [Napoleon Bonaparte; diorama; dioramic print]
Publication details: 
Undated [circa 1838]. 'London: Published by T. Dawson, 29, Bedford St. Covent Garden.'
£300.00

The caption ends '[...] a Soldier who desires to kill his General let him do it now. Here I am!' Dimensions of print roughly 13 x 17 cm. On original grey paper windowpane mount (22 x 27.5 cm). Engraved label (4 x 12.5 cm) beneath the print, with small remarque-style illustrations. Aged and spotted, with slight wear to the print. An unusual and attractive piece of Napoleonic iconography, a full-length image of the deposed Emperor of the French, characteristically attired, on a beach with his hand on a rock, looking out to a sunset at sea.

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