French History

Paris: B. Renault & B. Renaud, Éditeurs, 1843. Hardcover - 2 volumes in one, 288 + 288 pages. Text in French. Quarter leatherbound w/marbled endpapers. Size 8.375"x5.125". Condition of the binding is Poor: exterior is scuffed & chipped, front board is detached; rear interior hinge is split; front & rear endpapers and adjoining leaves are detached. Condition of the text is Very Good: light foxing throughout; chips/tears to the margin in a few places; a few leaves have a small fold at bottom front corner; two pages have minor notations in pencil..

Paris: A. Quantin, 1883. 1st Edition 1st Printing. Hardcover. Very Good. Fine Color And B/W Plates Throughout. Xvi, 250 Pp. No. 40 Of 50 Large Paper Copies On Holland Paper. Half Green Morocco, Spine Gilt, Deckled Edges, Marbled Boards, Floral Endpapers. Initials R. B. In Gilt At Base Of Spine, Apparently The Initials Of A Previous Owner. Reproduction (?) Of Cover Of One Of Marie Antoinette's Books, With Her Coat Of Arms, Heavily Gilt, Heavily Embossed With Embossing Showing Strongly On Verso Also. Lightly Used, Gilt Brilliant. Scarce; Only A Few Institutional Holdings. Marie-Antoinete Was The Hereditary Owner Of Great Political Power In France At A Time, Unfortunately For Her, When People Realized That She Was Probably Physically And Mentally Incapable Of Running Even A Tiny Shop, Like All Of Her Relatives And In-Laws For Hundreds Upon Hundreds Of Years, Who Were Unable To Produce 1 (One) Reputable Doctor, Engineer, Scientist, Inventor Or Philosopher Amongst The Lot. Her Existence Was A… Read More

Extremely rare first edition in exceptional near fine condition in elegant contemporary (circa 1850) private binding. The author of this first comprehensive treatise on administration was a prominent French lawyer and politician of the mid-19th Century. A member of the Chambre des Députés, his book is based on a two-part article he contributed to the Revue des Deux Mondes 1841. It appears that most copies of this first edition were destroyed by fire. A second, enlarged edition appeared in 1852 in 2 vols.

A Paris: De L'Imprimerie Royale, 1679 A fair copy of the 1st edition of the Description de la Grotte de Versailles bound with a very good copy of the 2nd edition of Labyrinte de Versailles, in contemporary elephant folio full leather binding. La Grotte has had 5 of the 20 plates cut out, but Labyrinte is complete. The binding is sound with raised bands and title label to spine. It is very worn, with a lot of wear to corners with leather loss and to spine joints, spine ends and edges. The surface of the boards is a little rough. All page edges red. There is an old bookplate to the front pastedown endpaper - Earl Vane, from the Library of the Rev. John Vane. Contents: 3 blanks; title 1679; blank verso; Description pp 1-11; Imprimerie to verso p 11; plates 13 single and 2 double; title to Labyrinte 1697; blank verso; Description pp 3-34; blank recto with Explication du Plan du Labyrinte to verso; plate 1; fables (quatrains by Isaac Benserade) and plates (Sebastien Leclerc) on opposing pages - 78 pp, 39… Read More

1810. Toulouse, 1810. [364] pp. Quarto (8-1/2" x 6-1/2"). Toulouse, 1810. [364] pp. Quarto (8-1/2" x 6-1/2"). 1810 Student Notes on Lectures on the Code de Procedure Civile and Code d'Instruction Criminelle [Manuscript]. Jouvent, Barthelemy [d.1821]. Cours de Procedure Civile. Dicte par Monsieur Jouvent, Professeur & Doyen a la Faculte de Droit a Toulouse. Toulouse, 1810. [364] pp. Quarto (8-1/2" x 6-1/2"). Contemporary vellum, gilt fillets and lettering piece (reading PROCEDURE CIVILE ET CRIMINELLE) to spine. Moderate rubbing, front board slightly bowed, front joint partially cracked, vellum beginning to peel away from front board and spine in places, some chipping to spine ends, moderate rubbing to rear boards and corners, a few partial cracks to text block. Light toning to text, occasional light soiling along top-edge of text block. Text in neat hand within ruled borders, additional notes in contemporary hand in a few places, "Cazes fils" in bold hand to title page of Cours de Procedure Civile.… Read More

Two hand coloured lithographed broadsides by Lemercier after Victor Adam (1801-1866) and Louis Stanislas Marin-Lavigne (1797-1860) heightened with gum Arabic, each with a large central image showing Napoléon on horseback one dated 1800 the other 1815, each framed by 20 further images which relate important steps in his military and political career giving a full account of his reign closing with a view of his tomb on the island of St. Helena. Large folio (660 x 500 mm). Mounted and framed within modern white cardboard passepartouts. Light foxing, in margins else fine. Two spectacular large size lithographs in beautiful contemporary hand colouring, celebrating Napoleon's life and accomplishments. Many of the small images depict battle scenes others with important political events. Lower margins of each sheet with variant hand coloured allegorical vignette, one showing a heraldic eagle the other the Code Napoléon. Well margined copies.

Very large broadside statistical overview of France in 1824
Paris, Belin-Leprieur, printed by Imprimerie de Jules Didot aîné, June 1824.
Plano (69x100 cm.). Letterpress text, engraved title and illustrated with an engraved ornamental border on thick paper without watermark.
€ 2.400
Impressively large and very rare French broadside table providing a detailed overview of the statistics on population, geography and economy of the 57 départemens of France for the year 1824. It does so in an extremely structured manner. Of each administrative region the precise geographic and topographic values are given, after which the specialization in natural or industrial productivity of these regions is described. For example, the département Calvados has "excellent horses, bestieux fat, grains, cider, cider brandy, flax, hemp" etc. etc. According to a contemporary review in Revue encyclopédique (1825), this table was considered especially useful to understand the importance of each of the départements, and… Read More

Hardcover Condition: Very Good. 2nd edition. Three (3) volumes bound as one. Full calf. Marbled end papers. Historical Tablets and Anecdotes of the Kings of France From Pharamond To Louis XV: containing the remarkable features of their history their singular actions their maxims & their good words. Edge wear to spine, boards, and tips. Top of spine chipped. Leather at front hinge has 1.5" crack (not all the way through) but board is still firm and attached. Some foxing to end papers and title page, very limited foxing elsewhere. Couple of internal pages have chips in lower right corner.Additional shipping costs for international orders.

8° (mm 175x110); cc. (4), 608, (24). Dopo le prime quattro carte, splendida tavola calcografica ripiegata - firmata "J. Ziarnko" e datata Paris 1612 - fuori testo (mm 265x300, margini inclusi), raffigurante il torneo di cavalieri che si volse presso la Place Royale. Legatura coeva in pergamena, titolo manoscritto al taglio-piede del volume. Alcuni fascicoli naturalmente bruniti, tuttavia buon esemplare.

The third 'annata' of what is considered the first French magazine hosts the description and the (first?) iconographic witness of the tournament entitled 'Le Romant des Chevaliers de la Gloire', organized by the Queen Regent, Maria de' Medici, to celebrate the wedding of Louis XIII with Anne of Austria. At the pages 331-58 of the volume there is the report of the celebrations and, above all, of the carrousel, with a detailed legenda of the large plate. A description of the festival was published in the same year - Le Romant des chevaliers de la gloire containing plusieurs hautes et fameuses… Read More

A Aix, chez Esprit David, 1777.
12mo [163 x 93 mm] of 1 portrait, 220 pp., ii pp., 13 folding plates.
Full straight-gained green morocoo, frames of gilt fillets and borders around the covers with gilt fleurs-de-lys in the corners, flat spine decorated with gilt fleurons, gilt edges. Binding from the very beginning of the 19th century.
First edition of this peculiar work on the celebrations instituted under the reign of King René. Their origin dates back to 1462, they were the occasion of games, processions, battles, tournaments, etc.
E. Rouard, Notice sur la bibliothèque d'Aix dite de Méjanes, p. 53 ; G. Mourey, Le livre des fêtes françaises, 284, 286-8 ; Jacques Billiord, Le livre en Provence du XVIe au XVIIIe siècle, pp. 17, 103 ;
Vinet, 819 ; Cohen-De Ricci 367-368 ; Lipperheide Sl 20 ; Rümann 859.
Complete copy with the 12 folding etchings with the captions in Provençal language, these picturesque figures being drawn and engraved by P. and G. Grégoire (sons of the author) who invented the… Read More

Paris, chez Delloye et Leipzig chez Brockhaus et Avenarius, 1838.
2 volumes 8vo [208 x 125 mm] of : I/(2) ll., III pp., 488 pp.; II/ (2) ll., 476 pp., (2) ll. A few browned ll. in volume 2. Aubergine half-calf, flat spines decorated, sprinkled edges. Contemporary binding.
First edition of this "text which importance ended up appearing".
Vicaire, Manuel de l'amateur, I, 289 ; Carteret, I, 163 ; Sabin 12252.
"Text which importance ended up appearing, it is indeed a part, and not negligible, of 'Mémoires d'Outre-tombe.'" (Clouzot, p. 66)
Chateaubriand published it in 1838 to justify his activity as Minister of Foreign Affairs to the public opinion.
We recognize the dazzling style of the writer in it, the polemists' verve, the imagination of the poet. The book contains many passages from Mémoires d'Outre-tombe, Chateaubriand having hesitated for a long time to reinstate this text in his major work.
"This book is by no means void of interest; it is really written with great cleverness; and although… Read More

London: Printed for J. Debrett, opposite Burlington-House, Piccadilly, 1784. First English edition. Octavo. Three-quarter leather and marbled boards with gold tooling and gilt title to spine; cover beautifully refurbished by master bookbinder Scott K. Kellar, with new black endpapers; small bookseller notations in pencil to front flyleaf and minor spotting to front and rear leaves, else pages exceptionally bright. Near-fine in a handsomely restored binding.. First English edition of Abbé de Mably's (1709-1785) letters to John Adams on the American approach to government as found in the laws of the thirteen colonies. Mably, a popular French writer, historian, and philosopher, met Adams in Paris while Adams was visiting in late 1782 as chief of the American delegation to negotiate a peace treaty with England. Adams recorded that he and Mably discussed Mably's interest in composing a work on the constitutions found within America, and Mably would later maintain that he wrote his Remarks at Adams's… Read More

Complete suite of 380 fashion plates covering six centuries of French costume by the artist Hippolyte Lecomte. With lithographed title page in Volume 1 (Pl. 1), and 379 finely handcoloured plates of French male and female fashion from 1230 to 1820 in three volumes.Volume 1 with plates 1 to 127, 1230 to 1572.Volume 2 with plates 128 to 254, 1572 to 1723.Volume 3 with plates 255 to 380, 1723 to 1820.First Italian edition with the plates newly lithographed by Lorenzo Bianchi and Domenico Cuciniello. The handcolouring is regarded as superior to the original French edition Costumes civils et militaires de la monarchie française, Delpech, Paris 1820. This extensive and important collection testifies to the keen interest in the history of the kingdom of France during the period of the Bourbon Restoration. The plates document the history of French clothes from about 1230 to 1820. Civilian clothes of all social classes are shown together with military uniforms, starting with medieval crusaders in armour and… Read More

1819 Napoleonic WARS 1ed Military Navy Great Britain Illustrated Orme Color ART

Edward Orme's "Military and Naval Anecdotes", published in 1819, was one of if not the most important book of its kind from the entire 19th-century. This book is an impressive collection of illustrated engravings most of which deal with the Napoleonic Wars. This book offers views of battle scenes, ships and guns, gruesome battlefields, and much more. Each of the engravings are in stunning color known to often be extracted from this book and displayed individually. However, this particular first edition 39 color plates; an impressive work!

Item number: #21993
Price: $1500

ORME, Edward

Historic, military, and naval anecdotes, of personal valour, bravery and particular incidents which occurred to the armies of Great Britain

London: Edward Orme, 1819. First edition.

Details:
• Collation:
o [4], 94, [4]
o 39 color plates (of 40)
• Language: English
• Binding: Leather; tight and secure
• Size: ~13.5in X 11in… Read More

Revue Franco-Americaine. Volume 1, 1895 (Franco-American Magazine No.1, June 1895 Paris New York).Original First edition, the first volume published in June 1895.The first issue sold as a specimen, inscribed and signed with compliments from Prince Andre Poniatowski.Revue Franco-Americaine. Juin, 1895. Paris & New York: 1895.
Original lithographic plates by Toulouse-Lautrec (Zimmermann et sa machine), Helleu (Femme et enfants), Caran D' Ache (Un chapitre des memoires du General Marbot, folding), and Forain (Le Monde).
One of the 45 copies on Japon Imperial paper which were sent to the world leaders of the time, including both the French and the American Presidents, the Pope, Queen Victoria, and Leo Tolstoy as listed on the colophon.
Numerous in-text photographic reproduction and woodcut illustrations..This luxurious, eclectic, elite, and worldly review published in French, la Revue Franco-Americaine counted a total of three issues between June and August 1895, of which this is the first. It features… Read More