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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 ('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.

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.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Ragoulleau Bouron') to 'Monsieur Guillon, Propriétaire et Maire de Montereau'.

Author: 
[Charles Etienne Ragoulleau (b. 1774)] 'M. Ragoulleau-Bouron, Avocat, Propriétaire et Directeur de l'ancien Bureau royal de Correspondance'
Publication details: 
18 March 1825; on letterhead of the Bureau, with address amended in autograph to 'Rue Ste. Anne No. 41'.
£35.00

4to: 2 pp. 35 lines of text. Good, on aged paper. Text clear and entire. Minor damage to one corner (not affecting text) through breaking open of wafer. He has received the letter with the 'observations de milord', whose 'propositions' are not 'acceptables'. Mentions a 'Mr. Tournal'. How could he offer 'Mr. Gerrard' 'les quatre cent quarante francs proposé par milord et meme les six cent francs fixé par vous?' Mentions Madame la Marquise de Sainte-Aulaire. Suggests a sum which would be acceptable to Gerrard and would thus avoid a trial the success of which would be uncertain.

Autograph Signature ('H de Vere Stacpoole.').

Author: 
Henry de Vere Stacpoole [Harry] (1863-1951), Anglo-Irish novelist, best known for his often-filmed book 'The Blue Lagoon' (1908)
Publication details: 
Place and date not stated.
£23.00

On a piece of thin card roughly 8.5 x 11.5 cm. Very good. Good signature, 7.5 cm long, neatly centred.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Cha de Paravey') to the Abbé Guerin, 'chez l'abbé Tesson, aux Millions Etrangeres, Paris'.

Author: 
Charles de Paravey [Charles-Hippolyte de Paravey] (1787-1871), French orientalist, palaeographer and engineer
Publication details: 
12 September 1848; Paris.
£56.00

16mo (13.5 x 10 cm): 2 pp. A bifolium, addressed on the reverse of the second leaf. The first leaf has been slightly trimmed at the bottom, resulting in some loss to the bottom line of the recto. A formal letter in the third person, written in a close, difficult hand. Carefully detailing the missing sections in his copy of the 'Dictionnaire Anamitique-Latin'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Julius de Geyter'), in Flemish Dutch.

Author: 
Julius de Geyter (1830-1905), Flemish poet
Publication details: 
31 December 1899; Antwerp.
£35.00

12mo: 1 p. Seven lines of text. Monogram in red in top left-hand corner. On creased and aged paper, with pinholes at head (not affecting text). Scan on request.

Autograph Letter Signed ('le Cte de Montalembert'), in French, to an unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Charles Forbes René de Montalembert (1810-1870), French historian
Publication details: 
3 March 1849; Paris.
£56.00

12mo: 2 pp. Very good on lightly aged paper. Asks if it might be possible, as previously, to forward a packet to 'Mr. d'Abbadie': 'depuis deux ans je suis sans nouvelles de lui'. It is six months since he had the honour of forwarding a similar packet via the French legation at Lisbon. Good firm signature, but with the words '(Le comte de Montalembert)' in another hand beneath it, and interfering with the flourish (paraph).

Three Autograph Letters Signed (all 'E. Beulé'), in French, to (severally) Messieurs Jalabert and Duvivier, and an unnamed woman.

Author: 
Charles Ernest Beulé (1826-1874), French archaeologist and politician [Jalabert; Duvivier]
Publication details: 
The letters to Jalabert and Duvivier without date or place; the letter to the woman dated '<?>, 16 Novembre [no year]'.
£100.00

All three letters 12mo. The letter to Jalabert (with a mourning border) is 2 pp, the others 1 p each. All three in good condition. The Jalabert letter (18 lines) mentions his wife and 'M. Goupil'. The Duvivier letter (6 lines) is a letter of introduction to a 'Monsieur Pietsch, artiste distingue de Berlin'. Asks him to give the artist 'toutes les facilités pour visiter l'Hémicycle de Delaroche et la galérie des Plâtres'. The letter to the woman (11 lines). His return has been delayed by the death of the King of Portugal.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Marsy'), in French, to 'Monsieur le Président et Cher Confrère' [Monsieur Théodore Hippert].

Author: 
Arthur, Comte de Marsy (1843-1900), archaeologist, director of the Société française d'Archéologie pour la Conservation des monuments historiques
Publication details: 
15 January 1894; on letterhead of the Société.
£75.00

12mo: 4 pp. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper. 65 lines of text. Discusses, among other matter, the recipient's 'Exposition de Dentelles', a 'voyage à Bruxelles', a 'très agréable reunion à Abbeville', and a trip by 67 members to Kent. Accompanied by a ten-line manuscript biography of de Marsy, in French in a contemporary hand, tipped in onto another slip of paper cut away from the letter's envelope, and bearing the address in de Marsy's hand.

Autograph Letter Signed to 'Monsieur Huot, Rue des Gravelles No. 4. Versailles'.

Author: 
Grégoire-Louis Domeny de Rienzi (1789-1843 or after 1850), French adventurer, illusionist, fantasist, traveller and author
Publication details: 
Paris 10 aout [1830s]'; on letterhead of the Repertoire des Connaissances usuelles, Dictionnaire de la Conversation et de la Lecture.
£85.00

12mo, 3 pp. Forty-four lines of text. Difficult hand. Concerns the printing of one of de Rienzi's works by Huot, to whom de Rienzi will transmit all the printed leaves which have not been published. De Rienzi's works have him fighting at Wagram and Waterloo, for the Greeks in 1818 and 1822, with Bolivar in 1819, with the Carbonari in 1821, and under Mehemet Ali in 1823. After 1830 he was a professor of Geography in Paris. He committed suicide.

Autograph Letter Signed ('E. Cortambert'), in French, to 'Monsieur le Directeur de l’Athenæum français, Rue Mazarine, 9 | Paris'.

Author: 
Pierre-François Eugène Cortambert (1805-1881), French geographer, Conservator of the Geographic Section of the Bibliothèque Nationale
Publication details: 
21 August 1853; Paris postmark.
£35.00

12mo, 2 pp. Bifolium, addressed, with circular postmark in black ink, on otherwise-blank second leaf of bifolium. Correcting 'une petite erreur' which he committed in 'le Comte rendu de la dernière Séance de la Société de Géographie', and which he wishes changed in the report which will be appearing in 'l’Athenæum français'.

Five Autograph Letters Signed (all 'E. Contambert'), in French: three to Ange de Saint-Priest and one to 'Monsieur le Caissier' of 'L'Encyclopédie'.

Author: 
Pierre-François Eugène Cortambert (1805-1881), geographer, Conservator of the Geographic Section of the Bibliothèque Nationale [Ange de Saint-Priest, editor of 'L'Encyclopédie du Dix-Neuvième Siècle']
Publication details: 
1852, 1874 and two undated.
£125.00

All items in good condition, on lightly aged paper, with text clear and entire. Letter Two with a little light spotting to the recto of the first leaf. Written in a crabbed hand. Concerning contributions by Cortambert to 'L'Encyclopédie'. Letter One (12mo, 3 pp): To 'Monsieur et honorable directeur', 9 July 1852. Letter Two (12mo, 3 pp): To 'Monsieur et honorable directeur', 7 June 1874. Letter Three (12mo, 1 p): To 'Mr de St Priest', undated. Letter Four (8vo, 1 p): To 'Monsieur le Caissier de Encyclopédie du 19e Siècle', Paris, Rue de Saintonge, 64.

Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'Jaubert') to 'monsieur le Baron Grenier, Procureur général de la Cour Imperiale, membre de la Légion d'honneur à Riom'.

Author: 
Comte François Jaubert (1758-1822), Conseiller d'Etat à Vie; Gouverneur de la Banque de France under the First Empire [Jean, Baron Grenier (1753-1841), Premier Président de la Cour Royale de Riom]
Publication details: 
Letter One: 'Paris, le 27 mai 1811', on letterhead of 'Le Comte de l'Empire, Conseiller d'Etat à Vie, [...]'. Letter Two: 'Paris ce 12 Janvier 1814'.
£150.00

Both items 4to,1 p. Both items good, on lightly aged and foxed paper. Both bifoliums, with the second item addressed, with broken wafer, on verso of second leaf. Both docketed in pencil in a nineteenth-century hand. Letter One (nineteen lines of text): He is grateful to Grenier for sending 'le procès verbal de l'installation de votre Cour'. Grenier was right to think that Jaubert would be interested in 'l'historique d'une cérémonie qui rend aux Cours la dignité convenable à la magistrature, et qui vous touche particulièrement'.

Secretarial Letter Signed ('Le Vte. de La Rochefoucauld'), as 'Aide de Camp du Roi, chargé du Département des Beaux Arts', in French, to the editor in chief of the Parisian newspaper 'Le Pilote'.

Author: 
Frédéric Gaëtan, marquis de La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt (1779-1863), French aristocrat and polititian [Charles X, Roi de France; 'Le Pilote']
Publication details: 
Paris le 21 Mai 1825', on letterhead of the Ministère de la Maison du Roi. Département des Beaux Arts.
£150.00

Foolscap (roughly 31.5 x 20 cm): 2 pp. Bifolium with blank second leaf. Thirty-one lines of text. On lightly aged and creased paper, with some discoloration and chipping in a thin strip at head (roughly 1.5 cm deep), affecting the date and letterhead but not the text. Text clear and entire. Casting interesting light on early nineteenth-century news management by the authorities in the continental Europe. The letter concerns the coronation of Charles X.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Cte Jaubert'), in French, to 'Messieurs Pichon & Didier, Libraires Commissionaires, quai des Augustins No. 47. Paris.'

Author: 
Comte François Jaubert (1758-1822), Conseiller d'Etat à Vie; Gouverneur de la Banque de France under the First Empire [Pichon et Didier, Paris printers]
jaubert
Publication details: 
Givry, près Fourchambault, par Nevers (Nièvre) 3 Juin 1827'.
£56.00
jaubert

12mo, 1 p. Eighteen lines of text. Good, on aged paper. Address, with broken wafer and two circular postmarks (one in red ink and the other in black) on verso of second leaf of bifolium. Making an order for a periodical publication, and giving instructions for delivery and payment.

Secretarial Letter Signed ('Conde de Funchal'), in French, to 'Mr. Falconet, Avocat Celebre a Paris'.

Author: 
Domingo Antonio de Souza-Coutinho, Conde de Funchal (fl 1803-1833), Portuguese diplomat, Ambassador to England, and botanist [Ambroise Falconet? Jacques Récamier?]
Publication details: 
1 March 1816; Florence, Italy. Carrying postmarks and seal in red wax with impression of family crest.
£85.00

8vo, 2 pp. Twenty-two lines of text. Bifolium. Address, postmark and seal on reverse of otherwise-blank second leaf of bifolium. On aged and lightly creased paper, chipped and foxed. Text clear and entire. Acting on Falconet's advice, the Count has sent 'une Procure en regle à Mr Recamier [husband of the celebrated Madame Récamier?] à fin qu'il puisse retirer l'argenterie des mains de Mr Delamarre à l'expiration des trois mois'. He is grateful for Falconet's assistance in terminating 'cette facheuse affaire'.

Oda en elogio de la Marina Española, por Doña María Rosa de Galvez.

Author: 
Dona María Rosa de Gálvez [Maria Rosa Galvez de Cabrera] (1768-1806)
Publication details: 
Madrid: En la Imprenta de Repullés. 1806.
£400.00

4to, 12 pp. Disbound and stitched. Very good. The poem covers pp. 3-11, with five 'Notas' on p. 12. Scarce (in the Anglo-Saxon world at least): COPAC only lists a copy at the British Library. Includes a passage on Nelson and 'el feroz Britano'. No copy found in Sanish Union Catalogue etc. (accessed through German Union Catalogue).

Manuscript, in French, entitled 'Notice Sur l'Etablissement industriel fondé par M. Cornillac à Châtillon-sur-Seine (Côte-d'Or), Pour la fabrication des Livres de Piété.

Author: 
Charles Cornillac, French publisher of Châtillon-sur-Seine, Côte-d'Or (active between 1834-1872)
Publication details: 
Without date or place [but between 1847 and 1859].
£500.00

12mo: 4 pp. On the first leaves of each of two bifoliums, which are neatly attached the one within the other to make a four-leaf pamphlet the last two leaves of which are blank. Around 150 lines of closely- and neatly-written French text with a few corrections and additions. Presumably intended for publication. Divided into three parts. Begins 'Sauf les Forges, situes a Sainte-Colombe (2 Kilom.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Walpole') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Horatio Walpole (1723-1809), 4th Baron Walpole, 2nd Baron Walpole of Wolterton, created Earl of Orford in 1806
Publication details: 
09/10/67
£105.00

4to: 3 pp. A bifolium, mounted onto a larger piece of paper by a strip along the inner margin of the verso of the second leaf. Separated horizontally into two parts by a central tear which has been neatly repaired with archival tape, but with the 39 lines of text clear and entire. A signficant letter regarding the political climate in the County of Norfolk in the period preceding the general parliamentary election of 1768.

Verses on the Monumental Effigy of Alice-Evelyn, The Infant-Daughter of Martin Farquhar Tupper, Esq. Sculptured as a Sleeping Child, by J. Durham, Esq. Written by R. T. for W. H. [...]'.

Author: 
R. T. [Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810-1889); Joseph Durham (1814-1877); Thomas De La Rue & Co.]
Publication details: 
London: Imprinted by Thomas De La Rue & Co. Dwelling in Bunhill Row. For Presentation to Private Friends. 1854. Not Published.'
£100.00

Printed on all four pages of a bifolium, with each leaf roughly 17.5 x 13.5 cm. Lightly creased, and with the outer pages a little grubby, but good overall. A self-consciously well-printed production, with each page encased in a black ruled border, and with an engraving of the sculpture on the front page, beneath which, 'A. C. CHISHOLM. DEL. J. DURHAM. NV.' Possibly complete in itself, but in view of the elaborate title probably a taster for a volume which, considering the fact that there is no record of this item on COPAC, was probably never printed.

Autograph letter signed ('L'abbe Contrafatto'), in French, to Félix Barthe (1795-1863), French Minister of Justice.

Author: 
Joseph Contrafatto (b.1798) [l'abbé Contrafatto], Sicilian-born French priest; sentenced to hard labour for an 'affaire de mœurs'; imprisoned, 1827; released, 1845 [Félix Barthe; paedophilia]
Publication details: 
Brest le 15 Juin 1831' [Bagne de Brest].
£300.00

4to: 2 pp. Eighteen lines of text. Very good on aged paper. Docketed. Written while a convict at the Bagne de Brest. Titled by Contrafatto in top left-hand corner 'Direction des affaires Criminelles et des grâces.' Begins with a Latin quotation on the subject of crime and innocence, to which he adds the comment 'Quel est celui qui, plus que moi, ait le droit d'invoquer ce principe tutélaire?' In a six-line paragraph attempts to flatter Barthe ('[...] l'ornement du Barreau avant d'être appelé dans le conseil du Roi.

Two Letters Signed "Ducros" (body of letters secretarial) to "Monsignor" and (presuambly the same party) Monsignor Pacca "maestro di Camera di Sua Santita".

Author: 
[J.] Ducros, ingénieur
Publication details: 
Hotel de la Minerva, Rome, 23 avril 1857 and 5 octobre 1857
£50.00

One page each, 4to, sl. chipped. (avril)He requests an audience with a Cardinal and concludes with a statement about himself: "Ingénieur en chef au Corps impérial des Ponts et Chausées; ingénieur en chef de la Compagnie du Chemin de fer de Rome à Ceprano." (octobre) requesting another (?0 audience (or is it the same one?)

Autograph Letter Signed to an unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Stéphane Flachat, Ingénieur, Engineer.
Publication details: 
No place, 12 Janvier 1830.
£280.00

One page, minor damage and staining marginally affecting text, which has lost one letter, as follows: "D'après l'autorisation que mon frère [Eugène Flachat, eminent engineer] m'a transmise de votre part, je prends la liberté de vous demander un rendez-vous, pour vour entretenir du Canal maritime, et vous soumettre notamment la partie des plans de cette entreprise qui interesse plus spécialement la ville de Paris.

Autograph Note Signed to "Monsieur Lucas de Montigny, Chef de Division a la Prefecture, Rue de Petit-Vaugirard, no. 9.

Author: 
Stéphane Flachat, Ingénieur, Engineer.
Publication details: 
"Samedi matin", no place or date.
£95.00

One page, minor damage not affecting text, as follows: "D'apres a que vous avez bien voulu dire a mon frère [the eminent engineer Eugène Flachat], je viens vous demander a quelle heure, je poussais avoir l'honneur de vous voir demain dimanche; j'ai toute ma matinée a votre disposition, jusqu'à trois heures. / J'ai l'honneur . . ."

Contemporary copy of letter, in French, by the convict 'François Antonini | No 18933. Salle 4 [Bagne de Brest]' to 'trés chèr [sic] Père', docketed 'Lettre écrite et traduite par le Prètre Contrafatto'.

Author: 
François Antonini' [Joseph Contrafatto (b.1798); l'abbé Contrafatto], Sicilian-born French priest; sentenced to hard labour for an 'affaire de mœurs'; imprisoned, 1827; released, 1845] [paedophilia]
Publication details: 
Brest le 8. 8bre.. 1835.' [8 October 1835]
£56.00

8vo: 2 pp. Thirty lines of text. Very good, on lightly-aged laid paper. Distinctive use of diacritics. Informing the recipient of 'des bonnes nouvelles, ayant participé à la clémence Royale. Ma peine a été rémise a 8. ans, par consequence je ne' Suis plus condamné a perpetuité, et j'éspere en Dieu et les bontés du Roi qu'aprés la moitié de mon temps vénir vous embrasser.' Thanks all his wellwishers, particularly 'Monsieur Le Maire de notre commune'. Signs off 'Votre infortune fils jusqu'a la tombe'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Fevret e St. Mémin | Consr. du Musée de Dijon'), in French, to an unnamed correspondent.

Author: 
Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin (1770-1852). French engraver painter and Conservateur du Musée de Dijon [Fevret de St. Mésmin; Févret de St. Mesmin; Fevret de St Mesmin; St. Mémin]
Publication details: 
Dijon le 1r. octobre 1842.'
£125.00

4to: 2 pp. 26 lines. He is totally flattered by the obliging comments of the recipient in sending the first three issues of 'l'Artiste'. Discusses the merits of this 'intéressant ouvrage'. Describes the limited 'coopération' he will be able to provide. 'J'espere ainsi que vous voudrez bien vous contenter de l'envoi que j'ai l'honneur de vous faire de la notice, dernièrement publiée, du musée que je dirige, dont la 1re et la 4e.

Autograph Note Signed ('Count de la Chapelle') to 'C. Law'.

Author: 
Alfred, Comte de la Chapelle (b.1830) [Alfred de la Chapelle; Count de la Chapelle; Napoleon III; Franco-Prussian War]
Publication details: 
5 July 1872; 200 Fleet Street, E.C. London.
£56.00

12mo, 1 p, 5 lines. Text and signature clear and entire, but on brittle, aged and creased paper, with loss and closed tears to extremities. Reads 'by order of his majesty the Emperor I beg to forward at your adress [sic] an exemplary "les forces militaires de la france en 1870". De la Chapelle is the named as author of this volume.

Carte de Visite with autograph note in French.

Author: 
Le Père Ollivier des Frères-Prêcheurs [Marie-Joseph Ollivier (1835-1910)], French cleric and author [la Vicomtesse de Sousberghé]
Publication details: 
Kain: 31 décember 1909'.
£28.00

Dimensions 5 x 9 cm. Good, with traces of glue from previous mounting on blank reverse. Dated in autograph in top right-hand corner. Printed on the card in copperplate is 'Le Père Ollivier | des Frères-Prêcheurs'. Beneath this, in a neat close hand, are four lines in autograph. Despite the fact that he is weighed down by rheumatism, which has paralyzed his right hand, he is writing 'à grand' peine' to wish Madame la Vicomtesse de Sousberghé and family best wishes for a happy new year. 'Ils sont offerte de grand cœur.'

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