French

'Registre' (account book), in French, of Remy de Montfort, Châtelain de la Motte, Bazoches-au-Houlme, Orne, and of his son Philogène de Montfort. Containing information about crops, livestock, servants, rents and matters pertaining to his estate.

Author: 
Remy de Montfort (1765-1848), Châtelain de la Motte, Bazoches-au-Houlme, Orne, France; his son Philogène de Montfort (1806-1883), grandfather of the symbolist poet Remy de Gourmont
Publication details: 
Pub, Date: La Motte, Bazoches-au-Houlme, France. 1801 to 1835 (Remy de Montfort); and 1850 to (Philogène de Montfort).
£650.00

186pp., 8vo. Paginated 1-186, with pp.44-45 and 113 blank, and three other three unpaginated pages: front pastedown and facing page, and rear pastedown. Five pieces of paper with manuscript are inserted, two loosely. Internally in very good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with occasional slight worming; in worn and damaged vellum binding with rope ties. 'Registre' in manuscript on front board. The volume is paginated by Remy de Montfort, and consists of a number of chronological sequences working inwards from both ends.

Woven silk portrait of Adolphe Thiers by J.-B. Champrony of Saint-Étienne, on printed backing, as a souvenir of the Exposition Universelle, Paris, 1878.

Author: 
J.-B. Champromy, Fabricant à Saint-Étienne, Portraits et Cravates en Soie [Exposition Universelle, Paris, 1878; Adolphe Thiers]
Woven silk portrait of Adolphe Thiers by J.-B. Champrony of Saint-Étienne
Publication details: 
[Exposition Universelle, Paris, 1878.]
£125.00
Woven silk portrait of Adolphe Thiers by J.-B. Champrony of Saint-Étienne

[Stevengraph] Piece of silk, 7 x 11 cm, woven in red, white, blue, black and gold. Portrait of a bespectacled Thiers in an oval, draped with two French flags, with decorations including a quill and a book, and topped by castellated coronet and banner reading 'A. THIERS'. Woven beneath the portrait is 'LIBERATEUR DU TERRITOIRE | 1ER PRESIDENT DE LA REPUBLIQUE'. Laid down on original printed bookmark, reading 'EXPOSITION UNIVERSELLE | 1878 | GALERIE DU TRAVAIL | METIERS POUR RUBANS | PORTRAITS ET CRAVATES EN SOIE | J.-B. CHAMPRONY | FABRICANT A SAINT-ÉTIENNE'.

Autograph Letter Signed from Louis-Antoine-François de Marchangy ('L de Marchangy') to 'Monsieur le Comte' [Vincent-Marie Viénot, comte de Vaublanc?].

Author: 
Louis-Antoine-François de Marchangy (1782-1826), French writer [Vincent-Marie Viénot (1756-1845), comte de Vaublanc?]
Louis-Antoine-François de Marchangy
Publication details: 
'Limoges ce 22 8bre. [Octobre]' [on paper watermarked 1823].
£95.00
Louis-Antoine-François de Marchangy

8vo, 4 pp. Seventy lines of text. Clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper, with the outer pages browned. The identity of the recipient is suggested by the following, written in the margin of the first page: 'Ces Dames vous supplient d'agréer l'hommage de leurs souvenirs. Mesdames de Vaublanc et veulent elles me permettre de leur offrir ici la mienne?' His correspondent is writing his memoirs, and de Marchangy considers that he has 'mille fois raison de vivre dans le passé, s'il vous console du present'.

[Printed pamphlet.] Explication des Tableaux, Statues, Bustes, etc. composant les Galerie [sic] du Palais de la Chambre des Pairs de France.

Author: 
[Pierre Didot, l'ainé, printer; Musée national du Luxembourg, France ]
 Explication des Tableaux, Statues, Bustes, etc.
Publication details: 
A Paris, de l'Imprimerie de P. Didot l'Ainé, Imprimeur de la Chambre des Pairs de France, rue du Pont de Lodi, no 6. 1814.
£125.00
 Explication des Tableaux, Statues, Bustes, etc.

12mo, 72 pp. Stitched. In remains of original grey wraps, with front wrap present (though worn at extremities), but only a trace of rear wrap remaining. Text clear and complete. On aged paper with many dog-eared corners. An ephemeral item by one of the greatest of French printers: COPAC only lists three copies, at Oxford, University College London, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. None of these record the misprint in the title of 'les Galerie' for 'les Galeries', and it is not present in the Harvard copy either.

Manuscript document in French, a copy, ('Collationné Certiffié [sic] sincère et véritable') from the Duc de Luxembourg for the Grand Orient de France, to 'tous Les Maçons reguliers', certified by the 'Secretaire de la loge des vrais amis' (Daumas?).

Author: 
[Le Grand Orient de France, French Masonic organization, founded in 1733; la Loge des Vrais Amis; Anne de Montmorency-Luxembourg, Duc de Luxembourg (1737-1803); Freemasons; Freemasonry]
Le Grand Orient de France, French Masonic organization
Publication details: 
Année de la Vraie Lumière 5781 [i.e. 1781]
£400.00
Le Grand Orient de France, French Masonic organization

Folio, 3 pp. Bifolium. On watermarked laid paper. Headed 'A La Gloire du Grand architecte de L'univers sous Les auspices et au Nom du Serenissime G M | Le Grand orient de france a tous les Maçons reguliers, | union force salut'. Apparently regarding relations 'Entre Nous & Les directoires

Two manuscript receipts from 1707, in French, for sums of money for the payment to Louis de La Rochefoucauld, Marquis de Roye, Lieutenant-General of the Galleys, of money for rations for the 'Tartane armée', authorised and countersigned.

Author: 
Louis de La Rochefoucauld, Marquis de Roye, lieutenant-general of the galleys [le Marquis de Roye Lieutenant General des galeres]
Louis de La Rochefoucauld, Marquis de Roye, lieutenant-general of the galleys
Publication details: 
France, 1707.
£180.00
Louis de La Rochefoucauld, Marquis de Roye, lieutenant-general of the galleys

Folio, 4 pp. Both on the same bifolium. All texts clear. On aged and worn paper, with chipping and fraying to extremities. Presumably part of a series of ongoing receipts, as the the first begins in the middle of the preamble '<...> commandement de Monsieur le Marquis de Roye Lieutenant general, | De la somme de deux cent cinquante neuf livres onze sols huit deniers [...]'. The receipts are neatly written out, with two long authorisations in the margins, each bearing the same illegible signature.

[Pamphlet; Constitution de l'an X; Napoleon] Sénatus-Consulte, Organique de la Constitution. Extrait des Registres des Délibérations du Conseil d'Etat."

Author: 
[Napoleon; Road to Dictatorship; Constitution de l'an X]
Constitution de l'an X; Napoleon
Publication details: 
Séance du 16 Thermidor an X
£450.00
Constitution de l'an X; Napoleon

15pp., 8vo, disbound, foxing, edges frayed, small stain on last page, front grubby, text complete and clear. WorldCat only mentions the Bibliothèque Nationale copy. This is the "famous" 'Constitution de l'an X' by which Napoleon obtained virtually dictatorial powers.

[Book] State of France during the years1802, 1803, 1804, 1805, and 1806

Author: 
W.T. Williams
Publication details: 
Richard Phillips, London, 1807
£200.00

Title continued: "Comprising A Description of the Customs and Manners of that Country; together with Observations on its Government, Finances, Population, Agriculture, Religion, Public Schools, Conduct towards English prisoners, and Internal Commerce. To which are added, Anecdotes tending to delineate the Character of The Chief of the French Government" [presumably Napoleon]. 2 vols, pp.xii.216; viii.204, catchword on ii.204 "Useful" anticipating a 36pp. catalogue of Richard Phillips' publications missing from this copy, mauve cloth, discreetly rebacked, bumped, spine gt.title and vol.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Le Directeur | de Puymaurin'), in French, from Baron de Puymaurin, Master of the Paris Mint, to Messieurs les [?secretaries?] de la Chambre des Deputés

Author: 
Baron Jean Pierre Casimir de Marcassus de Puymaurin (1757-1841), Master of the Paris Mint, 1816-1830
Baron Jean Pierre Casimir de Marcassus de Puymaurin
Publication details: 
7 July 1825; Paris. On illustrated letterhead of 'Monnaie Royale des Medailles'.
£85.00
Baron Jean Pierre Casimir de Marcassus de Puymaurin

Folio, 2 pp. 31 lines. Text clear and complete. On aged paper, chipped at extremities. The elaborate letterhead features a circular engraving by Heuer of two classical female figures in front of a press.

[Treaty between the USA and the Creek Indian Nation reported in] Gazette Nationale ou Le Moniteur Universel, no.332.

Author: 
[Alexander MacGillivray (1750-1793), leader of the Creek (Muscogee) Indians from 1782]
reaty between the USA and the Creek Indian Nation
Publication details: 
28 Novembre 1790
£56.00
reaty between the USA and the Creek Indian Nation

Disbound, paginated [477]-484, some staining but otherwise text in good condition, clear and complete report of the Treaty on p.[477], with a Note Historique sur Mac-Gillivray.

[Printed] Déclaration de l'empereur, concernant l'Emploi des Biens des Couvens supprimés des Trinitaires, & les Confréries établies aux Pays-Bas pour la redemption des Captifs

Author: 
[Trinitarian Order]
Déclaration de l'empereur, concernant l'Emploi des Biens des Couvens supprimés
Publication details: 
[2 Juillet 1783] Namur, chez G.J. Lafontaine, Imprimeur patenté de Sa Majesté l'Empereur & Roi, 1783.
£95.00
Déclaration de l'empereur, concernant l'Emploi des Biens des Couvens supprimés

Disbound, four pages, folio, aged but good, paginated [1]-4, but also numbered in MS. 95-98. The Trinitarian Order was created in France in the C12th to raise funds to ransom crusader and other Christians held by barbarians. This edict from Emperor Joseph II of Austria orders the suppression of this order and the confiscation of its property since the Order's original purpose was no longer valid.

[Reports in 2 issues of the French Revolutionary] Gazette Nationale ou Le Moniteur Universel, nos. 200 and 201.

Author: 
[The Champ de Mars Massacre], July 1791
Publication details: 
[Paris], 19 and 20 Juillet 1791 Troisième Année de la Liberté.
£125.00

Pp.[159]-164 and [165]-172, reports and debates on the "massacre" on pp.163-4 and 166-8. On the 17 July the Assembly decided that Louis XVI could continue as King. Republicans led by Danton held a protest meeting on the Champs de Mars and were in the end fired upon by Lafayette's National Guard, about 50 people being killed.

[Account of the elaborate arrangements made for Voltaire's funeral by the French Revolutionaries in the] Gazette Nationale ou le Moniteur Universel, no.194.

Author: 
[Funeral of Voltaire]
Account of the elaborate arrangements made for Voltaire's funeral
Publication details: 
13 Juillet 1791.
£56.00
Account of the elaborate arrangements made for Voltaire's funeral

Disbound, pp.[101]-108, some staining mainly good condition, account of funeral pp.107-108.

Decret[s] de la Convention Nationale [two decrees relating to Louis XVI]

Author: 
[Louis Capet (Louis XVI]
Decret[s] de la Convention Nationale [two decrees relating to Louis XVI]
Publication details: 
Toulouse, 1793 (Imprimerie de J.-A.-H.-M.-B Pijon AND Imprimerie du Citoyen Bellegarrigue respectively).
£180.00
Decret[s] de la Convention Nationale [two decrees relating to Louis XVI]

A. Décret de la Convention Nationale du Août 1793 . . . Relatif aux Créanciers de la Liste civile, & aux Dettes contractées par Louis Capet No.1410/No.1220, 2; [2 blank], bifolium, edges frayed, some staining, text clear and complete. B. Décret de la Convention Nationale du 19e. jour de Brumaire an second de la Republique Francaise . . .

[Pamphlet] The Gospel in Paris. Miss de Broen's Mission to the Communists at Belleville.

Author: 
Anon.
Miss de Broen's Mission to the Communists at Belleville.
Publication details: 
Warrington: Printed at the Guardian Office [1871?].
£125.00
Miss de Broen's Mission to the Communists at Belleville.

PROVINCIAL PRINTING COMMUNE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR COMMUNIST

Supplément à la Gazette nationale [Thomas Paine's debate with Sièyes]

Author: 
[Thomas Paine; Newspaper Debate with Emmanuel Sièyes [Syèyes]]
Thomas Paine; Newspaper Debate with Emmanuel Sièyes [Syèyes]]
Publication details: 
Samedi, 16 Juillet 1791
£650.00
Thomas Paine; Newspaper Debate with Emmanuel Sièyes [Syèyes]]

USA AMERICAN REVOLUTION WAR OF INDEPENDENCE THOMAS PAINE

Draft manuscript, docketed 'Answers to Queries', giving detailed information (by a secretary for a British minister?), regarding the nature and set-up of the newly-restored Bourbon government in post-Napoleonic France.

Author: 
[The Bourbon government in post-Napoleonic France; 1816; Duke of Wellington; British Foreign Office]
The Bourbon government in post-Napoleonic France
Publication details: 
On paper with Britannia watermark and 'W M | 1816'.
£350.00
The Bourbon government in post-Napoleonic France

Folio, 4 pp. Bifolium. Text clear and complete. On aged and creased paper, with some wear and chipping to extremities. Previously folded into a packet docketed in a contemporary hand 'Answers to Queries'. The first page begins with 'Ansr. 1.', a list of ten ministers, from '1. The Duke of Richelieu President of the Council of Ministers & of the Privy Council & Min: Sec: of State having the Dept. of Foreign Affairs.' and ending with '10. Director general Count Pradel'. P. 1 also features 'Question 2 | Answer A', beginning 'The Members of the Govt.

Photographic portrait by Nadar of the opera singer Christine Nilsson, with presentation inscription by her to 'Mr Montiguani'.

Author: 
Christina Nilsson (1843-1921), Countess de Casa Miranda, Swedish opera singer, inspiration for the character of Christine Daaé in Gaston Leroux's novel Phantom of the Opera [Nadar; 'Mr Monteguani']
Photographic portrait by Nadar of the opera singer Christine Nilsson
Publication details: 
"Edinburgh le 6 Décembre 1869.' On Nadar's carte de visite, 'Nadar | 35, Boulevart [sic] des Capucines | PARIS.'
£150.00
Photographic portrait by Nadar of the opera singer Christine Nilsson

Albumen printh, 8.5 x 5.5 cm, laid down on card, 10.5 x 6 cm. In fair condition: lightly faded on slightly-aged card. Card printed in red on both sides, with Nadar's address and facsimile signature on reverse, and his initial within the border containing the photograph on the other side. Head and shoulders shot of the singer, staring at the viewer in a dark dress attached at the neck.

Manuscript, in French, written by a Royalist, titled 'Notes sur la Conduite des grandes Maisons de France, dans la Révolution. (Extraits trés Abrégée.)'

Author: 
[King Louis XVIII of France; the Bourbon Restoration; the French peerage; nobility]
Notes sur la Conduite des grandes Maisons de France, dans la Révolution.
Notes sur la Conduite des grandes Maisons de France, dans la Révolution.
Publication details: 
[Early nineteenth-century.]
£650.00
Notes sur la Conduite des grandes Maisons de France, dans la Révolution.
Notes sur la Conduite des grandes Maisons de France, dans la Révolution.

4to, 3 pp. Bifolium. Neatly and closely written. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper. Evaluations of the conduct of more than thirty families, from a staunchly Bourbon point of view. First entry: 'Lorraine. Des sentiments trés pur. Ils quitterent ce Pais et furent trouver l'Empereur, qui les Emploie dans ses Armées.' Some families come in for criticism: 'Bethune. Cette maison si illustre s'est couverte d'ignomenie, un seul Bethune d'Artois a Emigrée.' Longest entry (twenty lines) on the Durfort Boissier family.

Album containing 112 well-executed pen and ink drawings by the French nineteenth-century artist H. Du Chene de Vere [H. Duchene de Vere].

Author: 
H. Du Chene de Vere [H. Duchene de Vere], French nineteenth-century painter
H. Du Chene de Vere [H. Duchene de Vere], French nineteenth-century painter
Publication details: 
All undated [1850s?]. Captions may indicate that the drawings were executed in France, Italy and England.
£1,200.00
H. Du Chene de Vere [H. Duchene de Vere], French nineteenth-century painter

4to album of 33 leaves, with the 112 illustrations each on a separate piece of paper, and all laid down on 59 of the album's 66 leaves (the blank leaves of the album bearing traces of other illustrations having been removed). The illustrations range in size from 19 x 15.5 cm to 6 x 3 cm, with the average around 15 x 11 cm. The album's brown cloth covers are faded and worn, but internally the album is sound, with the illustrations themselves in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Around twenty are signed, half with the spelling 'Duchene' and the other half 'Du Chene'.

[printed art exhibition catalogue] Société des Beaux-Arts. Notice des ouvrages d'Arts exécutés par des Artistes vivants et exposés aux salles de l'Hôtel-de-ville de Malines le 25 septembre 1814,

Author: 
Société des Beaux-Arts, Malines [Mechelen; Mechlen; Belgium; P. J. Hanicq; art catalogue; Belgian painting]
Catalogue. Société des Beaux-Arts, Malines
Publication details: 
[1814.] A Malines, De l'imprimerie de P. J. Hanicq.
£125.00
Catalogue. Société des Beaux-Arts, Malines

12mo, 22 pp (followed by final blank leaf). Stitched pamphlet. Text clear and complete. On discoloured and worn paper. 152 'ouvrages d'arts' arranged in alphabetical order under the names of the artists, from 'François Alewaters, peintre à Malines' and 'Henri Adams, à Malines' to 'G. P. Wuyts, de Lierre' and 'L. Zwitzer, de Malines'. Preliminary notice headed 'Police du Salon'. Scarce: no copy on WorldCat or COPAC.

Autograph Letter Signed C Bemont [Charles Bemont, French scholar and autograph-collector] to unnamed correspondent [M. Kirkaldy, ref. to Madame Kirkaldy within], with Alfred Dreyfus calling card and autograph message and his own card with message

Author: 
Charles Bemont, French scholar and autograph-collector [Alfred Dreyfus message on calling card]
ALS Charles Bemont, French scholar & Dreyfus calling card message
Publication details: 
[Printed heading] 9 Rue du Condé, 27 Oct. 1902.
£800.00
ALS Charles Bemont, French scholar & Dreyfus calling card message

Four pages, 12mo (letter), all items in good condition. He will fulfil his promise of some autograph letters, le plus notable et vivid, which had been relegated to the country but retrieved the day before. He describes a Michelet manuscript, notes taken après la lecture d'un ouvrage de M. Dupanloup before he became bishop. He discusses Dupanloup's character and achievements at length. He continues J'ajoute une lettre . . . Saul Meyer [NOT present] et une carte de visite . . .

Autograph Letter Signed, Amédée de Willot [un comte et général de la Révolution française], to a British Admiral [Was Sidney Smith the only Admiral who could speak French?], hostile to democracy among other things.

Author: 
Amédée de Willot, French General.
Autograph Letter Signed, Amédée de Willot [un comte et général de la Révolution
Publication details: 
Baltimore, [Maryland, USA], 29 October 1810.
£380.00
Autograph Letter Signed, Amédée de Willot [un comte et général de la Révolution

Two pages, 4to, bifolium, fold marks, some discoloration, but text clear and complete. He takes the liberty of introducing "deux voyageurs,pour vous renouveller l'expression de ma reconnaissance: ce jour deux jeunes américains bien Elevés, fils des Colonel Howard [American Revolutionary hero and important in the development of Baltimore, etc] et [Sloan?] ... et ce qui est mieux de la consideration publique ils voyagent pour ... et désirent beaucoup de voir un héros de l'angleterre, c'est pourquoi j'ai pris la liberté de vous les adrèsser.

Autograph Letter, third person, in French, to "Monsieur Disderi", French photographer

Author: 
Duke of Nemours [Le Duc de Nemours]
Publication details: 
Bushy House, Bushy Park, Teddington, SW, 28 Nov. 1866
£120.00

Two pages, 8vo, bifolium, blank second leaf laid don on stiff paper, c.21 x 27cm, good condition.. He asks Disderi de lui envoyer deux collections des huit vues de Claremont [an earlier refuge in England] & Weybridge qu'il a fait en avril dernier, et un exemplaire du groupe general sur la pelouse de Claremont." He doesn't want the latter mounted but "l'autre collection doit etre montee sur carton." He asks for a "note au compte" made out to him. Note@ Apparently Disderi pioneered the carte de visite.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J Würtz'), in French, to 'mon cher Martin'

Author: 
J. Würtz [Commission Scientifique pour l'exploration des Antiquités Américaines, Paris]
Publication details: 
19 September 1851; on letterhead of the Commission Scientifique pour l'exploration des Antiquités Américaines, Paris.
£45.00

8vo, 3 pp. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. In a difficult hand. Apparently relating to a proposed meeting and dinner for 'tous les trois' (including ''). It is curiously difficult to discover anything, either about Würtz or about the Commission.

Autograph Signature ('Waddington') and address in frank to Fritz Cunliffe Owen, and with an Autograph Note Signed by Owen to 'friend Leckie'.

Author: 
William Henry Waddington (1826-1894), Prime Minister of France in 1879 [Fritz Cunliffe Owen]
Publication details: 
Undated.
£28.00

On one side of a piece of paper, an irregular rectangle cut from the front of a letter (10 cm x 13 cm at head and 16 cm at foot). On aged paper with pinholes from mounting. Small signature boxed in to the bottom left-hand corner by Waddington. Addressed to 'Fritz Cunliffe Owen Esqre | 4 Grafton Street | Piccadilly'. Owen's note, above the address, reads 'Dr. friend Leckie. Your sister may like to have this autogr. of the French ambassador Mr. Waddington as you know, a great French statesman - au revoir a Bologna on Sunday morning. Yours affect. [signed] Fritz Cunliffe Owen'.

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.

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