FRANCAIS

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'.

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 ('H Fournel'), in French, to unnamed correspondent.

Author: 
Henri Fournel [Henri-Jérôme-Marie Fournel (1799-1876), French civil engineer, geologist and disciple of Saint-Simon] (1799-1876)
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£150.00

4to: 3 pp. Bifolium. Good on lightly aged and creased paper. Text clear and entire. Eighty lines of text, beginning abruptly, without salutation, 'Vous m'avez demandé ma pensée sur le prospectus que vous avez proposé.

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.

Secretarial Letter Signed ('Victor Meunier') to an unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Victor Meunier (1817-1903), French author and journalist; editor of 'Cosmos', the 'Revue Synthétique', and 'L’Ami des Sciences'
Publication details: 
Undated; on letterhead of the Revue Synthetique, Paris.
£25.00

12mo, 1 p. Five lines of text. Very good on lightly aged paper. Good firm signature. He is sending the first issue of the 'Revue Synthétique' and proposes an exchange of that magazine for the one that the recipient edits.

Autograph Letter Signed, in French, to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Jacques Herz (1794-1880), French pianist and composer [Sir Charles Lock Eastlake (1793-1865), President of the Royal Academy and first Keeper of the National Gallery]
Publication details: 
Vendredi 11 Mars' [no year]; 23 Bentinck Street, Manchester Square, London.
£56.00

12mo, 2 pp. 12 lines of text. Creased and ruckled, with a little smudging. Difficult hand. Asking the recipient 'd'aller passer une soirée avec nous'. Laid down on a piece of paper which is attached to the blank reverse of the second leaf of the bifolium is a slip of paper (roughly 2 x 9 cm) carrying Eastlake's signature ('always truly yours | [signed] C. L. Eastlake').

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.

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'.

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.

Autograph Note Signed "E. Scribe" to an unnamed friend and collaborator

Author: 
Eugene Scribe, playwright and librettist
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£200.00

One page, c.10 x 13cm, creased and dulled but text clear and complete. "Mon cher ami/ Voila tout ce wue j'ai et prenez garde d'egarer ce scenario du second acte - je n'en ai pas d'autre copie et s'il la perdait, je ne pourrai jamais me rappeler un seul mot du contiens.- / Mille [?] tendres amitiés et remerciements de votre aimable billet -"

[Billet Autographe Signée] Autograph Note Signed "F Barry" with a cover note by Eugene Philippe (on its verso) and a Letter Signed "[Etienne] Dujardin-Beaumetz" (1852-1913), sous secrétaire d'Etat aux Beaux-Arts, about Barry's works.

Author: 
François Barry, French artist
Publication details: 
No place for the former, but the docketing previously beneath the Note says 22 Aout 1805.
£300.00

{Note/Billet} One page, c.16 x 11cm, some marking but text clear and complete, but partly illegible as follows: "Il faudrait . . . fut . . . merci un . . . je te ferais alors un bien joli tableau / FBarry/" This note has been soake away from a larger piece of paper in poor condition. at the foot of which an unknown hand explained that "Ces quelques lignes sont les dernieres que Monsieur Barry aient ecrits. Elles datent de 22 Aout 1905.

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.

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.

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 ('Edouard Lockroy | député | 21 Rue de Clichy'), in French, to an unnamed female correspondent.

Author: 
Édouard Lockroy (1838-1913), French left-wing politician; secretary to Ernest Renan; fought with Garibaldi; signed the proclamation for the election of the Paris Commune
Publication details: 
21 March 1878; on letterhead of the Chambre des Députés, Paris.
£65.00

12mo: 1 p. Fifteen lines of text. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Docketed in a contemporary hand at head. Headed 'Madame'. Asking whether she would be willing to lend her 'admirable talent à une oeuvre d'instruction populaire', a matinée by 'Les membres de la bibliothèque du 17: arrondissement'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Jules Simon'), in French, to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Jules Simon [François-Jules Suisse; Jules François Simon (1814-1896)], French philosopher and politician, one of the leaders of the Opportunist Republicans; member of the Académie française
Publication details: 
dimanche' [no date]; on letterhead of the 'SÉNAT'.
£100.00

12mo: 1 p. Fourteen lines of text. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper. Simon is unwell. His correspondent may have noticed that he did not see him the day before or on the day of writing: and although he is feeling better it is unlikely that he will see him the following day. This irritates Simon greatly. 'Je desirais causer avec vous de ce ue vous savez. J'espère que je pourrai aller au journal et vous y rencontrer mardi.' Three lines of docketing in a contemporary hand at foot.

Note with Signature ('E Lockroy'), in French, to an unnamed male correspondent, probably written by a secretary.

Author: 
Édouard Lockroy (1838-1913), French left-wing politician; secretary to Ernest Renan; fought with Garibaldi; signed the proclamation for the election of the Paris Commune
Publication details: 
2 January 1882; on letterhead of the Chambre des Députés, Paris.
£28.00

12mo: 1 p. Text clear and entire, on aged and lightly-stained paper. Reads 'Cher ami. | Je vous envois une demande d'admission dans notre société, avec pièces à l'appui que je recommendre à tous vos soins. | Votre bien devoue. | [signed] E Lockroy'. Although attributed to Lockroy in a contemporary hand in pencil at the head of the letter, this document appears to be by a secretary, as the handwriting differs from his (see #6997).

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.'

Apparently-unpublished manuscript poem, in French, entitled 'Aux Amis de Pierre Dupont'.

Author: 
J. Dupuis [Pierre Dupont (1821-1870), French poet and song writer]
Publication details: 
Dated 'Lyon 7 Avril 1877 | [signed] J. Dupuis'.
£180.00

On one side of a piece of laid paper roughly 27 x 21 cm. Text clear and entire on aged and lightly creased paper. Chipped, with slight loss and closed tears, to extremities. Thirty-lines in Alexandrine couplets, beginning 'L'Ame du chansonnier (si l'ame est immortelle) | Doit tressaillir pieuse à votre amour fidèle.' and ending 'Gravons sur sa mémoire un souvenir profond: | Son nom n'est pas de ceux que les siècles refont.' The date and signature are in the right-hand margin, towards the bottom right-hand corner.

Ten Autograph Letters Signed and a Signed secretarial Letter (eight signed 'Victor Meunier' and three 'V Meunier'), all in French, to individuals including Charles Nodier, Pierre-Simon Ballanche and (with Autograph Signed reply) Jean-Augustin Barral.

Author: 
Victor Meunier (1817-1903), French author and journalist; editor of 'Cosmos', the 'Revue Synthétique', and 'L’Ami des Sciences' [Charles Nodier; Pierre-Simon Ballanche; Jean-Augustin Barral]
Publication details: 
Five undated, the others between 1856 and 1876; from a number of addresses including the offices of 'L'ami des sciences', 'Cosmos' and the 'Revue Synthétique', Paris.
£350.00

The collection is in good condition, on lightly aged and slightly creased paper. Text of all items clear and entire. Letter One: to Jean-Augustin Barral (12 June 1862, from 33 Rue de Vaugirard, 8vo, 2 pp, 30 lines). He has received 'les premières feuilles de votre notice', and has been prevented from coming to London by 'un rhumatisme articulaire'. On the recto of the second leaf of the bifolium is Barrel's nine-line autograph reply, signed 'J. A. Barrel' and dated 'Londres 16 juin 1862'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Colladon' | professeur à l Ecole Centrale') to 'Monsieur le Directeur Général des Douanes, Paris'.

Author: 
Jean-Daniel Colladon (1802-1893), Swiss physicist and engineer, Professor of Mechanics at the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, Paris [Eugène Flachat (1802-1873)] [steam engines; railway]
Publication details: 
27 January 1835; 'à Lyon chez Messieurs Pine Des Granges', on letterhead of the École.
£200.00

4to bifolium: 2 pp, with address on otherwise-blank second leaf. Very good on lightly aged paper. Slight wear to extremities. A significant document, casting light on the relative states of engineering in early nineteenth-century France and England, and the role of the scientist in France at that time.

Engraved portrait.

Author: 
Claude-Emmanuel Lhuillier, dit Chapelle (1626-1686), French poet and author
Publication details: 
Without date [early nineteenth century?] or place.
£28.00

On a piece of paper 24 x 15.5 cm. Dimensions of image roughly 6.5 x 6 cm. Paper heavily foxed and creased at foot. Image clear and uncreased. Titled 'CHAPELLE.' Head-and-shoulders engraving of a tousle-haired Chapelle, with open white shirt, waistcoat and cloak hanging off shoulders.

No. 34. Essai sur les Passions, considérées sous leur rapport médical. Tribut Académique, presenté et publiquement soutenu a la Faculté de Médecine de Montpellier, le 26 Mai 1820. [...] Pour obtenir le grade de Docteur en Médecine.

Author: 
Vincent Barres, Doctor of Medicine, 'de Nerac, departement de Lot et Garonne'
Publication details: 
A Montpellier, Chez Jean Martel aîné, Seul Imprimeur de la Faculté de Médicine, pres l'Hôtel de la Préfecture, no. 62. 1820.
£56.00

4to: 42 + [i] pp. Disbound. On foxed paper with occasional light staining. 'No. 16.' in manuscript at head of title-page, which also carries a signed inscription from Barres with some loss due to the trimming of the outer margin: 'Á Mr. Olma<...> | de la port de l'<...> | [signed] Barres'. On the title-page Barres is described as 'Bachelier ès lettres de l'Académie de Bordeaux; ancien élève de l'Hôtel-Dieu Saint-André de la même ville, etc.' This is the only work by Barres in the Bibliothèque Nationale catalogue.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Cousinery | Ingr en Chf') to 'Monsieur Legrand, Sous Secrètaire d'État des Travaux Publics'.

Author: 
Barthélémy Édouard Cousinéry [Barthelemy Edouard Cousinery] (1790-1851), of the Ministere des Travaux Publics, Ponts et Chaussées, pioneer of projective geometry
Publication details: 
26 September 1839; Paris.
£56.00

4to: 2 pp. Text clear and entire on lightly creased, grubby and dogeared paper. Titled by Cousinéry 'Création d'un Musée des Travaux Publics, Envoi d'une Note à ce sujet.' The note is not present.

Long manuscript list of books required.

Author: 
Aubin, imprimeur-libraire, à Aix, et à Arles, même maison' [the French nineteenth-century book trade]
Publication details: 
16 February 1850; on illustrated letterhead.
£56.00

4to, 2 pp. Apparently the first leaf of the list only. On aged paper, with wear and chipping to extremities, but with text entirely legible. The letterhead carries an engraving (6.5 x 9.5 cm) of a pile of books, quill pen and ink pot, with text advertising the 'Imprimerie, Librairie et Cabinet de Lecture d'Aubin' printed on the open pages of one of the volumes. Beneath the illustration are the words 'LE MÉMORIAL D'AIX, journal politique et littéraire', and there is further text to the right and left of it. In French. Written, in two hands, in light blue ink.

Autograph Letter Signed ('L. Bautain') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Abbé Louis Bautain [Louis Eugène Marie Bautain] (1796-1867), Professor of Philosophy at Strasbourg and of Theology at the Sorbonne, founder of the Order of the Sisters of St Louis
Publication details: 
9 April 1864, 'rue Pigalle 2', on letterhead of the Archevêché de Paris.
£75.00

12mo, 2 pp. Good, on lightly aged paper. In French. Difficult hand. Regarding 'la société musicale et littéraire de Meaux', of which he approves. 'Malheureusement plusieurs obstacles s'opposent à ma bonne volonté.' As a gesture of good will, he asks the Society to accept 'quelques ouvrages'.

Autograph Letter Signed to 'Monsieur Carilian-Goeury, Libraire-éditeur à Paris'.

Author: 
Charles Pražak [Charles Prazak], engineer of Prague, Bohemia [Carilian-Goeury, Parisian bookseller; the French nineteenth-century booktrade; Czechoslovakia; the Czech Republic]
Publication details: 
14 September 1839; Prague.
£75.00

12mo, 3 pp. Good, on browned and lightly creased paper with some wear to extremities. In French. Long thorough order with instructions for delivery, casting light on the logistical problems encountered in international trade in nineteenth-century Europe. Pražak is sending 'six pièces d'or à vingt francs, ou une somme de 120 francs en or', and gives a list of four books he would like sent to him. There follows a discussion of the problems of delivering the books to Prague.

Autograph Letter Signed ('C. N. Allou') to unnamed male correspondent [perhaps the Abbe Moigno of "Cosmos")

Author: 
Charles-Nicolas Allou (1787-1843), engineer and author ['Ingénieur au Corps royal des mines (en 1821); inspecteur en chef des travaux souterrains du département de la Seine']
Publication details: 
30 August 1829; Paris.
£35.00

12mo, 1 p, 16 lines. In French. Very good. Cancelling an appointment, and sending 'l'article que vous m'avez demandé pour la Revue': 'vous êtes parfaitement libre de tailler, couper, et rogner'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Ch Le Blanc'), in French, to the Leipzig bookseller Theodor Oswald Weigel.

Author: 
Charles Le Blanc (1817-1865), French art critic and authority on engraving [Theodor Oswald Weigel (1812-1881), Leipzig bookseller]
Publication details: 
24/01/51
£56.00

12mo, 1 p, 12 lines of text. Good, on lightly aged paper. The second leaf of the bifolium is docketed in a contemporary hand. Le Blanc has received Weigel's twenty-second catalogue, and it has given him pleasure. Like the others it is full of curious details, and is extremely useful to Le Blanc, being full of curious details. He orders several items (crossed through by the firm), the last of which he desires 'vivement' to own.

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