FRENCH

Autograph Note Signed ('E. de Jonquieres'), on visiting card, to 'Monsieur Lalanne, Conservateur de la Bibliothèque de l'Institut'.

Author: 
Ernest de Jonquières (1820-1901), French naval officer and mathematician [Léon Lalanne [Léon Louis Chrétien Lalanne] (1811-1892), French engineer and mathematician]
Publication details: 
9 July 1886; Paris.
£56.00

Written on both sides of the card, dimensions 5.5 x 9 cm. Good, with a little light scuffing on the front. Communication between two leading lights of French nineteenth-century mathematics. Printed text reads 'VICE-AMIRAL DE JONQUIERES | MEMBRE DE L'INSTITUT | AVENUE BUGEAUD, 2'. Asks Lalanne to 'inscrire Monsieur Bonnaffé, lauréat de l'Institut, parmi les lecteurs'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('L. Lalanne') to 'Monsieur Sisson' ('Mon cher capitaine').

Author: 
Léon Lalanne [Léon Louis Chrétien Lalanne] (1811-1892), French engineer and mathematician [or, I'm told, his brother!]
Publication details: 
9 February [no year]; no place.
£56.00

12mo, 2 pp, 11 lines. Concerns the 'porteur de ce billet', a 'M. Laudet', who has been the victim of 'un affreux malentendu'. 'Le malheureux perdait sa femme au moment où il manquait une garde'.

Autograph Letter Signed to Richard Byham, Secretary to the Board of Ordnance, Pall Mall.

Author: 
James Hammond of the Ordnance Office, Jersey [Revolutions of 1848; French Royal Family; Louis XVIII; Board of Ordnance; Ordnance Office, Pall Mall]
Publication details: 
2 March 1848; Jersey.
£150.00

12mo, 3 pp. Ruckled and stained, with the verso of the second leaf of the bifolium (carrying the address) laid down on a leaf detached from an autograph album. The 'Royal Family of France' are causing 'a very deep interest' and 'a portion of them have found their way to this Island'. He reports that the 'Duchesse d'Orleans and her two Sons, and the Duc de Montpensier have arrived here from Granville - they were brought over by a Jersey Boat the Master of which has been most liberally rewarded'.

Four lines in autograph on his calling card as 'Depute, Sous-Secretaire d'Etat à la Justice'.

Author: 
Félix Jules Méline [Felix Jules Meline] (1838-1925), French Prime Minister, 1896-1898
Publication details: 
Undated.
£56.00

Card dimensions 6 x 10.5 cm. Good: lightly aged and with crease to top left-hand corner. Printed text reads 'Jules Méline, Deputé, Sous-Secrétaire d'Etat a la Justice. 84, Boulevard St. Garmain'. The autograph note, in French, is addressed to 'Mon cher ami', whom he addresses as 'tu'. He apologises for having neglected his correspondent's letter among his correspondence. 'Viens me voir à la chancellerie un matin; tu es sûre de me trouver mardi.' Thanks him for his 'bonnes félicitations'.

Document, in French, in a secretarial hand, signed by Méline ('J. Méline'), as Minister of Agriculture, to 'Monsieur Bailly, A.N. Président de la Société des Artistes Français | au Palais des Champs Elysées (porte 4).'

Author: 
Félix Jules Méline [Felix Jules Meline] (1838-1925), French Prime Minister, 1896-1898 [Antoine-Nicolas Louis Bailly (1810-1892), French architect]
Publication details: 
26 April 1884; Paris, on letterhead of the Ministry of Agriculture.
£75.00

8vo, 1 p. On aged paper, with wear and closed tears to extremities. Good, clear signature. Thanking Bailly for the 'cartes' and the 'lettres d'invitation' to the 'Salon de 1884'.

Letter in a secretarial hand, Signed by Méline ('J. Méline') as 'Président du Conseil' and 'Ministre de l'Agriculture', to 'Monsieur le Général Tournier | Secrétaire Général de la Présidence de la République'.

Author: 
Félix Jules Méline [Felix Jules Meline] (1838-1925), French Prime Minister, 1896-1898 [Tournier]
Publication details: 
13 February 1897; Paris, on letterhead of 'République Française | Présidence du Conseil | Cabinet du Président'.
£120.00

8vo, 1 p, 13 lines. Very good on lightly aged and creased paper. Docketed in red pencil in another hand. Lists the names of three couples, 'appartenant au cercle de mes relations', who would dearly like to receive 'invitations pour les fétes données au Palais de l'Elysee'. Méline would be 'vivement heureux' if Tournier could give 'satisfaction' to this desire. A good firm signature on a document written during Méline's term as French President.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Costaz') to 'Monsieur Dupont' and his son.

Author: 
Baron Louis Costaz (1767-1842), French mathematician and engineer
Publication details: 
19 October 1841; Mousseau.
£75.00

12mo, 1 p, 12 lines. Inviting 'M.M. Dupont, père et fils' to help him eat 'le civet d'un lievre qui a eu la Bêtise de se laisser tuer par une femme du hameau du Mousseau'.

Autograph Letter to 'Monsieur Delacroix'.

Author: 
Michel Alcan (1811-1877), 'ingénieur-professeur au Conservatoire des arts et métiers' [Ernest Stamm; Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863)?]
Publication details: 
13 February 1860; Paris.
£28.00

4to, 1 p, 8 lines. Good, on lightly aged paper. Small indentation from paperclip in margin. Reads 'Monsieur Alcan prie Monsieur Delacroix de remettre au porteur le Testament (tissé) de Louis XVI, dont il a besoin pour le cours de ce soir au conservatoire des Arts et metier. | le preparateur du cours | Ernest Stamm | Paris le 13 fevrier 1860'. Loosely inserted in blue paper wraps with slip of an entry for the letter from a French autograph catalogue, misattributing it to Stamm.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Sédillot, professeur d'histoire, Secrètaire du Collège de France') in French to 'Monsieur Le Maire' [of the XIe arrondissement of Paris].

Author: 
Louis Pierre Eugène Amélie Sédillot (1808-1875), French orientalist
Publication details: 
12 January 1849; on letterhead of the Collège de France.
£56.00

4to, 1 p. Good, on aged paper worn at extremities. Text clear and entire. Gives details of his placement in 1837 in the 'cadre de reforme de la Garde Nationale', and of the registration of the decision by the Mayor. 'Cette décision [...] m'est réclamée par le nouveau Sergent major de la compagnie, M. Alger, et je viens vous prier de m'en faire délivrer une copie dûment légalisée.'

Calling Card with Autograph invitation on it to 'Mon cher docteur'.

Author: 
Paul Baudry [Paul-Jacques-Aimé Baudry] (1828-1886), French painter
Publication details: 
Samedi 16h 1/2' [no date].
£100.00

The calling card is roughly 6 x 9.5 cm, and reads 'Paul Baudry, | Membre de l'Institut. | 56, rue Notre Dame des Champs'. Around this Baudry has written 'Mon cher docteur | Venez s. v. p. voir ma petite avant votre déjeuner Vous me ferez plaisir. | Samedi 16h 1/2'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('henri Fournel') to the Parisian publisher and bookseller Duprat.

Author: 
Henri-Jérôme-Marie Fournel (1799-1876), French civil engineer, geologist and disciple of Saint-Simon [Algeria]
Publication details: 
4 August 1861; 'rue de la Chaussée d’Antin 58 bis', Paris.
£56.00

16mo (13 x 10.5 cm), 1 p, 8 lines of text. Good. Ordering a geographical work and referring (obscurely) to words with an arab flavour (hard to read).

Bill, in French, for work 'imprime pour le Citoyen Duprat, par Crapelet' [i.e. printing 'Memoire sur la reunion de l'artillerie et du genie, adresse au premier consul de la republique francaise' by 'A.A.'

Author: 
Charles Crapelet (1762-1809), French printer based in Paris, father of the printer Georges-Adrien Crapelet [Jean-Louis Duprat, Professeur a l'Ecole centrale du departement du Tarn]
Publication details: 
9 Nivose an 9e [30 December 1800]
£100.00

On one side of piece of laid paper roughly 16 x 19.5 cm. Good, though lightly aged, and with a few small pin holes in one corner (not affecting text). 12 lines. Headed 'imprime pour le Citoyen Duprat, par Crapelet, 9 Nivose an 9e'. The first of four entries reads 'Memoire sur la reunion de l'artillerie & du Genie [published in Paris in 1800 by Duprat], contenant cinq feuilles & demie in-8o. Cicero, tirees a 500 exempl. a raison de 24th la feuille'. Second entry gives cost of 'Remaniement de toutes les feuilles & corrections extraordinaires'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. Cor<dier>'), 'A Monsieur <Jukeur?> opticien - rue de Conde Paris'.

Author: 
Joseph Cordier (1775-1849), French engineer, in charge of work on the Simplon Pass in 1800
Publication details: 
Without date or place [Paris].
£45.00

12mo bifolium: 1 p. 11 lines of text. Address and docketing on second leaf. Good, but with 1 cm hole in first leaf of bifolium, possibly caused by breaking open of blue wafer, which still adheres. Hole causing loss to two words, including latter part of signature. Asks the recipient 'de remettre a Mr. Pousin conducteur des ponts et chaussees, un double demi metre en Cuivre et un metre en cuivre avec quatre petites roulettes pointilles'. He will pay for the order in a few days time.

Autograph Signature on card.

Author: 
Max O'Rell' (Paul Blouet, 1848-1903), French satirical author and journalist
Publication details: 
18 March 1895; place not stated.
£10.00

Dimensions of card roughly two and three-quarter inches by four inches wide. Good, with light creasing to corners. Clear signature reads 'Yours very sincerely | Max O'Rell | 18 March 1895'.

Autograph Letter Signed, in French, to unnamed male correspondent. With manuscript English translation.

Author: 
Eugenie Nau, French actress, active in the cinema between 1908 and 1924
Publication details: 
10 March [1919]; on letterhead of the Hotel Thorndike, Boston.
£75.00

Octavo, one page. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper, with the merest hint of a damp stain. English translation in contemporary hand on separate piece of 12mo paper, with slight loss at head (not affecting text). She has received no acknowledgement from him for 'the autograph which I sent you and a little book of verse sold for the benefit of the soldier who wrote them. The little book ought to be sold for at least 75 cents.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Ad. Tanquerey'), in French, to an unnamed cleric.

Author: 
Adolphe Tanquerey (1854-1932), French theologian, Member of the Society of St Sulpice, and Professor of Dogmatic Theology at St Mary's Seminary, Baltimore
Publication details: 
25 July 1911; Blainville, Nauche.
£85.00

12mo: 2 pp. Very good on lightly aged paper. 29 lines of text. He will not fail to make use of his correspondent's comments in a new edition. Discusses the section he is working on at present and proposes to send his correspondent an off print. He has ordered other off prints to be sent, in return for his correspondent's useful remarks. For a couple of months he will be at Blainville, 'sur le bord de la mer, ou je puis mieux travailler qu'a Paris, tout en prenant un peu de repos'. Docketed at foot of reverse, 'Theologian, Sulpicien'.

Autograph Signature.

Author: 
Maurice Chevalier (1888-1972), French actor and entertainer
Publication details: 
Date and place not stated.
£35.00

On piece of pink paper roughly 8.5 x 11 cm. Laid down on slightly larger leaf from an autograph album. Good with a little paper and glue staining to the mount. Good bold signature, diagonally across the page.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Depping') to Mathieu Guillaume Therese de Villenave (1762-1846).

Author: 
Georges Bernard Depping [Georg Bernhard Depping] (1784-1853), Franco-German historian and geographer
Publication details: 
05/06/19
£200.00

12mo: 4 pp. 78 lines. Very good. A highly interesting letter, addressed by Depping to his collaborator on an edition of the works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (8 vols, 1817) praised by Brunet as the most complete that had yet appeared. Written in French. Such is the strength of Depping's feeling that he cannot bring himself to address Villenave directly. He begins by stating that he hopes that evening to end an arrangement with Villenave which fills him with disgust (qui m'accable de degout).

Autograph Letter Signed ('A. Picard') to Georges Berger (1834-1910), Directeur général de l'Exploitation de l'Exposition de 1889.

Author: 
Alfred Picard (1844-1913), Vice-Président du Conseil d'État [Exposition Universelle de 1889; Paris Exhibition]
Publication details: 
24 April 1890; Paris. On letterhead of the Conseil d'État.
£150.00

8vo: 3 pp. Bifolium. Very good. Written in French. After an 'etude attentive de rapport de M.M. de Lacretelle et Millas et des autres documents en ma possession' on the Exposition's foreign returns he finds 'certaines lacunes et certains points douteux' concerning which he hopes Berger can enlighten him. He gives a list of seventeen officially-participating countries, each with the subsidy it has received in francs, complaining that 'huit de ces chiffres sont douteux'. This is followed by a similar list of six countries which did not participate officially.

Autograph Letter Signed ('P. Lorain | Professeur à la Faculté de Médecine de Paris') to unnamed male correspondent. In French.

Author: 
Paul Lorain (1827-1875), Medical Examiner and Professor of the History of Medicine and Surgery at the Faculté de Médecine de Paris
Publication details: 
18 July 1873; Assay le Rideau, Loire.
£45.00

8vo: 1 p. On grubby, creased, discoloured paper, with chipping and slight loss to extremities. In French. As a result of the bad state of his health he is forced to live far from Paris and will not be able to accept the invitiation of the British Medical Assocation. The writer will soon receive the replies of those of Lorain's colleagues who have also been invited.

Signed Fragment of letter ('V. Broglie'). In French.

Author: 
Jacques Victor Albert, Duc de Broglie [4th Duke] (1821-1901), French politician
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£45.00

Roughly 5.5 x 11.5 cm, with four lines (cropped at right) on recto, and four lines and signature on reverse. Ruckled and with stains from previous mounting on recto. Mentions his portrait by Gerand. He will thank her in person before leaving if he can.

Autograph Letter Signed ('F. d'Olincourt.') to 'Monsieur Bance, aine, Editeur & Proprietaire, rue Saint-Denis, No. 271, a Paris.' In French.

Author: 
F. Gigault d'Olincourt, Ingenieur Civil [Lithographie, Imprimerie et Librairie]
Publication details: 
23 Janvier 1839; Bar-le-Duc. On elaborately printed letterhead.
£100.00

4to: 2 pp. Eleven lines. Good, on lightly creased and discoloured paper. Column of printed advertisements in left-hand margin of first page, which is headed by a printed description of d'Olincourt's qualifications, enclosed in an engraving of a jumble of disparate items including a book-press, beehive, scientific instruments, laurel wreath and sailing mast. He has begun to publish an 'immense ouvrage d'architecture', and he hopes Bance will subscribe for a number of copies which he will be able to sell 'chez vos clients'.

Signed Receipt ('<Tre?> Delongueil | 8 rue de la Concorde').

Author: 
Honoré Delongueil [De Longueil], Graveur, Medailles, Bouton de Livrée, Cartes de Visite, Rue Royale Sainte Honore 6, Paris
Publication details: 
10 October 1891; Paris. On printed receipt.
£45.00

On one side of piece of discoloured paper, roughly 13 x 22 cm. Delongueil's circular engraved device (3 cm diameter) in top left-hand corner. Charges for striking a medal in bronze and silver of Olivier de Serres.

Ought France to Worship the Bonapartes?

Author: 
Ahriman I., pseud. [Napoleon Bonaparte]
Publication details: 
London: Robert Hardwicke, 192, Piccadilly. 1863. [W.H. Collingridge, City Press, 117 to 119, Aldersgate Street, E.C.]
£100.00

8vo: [iv] + 90 + [ii] pp. In original grey printed wraps. The answer to the question in the title is an emphatic 'No!', with the author's argument summed up in the conclusion: 'The publication of these remarks has been elicited by a feeling of indignation and surprise, on learning, that, in any part of the world, and especially of France, the man, whom a former generation cursed, should now be deemed worthy of being canonised.' The author puts his case forcefully and well, marshalling a number of quotations from classical and modern sources.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Marie Marimon') in French to an unnamed photographer.

Author: 
Marie Marimon (1835-1923), of the théâtre des Fantaisies Parisiennes, French singer [Victorian photography]
Publication details: 
29/07/71
£85.00

Three pages, 12mo. Good, on lightly aged and ruckled paper, with a little glue adhering to the reverse of the second leaf of the bifolium. She has received the two packets containing the small photographs. Apart from wanting the hair to appear lighter and clearer, she is satisfied with the large photograph, and would like several copies before her departure on 2 August. If this is not possible copies are to be sent to her at the theatre du Gymnase in Paris.

Keepsake, limited to two hundred copies, with signed illustration of 'L'abbaye en 1368' by Beaudouin.

Author: 
Fernand De Nobele, French bookseller; Josephine Beaudouin (c.1910-2005), French illustrator
Publication details: 
1969; Paris.
£120.00

Beautifully printed bifolium on thick wove paper. Dimensions of leaf roughly thirteen inches by ten; dimensions of illustration roughly nine and a half inches by eight. Tissue guard. Recto of first leaf and verso of second blank. Letterpress on verso of first leaf reads 'Fernand De Nobele, libraire pres St-Germain-des-Pres, vous adresse ses meilleurs voeux pour l'annee 1969. | [L'abbaye en 1368]'. Illustration signed at foot 'Josephine Beaudouin', with the limitation '190/200'. For De Nobele - President of ILAB between 1965 and 1967 - see Anthony Rota's 'Books in the Blood' (2002).

Autograph Letter Signed ('P. Sainton') in English to unnamed female correspondent.

Author: 
Prosper Philippe Catherine Sainton (1813-90), French violinist
Publication details: 
24 September 1877; on letterhead 'Conteville, pres Boulogne-sur-mer'.
£56.00

Two pages, 12mo. Very good. He was absent when the letter to his wife (the English contralto Charlotte Dolby) arrived. He has heard 'the little boy', and thinks that 'with proper care he may turn out a good Violinist, but he hs to undo every thing and to be guided in the right Way. He has undoubtedly great disposition. If he is persevering and hard Worker (the Violin being the most difficult instrument) I believe he can be one day a very good player'. It is however 'impossible for me to forsee in the future before he has a good start in his Studies.'

Fragment of Autograph Letter Signed.

Author: 
General Reibell [French soldier]
Publication details: 
12/09/56
£38.00

On piece of grey paper roughly 10.5 x 13.5 cms. Creased and with some evidence of previous mounting on reverse. Docketed 'From general Reibell commanding in the Haut Rhein - who cut his way into the Tuilleries, & saved Louis Philippe & his Queen; commanded the Cavalry in Paris afterwards, on the jour des revoltees [sic] Etc. -.' Reads 'Je ne regarde pas la partie comme perdue, tout faut, nous causerons de ce qu'ils faudras faire | Tout a vous | G[ener]ale Reibell'.

Autograph Letter Signed "W. Galignani" to "Monsieur le Baron" [not named]. In French.

Author: 
William Galignani, publisher, 1798–1882.
Publication details: 
"Samedi matin" [ no place or date, perhaps c.1870?].
£180.00

Two pages, 8vo, fold marks but good condition. He apologises for not returning a book he had borrowed from the Baron ("L'almanack Medical"). He had taken it to the country "pour en lire quelques passages a mon frere" and forgot to bring it back. He plans the eventual return. "L'etat de la sante de mon frere ne s'ameliore que peu et bien lentement - Il reviendra de la campagne probrablement avec moi mardi prochaine." Heconcludes with politenesses at length.

Letter Signed "[V?] Broglie" to "Monsieur le Baron Denois", Milan (French consul)..

Author: 
Jacques Victor Albert, Duc de Broglie, French Statesman, publicist and historian.
Publication details: 
Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres, Direction Politique, Paris, 26 March 1833.
£85.00

IN FRENCH. One page,m folio, minor defects, but text clear and complete. He discusses the case of a M. de Cormel whose family business requires his staying in Milan and Padua (the death of his uncle, Colonel Paolo Angelini "deced dans le royaume Lombardo Venitien"). He wanst to believe that M. de Cormel will cause no trouble to the Government of "Lombardo Venitien" and requests the Baron's "bons offices" during his stay and for his ultimate journey to Dalmatia.

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