French

[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'.
£450.00
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.'
£320.00
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
£200.00

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.

Autograph Letter Signed ('C. Genest'), in French, to unnamed male recipient.

Author: 
Claude Genest [editor, 'La Revue du XIXème siècle']
Publication details: 
Undated, on printed 1840s lettehead of the 'Revue du XIXème siècle', 'Bureaux, 11, rue de Lille', Paris.
£38.00

12mo, 1 p. 20 lines of text. Clear and complete. On aged paper and lightly-creased paper. Writing to ask how the recipient wishes to deal with 'traités de Botanique et de Chimie' in his reviews. Written during the first of several incarnations of the 'Revue', this one beginning around 1836.

Autograph Letter Signed and three Autograph Cards Signed ('jean Duranel' and 'J. Duranel'), to his patron Lawrence Ives, with two invitations to his shows and a paper cut-out.

Author: 
Jean Duranel (born 1946), French artist [Lawrence A. Ives]
Publication details: 
Between 1982 and 1992; France.
£100.00

All the items except the cut-out and the last card (in which he gives the price of a painting) are damp-stained, with part of the text of the letter illegible. One card in French. The first card, from 1982, thanks Ives for payment for 'watercolors'. The cut-out, in red paper, is roughly 10 x 10 cm. Intricately-cut, it depicts a long-leaved plant in a basket on legs. Although found with the other items, there is no indication that it is by Duramel. Ives made the news in 2000, when his extensive collection of paintings by L. S. Lowry was put up for sale.

Autograph manuscript paper entitled 'Rapport au congrès Scientifique de Douai sur Les coutumes locales du Bailliage d'Amiens considerée comme documents historiques.' Autograph Letter Signed ('Bouthors') to Dinaux.

Author: 
Alexandre Bouthors (1796-1869), Greffier en chef de la Cour royale d'Amiens [Arthur Dinaux (1795-1864)]
Publication details: 
Paper undated [1835]. Letter dated 18 September 1835; Frévent.
£150.00

Paper: 4to, 6 pp. With addendum slip of a third of a page. Text clear and complete. On aged paper and lightly-creased paper. Closely written, with several deletions. This paper held some significance for Bouthors. The 'Bulletins de la Société des antiquaires de Picardie' (1864) quotes an address by him, in which he describes that society as 'la fille de l'association des Congrès scientifiques de France.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Charle | Geographe rue de Sevres | No. 48.'), in French, to the French Minister of War, 'Monseigneur le Maréchal Duc de Bellune'.

Author: 
J. B. L. Charle, French cartographer [Claude Victor-Perrin (1764-1841), Duc de Belluno (Bellune)]
Publication details: 
4 October 1823; Paris.
£85.00

One page, on the recto of the second leaf of a bifolium, leaf dimensions 31 x 20 cm. In fair condition on lightly-aged paper with slight wear to extremities. According to his entry in the catalogue of the Bibliothèque Nationale, Charles was a 'Géographe attaché au Dépôt général de la guerre en 1933 [sic], ancien membre de la Société de Géographie. - Dessinateur, il eut une production cartographique très abondante à partir de 1823'. Neatly laid out.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Péclet'), in French, to 'Monsieur Danjou'.

Author: 
Jean Claude Eugène Péclet (1793-1857), French physicist after whom the 'Péclet number' is named
Publication details: 
Postmarked September 1837.
£56.00

12mo, 1 p. Ten lines of text. Good, on aged paper with slight wear to extremities. In a bifolium, with address and four circular postmarks (two in black and two in blue ink) on verso of second leaf. He is 'a la fin de l'impression d'un ouvrage qui doit être pret pour la rentrée et qui depuis longtemps absorbe tous mes instants'. It is impossible for him to write the requested articles. He is 'tellement fatigué' that he awaits with impatience the end of the printing, so that he can take 'un peu de repos'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Robt. Walpole'), in French, to 'J. Fr. Ostervald Esq'.

Author: 
Robert Walpole (1736-1810), Clerk of the Privy Council and British Ambassador to Portugal (nephew of the Prime Minister) [J. F. Ostervald; the French Revolution]
Publication details: 
30 October 1792; Clifford Street [London].
£180.00

4to, 3 pp. Bifolium. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper with damp staining causing the fading of ink in some parts, and a little chipping to bottom edge. Since writing there has been no packet from Falmouth, and the news from the continent are reported with sufficient detail in the gazettes, so 'il est inutile de vous en parler. Les procedes du Duc de Brunswick [he led an invading German army into France], et le systeme du Roi de Prusse sont egalement mysterieux [...] Les Emigrants [...] sont reduits a la derniere necessite'.

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