French

An original woodblock for printing a rather naive devotional print of the type issued by the provincial presses of northern France. The lower portion contains the Crucifixion scene, with the Virgin and John the Evangelist (and serpent coiled at the foot of the cross). The borders have portraits, mainly in profile of saints and Catholic church fathers Andrew, Thomas, James, ‘Oesine’ (perhaps Saint Ouen, pointing to Rouen as an origin for the print), Matthias, Phillip, Barnabus, Peter, Paul, James son Zebedee [the Great], Bartholomew and Matthew. Above is a panel depicting Christ in Majesty with the Eye of Heaven (captioned ‘Dieu entend tout’) and the Ear of Heaven (Dieu enten[d] tout) and a cherub holding a placard lettered ‘Pencée [sic], Paroles, Actions’. Most of the block is extensively hatched the lines forming the rays of the sun, billowing clouds and a dark sky. Woodcut remained the dominant medium for such popular prints well into the nineteenth century before the widespread adoption of lithography after about 1825.

An exercise or model book for dentelle au crochet (crocheted lace) including numerous decorative borders, various roundels and a number of tubular designs for use as cuffs or sleeves. The patterns imitate those of cushion lace, but were created with coarser threads and with a crochet hook rather than bobbins. The patterns and execution are impressive, even if crocheted lace was considered less refined than ‘true’ lace. This album, with very few clues to its maker or provenance and on paper of the coarsest grade, appears as a rather remarkable survival of the craft in its most vernacular setting.

A satirical address to drinkers on on the joys and perils of wine, addressed to ‘The Knights of the Round Table’, or the drinkers assembled at the hôtel Saint Valery. The playful false imprint disguises its origin at the press of Chalopin in Caen. Hélot, La Bibliothèque bleue en Normandie, 7.

A rare (probably otherwise unrecorded) handbill for an artisan cork maker in the rue de la Huchette, Paris. Monsieur Liégard, doing business in Liége, in Spain, Portugal and elsewhere, offers corks of all sorts and all forms of fittings for the outirage or ‘racking’ of wine (transfer technique carried out to eliminate the lees and other particles that have settled at the bottom of a cask). From the oenological collection of Bernard Chwarz, bound in appropriate folding boards of natural cork paper.

First edition in German of Baudelocque’s fundamental textbook of obstetrics Principes sur l’art des accouchemens (1775 and 1787), presentation copy from the translator to a named midwife, given as a prize at the Colmar school for midwives which he established in 1803.
Gabriel Louis François Anaclet Morel was born in Colmar in 1769 and died there in 1842 under the July Monarchy. He was mayor of Colmar from 1813 to 1814 and from 1830 to 1841. A doctor and surgeon, in 1803,he founded the first school of midwives in Colmar Worldcat: no copy outside France/Switzerland/Germany.

First edition in French of La città del sole, the seventeenth-century utopian work in which Campanella described a just society where goods, women and children are held in common and work is evenly distributed. It was understandably of great interest to early socialist and communist thinkers, though did not appear in French until this translation by the French Fourierist, François Villegardelle, who also translated More’s Utopia. Despite its influence on emergent French socialism, this is now a rare book. WorldCat locates copies at: International Labour Office (DC), MacMaster and Stanford only outside continental Europe. LibraryHub locates copies at BL and London Library.

Five drawings from the early stages of the Second World War, presumably for commercial publication in France, of which four are on the theme of the song ‘We’re Going to Hang out the Washing on the Siegfried Line’ by Irish songwriter Jimmy Kennedy, written whilst he was a Captain in the British Expeditionary Force during the early stages of the Second World War. The defensive Siegfried Line was constructed by Germany in the 1930s, opposite the French Maginot Line but was widely ridiculed by the Allies in the opening year of the war who threatened to treat the defence as no more than a clothes line. The popular sentiment expressed in the song is extended in these French cartoon drawings in which the Amercian, British Union Jack and French Tricolor are pegged out on the line. One of the sketches shows a young soldier in uniform hugged by his wife and children in a typical enlistment scene.

A very rare chapbook collection of letter-writing models, marketed to women readers (and writers) but actually including romantic sample letters for male writers. It’s an interesting piece of opportunistic publishing, which comprises reissued sheets of a much earlier, similarly-titled letter collection, Le Secrétaire des Dames (first issued by Garnier at Troyes with a privilege dated 1759). Baudot’s Troyes publication included the whole of that earlier work (24 pages, including original title), but adding his own 8 pages of additional letters (all romantic letters) at the beginning and his wrapper with a new, variant title and his adverts.
Speculative and undeclared re-issues were quite typical of the unregulated productions (’Bibliothèque bleu’) of popular provincial printers in France, but it’s unusual to find the grafting of one book to another in this way. Though the title-page of earlier Le Secrétaire des Dames is undated, the privilege is dated 1759, and the typography feels to be of the eighteenth rather than nineteenth century. The wrapper and additional eight pages of Le Petit Secrétaire des Dames, also undated are clearly of the first half of the nineteenth century. The rear cover advertises no less than seventy-eight titles offered by Baudot, including saints’ lives, chivalric romances, popular religious manuals and fairy tales. Charles-Louis Baudot (1795-1849) had been apprenticed to the Parisian printing house Firmin-Didot for seven years before settling in Troyes, he purchased the business and stock of Garnier of Troyes in 31 May 1830 and was licensed as a printer and bookseller on 1 Dec. 1830.
Le Secrétaire des Dames is noted by Roger Chartier in his essay on the culture of writing manuals of this genre (’Secrétaires for the People?’) in which he comments: ‘The book’s title was remarkably ill-chosen, given that none of the letters had been penned by a woman and only two were addressed to one’. cf. Morin, 1030. Roger Chartier, ’Secrétaires for the People?’ in Correspondence: Models of Letter-writing from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth Century (1997). p. 84.

First edition in French of this popular collection of astronomical problems and recreations, 102 problems translated from the last part of Keith’s bestselling A New Treatise on the Use of the Globes (1805) which had run to at least seven editions by the time of this collection. The volvelle giving world time zones is an innovation for this edition, not present in the preceding English work. The verso of the half-title contains the the following ‘Observation’: ‘L’ouvrage anglais dont nous publions la traduction est populaire en Amérique comme dans la Grande-Bretagne. l’auteur est le savant M. Keith. Sept éditions ont été épuisées en Angleterre dans l’espace de quelques années. The Bibliothèque nationale catalogue attributes the translation to Philippe-Jacques Coulier, an autodidact from a marine background who nonetheless became a member of the French Société de Géographie in 1830. Worldcat: Fordham and Boston Public Library only outside continental Europe; no UK copies located in Libraryhub.

A very scarce Revolutionary imprint of this classic English apology for tyrannicide, issued against Robespierre during the Terror.
It is a translation by the abbé de Marigny, of Killing no Murder which had first appeared in English in Holland in 1657 and in French the following year (apparently to encourage the assassination of Cardinal Mazarin). ‘... about May 1657, there arrived in England copies of an apology for tyrannicide, entitled Killing Noe Murder, published by Sexby in Holland, evidently with the assistance of Silius Titus, under the name of Sexby’s former fellow agitator William Allen. Sexby argued that Cromwell was a tyrant on a par with Caligula and Nero. However stable, his reign was an abrogation of law which constituted the enslavement of the English people and threatened the outright corruption of English society. In such circumstances the private citizen was perfectly within his rights in seeking to exact the punishment for which responsibility ought normally to rest with God and the magistrate. Tyranny being the suspension of the normal course of law, tyrannicide could not be regarded as an act of murder’ (Oxford DNB). cf. Quérard, I, 271-272. Rochedieu, French Translations of English Works, 332. WorldCat lists only a small handful of copies of this 1793 reprint.

First edition. A rare roman philosophique in which the comic hero-philosopher’s rationalism is thrown into disarray as he is forced to leave his library and to encounter the real world in all its chaos. Initially prompted by a misdirected letter from a young woman thrown into his coach on the way home from the theatre, the Chevalier pursues his desires through a series of comic interludes and finds his stoic philosophies transformed into sensibilité.
Barbier attributes the novel to L’Affichard (1698-1753), a playwright, novelist, and souffleur (prompter) at the Théâtre italien. It is distinct from the 1737 novel of a similar title (Le Philosophe amoureux, ou les Mémoires du comte de Mommejan) written by the Marquis d’Argens It was republished in 1748 as L’Amour chez les philosophes. Ou Mémoires du marquis de ***. Barbier 14139; Gay 727. WorldCat: Bibliotheques nationale and Sainte-Geneviève only.

A Troyes ‘Bibliothèque Bleu’ edition of this prose romance, popular since its earliest versions of the late fifteenth century. The King of France (named Jean de Paris) travels incognito to Spain with a sumptuous entourage to marry the daughter of the King of Spain, rejecting the King of England along the way. The verso of the wrapper advertises 94 titles offered by Baudot, including fairy tales, romances, catechisms, satires and conduct manuals. Morin, Catalogue descriptif de la Bibliothèque bleue de Troyes, 494.

A popular satirical sermon on the joys and benefits of drinking, complete with a song, various, exemplary Latin quotations (’Bonum vinum loetificat cor hominis’, ‘Qui bene bibit bene dormit’ etc), an Ordonnance addressed to wives of drinkers and a mock dialogue between husband and wife. It is a version of the various sermons for drinkers printed in popular Bibliothèque bleu editions. The rear cover lists eighty titles supplied by Baudot including Art de tirer les cartes, Chansonnier des buveurs, Jardin d’amour, Magie naturelle and numerous fairy tales. Morin, Catalogue descriptif de la Bibliothèque bleue de Troyes, 1035

First edition of Lydis’s astrological dream dictionary, complete with the moveable volvelle horoscope and striking plates printed in colours and gold. Among the numerous dream motifs Lydis illustrates: the whore, the angel, flight, locusts, insects (she actually depicts a spider), sea creatures, suicide and the devil.
A fragile book, this is among the early works by Austrian born Lydis (1887-1970) who settled in Paris in 1926. She became known for her daring prints celebrating same-sex and bisexual love (notably her 1926 portfolio, Lesbiennes) and she later illustrated numerous deluxe editions of Boccaccio, Louÿs, Baudelaire, Mirbeau and Valéry. Lydis had no formal artistic training (or at least her education is obscure) but her work was no doubt inspired by the freedom of twentieth-century Paris. She escaped the Nazis during the occupation, living briefly with her partner Erica Marx in England, before the couple emigrated to Buenos Aires. Correa, Mariette Lydis, 4.4 (with an estimated edition of 150 copies).

First edition of this survey of the fundamental changes made to female education in France between 1879 and 1887, France fundamentally reformed female education, moving from Catholic-dominated, basic instruction to a state-run, secular, and more academic system. Legislation such as the 1880 so-called Camille Sée law, established the first public secondary schools for girls (lycées) to produce educated ‘republican mothers,’ focusing on academic study rather than just needlework. The author was deputy director of the French ministry of public education. He dedicates the book to Camille Sée.

First edition of this rare practical programme for female secondary education. The so-called Duruy Reforms of 1865 instituted a new programme of secondary instruction geared towards practical careers in business and administration. While they also reformed primary education for girls, they did little for their secondary education, as noted in the foreword here by Madame Charles Sauvestre, instutrice. She concludes that the private initiatives are the only way of circumventing this, and the Guide pratique pour les écoles professionnelles de jeunes filles is a brief but complete guide to the practicalities and particularities of secondary schools for girls, starting with budget estimates for their foundation and maintenance. Much of detail is provided by the tables, which include three-year curricula with breakdowns of the necessary subjects, encompassing, letters, sciences, arts, and practical studies. ‘Letters’ comprise literacy in French and other living languages (not Latin), as well as history, geography, cosmography, domestic economy and ethics (religion is absent). ‘Sciences’ include mathematics (especially mental and commercial arithmetic), accounting, botany, zoology and mineralogy. ‘Arts’ include writing, drawing, geometry, ornament, industrial drawing, engraving, painting on porcelain and singing (formal music and panel painting notably absent). ‘Practical studies’ include couture (dressmaking), embroidery, tapestry, artificial flowers, lacemaking and paper crafts. Each of these subjects is broken down further into specific lessons with their place in a termly and weekly timetable divided into hours. A final chapters gives recommendations for the organisation of a library and a list of recommended books and authors. WorldCat: Library of Congress only outside Europe.

First edition, presentation copy, arguing for the proper provision of university education for women. The author surveys recent developments around the world, notably in the United States, where the women’s education movement has been most marked (and citing the Philadelphia medical school and the University of Michigan as examples) and in Great Britain (citing University College, London, Girton and Somerville Colleges at Cambridge and Oxford respectively). WorldCat locates a single copy: Università Bocconi, Milan.

First edition of one of the celebrated French clairvoyant’s earliest and rarest works, in which she reported an angelic appearance at Louis XVI’s tomb and revealed the contents of a tablet of prophecies for the era of the Restoration of the French monarchy. Like Le Normand’s later works it is couched in terms of dreams, predictions and angelic interventions. Marie-Anne Le Normand (1772–1843) was a celebrated (but also notorious) clairvoyant. Famed throughout Europe for her exclusive clientele, she popularised cartomancy and spawned an enormous wave of imitators. At the height of her career she claimed to have advised the likes of Robespierre, Talleyrand, Metternich, the Empress Josephine and the Russian Emperor Alexander; others argued that the whole thing was a sham, and she was frequently arrested, spending several weeks in prison. She is perhaps best remembered today for the cartomancy tarot decks named after her (’Lenormand cards’).
Le Normand was not only successful as a clairvoyant, but as a businesswoman, publisher and bookseller, with most of her works carrying her own imprint (as here) and sold at her shop in the rue de Tournon. At this early date she evidently operated her own press, with the half-title giving an address in nearby rue de Seine. Later works were generally printed for her by other presses. Caillet 6515. WorldCat: British Library only. While there are several copies in French libraries it is apparently absent from the Bibliothèque nationale. Arbour, Dictionnaire des femmes libraires en France, p. 343.

First edition of Le Norman’s predictions issued in the wake of the July Revolution of 1830 and the restoration of the monarchy under Louis Philippe, events welcomed by Le Normand, who saw the ghost of Louis XVI as her protector. Like her previous collections, it consists of accounts of her ‘visions intuitives’ and ‘Révélations politiques, symboliques, prophètiques, somnambulismes etc’. Throughout the nineteenth century, writers and pamphleteers repeated that tale of the ‘Little Red Man’ purported to be from an old folk tale dating back to the creation of the Tuileries Palace (1564) in which Le Petit Homme Rouge (a genie, or ghost) had appeared to the kings and queens living in the palace on the eve of great events, from Catherine de Medici to Napoleon. Here Le Normand uses him to recount the counsel given to Napoleon at Malmaison in 1793, that France could never be a democracy. Chapter five is set at the Scottish royal palace of Holyrood where the deposed Charles X had lived between 1796-1803
The title verso has an advert for eleven works hitherto published and still marketed by Le Normand at her shop in rue de Torunon, all priced, together with three fothcoming works ‘sous presse’ and a collected works in 10 volumes. Caillet 6514 (’Ouvrage peu commun’).

A spectacular facsimile edition of one of the most celebrated books of hours of the fifteenth century, the illumination by Jean Bourdichon reproduced in superb chromolithography by Léon Curmer. This copy additionally contains twelve sumptuous illuminated calendar borders as copied in gouache, watercolour and gold by Curmer’s anonymous copyist, identifiable through his signatures in this copy as the master facsimilist, Christian Schultz (1817-1883). His twelve superb illuminations show the occupations of the twelve months, including winter fireside dining, pruning, a garden, reaping, harvesting, threshing, grape treading, ploughing and sowing, feeding hogs and killing swine.
This was one of Curmer’s most ambitious publications, requiring painstaking copying from the original manuscript kept in the French Bibliothèque nationale. His methods are not well understood, but each leaf was first copied in gouache by skilled facsimilists who were almost never credited in the final publication. This copy, with the twelve calendar miniatures in gouache allows us to identify Christian Schultz as at least one (if not the only) copyist for this project, with several bearing his minute signature, not included in the final corresponding chromolithograph. He is perhaps better known for his subsequent work for the British Arundel Society, copying Flemish masterpieces such as the Ghent Altarpiece for their important and popular facsimiles. He had been born in Kassel in 1817, was trained in Germany as a draughtsman and studied lithography in Munich (Ledger, A Study of the Arundel Society 1848-1897, Oxford DPhil, 1978) In his work for the Arundel Society he made his copies by painting over photographic images of the work, and it is interesting to speculate how he created the Anne of Brittany facsimiles. Certainly, the whole book had been photographed (and reproduced in the text volume) but his finished miniatures are on fine but not transparent paper, and show no sign of preliminary markings. It would be a worthwhile project in the developing study of nineteenth-century manuscript facsimiles to compare digitised samples with both the monochrome photographs and original gouache miniatures in this copy.
Illustration attributed to Jean Poyet until 1868 when newly discovered documents proved it the work of Jean Bourdichon. Cf. Bourdichon, J. Les Heures d'Anne de Bretagne. Paris, 1946