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First edition, tirage de tête, copy number 6 of 30 copies on Japon (total edition 1100). A witty appreciation of Joseph Delteil, in the form of an ironic literary hagiography by his friends. Novelist and critic Joseph Delteil was associated primarily with the Surrealists, but he was an early admirer of the work of Mariette Lydis and also her lover for part of 1928. It was Delteil who observed that Lydis ‘paints with her breasts’, a remark which proved to be a controversial subversion of Renoir’s claim to ‘paint with my prick’ (Gluzman, ‘Desire, Mystery, Devotion: On Mariette Lydis’s Trajectory’, ISFLAA NY, ‘From the Desk of...’ 22 November 2024).

A unique artist’s book evidently made by Mariette Lydis for her subject, the otherwise unidentified young woman, Basia. The title on the wooden boards and the title-page is lettered by hand (gold and red respectively) and the latter is signed and dated. The first drawing is a magnificent portrait head in pencil on vellum, with lips and eyes heightened with colour, followed by three more large portraits of Basia: seated in a loose dress, standing in buttoned shorts and sandals, and breastfeeding an infant. If the volume is then turned over and opened, a very different sequence appears. It opens with three pages of letterpress text ― the artist’s passionate appreciation of her subject followed by three superb nude drawings of Basia.
The printed dedication must have been composed and set (in handsome Garamond italic) solely for this unique copy. We can find no trace of it elsewhere, and since it leaves no doubt as to the strength and quality of the artist’s feelings for her model, we reproduce it in full. It is also one of the few sustained examples of Lydis’s writing from this period and we cannot fail to be struck by her appreciation of a young woman described in androgynous terms as a young ‘éphèbe’ (a young Greek warrior) and as an epitome of modernity. The artist would have been 46 or 47 when she drew this young woman, and we have been unable to make any positive identification of Basia in Lydis sources or elsewhere. It reads:
Basia, jeune femme longue et souple, rieuse et très prête aux larmes, toute d’aujourd’hui, toute clarté ― abandon ― franchise.
Elle inonde la chambre dans laquelle elle entre d’un rayonnement ingénu, d’une tendresse tremblante des ses douces folies féminines. A la fois jeune pâtre, mère louve, paysanne solide qui ne craint pas le froid mais les fantômes, Basia transplantée dans n’importe quelle situation sera toujours à sa place.
La maison de Basia donne sur un vieux jardin. Inutile de sommer, la porte est toujours ouverte. C’est une maison adorable, une des rares maisons où je me sente à mon aise ; et ce n’est pas à cause des deux Mariette Lydis accrochés aux murs ; c’est que j’aime respirer l’air de ces pièces : j’aime la cage ronde habité par une rangée de ces tout petits oiseaux frileux qui meurent constamment sans qu’on puisse les pleurer, l’aquarium plein des gros poissons chinois et ventru, l’ecran de papillons de toute taille et multicolores.
Voicie le fond sur lequel se détache Basia. Un irish terrier et un chat vaguement persan complètent l’ameublement.
Basia a deux enfants qu’elle a faits toute seule et qu’on lui reproche.
Son apparence de jeune éphèbe aux seins irréprochables est toute neuve ; elle est neuve dans ce qu’elle dit, qu’elle fait, sans pose, sans artifice.
D’une simplicité vibrante, d’une spontanéité violent, elles est prête à l’attaque, à la défense, à l’émotion ― toujours. Même habillée, elle est nue, d’une nudité d’enfant ou d’animal, ingénuement, sans affectation.
Elle pose de grands pieds aux orteils bien séparés sur un tapis gris clair.
Toute impulsion ― oui, non ― sans réflexion aucune (et c’est bien ainsi), toute instinct, elle est faite d’élans, d’enthousiasmes, d’un bel égoïsme dans le sens grec du mot : ELLE ― ce qu’elle aime et peu d’autre chose.
Voìla Basia.
The portrait on vellum seems to have been something of an experiment for Mariette Lydis (in keeping with the modernity of her appreciation for Basia). It is set within a paper frame with clear a cellophane guard (which has subsequently rippled, perhaps encouraging the vellum below to do the same (to a lesser extent). Lydis had recently completed a commission for the Nonesuch Press in London, illustrating The Greek Portrait (1934). The publisher experimented with encasing the plates in clear cellophane, a material largely untested in book production, which later shrank in most copies, leaving the plates slightly cockled. It is interesting to see Lydis use the same here in this one-off production.

First edition, a total edition of 75 numbered copies, with plates signed by the artist, this being one of 60 copies on Hollande. Lucian’s text dates from the second century AD and the translation used here is that of Nicolas Perrot d’Ablancourt, of the seventeenth century. ‘Although on the periphery of the classical canon, Lucian’s text was popular with European and American audiences in the 1920s and 1930s as work that stimulated discourse on alternative sexualities’ (Paula Birnbaum, Women Artists in Interwar France: Framing Femininities, 2011, p. 208, and after, discussing a specific print from this edition which ‘celebrates the sexuality of a lesbian couple on the Greek island of Lesbos... represented by two modern-looking, naked women embracing passionately’).
This copy contains the printed notice that it was reserved for the artists Antoine ‘Tony’ Marie Charles de Lyée de Belleau and Annie de Villeneuve-Esclapon, on the occasion of their marriage. Carteret IV, p. 235: ‘Intéressant publication’. Worldcat: Bibliothèque nationale, Montpellier, Yale, Library of Congress, Boston Public Library only, to which we add the Edinburgh copy.

First edition of this collection with the Lydis illustrations. Number 85 of 165 copies and contains the inscription: ‘A Ida, avec toute mon amitié — en souvenir d’une semaine heureuse passée auprès d’elle. Mariette Lydis Paris 1934’ likely to have been addressed to the Russian-born dancer Ida Rubinstein.

Chant des Amazones is a celebration of female athleticism in verse, prose and image and is dedicated to ‘une jeune fille victorieuse dans la course des 1,000 mètres’. The texts are drawn from Montherlant’s Les Onze devant la porte dorée (1924) which he had written against the background of preparations for the 1924 Paris Olympics. Women’s participation in Olympic athletics was then extremely limited, but the decade after 1924 witnessed its rapid expansion and a general enthusiasm for women’s sport, reflected in this book. Well-known as a writer, Montherlant was an important contact for Lydis throughout her career though his posthumous reputation has revealed him as a serial pederast and dabbler in right-wing politics. His later works were marked by distinct anti-feminism and misogyny. Lydis’ illustrations are fresh and well-meaning, but her evident sexualisation of pubescent girls is troubling to the modern eye. The book was issued in handsome silver, green and turquoise lithographed wrappers.

An educational game derived from Gilles de la Boissière’s popular Jeu des Fortifications (1668), the sheet could be dissected for use as a traditional deck of 52 cards or left intact for use as a board game, using the rules printed at the top. As players progress, they learn about different aspects of fortification, starting with the principles of geometry and basic layouts in military architecture. They move on to the fortification of islands, arsenals, castles, and so on. Versions of the sheet were published in both French and German. The lesson takes up the content of contemporary treatises, such as the manual by Alain Manesson-Mallet, Les Travaux de Mars ou l’Art de la guerre, published in 1671. Schreiber, Dutch, 3.

Rare first edition of the memoirs of the great circus performer Jules Léotard, pioneer of the flying trapeze who inspired the 1867 song ‘The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze’. A second edition of his Mémoires appeared in the same year, with the same pagination, but giving ‘deuxième édition’ on the title — almost all library copies appear to be of this later edition. The superb comic lithograph by Durandeau shows Léotard trapezing over the city of Paris, while adoring female fans cry out to him from the rooftops (some flying heart-shaped kites). With Blondin, Léotard was one of the first great celebrities of the circus, when he visited London in 1861, Charles Dickens wrote: ‘I have been beguiled into seeing Léotard, and it is at once the most fearful and most graceful thing I have ever seen.’ (Letter to Macready, June 11, 1861).

First editions of all three of George Auriol’s monogram books, with a rich array of designs for his artistic and literary colleagues in Paris and further afield. Polymathic poet and songwriter, part of the Chat Noir (along with his lifelong friend Erik Satie) Auriol created designs that became emblematic of Art nouveau Paris, together with his typography for the Metropolitain railway and type designs adapted by Peignot. The three volumes of monograms include marks for himself and his closest collaborator, Henri Rivière, as well as Stéphane Mallarmé, Octave Uzanne, the Théâtre du Chat Noir, Edmond Haraucourt, Anatole France, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Steinlen, Octave Mirbeau, Aristide Briand and Woodrow Wilson. Most display the clear influence of the pervading japonisme in contemporary Parisian design, with Auriol adapting the Japanese quasi-heraldic culture of the pictographic Japanese ‘mon’ to western lettering.

Publishers for whom Auriol supplied monograms included Ernest Flammarion, Quillot, Larousse, Hachette, Peignot et fils, Henri Laurens and we also find the earliest logo for Cadbury’s chocolate (1905, in the volume for 1907).

Each volume of the set is of regular trade issue (nonetheless issued in small numbers) and the 1924 volume bears an elegant inscription by Auriol in red ink to the publisher Pierre Monot, at the Larousse Mensuel — one of Auriol’s most important publishing connections. It also contains an autograph letter from Edmond Lauren on notepaper bearing his Auriol-designed notepaper. The 1907 volume contains two prospectuses.

A complete set of drawings for a very rare engraved almanac for women, by one of the most prolific book illustrators of the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth century, comprising twelve mythological scenes, plus a title/frontispiece. These delightful miniatures were probably executed all together on a single larger sheet (in common with other examples of Desrais’ miniatures in the Musée Carnavalet, Paris) and later dissected for engraving and mounted. They are lively, witty and painstakingly executed — some are lightly erotic, though a far cry from some of Desrais’ more explicit published designs. Claude Louis Desrais (Paris 1746-1816) is best known for his many designs for fashion illustrations both before and after the Revolution, though his oeuvre was very various, according to prevailing demands. His miniatures for publications for duodecimo format and smaller publications are especially charming: La petite mythologie des Dames was issued in either 18mo or 32mo, though no library copies have been located. John Grand-Carteret had not seen a copy, but described it (from information received from a M. Bihn) as 32mo format, with 12 engravings and an engraved title, and the imprint of Lefuel at 54, rue Saint-Jacques, Paris, dating it to 1810. The later annotator of the box label correctly identifies the almanac, but erroneously gives the imprint of Brès (apparently a confusion with a later almanac printed by him).
Carteret lists the illustrations as follows: ‘Titre gravé dans un sujet allégorique... 1. La petite Mythologie des Dames (Vue de l’Olympe). - Les Noces d’Hercule. - 3 et 4. Vénus et Mars. - 5 et 6. L’Aventure d’Orphée et Eurydice. - 7. La curiosité trop punie (Orphée perdant Euridice. - 8. Les Soupirs d’Eurydice. - 9. Achille à la Cour de Lycomède. - 10. Les Amours d’Achille. - 11. Ruse d’Ulise. - 12. Achille Reconnu’ Carteret, Almanachs Français, 1604.

A very scarce pattern book for personal ciphers and monograms of 2 or 3 letters, useful in deciphering the notoriously difficult interlaced calligraphic initials of French individuals in the years around the Revolution. The plates show how each letter can be combined with the others (AA, AB, AC, AD, or ABC, ABD, ABE and so on. The folding plate gives 20 sample emblematic vignettes for concepts such as ‘justice’, ‘drawing’, ‘architecture’, ‘poetry’, ‘love’, ‘music’ while the final plate is a micrographic reproduction of the will of Louis XVI, presumably offered partly as an advertisement of the engraving skills of Achille Sanier. Like almost all located copies this copy bears a ‘nouvelle edition’ statement. It is not clear when the first edition appeared, if indeed one did.

Achille Sanier was born in La Rochelle on April 20, 1796 and died there on January 4, 1871. His father (Charles) and his grandfather distinguished themselves as engravers, both by producing Masonic seals and insignia for La Rochelle before the Revolution and by publishing together a complete collection of two- or three-letter ciphers composed and drawn by Sanier senior and engraved by his son (1811). Achille gave several of his works to the musée des Beaux-Arts de La Rochelle and bequeathed an impressive collection of prints and other works of art to the city of La Rochelle (1871).

A striking needlework pattern for Berlin-work. ‘Berlin wool work is embroidery with Berlin wools or any type of thread or beads on canvas by means of copying a coloured chart known as a Berlin pattern. Almost exclusively confined to the 19th century, Berlin wool derived its name from the wool that came from Merino sheep in Saxony. It was taken to Gotha to be spun and on to Berlin to be dyed... Prior to the introduction of Berlin patterns it was very rare to find any indication about the choice of colour or threads. Berlin patterns were always coloured by hand at first, until the emergence of industrial printing techniques’ (V&A). Though the patterns (which rarely survive) usually originated in Germany, Berlin work was enthusiastically practised by women all over Europe and in North America.

A pocket guide for visitors to the three levels of the Eiffel Tower.

First edition of this luxurious production, the text translated by Lucie Paul-Marguerite from the Chinese seventeenth-century collection Kin-kou-kikouan (or Jingu qiguan) and telling the moral story of an extra-marital adventure. The 16 original paintings on silk are attributed to Ouang Shao Ki of Szechuan, copied for this edition in Peking by four separate artists (one each for the drawing, the foliage, the clothing and the figures). They are remarkable productions, and each one is captioned in manuscript with Chinese characters. Produced in only 125 copies, this is one of the 10 copies on Japon reserved for the author (copy number 3).
Lucie Paul-Margueritte (1886-1955) began publishing in magazines at the age of eighteen. After three years of marriage, she divorced and thereafter lived with her widowed sister, Ève Paul-Margueritte. Together, they raised the latter's son, living from their writings. She made numerous translations including several from the Chinese and a number of English novels, including Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Carteret IV. p. 265: ‘Belle publication’. WorldCat: Bn and Boston Athenaeum only.

First edition of these three photographically illustrated albums, mainly portraits of contemporary Parisian actresses, dancers and singers, both from the mainstream theatres and the smaller dance halls and cafés-concerts. Reutlinger’s studio specialised in such portraits, usually actresses photographed in different degrees of deshabille in either studio settings or in the corridors and dressing rooms of the theatre. The voyeurism of the photographer is extended into bedroom and bathroom scenes intended to illustrate the daily routine of the ideal Parisienne. Sarah Bernhardt and Yvette Guilbert appear, while most subjects are now little-known but then much admired Parisian performers.

First edition of one of the most interesting Paris Exposition guides.

A steel-engraved plate collection made after daguerrotypes. Another issue (with variant title contained 28 plates).

First edition of the Art Journal’s retrospective catalogue of the 1867 Exposition, including notice of the prize winners. It is a kaleidoscope of Second Empire decorative and applied arts from all over Europe and beyond. It comprises: a general Introduction by C. Boutell; Glass - Domestic and Decorative by G. Wallis; Lace and Embroidery by Mrs. B. Palliser; Adaptations From the Antique by C. Boutell; Art Materials and Products in Clay, Stone, Marbles, Etc. by D.T. Ansted; Furniture. by J.B. Atkinson; Textile Fabrics by Mrs. B. Palliser; Goldsmith's Work, Silver, and Jewellery by H. Friswell; Porcelain and Pottery by J. Dafforne and Bronzes and Bronze Imitations by G. Wallis.

First edition. A comic album by ‘Mars’ casting a lighthearted eye over life in belle époque Paris, with walks in the park, visits to the theatre, family picnics, bike riding and horse riding.

Illustrations of the ‘Pièces condamnées’ from Fleurs du mal. One of 30 copies, number 6 of 20 numbered copies (after 5 copies ‘avec suites’, and before 5 hors commerce copies). An exceptionally rare and provocative companion to the Fleurs du mal collection issued in the same year, by a highly idiosyncratic female artist about comparatively little is known. It contains the six poems banned in 1857: ‘Lesbos’, ‘Femmes damnés’, ‘Le Léthé’, ‘À celle qui est trop gaie’, ‘Les Bijoux’ and ‘Les Métamorphoses du Vampire’. The texts are incorporated into the etched plates with particularly explicit illustration. The plates are deeply etched with areas of velvety blackness, heightened by hand with subtle colouring and painted gold.

Active between 1907 and 1935, Jouvet-Magron worked mainly in Paris, becoming a member of the Salon des Artistes Français in 1908. Though productive and much respected in the early years of the twentieth-century The artist’s identity was sufficiently obscure for two reviewers in The Print Connoisseur in 1923 to assume ‘Dominique’ referred to a male artist: the first, Clement-Janin, noted the ‘exceptionally modern temperament’ behind Jouvet-Magron’s etchings of ‘those temples of labour—the factories’. He also noted ‘Dominque Jouvet-Magron is not a pupil of the Ecole des Beaux Arts and has had no teacher’, while a G. Desdevises du Dezert, Dean of the Faculty of Letters of Clermont-Ferrand, adds that ‘the poetry of industrial life has not escaped him [sic]’. he Print Connoisseur lists 42 plates and suites, of French churches, factories, industrial machinery, portraits of Henri Magron (the artist’s father -in-law), opium smokers, danses macabres and a messe noire — all surely indicating a perfect future artist for Fleurs du Mal.

Jouvet-Magron’s IX Poèmes des Fleurs du mal and Pièces condamnées (both 1931) were exhibited at the Salon international du Livre d'art at the Petit Palais, May-August 1931 where complaints were received and the books removed from the show. While illustrations of Baudelaire often pushed boundaries, it’s easy to see why Jouvet-Magron’s might have shocked, especially those for Pièces condamnées which are particularly explicit. The matter was reported both in France and abroad, revealing that it was used as a test case for the continued official suppression of six poems of Fleurs du mal, still in force since they were first banned in 1857. The so called Pièces condamnées (‘Lesbos’, ‘Femmes damnés’, ‘Le Léthé’, ‘À celle qui est trop gaie’, ‘Les Bijoux’ and ‘Les Métamorphoses du Vampire’), were widely printed, despite their legal status, and publishers and critics in the thirties seemed to have used Jouvet-Magron’s collection, which reproduced the text alongside her images, as a means to bring the legal anomaly to public attention. In the event the publication of Fleurs du mal was not decriminalised until 1949. The Print Connoisseur, 3, p. 91. Worldcat lists the Bibliothèque nationale copy only.

First edition. Rimmel, a phenomenally successful perfumer and cosmetics innovator was a member of the committee of the second Paris exposition. His Recollections contain a colour-printed additional title of the Broussa mosque, the medieval Yechil Djami (the Green Mosque), reconstructed in reduced form in the Turkish section of the Exposition. The book appeared in both French and English versions, which eachran to several editions.

First edition of a charming illustrated guide by the bibliophile journalist–photographer Jérôme Doucet (1865–1957) to the various ‘little trades’ plied on the streets of turn-of-the-century Paris, from tram rail cleaner to map seller, lamplighter to bootblack, cigar end collector to saw sharpener, marshmallow vendor to bill sticker, ragmen and organ grinders to women carding stuffing for mattresses, people renting chairs or toy boats, or selling ice cream, or chestnuts, or chickweed, or mistletoe, or lettuce, or soup. And, naturally, les bouquinistes.