literature

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.

First edition, one of 204 copies, numbered and initialled by the publisher. The classic meditation on book collecting and the relationship between the collector and their library. L’Amour des Livres rapidly acquired an almost legendary status amongst French collectors. Janin himself described the volume as the work of ‘a bibliomaniac, for the use of a few madmen of his own species,’ a characterisation that perfectly captures the mixture of humour, erudition, self-awareness, and devotion that runs throughout the text. The book occupies an important position in the literature of bibliophily, appearing during the great age of French book collecting and at a moment when the cult of the rare book was becoming inseparable from the formation of major private libraries. Its influence extended well beyond its modest size, helping to shape the romantic image of the collector that continued to dominate bibliophilic culture into the twentieth century. Carteret called it ‘La Bible du bibliophile.’

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.

A scarce regency juvenile title, aimed at young girls, with early female ownership inscriptions. The tale contrasts two distinct moral paths. Mary is clever but vain, whereas Sophia is diligent and kind. Following their father's death, Sophia's virtue is ultimately rewarded with a substantial inheritance. Opie A 1108. Worldcat: UCLA, Indiana and Toronto. Another issue of the same year gives and additional Sidmouth bookseller in the imprint.

A rare imprint from Lumsden’s Toy Book Manufactory in Glasgow. Includes seven tales, each with an illustration: The story of Prince Lupin; Zalmandor and Amandina; Miranda and the Royal Ram; Story of Fortunio; Zamea and Almanzon; Zalmayda and Alinzor and The Princess Frutilla. Abridged from the original version originally published by F. Newbery circa. 1773; tales 1, 3, 4 and 7 are based on tales by Madame d’Aulnoy; while tales 2, 5 and 6 are based on Madame d’ Auneuil’s Les Chevaliers errans. Roscoe & Brimmell, Lumsden, 103; Worldcat: Morgan, UCLA (defective with 5 plates only) and McGill only, not found in JISC.

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

Second (expanded) edition (first 1815) of this charming juvenile title: an imitation of The Butterfly's Ball in which an array of personified garden and wild plants gather in celebration. The attractive plates were formerly sometimes attributed to William Blake, and while one can see why, there is probably no connection (Bentley, Blake Collection, Sale Catalogues, 196). The preface indicates that the section of botanical explanations (quite copious) has been revised and enlarged for this second edition.

With an autograph poem, ‘Lost Days’ added by Spender. Third impression (First edition 1955), with Spender’s note to half-title: ‘With an additional poem / inscribed by Stephen Spender / June 1970’ and the complete poem ‘Lost Days’ in his hand to the verso of the final leaf. The poem, a delightful evocation of a child’s wonder in the natural world appeared in the collection Generous Days (Godine, 1969) and was dedicated to publisher and poet, John Lehmann.

First fully illustrated edition of the most popular German fairy tale books of the nineteenth century. This edition follows the first edition of the previous year which was illustrated with just a wood engraved frontispiece. Deutsches Märchenbuch contains eighty-eight tales, plus Bechstein’s introduction and an allegory, Des Märechens Geburt (The Birth of the Fairy Tale) in which two bored children are brought a gift in the form of an egg (the fairy tale) by a bird called Fantasy. The allegory was dropped in most of the many later editions. Many of the tales are derived from Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s Kinder- und Hausmärchen, though Bechstein’s collection came to far exceed theirs in popularity.
Several of the steel engraved plates are signed ‘Schurig fec.’ (perhaps Karl Wilhelm Schurig?) and ‘G. Alboth sc.’, others are signed ‘Brennäuser fecit.’ (i.e. Andreas Wolfgang Brennhäuser). They are delightful miniatures in high romantic style with decorative captions and ornaments with gothic details. They depict: Des kleinen Hirten Glückstraum (The little Shepherd’s Dream of Happiness); Das tapfere Schneiderlein (The brave little Tailor); Hensel und Grethel (Hansel and Gretel); Staar und Badewän[n]elein (The Starling and the little Bathtub); Hans im Glücke (Hans in Luck); Tischlein deck dich, Essel streck Dich, Knüppel aus dem Sack (he Wishing-Table, The Golden-Ass, and the Cudgel in the Sack); Schneeweisschen (Snow White); Dornen-Röschen (Sleeping Beauty); Aschenbrödel (Cinderella) and Helene. From the edition of 1853 (the twelfth) the current illustrations were replaced by those by Ludwig Richter.

First published in 1766 and memorably called ‘that vivacious compost of obscenity and adventure’ (Charles Whibley, 1898) Le Compère Matthieu proved to be among the most popular satirical ‘philosophical novels’ of the ancien régime. As frequently suppressed as it was republished, it makes a strong showing among confiscations tabulated in the Robert Darnton’s Corpus of Clandestine Literature in France 1769-1789. Strongly materialist, anti-establishment and anticlerical it was wrongly (if understandably) attributed to Voltaire. It continued to be published after the Revolution, but no longer surreptitiously and the present edition (often referred to as the best) is known in elegant large papier vélin copies like the present, with the rather gothic plates avant la lettre. The fine binding is by Bozerian le Jeune (Virgil François Bozerian 1765-1826) perhaps the finest and certainly the most emblematic bookbinders of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods, who notably produced several hundred bindings for the French Imperial Library. This copy was in the library of Claude-Auguste Genard (1819–1908) of Grenoble, then that of New York collector (and early Grolier Club member) Frederic Robert Halsey (1847-1918). The Huntington Library purchased the Halsey library en bloc in 1915, but sold many duplicates or other unwanted volumes. Cohen-De Ricci, 336: ‘Les exemplaires in-8, sur papier vélin avec les figures avant la lettre sont recherchés’.

Mandiargues eroto-surrealist poem ‘Dalila Exaltée’ paired with Bona’s extraordinary etched plate, in the first volume of this important series whose aim was to create a dialogue between contemporary poetry and modern printmaking.
Published under the direction of Odette Lazar-Vernet, the Paroles Peintes series was dedicated to the presentation of otherwise unpublished poetry and original etchings by an international roster of modernist artists. It ran to five volumes between 1962 and 1975. This is the first volume and presents the work of Bona and André Pieyre de Mandiargues alongside the work of Chagall, Ernst and Braque, among others.
This copy is number 193 copies of 200 copies (there were also 58 hors commerce copies). The texts are 14 poems by Aragon, Arp, Albert-Birot, Follain, Guillevic, Joyeux, Laude, Lescure, Liberati, Mandiargues, Paulhan, De Solier, Tapié and Tardieu paired with 14 plates by Chagall, Magnelli, Zadkine, Gilioli, Ubac, Bissière, Jacobsen, Fiorini, Ernst, Braque, Dufour, Lepatre and Vieillard.
Bona de Mandiargues, or simply ‘Bona’ (1926-2000) remains one of the most intriguing women of the French Surrealist movement. Best known for her fabric collages (she cut up her husband’s clothes and called them ragarts) she also illustrated a number of books, including several with etched plates issued in limited editions. A frank memoir of Bona’s childhood in an Italian villa, Vivre en Herbe (Gallimard, 2001), recalls the early inspiration of her flamboyant artist uncle, Filippo de Pisis, but also episodes of disturbing abuse and the terrors of the Second World War. In Paris in the 1940s she met the poet Pierre de Mandiargues (she married him, twice) and was drawn into the circle of André Breton. Taking inspiration from journeys to Mexico, the world of the Surrealists and her own ‘inner eye’, she pursued a singular artistic vision. She notably took the motif of the snail as an emblem (admiring its wholeness, its hermaphroditism and its self-sufficiency). Though her work was exhibited regularly, her first institutional retrospective was held at the Nivola Museum in Sardinia (2022).

First edition, number 29 of 37 hors commerce copies (total edition 297 copies), inscribed by author and artist, with the fine etched plate printed by G. Leblanc signed by Bona. Critiquettes reproduces his short essays or prefaces, many reproduced from the Nouvelle Revue français. Beginning with a chapter on Bona (with whom Mandiargues would be reconciled and remarried to), there follow essays on surrealists Unica Zürn and Dorothea Tanning, as well as on Bellmer, Hundertwasser, Gail Singer, Baj, Jean-Jacques Lebel and Francisco Toledo.
Bona de Mandiargues, or simply ‘Bona’ (1926-2000) remains one of the most intriguing women of the French Surrealist movement. Best known for her fabric collages (she cut up her husband’s clothes and called them ragarts) she also illustrated a number of books, including several with etched plates issued in limited editions. A frank memoir of Bona’s childhood in an Italian villa, Vivre en Herbe (Gallimard, 2001), recalls the early inspiration of her flamboyant artist uncle, Filippo de Pisis, but also episodes of disturbing abuse and the terrors of the Second World War. In Paris in the 1940s she met the poet Pierre de Mandiargues (she married him, twice) and was drawn into the circle of André Breton. Taking inspiration from journeys to Mexico, the world of the Surrealists and her own ‘inner eye’, she pursued a singular artistic vision. She notably took the motif of the snail as an emblem (admiring its wholeness, its hermaphroditism and its self-sufficiency). Though her work was exhibited regularly, her first institutional retrospective was held at the Nivola Museum in Sardinia (2022).

First edition, number 144 of 200 copies. Excerpts from the French philosopher Jean Grenier’s forthcoming autobiography (Gallimard, 1957) published for the ‘Chemin des Sources’ series by the Librairie Franco-Egyptienne in Cairo. It includes two small vignettes by Bona de Mandiargues (née Tibertelli), one a flying bird, the other a surrealist crouching fish-woman. Grenier is perhaps best remembered as mentor to the young Albert Camus at the Grand Lycée of Algiers. At the time of publication Bona was married to poet Pierre de Mandiargues, and was integrated into the surrealist circle around André Breton.
Bona de Mandiargues, or simply ‘Bona’ (1926-2000) remains one of the most intriguing women of the French Surrealist movement. Best known for her fabric collages (she cut up her husband’s clothes and called them ragarts) she also illustrated a number of books, including several with etched plates issued in limited editions. A frank memoir of Bona’s childhood in an Italian villa, Vivre en Herbe (Gallimard, 2001), recalls the early inspiration of her flamboyant artist uncle, Filippo de Pisis, but also episodes of disturbing abuse and the terrors of the Second World War. In Paris in the 1940s she met the poet Pierre de Mandiargues (she married him, twice) and was drawn into the circle of André Breton. Taking inspiration from journeys to Mexico, the world of the Surrealists and her own ‘inner eye’, she pursued a singular artistic vision. She notably took the motif of the snail as an emblem (admiring its wholeness, its hermaphroditism and its self-sufficiency). Though her work was exhibited regularly, her first institutional retrospective was held at the Nivola Museum in Sardinia (2022). Rare: Worldcat lists the Bn and Bibliothèque Jerôme Doucet copies in France, the Harvard copy in the US and another at the American University, Cairo.

First and only edition of this elegant little volume, a privately-circulated collection of witty occasional verses and songs dedicated by the obviously cultivated members of the Normandy literary club, Société du Havre to their wives and daughters, sometimes on the occasion of a marriage or some other event. ‘Société badine’ or ‘C’etait une modeste clan de sybarites en goguette’ ( The sole copy located is in the Le Havre municipal library.

By an otherwise unidentified female artist, this is a rare large-format album of lithographs of the famous catholic Bavarian passion play at Oberammergau. The artist’s name is given only as initials ‘M. C. S. D’ on the plates and wrapper, but this copy bears a contemporary manuscript addition to the initials, which thus reads ‘M. C. S. Dawkins done by Herself’. It is additionally inscribed ‘with love’ to Major M. G. Best.
Performed decennially since 1634, the Oberammergau plays told the story of Christ’s passion, with a large cast drawn from local villages forming immense tableaux vivants with spoken biblical texts in the vernacular. In the nineteenth century it became a major attraction for well-to-do Grand Tourists and drew significant numbers of English visitors (so much so that the pioneering travel agent Thomas Cook established an Oberammergau office in 1880). The passion play was widely reported in contemporary English-language journals, adding to its attraction among English visitors (mainly protestant) who were curious about this ancient catholic theatrical tradition. We have been unable to discover anything substantial about the artist, but its fair to assume she made the journey to Oberammergau herself. WorldCat lists the V&A copy only in the UK. In the US there are copies at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake (IL) and WRHS (OH).

A Caen-printed bibliothèque bleue edition of a title popular in the genre, with other editions from Paris, Tours and Lyons. The woodcut portrait was evidently old when the edition was printed, the impression showing a scatter of wormholes affecting La Belle Hélaine’s face, hair and shoulders. The text has it origins in a Middle French chanson de geste of the fourteenth century. cf. Hélot, La Bibliothèque bleue en Normandie (1928), 114 noting the degradation of the woodcut over its several issues, and this one specifically where: ‘la pauvre belle devient effrayante, avec un véritable trou à la place de l’oeil gauche’.

A Caen counterfeit of a popular moral romance tale that had also appeared with an apparently genuine Paris imprint in the same year: it is a French translation of an English chapbook issued by Elizabeth Newbery, The Adventures of Master Headstrong, and Miss Patient, in their Journey towards the Land of Happiness (?1785, Roscoe J6 (4). The subtitle reads: ‘Un récit des différentes traverses qu’éprouva M. Tétu, en abandonnant Miss Patience pour écouter Miss Passion, et ne voulan pas permettre à Madame la Raison, qu’ils rencontrèrent sur leaur route, de les diriger dans leur voyage’. The much-degraded woodcut (evidently reused from stock) bears a rather garbled version of the English caption in the original: ‘The rage of Passion wille not staty [sic]; But Patience makes a wise delay’.
Thomas Frognall Dibdin was an early fan of French chapbook literature, namely the ephemeral books of the so-called Bibliothèque bleue (on account of their habitual drab blue wrappers) and he made a special study of their publishers during his bibliographical tour of Normandy. Long before chapbooks were discovered by the social historians of the twentieth century, Dibdin understood that they were the key the history and culture of the working and middling classes, shedding light on the tastes and education of boys and girls, men and women alike. Hélot, La Bibliothèque bleue en Normandie (1928) 18. Not in Rochedieu.

Two popular literary fairy tales. L’Oranger et l’abeille appeared first in Madame d’Aulnoy’s Contes des fées (1697) while La Reine de l'Ile des fleurs is taken from Les Illustres fées (1698), sometimes attributed to Madame d’Aulnoy and sometimes to the Chevalier de Mailly. Hélot, 177. Issued as part of Chalopin’s Contes des fées series.