Paris: L'Art du Livre, c.1910. Limited edition, Number 571. Very good in contemporary three quarter dark brown morocco over marbled paper covered boards with gilt title and floral devices to spine. Minor rubbing and wear to hinges, corners, and edges of boards. Minor sunning to spine. Printed in two colors throughout, with elaborate borders & decorative initials. 126 pages. A lovely book. French. FRE/012723. More
La Haye: A.A.M. Stols, 1925. Paperback. Number 23 of 100 copies. Signed by the author and printer. This was the 7th book printed by A.A.M. Stols for his friends. This copy was printed for Eugene Keuchenius. Claude Aveline was the pen name of Evgen Avtsine (1901 - 1992). He was a French author, publisher, and member of the French Resistance. Bound in light grayish paper wrappers with black title to front panel. Browning to spine and edges of wrappers. Printed in black with red initials. Offsetting to endpapers, else clean and bright. IN FRENCH. In original glassine. Creasing and browning to glassine. 16 pages. PRI/022823. Very Good. More
La Haye: D.A. Daamen, 1939. Paperback. Number 221 of 500 copies. With full page erotic illustrations by Bantizinger, in a style similar to Matisse. In cream paper wrappers with black title to front wrapper. Tape repair to front wrapper near front joint. Chipping and browning to wrappers and spine panel. A few spots of soiling to wrappers. Clean, bright interior with full page (mostly erotic) illustrations for each of the 12 poems. IN FRENCH. Size: Thin folio. About 13.75 x 9.75 inches. FRE/021323. Very Good. More
Quebec: Brousseau Frères, 1861-1864. Hardcover. Brousseau & Frères started Les Soirées Canadiennes as a monthly journal of French Canadian literature and other writings in 1861. These four volumes compile the writings of each year's journals, each in a handsome leather bound volume. Bound in bright red leather with gilt ornaments and rulings to the covers, and spines with six compartments with gilt decorations and titling. With gilt decorative dentelles and bright patterned endpapers. All edges gilt with lovely patterned endpapers. All volumes have rubbing, chipping, and bumping along the edges, corners, and spines. Slight bubbling to all pastedowns. The cover of Volume 2 is nearly detached with a long tear to the leather along the front joint. Volume 4 has small pieces of leather abraided on edge and bottom corner of rear board. Spines are all browned. Interior pages are clean and bright overall with light toning to margins, occasional spots of soiling, and occasional small spots of foxing. The title page of Volume 1 has a large open tear that has been repaired. Volumes 2 - 4 have half title pages, but are lacking full title pages. Each volume has a table of contents following the text. An attractive set (despite the noted condition issues) that offers an interesting overview of 19th century Canadian writings. Volume I: 464 pages; Volume II: 400 pages; Volume III: 426 pages; Volume IV: 407 pages. this set may require an additional shipping fee. FRE/032823. Very Good. More
New York: Béatrice Coron, 2023. Paperback. Artist's Proof of 3 copies. A papercut book on black Arches paper featuring the poem "Obsession" by Baudelaire. Coron's papercut illustrations echo the lines from Baudelaire's poem, depicting a shadowy forest, the sea, the night sky filled with constellations, and a web of eyes (with the pupils hand drawn in white chalk). The poem is printed in metallic silver and gold in French. The two panels featuring a night forest are backed with a translucent handmade paper. This eight panel accordion fold book is housed in a black paper wrapper with metallic title to the front panel and a cord closure. The wrapper is handmade paper with mica inclusions. This AP has a different paper wrapper than the rest of the edition and the text is printed in a different color. Size (open): 7 x 44 inches; (closed): 7 x 6 inches. Coron describes her book work: "For the last 20 years, I have been exploring visual storytelling in artist books, paper cutting and public art. Collecting memories from individuals and communities, I stage narrative allegories in silhouette to create a dialogue with the viewer in playful fantasies. These visual chronicles record archetypal stories that transcend time and space. I have been fascinated by the relation of people to their space and the sense of belonging. Using papercutting where everything is cut from a single piece of Tyvek, the profusion of individual stories makes a coherent whole world." [From her website] Christina Favretto, Head of Special Collections at the University of Miami describes Coron's work in Coron's "artfragments" portfolio: "There is a palpable joy in the work of Béatrice Coron, the kind of joy we felt as children in unwrapping a particularly enticing holiday gift. But...for Béatrice the gift is a sheet of Tyvek...or paper, and the stories to be unearthed and unleashed within and through the medium." ARTB/030923. Fine. More
Liege: Art et Folklore, 1954. Paperback. A portfolio holding a 14 page side stapled booklet with 12 photographs of le Perron de Liège - a fountain / monument in France. The booklet describes the history of the monument. Rubbing and minor browning to edges of portfolio. One inch closed tear to front wrapper of portfolio. Clean overall. Text in French. [14 pages plus photographs.] PHOTO/032323. Very Good. More
Paris: Société des Amis des Livres, 1902. Hardcover. Number 106 of 130 copies. In a lovely full red leather binding by Gruel, a Parisian book binding company known for its fine work. The front doublure has the gilt imprint of "Gruel." The covers have black leather onlay as does the spine. Gilt title, author, and press to spine along with raised bands. Gilt rules and decoration to boards and spine. The boards remain firmly attached; however, there is a 2 inch split to the leather along the front joint. Chip to head of spine and wear / rubbing to hinges, corners, and edges of boards. Evidence of dampstaining to first and last few pages along gutters of pages and endpapers. The endpages are partially adhered to the leather doublures near the gutters. The rear board is bowed and the rear doublure is stained as are the silk endpapers. The textblock itself is fairly clean with occasional spots of foxing. The original paper wrappers are bound in. Includes a list of subscribers to the Société des Amis des Livres. With engravings, initials, and engraved script type. An attractive book despite the noted damage - and priced accordingly. 84 pages. FRE/032323. Good. More
Paris and Maastricht: La Connaissance and Leiter-Nypels, 1924. Hardcover. Number 308 of 380 copies. Printed to honor the 400 year anniverasary of the birth of the author, Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585). Bound in full tan leather boards with gilt title to spine and blind stamped devices to both boards. Rubbing and chipping to leather along hinges, corners, and edges of boards. The leather along both hinges is starting to crack, but the boards remain firmly attached and the cords remain unbroken. Gilt decoration to dentelles. Marbled endpapers with top edge gilt. Printed on fine paper in Erasmus-Mediaeval type with initial letters and decorations by S.H. de Roos. With a lovely color frontispiece engraving. Gilt flourish to title page. Printed in black, red, and blue inks. The original blue paper wrappers are bound in. Clean and bright aside from penned gift inscription to front free endpaper, offsetting to title page, and browning to top margins of two facing interior pages - likely due to a laid in bookmark that has since been removed. A beautiful printing of these classic sonnets. 183 pages. PRI/032323. Very Good. More
Paris: Bibliothèque des Arts / Foundation Wildenstein, 1987. Hardcover. Folio. with 328 illustrations, 70 in color. Blue cloth boards with gilt title to spine and front board. Dampstaining to front board and spine. Bow to front board. Dampstaining and cockling to pages along the top margins. Foxing to top fore-edge. Clean and bright overall with many illustrations. In beige dust jacket with black title to spine panel and red title to front panel. Dampstaining to dust jacket, discoloration to top front edge, and wear to edges. IN FRENCH. 511 pages. ILL/020623. Very Good / Very Good. More
Maestricht: A.A.M. Stols à l'enseigne de L'alcyon, 1939. Paperback. One of 650 copies, unnumbered. This appears to be on Antique de Luxe paper of the Maison Spalding & Hodge de Londres. French poet, essay writer, and philosopher Paul Valéry (1871 - 1945) was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature 12 times. Cream paper wrappers with black title to spine and front panels. Orange illustration of a serpent to front wrapper. Browning to spine and edges of both wrappers. A few spots of soiling to wrappers. Printed in black and red with red drop capitals. Clean, bright interior. IN FRENCH. 50 pages. FRE/020923. Very Good. More