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Les Ames du Purgatoire
Prosper Merimee; Hermann Paul
Paris: Rene Kieffer, 1929.The Souls of Purgatory, short story retelling of the myth of Don Juan, the first edition with fifteen watercolours by Hermann Paul. One of a numbered edition of 450 copies on wove paper (of a total edition of 480), this copy bound by French bookbinder Rene Kieffer (1875-1964) in a fine full leather binding with an elaborate star, heart, and chain blind design to both boards, with his ticket to the endpaper, the original wrappers bound in.
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Histoire des Amazones Anciennes et Modernes, Enrichie de Medailles
M. l’Abbe Guyon
Paris: Jean Villette, 1740.Study of the history and mythology of the legendary race of warrior women, the Amazons. With 8 engraved plates based on ancient coins and medals. Provenance: This copy with a warm inscription to the front flyleaf of vol. 1 dated June 1925 from German political scientist Arnold Bergstraesser (1896-1964) to humanitarian Eleanora Iredale.
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Fumee D’Opium
Claude Farrere
Paris: Libraire Olendorff, 1921.The first deluxe edition of Farrere’s Black Opium, semi-autobiographical tales of the history and use of opium. Preface by Pierre Louys. With 6 plates and numerous wood engravings by Georges Jauneau, engraved by G. Lemoine. One of 250 numbered copies on Arches Vellum (of a total edition of 322).
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Ampelographie Rhenane ou Description Caracteristique, Historique, Synonymique, Agronomique et Economique des Cepages les Plus Estimes
M. J. L. Stoltz
Paris and Mulhouse: Dusacq and J. P. Risler, 1852.One of the foundational texts of European ampelography with 30 colour lithorgraphs of grapes, grapevines and leaves. The standard work on Alsace and southern German grape varieties, wine, and viticultural history in the Rhine Valley.
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Salome. Drame en un acte.
Oscar Wilde
Paris and Londres: Librairie de L’Art Independant and Elkin Mathew et John Lane, 1893.First edition, one of 600 copies, the title page device by Felicien Rops. MASON 348. This copy rebound in a fine signed art nouveau binding by Hatchards, Piccadilly, without the wrappers, with a plentiful quantity of blank leaves at the rear to allow for the binding design.
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Oeuvres Completes de Charles Baudelaire
Charles Baudelaire
Paris: Louis Conard, 1923-1953.Complete set of the Complete Works of Charles Baudelaire in French published by Louis Conard between 1923 and 1953, edited and with notes by Jacques Crepet. Les Fluers du Mal with portrait frontispiece.
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Les Paradis Artificiels: Opium et Haschisch
Charles Baudelaire
Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1860.First edition of Baudelaire’s Artificial Paradises, on the drug experiences of hashish and opium and their relationship with creative expression, being accounts from within the walls of Le Club des Haschischins and a translation and adaptation of Thomas De Quincey’s Confessions of an English Opium-Eater. CARTERET I:126. This copy rebound in a fine half leather binding without the wrappers.
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Le Spleen de Paris
Charles Baudelaire; L. Lafnet
: Les Bibliophiles Franco-Suisses, 1940 [1941].One of 106 numbered copies reserved for members of the final illustrated book by Luc Lafnet, with 90 etchings each with tissue guard.
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Les Fleurs du Mal
Charles Baudelaire; Armand Rassenfosse; Henri Noulhac
Paris: Les Cent Bibliophiles, 1899.One of 115 numbered copies of the first, and widely considered the best, illustrated edition of The Flowers of Evil, being the chef d’oeuvre of Belgian artist Armand Rassenfosse, with nearly every page of the text illustrated with Symbolist colour etchings and nude women. This copy from the collection of actor and bibliophile Barry Humphries, with his bookplate; bound in a fine binding signed Noulhac 1918, with multi-rule borders and silk doublures framed with inlaid leather strips and flowers at the corners. Illustrated with a portrait frontispiece, throughout with hundreds of colour illustrations and tailpieces, as well as 6 plates and a page of text with tailpiece outside of the text. Bound at the rear is a Juin 1897 Specimen being the leaf of XX La Geante with an alternative tailpiece illustration and the chapter plate for Les Fleurs du Mal, an etched menu cover for a Les Cent Bibliophiles Dinner for Fleurs du Mal, 6 Mai 1901 by Rassenfosse, as well as 17 additional etchings by Evert van Muyden and other artists.
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Les Fleurs du Mal
Charles Baudelaire; Almery Lobel-Riche; Henri Blanchetiere
Paris: M. A. Blaizot, 1917.One of 12 on Japon Imperial from a deluxe edition of 24 numbered copies of The Flowers of Evil illustrated by Almery Lobel-Riche and published on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Baudelaire’s death. This copy from the collection of actor and bibliophile Barry Humphries, with his bookplate; bound in a fine binding signed H. Blanchetiere 1923, with illustrative inlays, the upper board depicting a branch of flowers with a reclining nude woman around which a snake slithers, the spine with a lyre motif, the lower board with a cat, and the inner boards decorated with inlaid leather floral patterns in an Art Nouveau style after Charles Meunier by Henri Blanchetiere. Illustrated throughout by Lobel-Riche with 43 etchings in multiple states: a frontispiece portrait of the author in 2 states, 40 etchings in 4 states, 1 etching in 6 states (Le Chat), and 1 etching in 3 states (a rejected plate for Les Yeux de Berthe), as well as an original signed drawing in pen, ink and crayon at the front (for La Geante), an original watercolour (for Chanson d’apres-midi), and 2 original sketches (for La Mort des amants and Priere d’un paien).
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L’Ecrin du Rubis ou Les Delices des Dessous
Liane de Lauris
Paris: Au Cabinet du Livre [Jean Fort], 1932.Rare French lesbian erotica. The first edition with 16 illustrations and colour illustrated wrappers by P. Silex, and with the limitation statement of 6 numbered copies, numbered by the printer, of which this copy is numbered IV.
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Seduction: Jeunes Amours au Chateau, a la Pension
Pierrot
: En Vente Partout et Nulle Part, 1910.The first clandestine printing with the limitation of 300 copies on the verso of the half-title by the Briffaut brothers following the original edition circa 1908 titled Une Seduction and expanded with four additional texts of poetry and plays after the first. This copy unnumbered on Alfa as often and with the bookplate of the Membre de la Guide du Livre. DUTEL 787. PERCEAU 274-2, PIA 1366.
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Les Delices Libertines
Jacqueline de Lansay [Johannes Gros]
Moncontour: Au Bonheur des Dames, No date.French clandestine erotica printed by Maurice Duflou circa 1935 with 14 erotic plates depicting numerous lesbian and group scenes. The first issue of 400 numbered copies, of which this is number 84. DUTEL 1358, PIA 311.
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Justine ou les Malheurs de la Vertu
Marquis de Sade
Paris: Le Soleil Noir, 1950.First Edition with the preface by Georges Bataille. The first issue of 940 numbered copies with the pink frontispiece by Hans Bellmer. This copy unopened in the original wrappers.
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Les Champignons Comestibles & Veneneux
A. de La Rocque
Paris: Nodot Editeur, No date.Edible and Poisonous Mushrooms: General Notions. Classification. Study of Characteristics.
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Description de Deux Nouvelles Especes de Ptychogaster et nouvelle preuve de l’identite de ce genre avec les Polyporus
M. Boudier
Paris: J. Mersch, 1887.Description of Two New Species of Ptychogaster and New Evidence for the Identity of This Genus with Polyporus. Extract from the Journal de Botanique 15 February, 1887. This copy inscribed by Boudier.
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Opium: Journal d’une Desintoxication
Jean Cocteau
Paris: Librairie Stock, 1930.An unnumbered copy of the first edition on paper.
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Leurs Pantalons: Comment elles les portent
Jacques Mauvain
Paris: Jean Fort, 1923.A volume devoted to women’s pants and how they wear them. Illustrated with ten black and white plates and a colour cover illustration by the French illustrator of La Vie Parisienne fame Cheri Herouard, showing risqué portraits of women in varying circumstances revealing their undergarments. Though the title page states this is a new edition completely revised and augmented with many interviews, this 1923 printing is the first recorded printing we are aware of, with two reprints following in 1924 and 1927.
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Mademoiselle Javotte, ouvrage peu moral, ecrit par elle-meme, et publie par une de ses amies
[Paul Baret]
[Paris]: A Bicetre, 1788.Mademoiselle Javotte, a work of little morality, written by herself, and published by one of her friends. An anonymous tale (often attributed to Paul Baret / Paul Barrett) in which the heroine engages in sex work to escape poverty. A racy reworking of a closely titled 1757 moral work, whereas this one has little. This copy illustrated with 2 erotic etchings.
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Le Pornographe, ou Idees d’un Honnete-Homme sur, un Projet de Reglement pour les Prostitutes,
[Nicolas Restif de La Bretonne]
Londres and La Haie: Jean Nourse and Gosse Junior, 1770.Propre a prevenir les Malheurs qu’occafionne le Publicisme des Femmes. Avec Des Notes Historiques et Justificatives. [The Pornographer, or Ideas of an Honest Man on a Draft Regulation for Prostitutes, Proper to Prevent the Misfortunes Occurring from the Publicity of Women. With Historical and Justificatory Notes]. Second Edition of the classic 18th century utopian text on sex work in which Bretonne envisions prostitution as a public institution with numerous social and medical benefits. This copy in a likely 20th century rebind in quarter leather with new endpapers, and extra-illustrated with one erotic illustration bound in at page 16.