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BOOKS IN FRENCH
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Sabatier's
Many-Named
Caprices
Sabatier de Castres, Antoine, abbé. La nouvelle
orpheline angloise ou les bisarreries du destin. Francfort sur le Mein: Aux depens de la
compagnie, 1770. 8vo (15.9 cm, 6.25"). 2 vols. in 1. Frontis., 155, [1], 166 pp.
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
Scarce sole edition with this title as well as the first edition published in Germany,
originally printed in Amsterdam and Paris in the previous year as Betsi, ou, Les bisarreries du
destin. Sabatier was a prolific, controversial author best known for Les trois siècles de la
littérature française; the present work, apparently his only published novel, describes the trials
and tribulations of a young orphan raised in England and later brought back to her native France.
The present title (as well, indeed, as the novel itself) may have been intended to capitalize on the
success of Sarah Fielding's History of Charlotte Summers, which had just appeared in French
translation as L'orpheline angloise. Sabatier's orphan romance subsequently appeared under yet
another title, Bizarreries du destin, ou Mémoires de milady Kilmar, as well as its most prominent
and enduring title of all: Les Caprices de la Fortune.
This edition opens with a copper-engraved frontispiece; the second volume
has a separate title-page.
OCLC locates no
institutional holdings of this title in the U.S., while COPAC finds only one
U.K. holding (British Library).
Barbier, Dictionnaire des
ouvrages anonymes et pseudonymes, I, 402; Grieder, Anglomania in France, 1740–1789, 157
(for 1769 & 1781 eds.). Contemporary speckled sheep, spine gilt extra in
billet pattern with gilt-stamped leather title-label; small area of spine gilt rubbed and small chips
to top and bottom; corners and lower edges rubbed, with small insect hole to back joint.
Attractive paste-paper endpapers and all edges red. One leaf with tear in margin, not into text;
light old staining to a few leaves, including margins of frontispiece. Title-page with faint traces
of early inked inscription. A sound, clean copy. (26853)

Against Magic & Sorcery
Saint André, François de. Lettres de Mr. de St. André conseiller-medecin ordinaire du Roy; a quelques-uns de sees amis, au sujet de la magie, des malefices et des sorciers. Où il rend raison des effets les plus surprenans qu'on attribue ordinairement aux démons; & fait voir que ces intelligences n'y ont souvent aucune part; & que tout ce qu'on leur impute, qui ne se trouve ni dans l'ancien, ni dans le Nouveau-Testament, ni autorisé par l'eglise, est naturel ou supposé. Paris: Robert-Marc Despilly, 1725. 16mo (16.2 cm, 6.5"). [3], 446 pp.
$875.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
First edition of a collection of six letters by François de Saint André (1675–1725),
consulting physician in ordinary to the king, debunking magic, sorcery, and demonic possession. These polemics are addressed “A Monsieur B.”, with two entitled “de la magie” and four entitled “des malefices.” With engraved initials, and head- and tailpieces.
Provenance: Ink signatures of “Mesange de St. Andre,” dated 1784, appear on front free endpaper and at top margin of title-page; gift inscription on front fly-leaf reads “Henri de Mesange St. Andre offr. au regt. de Barrois.” Later from the library of Helen de Guerry Simpson.
Pichon 2075; Coumont, Demonology and Witchcraft, S3.1. Contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt extra and with gilt-stamped label; spine chipped at head and foot, joints open. Marbled endpapers. Ribbon placemarker. Edges stained red. Faint waterstain at lower margin of some leaves. Chip at lower outer corner of pp. 145/146. Slight loss of paper at lower edge of pp. 289/290. Ownership
markings include a bookplate on the front pastedown and early ink inscriptions on the front free endpaper, front fly-leaf, and in the blank area of the top margin of the title-page. (24562)
Saint-Aubin, Piétresson de. Promenade aux cimetières de Paris, aux sépultures royales de Saint-Denis, et aux catacombes .... Paris: C.L.F. Panckoucke, [1820?]. 12mo (18.9 cm, 7.5"). [4], ii, 6, 243, [1] pp.; 30 plts.
(1 fold.).
$400.00
Uncommon first edition of this sepulchrally themed entry in a series of Parisian guidebooks, here in its original paper wrappers. The volume covers what the preface describes as the most picturesque cemeteries to be found in any European city, with
30 tipped-in engraved plates by Dubois illustrating various gravestones.
Click the interior image for an enlargement.
We find only two U.S. locations and a copy at the British Library.
Publisher’s printed paper wrappers; edges nicked, paper split and chipping along spine, text block cracked. Front pastedown with institutional bookplate. Lower margins of title-page and preface waterstained, inner margin of frontispiece waterstained; upper margin of title-page with portion torn away. Some plates lightly foxed or browned, one with waterstaining in lower margin. Pages untrimmed.
One’s sense is that this was USED as a guidebook!
Artillery Illustrated
Saint-Remy, Pierre Surirey de. Memoires d'artillerie, où il est traité des mortiers, petards, arquebuses à croc, mousquets, fusils, & c. ... Amsterdam: Pierre Mortier, 1702. 4to (23 cm, 9"). 2 vols. I: Frontis., [18], 348 pp.; 106 (of 114) plts. II: [6], 386, [2] pp.; 64 (of 70) plts.
[SOLD]
Uncommon Amsterdam issue following the Parisian first edition of 1697: One of the earliest treatises published on artillery, an important and often-cited guidebook to the weaponry of the time. The two volumes are illustrated with
171 (of 179) copper-engraved plates, many oversized and folding, depicting handguns, arsenals, and weapons manufacturing.
Brunet, V, 595 (listing 1745 ed. only). Recent period-style speckled calf (signed by Grace Bindings in blind at inner area of rear cover, lower turn-in), covers framed and panelled in gilt rolls with gilt-stamped corner fleurons, spines with gilt-stamped leather title labels, gilt-ruled raised bands, and gilt-stamped compartment decorations. Vol. I frontispiece separated (and trimmed within its plate mark) but present. Variable waterstaining to pages and plates; one oversized folding plate bound in upside-down and one with tears along folds. Imperfect for sure — and full of interest. (20680)
Schmid, Christoph von. Histoire de Geneviève de Brabant, par l’auteur des Oeufs de pâquer. Paris: Chez Levrault, 1832. 12mo (13.7 cm, 5.45"). [2], 136, [8 (adv.)] pp.; 6 plts.
$325.00
Early lithographed engravings illustrate von Schmid’s rendition of the enduring medieval legend of a chaste and faithful wife unjustly accused, meant for a juvenile audience and here in the first published French translation.
Very uncommon. OCLC and ESTC report only one holding, at Stanford.
Original printed boards, worn, paper almost entirely lost over spine. Without endpapers, apparently as bound. Sewing loosening, with several leaves separated. Scattered spots of mild foxing. Despite faults noted, a charmer.
[Ségur, Louis Philippe, comte de]. Étiquette du palais impérial. Année 1806. Paris: De l’imprimerie
impériale, 1806. 4to (25.7 cm, 9.9"). [1] f., 159, [1 (blank)] pp.
$2750.00


First edition of this uncommon guide to appropriate formal behavior in the Napoleonic court, published just two years after Napoleon crowned himself emperor of France. Extremely precise descriptions of all court proceedings are provided, detailing the etiquette of processions, balls and concerts, pages’ service, bureaucratic functions as accomplished by individual officers, and the preparation of the Emperor’s breakfast.
The work is generally attributed to the Comte de Ségur, a diplomat and historian who served under Rochambeau in the American War of Independence; he also published works on classical and Jewish history.
Old-style blue morocco, covers framed in double gilt fillets, spine with gilt-ruled raised bands and gilt-stamped devices in compartments, leather turndowns tooled in blind. Tear in upper margin of one leaf repaired very unobtrusively; several leaves with closed tears or holes also professionally patched, just touching a few letters; one leaf with clear tape covering tear. Pages washed, resized, and very clean, with only a few faint spots; edges slightly brittle, with occasional very short tears.
For NAPOLEANA, click here.

By a Bible Scholar & Church Historian
(Later, the Property of
a Scholar Collector)
Simon, Richard. Histoire de l'origine & du progres des revenus ecclesiastiques... par Jerome a Costa. Francfort: Chez Frederic Arnaud [& Londres: Chez Jean de Beaulieu], 1684. 12mo (15.5 cm, 6.1"). [4], 346, [10 (index)] pp.
$600.00

First edition of this pseudonymously published work on the history
of Church finances, written by a controversial French Oratorian priest much
attacked for his published arguments that Moses had not written the whole of
the Pentateuch. Simon, an accomplished Hebrew scholar, was later lauded by the
New Catholic Encyclopedia as the “father of Biblical criticism.”
Click
the interior image for an enlargement.
Provenance: Signature on title-page
of Howard Osgood, a prominent late 19th- and early 20th-century Hebrew scholar
and noted collector.
Goldsmiths'-Kress 2558; Wing (2nd ed.) S3801B. Contemporary
speckled calf, spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title-label, board
edges stamped with gilt roll; corners and spine extremities worn, front joint
cracked and back joint starting, sewing holding. Front pastedown with small
French bookseller's ticket and early inked numeral. Title-page with small
early inked owner's name and with institutional pressure stamp, reverse with
pencilled numerals. Pages clean. (19511)
Inventions et Decouvertes
Soulange, Ernest. Les curieuses origines des inventions et decouvertes. 2e edition. Tours: Mame et Cie, 1848. 12mo. [2], add. engr. t.-p., [2], 260 pp.; 3 plts.
$100.00

Second edition, following the first of 1845, of a volume in the "Gymnase Moral d'Education" series. The work includes several pages on the history of coffee, as well as information on the development of harps, hot air balloons, and printing presses, among other useful items; the four plates (including the additional engraved title-page) depict an ancient shipbuilding scene, a hot-air balloon takeoff, an observatory, and a building captioned "Telegraphe."
Not in Von Hunersdorff, Coffee. Publisher's embossed gilt-paper binding, moderately worn with the spine and board edges a bit darkened; still a very attractive, unusual binding. Front pastedown with small bookseller's ticket and with remnants of a school prize bookplate. Pages mostly clean, with scattered hints of light foxing. (10592)
For
INVENTIONS, click here.
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