26 497 résultats
8vo. 2 pp. With original autograph transmittal envelope. In Pencil. Monet writes a short note to French novelist and critic Georges Lecomte, thanking him for the recent article in "The Renaissance": "Mon cher ami, Excusez-moi je vous en prie, de ne vous avoir encore remercié du bel article que vous m'avez consacré dans la Renaissance, mais j'avais seulement de revenir d'un petit séjour […] et je m'empresse de vous adresser avec mes remerciements mon souvenir de bonne amitié".
8vo. Together 4 pp. To his lawyer Johannes Roede (1875-1958), brother of the pianist and collector Halfdan Nobel Roede, concerning Munch's financial problems and poor reputation. In the letter on stationery from a hotel in Opdal, Munch complains about his financial difficulties despite his owning several apartments. He contemplates renting or selling his properties in order to be able to afford moving. - The letter on Gothenburg hotel stationery is no less pessimistic. Munch explains that his property in Ekely, which he bought in 1916 for 55,000 crowns, had been overpriced, as his childhood friend, the architect Henrik Bull, estimates that it is worth hardly more than 60,000 crowns so many years later. In addition, Munch relays a conversation with Jens Thiis, the director of the National Gallery in Oslo, centered around his poor reputation. Apparently, Munch was perceived as primarily concerned with letting his properties, while supposedly neglecting his paintings, which he is said to keep in bad condition. - On stationery of the "Opdal Turisthotel" and the "Grand Hôtel Haglund" in Gotheburg. Traces of folds and buckles. The letter from Gothenburg with minor tears to the upper margin. Includes an autograph envelope by Johannes Roede's wife Ellen.
12 x 7.5 cm; containing a notebook, 10 ff. (blank) and two satin-lined pockets. Binding in straight-grain red morocco, the covers edged with an applied gold frame, the upper cover with a mounted plaque reading "Souvenir", the lower cover similarly decorated but reading "D'Amitie", fastened at the foredge with a gold pencil. The covers and doublures bear a total of four mounted miniatures framed in gold under glass. These are (upper cover) Queen Maria Theresa of Habsburg-Lorena-Este (wife of Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia), the miniature signed by Angelo Vacca; (front doublure) Maria Theresa of Savoy, Duchess of Lucca; (rear doublure) Maria Anna of Savoy, later Empress of Austria (as wife to Ferdinand I); the young Maria Christina of Savoy (rear cover, also signed by Vacca). - Maria Christina appears to be five or six years old in her portrait, which places the production of this charming keepsake at about 1817-1818. The artist was presumably the same for all four, Angelo Vacca (the younger) of Turin. He was one of the principal painters for the court of King Victor, which helps place the production of this charming piece squarely in the royal milieu. Stylistically, this is a precursor of the popular twentieth century Cosway bindings. A few earlier French examples exist, but as a class 18th and early 19th century bindings with original miniature paintings are rare, and we have not seen any with attached gold plaques and decoration such as the present example. - Light wear, but overall in very attractive condition. An extraordinary survival, presumably a gift from the Italian royal family.
4to. 2½ pp. on bifolium. With autogr. address. To "Monsieur Bertrand, Pasteur de l'Eglise française à Berne", discussing an anonymous letter which very much upsets Voltaire because of the fake attribution to somebody else: "Me voilà toujours cloué à mes Délices, mon cher Monsieur, en proye aux maladies et aux ouvriers. Je travaille à me défaire de tout cela pour venir rendre mes hommages à Berne. J'y viendrai lire le cathechisme dont vous me parlez, car en vérité - je me sens un peu de votre Relligion: je suis indulgent comme vous, j'aime Dieu et le genre humain, et je ne damne personne. Ce n'est pas que l'auteur de la Lettre anonime n'ait fait une action damnable ou tout au moins condamnable: ce n'est point-là du fanatisme tout pur, c'est une méchanceté réfléchie: j'avoue avec vous que l'auteur est un fou, mais c'est un fou très-dangereux. Il écrit une lettre de Lausanne contre les premiers Eclésiastiques et les premiers magistrats du pays; il me dit dans cette lettre que ceux qui me font l'honneur de venir chez moi écrivent à Berne contre moi. Il envoye sa lettre cachetée à un de ses parens à Berne, et le prie de mettre le dessus de la Lettre. Ce parent se prête innocemment à cette manœuvre dont il ne soupçonne pas la malignité. Ce sont des choses qu'on peut aisément savoir de Mr. Roberty employé à la Poste de Berne. Pour comble de perversité ce brouillon a cacheté sa lettre d'un cachet surmonté de la Lettre 'H' et a répandu lui-même dans Lausanne qu'un magistrat de Berne m'avait écrit une lettre de reproches. Mes amis m'ont conseillé d'écrire à Mr. de Haller, me flattant qu'il pourait me mettre au fait de cette manœuvre dans laquelle on semblait abuser de son nom, et qu'il en était indigné. On m'avait dit qu'il avait quelque intendance sur les postes, et c'est cette raison quo me détermine à prendre la liberté de m'adresser à lui. Je n'osai pas lui éxpliquer ce que la lettre anonime contenait ; je me contentai de lui parler en général pour obtenir quelques éclaircissements. Je suis actuellement tout éclairci : je sais de quelle main ce tra[vail ?] infame est parti, et je suis persuadé que vos magistrats ne souffriraient point qu'un homme écrivît de Lausanne des calomnies contre les premiers de Lausanne, et les envoyât par la poste de Berne pour faire croire que sa lettre est écrite par quelqu'un de ses souverains. Cet abus de toutes les Loix, et ce manque de respect à ses maîtres n'est pas tolérable. Je vous supplie, Monsieur, de vouloir bien communiquer ma lettre à Mr. Freudenreich et à Mr. de Haller. Je sais qu'il y a bien des tracasseries à Lausanne, mais je ne m'en mêle point. Je n'ai été qu'une seule fois dans cette ville. On m'a dit que de jeunes ministres n'ont pas pour leurs anciens toute la considération qu'ils leur doivent ; que quelquefois même ils prêchent les uns contre les autres ; mais ce n'est pas à moi à prendre connaissance de ces petits scandales ; un malade doit se tenir au coin de son feu, et un étranger doit se taire.Bon soir mon cher philosophe relligieux et humain. Mille respects je vous en prie à Monsieur C. C. de Freudenreich et à M. le Baron de Haller". - Somewhat browned and spotty; small damages to edges; paper cut-out due to opening seal on fol. 2 (not touching text). - Provenance: Asta Hoepli, Zurich, May 26, 1933, lot 47.
- 19 août 1915, 22,2x28,6cm, 2 pages sur un feuillet. - 19 August 1915, 22,2x28,6cm, 2 pages on a leaf. Autograph letter in German signed by the painter Franz Marc to his mother Sophie Marc (née Maurice); two pages in black ink. Trace of horizontal and vertical fold. Unpublished letter. Marc's wartime correspondence with his wife Maria has been published, with only a few letters to his mother (Franz Marc, Briefe, Aufzeichnungen und Aphorismen, Berlin, Paul Cassirer, 1920). Lengthy unpublished letter from Franz Marc to his mother during the First World War, written a few months before his death in Verdun. In the horror of the conflict, the future martyr of German expressionism recalls childhood images and tells horse stories from the front. Stationed on the Alsace front, the famed animal painter recounts a hilarious wild boar hunt improvised during a horseback ride, reminding him of an illustrated childhood tale: The Three Jovial Hunstmen by Randolph Caldecott (1880). Franz Marc reveals here an inspiration for his famous horses, which gave their name to the "Blaue Reiter" movement created in 1911 with Wassily Kandinsky. The horses in Caldecott's Huntsmen resemble Franz Marc's paintings from 1905-1910. This anecdote is also related to "hunting horses" sketched on the front, and a postcard sketch of the same "Jagende Pferde" sent to the poet Else Laske-Schüler in September 1915. The letter gives a glimpse of Franz Marc's daily life on the front. By a cruel irony of fate, he fought in the native region of his mother Sophie Marc née Maurice, born in 1847 in the Alsatian village of Guebwiller. When war broke out in August 1914, he joined the army hoping for a renewal of Europe like many fellow artists and intellectuals. Due to the circumstances of the war, the painter wrote his letter in German and not in French, as he was accustomed to do in his correspondence with his mother. His mother's influence was decisive in his aesthetic and spiritual approach: Marc's tireless quest for "purity" inherited from his Calvinist upbringing eventually led him to abstraction, already present in his sketches as he wrote this letter. He gives news of a future promotion, thanks his mother for sending him food and fills the page with the story of his miraculous hunt: "I have one more amusing story to tell: as I was riding out at dawn (before breakfast), I suddenly noticed a young boar (a wild boar) beside me in a ditch. I immediately called my fellow riders; he was surrounded - I already felt sorry for the poor animal, but the pity came too late! - Two of them jumped in, one grabbed him by the ears, the other poked him and the roast for the steward's table was retrieved. A most comical scene ensued: We ordered the youngest [soldier] to go home with the boar and got him on horseback; but no sooner did the horse feel the boar on his back (horses are very afraid of boars) than he reared up and threw the rider and the pig into a great arc. Fortunately, nothing happened and the embarrassed rider had to walk the boar back, then the horse really reared up as soon as he was approached. A real amateur rider! I was thinking of Dad's old English picture book: the jovial huntsman!" With this light-hearted anecdote, the painter reveals a source of inspiration still unknown to critics and historians. The Three Jovial Huntsmen certainly influenced the young Franz Marc, whose own horses painted in the 1910s (including the Weidende Pferde I, Lenbachhaus, Munich) are unmistakably marked by Caldecott's British style. In the following years, he added to this subject his kaleidoscopic touch and his emblematic blue, red and yellow colors charged with spiritual symbolism. Franz Marc also painted blue wild boars in 1913 (Museum Ludwig, Cologne). The story of this hunt is also completely new, since he asked his mother to tell it to his wife Maria to avoid writing a second letter "es ist lang: welch, sowas zweimal erzählen" (it's long: to tell the same thing twice). This
- s.l. (Vincennes) s.d. (circa 1781), 15,7x20,1cm, une feuille. - SADE Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Autograph letter to his wife. Hommages à la Présidente: "Faire noyer vive l'exécrable coquine qui depuis neuf ans [...] suce mon sang..." N. p. [Vincennes Castle] n. d. (circa 1781), 157 x 201 mm (6 3/16 x 7 15/16 "), single leaf "The more I think about it, however, the more I think you have to have quite a nerve to dare write to a poor suffering unfortunate..." Autograph letter unsigned from the Marquis de Sade to his wife. One page, closely written in ink on 31 lines. This letter was written during Sade's imprisonment at Vincennes, probably in April 1781, if one is to believe the occasional indicators of date referenced by the writer. Sade mentions the end of his "exile from Marseilles", referring to the decision of the court in Aix-en-Provence to overturn his conviction for debauchery and libertinage on the 14 July 1778, but which nonetheless banned him from living in or visiting Marseilles for three years. Sade also mentions one of the defining episodes of his life, his flight to Italy between January and November 1776: "they may as well have killed me straight off as left me in that foreign country where I was." Sade also mentions the "amazing favor" that befell him of "moving house", which is to say his potential transfer to the fort at Montélimar. In April 1781, Madame de Sade, through the good offices of her friend Madame de Sorans, got authorization from the King for her husband to be transferred to the prison there. Sade explains in the letter: "I think you have to have quite a nerve to dare write to a poor suffering unfortunate who has been beset these nine years...telling him to thank, ever so humbly, the woman who obtained for him the amazing favor of moving house." Sade is here no doubt referring to the famous Madame de Sorans, a lady of Louis XVI's sister's bedchamber and a friend of his wife's who, out of a spirit of adventure, accepted the task of petitioning the King in his favor. It was to Commissioner Le Noir, referenced in this letter, that Renée-Pélagie left the task of breaking the news to the prisoner: "Ah, I see now what this nice little visit by M. Lenoir means, I'm used to seeing him in the middle of my incarcerations." Despite the fact that, as Pauvert points out in Sade vivant, this change of "house" occupied the Marquis' thoughts to a large extent, he was never actually moved, preferring to stay in the gaols of the keep at Vincennes. At this point, Sade had been imprisoned for several years and this letter, full of movement, reveals his thirst for freedom. This letter was written when Madame de Sade withdrew to the convent at Sainte-Aure. If she saw this act as a liberation from the yoke of her marriage, the Marquis for his part was obsessed by the idea of his own liberation and mentions a potential date: October 1783. His long incarceration, which began in 1777, would last till April 1790, when lettres de cachet were abolished. Madame de Sade's visits were not reauthorized by the prison authorities until 13 July 1781, after four years and five months of separation. Several important themes in Sade's correspondence already appear in this letter from his first years in prison. First of all, his hatred for his mother-in-law, the Présidente de Montreuil, an "execrable wretch who drinks [my] blood...disgraces [her] children, who has not yet done scattering her horrific deeds and platitudes" and whom he would like to "drown alive". The Marquis also complains of his poor physical health: "my head spins and in my condition I hardly need any more misery", using very Sadean epithets to express his despair. "A poor suffering unfortunate who has been beset these nine years"; "what have I done, what have I done dear Lord, to suffer for twelve years?". Provenance: family archives.
- s.n., s.l. 17 août 1780, 10x16cm, 2 pages sur un feuillet. - Handwritten letter to his wife. Sufferance and philosophy: "Punish as much as you like, but do not kill me: I did not deserve it [...] Ah! If you could read to the bottom of my heart, see everything that happens there, I think you would give up using it!" August 17, 1780, 10 x 16 cm, loose leaves Handwritten letter from the Marquis de Sade addressed to his wife. One recto-verso leaf written in fine, tight writing. It has the partial date at the top "ce jeudi 17" "this Thursday 17th." Two slight signs of folding. The end of the letter was mutilated at the time, probably by the prison administration which destroyed the Marquis' licentious correspondence. So, several months later, in March 1781 his wife wrote to him: "My dear, you really must change your style so that your letters can reach me whole. If you give the truth, it offends, turns against you. If you give any untruths, they say: this is an incorrigible man, always with the same head that ferments, ungrateful, false etc. In any case, your style can only harm you. So change it." The letter was found as it was when, in 1948, the Marquis' trunk, that had been sealed by the family since 1814, was open and it was published in this reduced form in the correspondence of the Marquis de Sade. Provenance: family archives. This letter was written on 17 August 1780, during the Marquis' incarceration in Vincennes Prison. Following the umpteenth altercation with the prison guard, the right to go for a walk was taken away from him on 27 June and was not reinstated until 9 March the following year. The Marquis' physical and mental health is strongly affected by not being able to go out and he constantly begs Renée-Pélagie for the right to be quickly reinstated: "I urge you to let me get some fresh air: I absolutely cannot take it any longer." The suffering caused by these deprivations is a pretext for setting up a mechanism of guilt and blackmail with his wife: "There, three days that I have felt an awful dizziness, with blood rushing to my head so much so that I do not know how I have not fainted. One of these days, they will find me dead and you will be responsible, after having warned you as I do and having asked you for the help which I need to avoid it." Here, the Marquis is intentionally pulling on Renée-Pélagie's heartstrings, really putting her Christian values to the test and giving her the role of grand inquisitor: "You can grant me what I ask for, whilst keeping, on your signal, the same strength." We note, as in Tancrède's letter, a new appearance of "signal," which masks completely different semantics. An essential component of the Marquis' prison mindset, this encoded language, like the fantasised interpretations of his correspondents' letters, feeds the theories of researchers, philosophers, mathematicians... and poet biographers. As such, Gilbert Lely estimates that, far from being symptomatic of psychosis, the return to signals is "his psyche's defence reaction, a subconscious struggle against despair where, without the help of such a distraction, his motivation could have declined." Missing from his correspondence during his eleven years of freedom, these enigmatic semantic depths, "a real challenge to semiological judgement" (Lever p.637), reappear in his Charenton diary. This letter is also an opportunity for the Marquis to deploy his rhetorical panel, confronting the sadistic antonyms in the same sentence. "Pleasure" is synonymous with "abominable" "revolting," "cemetery"and "garden" are superimposed, "I suffer" is conjugated as "I enjoy" and "softness" stands alongside "darkness." The mastered practice of this eloquence exercise is united with the depths of Sadian thought: sufferance and pleasure are closely mixed, simultaneously endured, inflicted and desired. Through these associations, we glimpse the sensitive Manicheism of the Marquis's philosophical thought, which reaches its climax at the en
12mo (4), 8vo (20) and 4to (1). 68½ pp. on 6 single leaves and 19 bifolia. All but one to the publisher Maurice Lachâtre (1814-1900), who fled to San Sebastián in Spain after the end of the Paris Commune, many discussing the communards' fate in exile and work on the "Mémorial de la Commune". - 9 letters by Arthur Arnould about his work "Paris et la Commune", several chapters of which he sends to Lachâtre for his "Mémorial": "Je me décide donc à vous envoyer non pas un travail complet, mais seulement quelques chapitres détachés, formant chacun un ensemble [...]" (Luina di Pazzallo près Lugano, 30 Aug. 1875). The others mainly about the proofs for the "Mémorial", but also discussing his state of health, the political situation in France, and his travels. - 2 letters by Armand Adam about the deplorable political situation in France and the journal "Radical": "Si jamais des temps meilleurs nous permettent de reprende à Paris la publication du Radical je serai heureux d'examiner avec vous la proposition que vous avez bien voulu me faire autrefois, et je crois que nous pouvons nous entendre. Mais, ces temps meilleurs, je ne les vois pas proches [...]" (Paris, 14 April 1874). - 2 letters by Eugène Chatelain, one describing his professional situation as a doctor, the other expressing his relief at hearing of Lachâtre's well-being: "J'ai appris à Londres ces jours derniers que vous étiez en Angleterre. Je suis heureux de cette nouvelle, car lorsque je me cachais à Paris après la chute de la Commune [...], on m'avait assuré que vous aviez été fusillé avec quelqu'un de chez vous. Vous êtes vivant, tant mieux! [...]" (Saint Helier, Jersey, 8 Sept. [?] 1872). - 1 by André Alavoine informing him that he is no longer the publisher of the journal "Lanterne", mentioning that he remains in close relations to Henri Rochefort nonetheless: "Je viens de communiquer votre lettre à l'administration de La Lanterne, car il est bon de vous dire que nous ne sommes plus, depuis quelques mois déjà, les éditeurs et imprimeurs de la Lanterne [...] Néanmoins, je suis resté en très-bons rapports avec Rochefort [...]" (Genève, 25 Aug. 1875). On headed stationery of the "Ziegler & Cie" printing house. - 1 by Edmond Adam about the conviction of Gustave Courbet in connection with the destruction of the Colonne Vendôme: "Courbet n'a pas été condamné pour les dommages géneraux commis par la Commune mais pour un dommage particulier, la destruction de la Colonne Vendôme, qui luia été attribué personellement [...]" (Boulevard Poissonnière, 16 July 1874). On stationery with printed address. - 1 by Henri Salles about Lachâtre's offer to Victor Hugo, concerning the employment of amnestied persons: "Vous avez bien voulu offir à Victor Hugo de prendre chez vous quelques amnestiés pour les employer au courtage en librairie [...]" (no place, 17 July 1879). On headed stationery of the "Comité general d'aide aux amnestiés". - 1 by Francis Jourde mentioning Lachâtre's "Mémorial de la Commune", calling it a revolutionary work: "J'ai reçu il y a quelques jours votre Memorial de la Commune; je suis partisan de l'action et du combat, donc, toute oeuvre revolutionnaire est toujours la bienvenue quelles que soient ses tendances et les doctrines qu'elle represente [...]" (Rue du jeu des enfants, 30 June, no year). - 1 by Jean Larocque about his fate after the end of the Commune: "Plus heureux je pus me cacher après le 28 mai, et dans l'hôtel où, peu de jours après, fut arrêté Régère, puis dans une institution des environs de Paris. Manquant de toutes ressources, je me disposais à reparaitre pour chercher du travail [...]" (Leominster, 17 May 1872). - 1 by E. Rajoux about the heavily guarded Swiss border and the articles he can offer for the "Mémorial de la Commune": "La frontière est très surveillée [...] Si je découvre - et je cherche toujours - un moyen de transit quelquonque, je vous en préviendrai. Vous me demandez quelques articles pour le Mémorial de la Commune, j'accède avec plaisir à votre demande [...]" (Yverdon, Sept. 1875). - 1 by Ferdinand Revillon about his fate after the end of the Commune and his former collaboration on Félix Pyat's journal "Le Combat": "J'étais réfugé, le lendemain des derniers massacres de mai 71, chez une personne qui m'offrit asile et chez laquelle je restai pendant plusieurs mois caché [...] j'ai collaboré au journal de Félix Pyat, Le Combat, avant la Commune, tout en exerçant ma carrière de critique musical et de compositeur de musique [...]" (Geneva, 15 April 1876). - 1 by Eugène Protot expressing his dismay at Lachâtre's marriage, which he calls a business union: "A mon avis ce n'est pas un mariage, ce n'est pas même une union libre que vous organisez, mais une espèce de société commerciale [...]" (London, 5 Aug. 1880). - Further letters by Maxime Vuillaume (Altorf, 18 May 1876) and Jules Guesde (Prison de St. Pélagie, 1 Sept. 1889, with two clippings, probably both from his newspaper "L'Égalité"), one each, as well as another letter signed "Georges" (Lyon, 18 May 1876). - 1 letter by Amilcare Cipriani to Henri Oriol (no place, 27 Sept. 1888).
8vo (140 x 190 mm). Ca. 100 ff. with five entries, written on rectos only. Full mottled calf by Hubert & Lerner, Vienna. All edges gilt. Anna Freud's guest book from Hochrotherd in the Vienna Woods, where she and her partner Dorothy Tiffany Burlingham had bought an old farmhouse as a weekend and holiday home in 1930. Several major figures in the psychoanalytic movement signed the book: Sigmund Freud signed the first page, dating his inscription 26 July 1932 (with a three-word sentiment in German: "halb als Papa"). Marie Bonaparte (Princess George of Greece and Denmark), the French author and psychoanalyst, appears to have joined her together with Freud; her inscription bears the same date, and also carries a sentiment thanking the recipient for a good meal. After a hiatus of one leaf, Ernest Jones, Freud's lifelong friend and his biographer, signed the book, dated 24 August 1934, noting that it was "a souvenir of a delightful and eventful experience". - Max Halberstadt, the Hamburg photographer best known for his portraits of Freud, his father-in-law, signed on 2 February 1936: "Via Hochrotherd nach Johannesburg". A few months after this inscription, Halberstadt emigrated to South Africa; his wife and daughter followed him in August 1936. - René Laforgue, the French psychoanalyst, and his wife Paulette, conclude the series with a signature and sentiment (again in German) dated 30 September 1936: "Hier haben wir trotz Winter und Kälte Ruhe und Wärme gefunden" ("Here we have found peace and warmth despite the winter and the cold"). - In 1934, Anna Freud took over the chairmanship of the teaching institute of the Vienna Psychoanalytical Association from Helene Deutsch (who turned her back on Austrofascism the following year and emigrated with her family to the United States) and was also a member of its board. In February 1937, together with Burlingham and Edith Jackson, she opened a day nursery - the Jackson Nursery - on Rudolfsplatz in Vienna, from where the Freuds and Dorothy Burlingham emigrated to London via Paris at Whitsun 1938.
10 volumes, all in original cloth, 5 with original dust jacket. A remarkable private collection of 10 early biographies and works supporting Gandhi, each signed by the author. While Western biographers began to take interest in Gandhi beginning with Romain Roland (1924), this collection includes only association or signed copies of works by Indian authors. Represented here are both those who had followed Gandhi from his earliest political machinations in South Africa, as well as his early followers who subsequently emigrated to America in order to raise public awareness of the Indian Independence movement. In contrast to the author-signed works of Western biographers, which can be encountered in the trade today, works signed by Indian authors of this period are notoriously rare. Includes individually: 1) Muzumdar, Haridas T. Gandhi the Apostle. His Trial and His Message. Chicago: Universal Publishing Co., 1923. Blue cloth. Inscribed "Presented to my good friend Charles E. Sekera by Haridas T. Muzumdar / Evanston, Xmas, 1924". - First edition. An exceptionally early work in support of Gandhi, addressed to American readers to drum up financial and popular support for the Indian Independence movement in the U.S. A close friend and one of the earliest biographers of Gandhi, this was Haridas's first published book, when he was just 24 years old and living in New York City. - 2) Gandhi, Mohandas K. / Muzumdar, Haridas T. (ed.). Sermon on the Sea. Chicago: Universal Publishing Co., 1924. Yellow cloth. Inscribed "To Prof. John E. Kirkpatrick, from his friend Haridas T. Muzumdar / Olivet Conference, Aug. 1925". - First U.S. edition of Gandhi's famous tract, penned in South Africa in 1909 and also known under the title Indian Home Rule or Hind Swaraj. It includes his quotes "One who is free from hatred requires no sword" and "only fair means can produce fair results". This copy was presented by the editor and early Gandhi activist Muzumdar to a fellow American academic, shortly after its publication. - 3) Hossain, Syud. Gandhi. The Saint as Statesman. Los Angeles: Sutton House, 1937. Black cloth, with original dustjacket. Inscribed on flyleaf "With best wishes / Syud Hossain". - First edition. Dr Syud Hossain was instrumental in forging links between American-based Indian nationalists and the Indian National Congress. Co-founder of the National Committee for Indian Independence (headquartered in Washington, DC), Hossain spearheaded the Indian lobby for self-rule from abroad. "Immaculately dressed, polished in manners, brilliant in oratory, Hossain captivated his audiences from coast to coast," said A. K. Mozumdar, a colleague and fellow activist of Hossain. The Los Angeles Times described him as "the most distinguished Indian visitor in America since Tagore" while according to the New York-based Foreign Policy Association, "of the hundreds of speakers who have addressed our conferences during the past five years, none were more brilliant or authoritative than Mr Hossain". In September 1945, Hossain suggested to Jawaharlal Nehru that he return to India to work towards Hindu-Muslim harmony and stand for elections. After consulting Asaf Ali and Gandhi, Nehru cabled back: "Gandhiji thinks you can do more important work in America". Hossain briefly served as India's first ambassador to Egypt, where he died in 1949. - 4) Muzumdar, Haridas T. Gandhi Triumphant! The Inside Story of the Historic Fast. New York: Universal Publishing Co., 1939. Blue cloth. Signed by Muzumdar in Hindi and in English on flyeaf. - First edition. An account of Gandhi's Rajkot Fast to protest the local ruler's refusal to enact administrative reforms in that state. The fast lasted only 3 days, 3-5 March 1939. The work also includes four original articles by Gandhi: "States and the People"; "Rajkot"; "Rajkot and Jaipur"; and "Kicks and Kisses". - 5) Raman, T. A. What does Gandhi Want? New York: Oxford University Press, 1942. Yellow cloth, with original dust-jacket. Inscribed "To Dr. and Mrs. Aldridge, with sincere regard / T. A. Raman", and with a loose letter from Raman dated October, 1942, "Herewith one of the first copies of my book. It is to be published on the 29th. Please let me know what you and Dr. Aldridge think of it. With kindest regards from us both, Sincerely Yours, T. A Raman" on hotel stationery. - First edition. Educated in Madras, Raman was an Indian nationalist who emigrated to become the London editor of the United Press of India. Here, he presents Gandhi's solutions to the World War raging at the time, including remarks on Indian's participation. "Mr. Raman first met Gandhi at Marseilles in 1931 when he joined the Indian leader's staff at the Indian Round Table Conference. Thereafter he was constantly in touch with Gandhi and other Indian leaders, following them to India, where he became a close associate of Gandhi…" (dustjacket). - 6) Prabhu, R. K. & Rao, U. R. The Mind of Mahatma Gandhi. [Madras]: Geoffrey Cumberlege for the Oxford University Press Indian Branch, 1946. Red cloth, with original dustjacket. Inscribed "Mr. Chester Bowles, The American Embassy, New Delhi / With best compliments from U. R. Rao / 30.11.51, Bombay". - Second edition. An outstanding association copy, presented to the American Ambassador to India following Independence. The work is a compilation of select quotations from Gandhi to illustrate his philosophy and thought. Chester Bowles (1901-86) served as ambassador from 1951 to 1953 and enjoyed a privileged relationship with Prime Minister Nehru, who otherwise famously distrusted most U.S. influence. - 7) Shridharani, Krishnalal. The Mahatma and the World. New York: Duell, Sloan & Pearce, 1946. Red cloth with original dustjacket. Inscribed "To Mrs. James B. Pratt, to Edith and to David, my American friends, a parting salute / New York, May 3, 1946" and signed by Shridharani in both English and Hindi. - First edition. Shridharani was arrested and imprisoned in 1930 for protesting the Salt Tax alongside Gandhi, and left India in 1934 to pursue degrees at NYU and then Columbia University. After campaigning for support for Indian Independence in the United States, he returned to India in 1946 where he taught at the Gujarati Sahitya Parishad, and died in 1960 in Delhi. This is an excellent association copy, inscribed to the widow of James Bissett Pratt (1875-1944, an ardent Western admirer of Tagore and an academic advisor of Shridharani), just before Shridharani left New York to return to India. - 8) Imam-ud-Din, S. J. Gandhi and Christianity. Lahore: Northern India Printing & Publishing Co., [1947]. Red cloth. Signed by Imam-Ud-Din on flyleaf. - First edition, rare. The author, aware that much of Gandhi's Western popularity lay in his success appealing to Christian groups, here essentially compares the Mahatma to Jesus Christ. - 9) Murthy, Nadig Krishna. Mahatma Gandhi and other Martyrs of India. Columbia (MO): Journal Press, 1948. Inscribed "With Best Compliments to Mr. H. R. McConnell / Nadig Krishna Murthy / May 29, 1948". Dark blue gilt-embossed cloth, a little stained. - First edition, extremely rare. The only other copy we have traced resides at SOAS in London. Published just following Gandhi's death on January 30th, 1948, the book contains a preface written by Prime Minister Nehru. Briefly resident at the University of Missouri, Murthy returned to India where he made a name for himself as a journalist. - 10) Polak, H. S. L. et al. Mahatma Gandhi. London: Odhams Press, 1949. Blue cloth with original dustjacket. Inscribed "Miss Ruth C. Manchester / With all good wishes & warm appreciation & sincere thanks for your kind hospitality during my short stay in the United States. From Manilal Gandhi, 7/6/49". - First edition, signed by Gandhi's son following his father's assassination. Henry Polak (1882-1959) was Gandhi's closest friend in South Africa, having lived side-by-side with Gandhi and his family from 1903 onwards. Gandhi's second son Manilal (1891-1956) was also close to Polak and succeeded him as editor of Indian Opinion in 1916. Like his father, Manilal was a tireless campaigner and was arrested during the 1930 Salt March. This association copy of Polak's biography was signed by Manilal just a year after his father's death, during Manilal's only visit to the United States - where he sat in at a General Assembly session of the United Nations and met with Albert Einstein. In 1952 Manilal was again arrested in South Africa for protesting Apartheid, spending 38 days in jail at the age of 61.
I: Manuskript von Clara Malraux. 100 Bll., teils beidseitig beschrieben. 4to. - II: Typoskript. 74 Bll., einseitig beschrieben. 4to. - III: Typoskript "Gustav Janouch: Franz Kafka sagte … Erinnerungen und Aufzeichnungen". Prag, 1947. 182 einseitig beschr. Bll. 4to. - IV: Typoskript "Anmerkungen und Erläuterungen". Titel und 19 einseitig beschr. Bll. 4to. Mit zahlreichen Beilagen (s. u.). Die "Gespräche mit Kafka", die der Prager Autor Gustav Janouch nach eigener Angabe 1920 als 17-Jähriger geführt und später aufgezeichnet hatte, erschienen 1951 bei S. Fischer und machten in der Kafkaforschung sogleich Furore. Wie Janouch in der erweiterten Ausgabe 1968 schrieb, kam es schon "sehr bald zu einer französischen, italienischen, schwedischen, amerikanischen, südslawischen, spanischen - ja! - und sogar zu einer japanischen Ausgabe" (S. 7). Das vorliegende Dossier enthält (I) das 100 teils beidseitig beschriebene Blatt umfassende Werkmanuskript von Clara Malraux, die für Calmann-Lévy in Paris die französische Übersetzung besorgte, welche 1952 erscheinen sollte, sowie (II) eine 74 Blatt starke, unvollständige maschinschriftliche Fassung bis Kapitel 60 ("Franz Kafka parle ... Souvenirs et notes"). - Die Anmerkungen in der deutschsprachigen Erstausgabe stammten von Jana Vachovec, der Frau von Janouchs Freund Georg Vachovec, die 1947 unter dem Pseudonym "Alma Urs" von dessen Erinnerungsbuch ein maschinschriftliches Original nebst 2 Durchschlägen (deren einer hier als III vorliegt) angefertigt hatte (S. 13f.). Bei dem hier weiters vorliegenden (IV) deutschsprachigen Typoskript der "Anmerkungen und Erläuterungen" handelt es sich um eine Vorstufe der in der Abschrift enthaltenen "Anmerkungen und Erläuterungen". Die Anmerkungen (in III und IV) folgen in ihrer Numerierung noch Janouchs Unterteilung in Kapitel, während sie im Buch auf Seitenzahl und Zeile verweisen; überdies enthalten sie noch kleine Fehler, die in der Buchausgabe korrigiert wurden (so etwa heißt Otto Pick im Typoskript noch "Oskar", und Brods Gattin Else wurde im Typoskript noch am 21. IX. 1890 und nicht am 21. VIII. 1883 geboren). Umgekehrt finden sich allerdings auch in der Buchausgabe kleine Fehler, die im Typoskript noch korrekt waren: So ist etwa das Geburtsjahr von Felix Weltsch unstrittig 1884 und nicht, wie es in der Buchausgabe heißt, 1889 (Anm. zu S. 23, Zeile 2). - Neben den erwähnten Originalmanuskripten und -typoskripten enthält das Dossier noch eine nicht von Claire Malraux stammende hs. französische Fassung der "Anmerkungen und Erläuterungen" (46 einseitig beschr. Bll.) sowie ein unvollständiges Typoskript davon (24 Bll. inkl. einiger Doubletten), 6 Aufsätze über Kafka aus den 1940er und 1950er Jahren, zahlreiche bis in die 1990er Jahre hineinreichende, meist französische Zeitungsausschnitte zu Kafka und einen eigenh. Brief mit U. von Gustav Janouch an Max Brod (dat. 6. III. 1950, 2 SS. auf Doppelblatt, 8vo; in tschechischer Sprache). - I + II: in gutem Zustand; III: fleckig und merklich lädiert infolge starker Inanspruchnahme (vgl. hierzu die erweiterte Ausgabe S. 14f.). I: Gespräche mit Kafka. Erinnerungen und Aufzeichnungen. Frankfurt a. M., S. Fischer, 1951 (EA). - II: Erweiterte Ausgabe. Ebd., 1968.
Zusammen 225 SS. auf 166 Bll. Verschiedene Formate. Mit zahlreichen Beilagen (Eintrittskarten, Prospekte, Zeitungsausschnitte u. dgl.). Ernst Thost, der Sohn des Malers Rudolf Thost und Vater des Schauspielers Bruno Thost, studierte u. a. bei Erich Wunderlich an der TH Hannover und promovierte 1928 über "Das Klima des nördlichen Württemberg" (Stuttgart, Fleischhauer & Spohn, 1930). Sein ganzes Berufsleben verbrachte Thost als Mitarbeiter der Schwäbischen Sternwarte in Stuttgart, die am 8. Januar 1922 nach einjähriger Bauzeit eingeweiht worden war, und trat 1964 in den Ruhestand. Der vorliegende Splitternachlass enthält überwiegend Korrespondenzen mit verschiedenen Naturwissenschaftlern, darunter als prominentestem Albert Einstein, den Thost im Herbst 1922 wohl in Fragen der Lehrplangestaltung angeschrieben hatte und der ihm unterm 25. V. 1923 antwortete: "Ich bin der Meinung, dass unsere Schulpläne schon all zu sehr materiell überlastet sind, man sollte den Pflichtstoff so viel als möglich verringern, und den [!] Lehrer darüber volle Freiheit lassen, was er ausserdem mit den Schülern betreiben will. Hat so der Lehrer genügend Muse [!], so kann er, wenn es seiner Meinung entspricht, wohl auch den Grundgedanken der Relativitäts-Theorie behandeln natürlich nur in so weit als es ohne Vermehrung des mathematischen Apparates möglich ist". Viele Jahre später hielt Thost noch in einem Gedächtnisprotokoll fest, was ihm bei einem Besuch Einsteins im November 1925 erinnerlich war (1½ SS., um 1950). - Zu den anderen Wissenschaftlern, mit denen Thost korrespondierte und die hier teils mehrfach vertreten sind, zählen u. a. Rudolf Benkendorff, Manfred Bräuhäuser, Heinrich von Ficker, Hugh Ivan Gramatzki, Georg Grimm, Theodor Haering, Sven Hedin, August Kopff, Joseph Plassmann, Adolf Sauer, Karl Schneider-Carius, Albert Schweitzer, Diederich Wattenberg, Kurt Wegener, Max Wolf, Erich Wunderlich, Carl und Hermann Wurster sowie Gustav von Zahn. Weitere Schriftstücke stammen von Malern, Musikern, Schauspielern und Schriftstellern wie Ludwig Anschütz, Peter Bamm, Theodor Esser, Otto Flath, Kai Möller, Asta Nielsen, Willy Reichert, Andrés Segovia und Paul Wegener sowie von zwei Bundespräsidenten, nämlich Theodor Heuss und Heinrich Lübke. - Sehr umfangreich ist die Korrespondenz mit "Elisabeth Wegener V.", wie Wegeners fünfte Gattin und auch Witwe, die Schauspielerin Elisabeth Wegener (geb. Rohwer, 1903-89), gern unterzeichnet: Von ihr finden sich hier 36 Briefe und Karten aus den Jahren 1948 bis 1976, in denen sie so manches über das Leben ihres verstorbenen Gatten Paul, das Theater der Nachkriegsjahre und die Beschwerlichkeiten eines Lebens ohne Pensionsanspruch zu berichten weiß. - Der Brief Einsteins in recht desolatem Zustand (mehrfach mit Klebestreifen auf Trägerpapier montiert), die übrigen Schriftstücke in überwiegend gutem, wenn auch häufig montiertem und arrangiertem Zustand mit zahlreichen Randglossen aus der Hand Thosts.
8vo. (2), 98 pp. Contemporary half cloth; includes printed original wrappers. The first issue of the socialist "Otkliki" from the possession of Leo Trotsky, who was to lead the Russian revolution to victory in 1917, with his pencilled signature on the front wrapper cover. - This present first issue, printed by the "Slovo" press, is much rarer than the following two and is unrecorded in library catalogues internationally. OCLC lists only the issues 2 and 3, published in 1907 (Indiana University; Pittsburgh University holds only no. 3); the Library of Congress also holds only the two following issues printed by I. A. Levenshtein. - From the collection of the well-known Slavicist Hans Halm (1887-1975) with his autograph notes on the inside front wrapper cover. Bibliography of Periodicals of Russia II, 5868.
Brauner Kunstlederband. Über 1500 Einträge. 4to. Das vorliegende Gästebuch der Wiener Staatsoper dokumentiert auf einzigartige Weise das große internationale Interesse, das der Wiedereröffnung der Wiener Staatsoper 1955 und ihrem Betrieb in den folgenden Jahren entgegengebracht wurde. Beginnend mit dem Jahr 1952 erstrecken sich die über 1500 Einträge bis in den Juni des Jahres 1966 und bieten eine reiche Auswahl an Delegationen aus Gesellschaft, Kultur, Wirtschaft, Wissenschaft und Politik bis hin zu Staatsoberhäuptern. So kamen etwa Delegationen von auswärtigen Regierungen, Botschaften und Gesandtschaften, Museen, Universitäten, Theatern und Opernhäusern, Rundfunk- und Fernsehanstalten, der Internationalen Handelskammer, des Imperial Defence Colleges in London u. v. m. - Die mit Abstand prominentesten Persönlichkeiten, die hier zu Besuch weilten, waren der thailändische König Bhumibol Adulyadej, der sowjetische Ministerpräsident und Erste Sekretär der KPdSU Nikita Chruschtschow samt Gattin, der schwedische Ministerpräsident Tage Erlander, der australische Premierminister Robert Menzies, der erste Ministerpräsident Indiens Jawaharlal Nehru und seine Tochter, die spätere Ministerpräsidentin Indira Gandhi, König Gustav VI. Adolf von Schweden, der letzte Kaiser von Abessinien Haile Selassie, der finnische Ministerpräsident Urho Kekkonen nebst Gattin, die Schriftstellerin Sylvie K., der dänische König Frederik IX., die Königin der Niederlande Juliana und ihr Gatte Prinz Bernhard, der deutsche Bundespräsident Heinrich Lübke, der persische Schah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (2x) und seine Gattin Farah (1x), die thailändische Königin Sirikit und der indonesische Präsident Sukarno. Unter den zahlreichen Architekten, Ministern, Dirigenten, Komponisten, Schauspielern, Regisseuren, Sängern, Musikern, Malern, Militärs, Opern- und Theaterdirektoren finden sich u. a. die Dirigenten Kurt Adler, Karl Böhm, Roy Budden, Michael Gielen, Herbert von Karajan, Berislav Klobucar, Eugene Ormandy, Leopold Stokowski, Hermann Scherchen, Wolfgang Stresemann und Josef Krips, die Komponisten Viktor Keldorfer, Peter Mieg und Egon Wellesz, die Opernregisseure bzw. -direktoren Rudolf Bing, Herbert Graf (2x) und Ernst Ludwig Zirner, die Sängerinnen und Sänger Rosette Anday (3x), Rudolf Christ, Hans Duhan, Helga Gielen-Augsten, Gertrude Grob-Prandl, Hilde Güden (2x), Alfred Jerger, Maria Jeritza, Hildegard Knef, Erich Kunz, Arturo La Porta (und Gattin), Martha Lipton, Josef Metternich, Gianni und Gianna Raimondi, Signe von Scanzoni, Rudolf Schock, Leo Slezak mit Gattin Ingrid und Tochter Johanna, Set Svanholm, Heinz Tietjen, William Wernigk (2x), Giuseppe Zampieri und Silvana Zanolli, die Schauspieler, Tänzerinnen und Regisseure Peggy Ashcroft, John Gielgud, Franz, Hubert, Lilly und Trude Marischka, Brian Rix, Walter Slezak, Otto Tressler, Heinrich Schnitzler, Elspet Rix, Lisl / Elise Temple, Gisela Schock, Adolf Rott, Vittorio de Sica und Erika Slezak, die Pianistin Erna Schifferegger, der Musikwissenschaftler Hans Halm, der Schriftsteller und Dramaturg Erhard Buschbeck, der Dramaturg Hans Demetz, der Fernsehjournalist und Moderator Heinz Fischer-Karwin die Architekten Erich Boltenstern, Clemens Holzmeister, Kunio Maekawa, Yuzo Mikami und Hans Volkart, der Bühnenbildner und Architekturhistoriker Osbert Lancaster, die Bundeskanzler Konrad Adenauer, Leopold Figl (3x), Josef Klaus, Bruno Kreisky (3x), Julius Raab (2x), Bundespräsident Adolf Schärf (7x), die Politiker und Minister Abdullah Al-Khayyal, Fritz Bock, Heinrich Drimmel (2x), David Eccles, Ahmed Naguib Hashem, Eduard Heindl, Felix Hurdes, Udo Illig, Ernst Kolb (2x) Alfred Maleta, Theodor Piffl-Percevic, Kurt Sieveking und Reinhart Waneck (damals 9 Jahre alt), die Maler Akira Tanaka und Oravida Camille Pissarro, die Kardinäle Augustin Bea, Theodor Innitzer und Franz König, die britischen Generäle Theodore McEvoy und Michael West (der damalige Oberbefehlshaber der britischen Truppen in Österreich), der Präsident der Generalversammlung der Vereinten Nationen Alex Quaison-Sackey sowie Fritz und Maria Altmann (die Erbin des Wiener Industriellen Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, der ihr u. a. 16 Werke Gustav Klimts vermacht hatte), Ella Hepburn van Heemstra (die Mutter von Audrey Hepburn) und John Rockefeller III. Nicht vergessen sei auch Peter Eberhard Steinbauer, Pfarrer von Sulz im Wienerwald, der zeitgleich mit Radbot Ferdinand Erzherzog von Österreich zu Besuch kam. - Das Gästebuch stammt aus dem Besitz von Oberbaurat Dr. Dipl.-Ing. Karl Waska, dem seinerzeitigen Leiter der Gebäudeverwaltung der Österreichischen Bundestheater. Waska war zusammen mit Baurat Dipl.-Ing. Wolfgang Teubner mit der Koordinierung der Planung bzw. der Ausführung der Arbeiten zur Wiedererrichtung der Wiener Staatsoper betraut gewesen, die am 12. März 1945 bei einem Bombenangriff zerstört worden war. Am 5. November 1955 wurde sie mit einer von Karl Böhm dirigierten Aufführung von Beethovens "Fidelio" wiedereröffnet. - Die Kanten etwas berieben, die Ecken angeplatzt; innen jedoch tadellos erhalten.
Oblong 8vo (206:107 mm). 1 p. To a mayor: "Günstiger her burgermeister schwager, weil canzeley gewonlich jeder zeit copeyschriefften den parten von den ausgebrachten befhelichen, zugestelt werden, nimpt mich wunder, warumb der v. Holzendorff die befheliche zu sehen begheret. Achte demnach man erpiete sich ime wegen des stadtschreibers gebhuer abschriefften darvon zuzustellen, unnd die quittungenn wolle man auch auffsuchen. Etwa nach mittags sollen gezeigt werden, die ich vor meine person darzu berichten wollen, doch auff vorbesserung der anderen gestellet, unnd uberschickt euch des von Holzendorffs selbst ubergebene rechnung auch andere brieffliche urkunden zu derselben sache ergangen, wollen die wol vorwaren lassen. Wunsche euch einen guten morgen [...]". - Browned due to paper. Extremely rare.
Un des 700 exemplaires numérotés (n° 312 imprimé pour Henri de S...), préface de Maurice Garçon, 1 vol. in-folio en feuilles sous emboîtage éditeur rigide, Ateliers d'Impressions et de Cartonnages d'Art, s.d. [ 1945 ], 3 ff. et 20 planches en héliogravure Remarquable exemplaire, dans un étui certes très usagé, mais enrichi d'un bel envoi de la photographe Laure Albin-Guillot ("avec les sentiments admiratifs et infiniment reconnaissants de Laure Albin-Guillot, 26 janvier 1946") et surtout dont chacune des 20 héliogravures a été signée au crayon par la photographe (et numérotée, de 1 à 20) ! Nos recherches ne nous ont pas permis de découvrir d'exemplaire comparable, les planches n'étant habituellement pas signées par l'artiste. Etui fort. usagé avec manques, rouss. au premier ff., les héliogravures sont en très bon état. - A very scarce copy, enriched with a beautiful handwritten dedication by the famous photographer Laure Albin-Guillot ("avec les sentiments admiratifs et infiniment reconnaissants de Laure Albin-Guillot, 26 janvier 1946" [ "with the admiring and infinitely grateful feelings of Laure Albin-Guillot, January 26th, 1946" ] ) ; Most importantly, it must be pointed out that each of the 20 heliogravures was signed with a pencil by the photographer (and numbered, from 1 to 20) ! Despite a thorough research, we could not find any record of another copy with such features, i.e.with all the plates that are signed by the artist. Slipcase of this copy is very damaged and with lacks). Foxings can be seen on first sheet, as well. Nevertheless, the prints are in very good condition. Français
8vo. 3 pp. on bifolium. In French. Important letter to Arsène Houssaye, desperately requesting an advance on articles or a loan, as he is facing eviction, and offering valuable hints at his current work, which mostly remained unpublished during Baudelaire's lifetime: "If you do not come to my rescue today, I will find myself today even without lodging, and in a situation in which I will no longer have the necessary rest to work a little. I always hoped that La Presse would begin [to print] my Variétés [a section of his diary] and would slowly continue week by week or fortnight by fortnight. It is, I assure you, with deep regret that I address myself to your purse but to whom do I address myself at this moment? No one is in Paris. It will be, if you wish, an advance, which you will repay, or a loan; for if I consider the work finished, I know someone who will advance me the whole amount. The sum I need is too great for me to have any right to ask you for it, but 250 fr., which probably represents two large Variétés-articles that you have, might allow me to put off my man for a few days. Permit me, I beg you, to insist vigorously, as on a serious matter, and not to speak of recognition. It is the fashion of those who forget" (transl.). In a long postscript, Baudelaire mentions his "Petits Poèmes en prose", better known under the later title "Le Spleen de Paris", his posthumously published diatribe "L'esprit et le style de M. Villemain", ideas for new titles that feature in his diaries and the autobiographical fragment "Mon cœur mis à nu" and he announces to visit Houssaye: "It is not surprising that I torment you to try [to have] a work of mine in La Presse. I have many other things in my mind than the Poèmes and Villemain. Everything could be broken up. I found two new titles: Fusées et Suggestions / Soixante Six Suggestions. I did not know until yesterday that I would be obliged to assail you in this way; do all you can, not to get me out of trouble but to help me lengthen the belt. I still have a little bit of copy with me but I would have liked to extend it. I will go and see you today". - Baudelaire's plea was successful, as Arsène Houssaye published some of the "Petits Poèmes" in La Presse on 26 August, 27 August, and 24 September 1862. - With several small tears and one larger tear due to ink corrosion affecting the text. Somewhat brittle.
8vo. 1 page on bifoium. In French, to his publisher Eugène de Broise, advertising the second edition of "Les Fleurs du Mal": "Note for Mr. De Broise, to be given to Mr. Arsène Houssaye, at the same time as the authorization to print the portrait of Bracquemond. 'The portrait of Charles Baudelaire that we offer to our subscribers, drawn and engraved by Mr. Bracquemond, decorates the second edition of the Flowers of Evil, which has just appeared in the bookshop Malassis and De Broise, increased by thirty five new poems'. Moreover, one must remember that the portrait is not accompanied by the name, and that if it is useless for the volume, it is indispensable for the newspaper". He adds: "Mr. Arsène Houssaye will arrange the advertisement as he sees fit" (transl.). - Somewhat browned and spotty; small tear to one corner (not touching text).
Small 4to. 1 page on bifolium. To the writer Noël Parfait, then editor Michel Lévy's, about his work on the translation of Edgar Allan Poe's "Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque" and "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt", which Baudelaire considered "un chef-d'oeuvre, une merveille" (Letters): "Mille remerciements! vous me tirez d'angoisse. Toutes les fois que je croirai pouvoir me dispenser de lire une 2e épreuve, j'écrirai sur l'épreuve: M. Parfait relira et donnera le bon à tirer. J'ai reçu d'Honfleur ma grosse édition. J'ai un bon texte sous les yeux. Quand Marie Roget sera tirée, n'oubliez pas de transmettre les bonnes feuilles à Pauchet, secrétaire de l'Opinion nationale, qui m'a payé le manuscrit et à qui je l'ai repris. - Prière à lui de publier au plus vite. Ce sera une excellente annonce pour le livre. Hier soir pour me soulager du tintouin Marie Roget, je me suis livré à l'ale et au porto, et dans cet état, j'ai écrit à Michel une lettre un peu vive. S'il est offensé, demandez-lui pardon pour moi!" (transl.: "A thousand thanks! You've saved me from anguish. Whenever I think I can dispense with reading a second proof, I will write on the proof: Mr. Parfait will reread it and give me the right one to print. I received my big edition from Honfleur. I have a good text in front of me. When Marie Roget is printed, don't forget to send the right sheets to Pauchet, Secretary of National Opinion, who paid me for the manuscript and from whom I took it back. - Please ask him to publish as soon as possible. It will be an excellent announcement for the book. Last night, to relieve myself of the tintouin Marie Roget, I gave myself over to ale and port, and in this state, I wrote a rather lively letter to Michel [Lévy]. If he is offended, ask him to forgive me"). - Some paper flaws from ink corrosion.
Altogether approximately 14 pp. Various formats. With 10 autogr. envelopes. To the German actor Stefan Wigger, who had played the character of Vladimir in Beckett's Berlin production of "Waiting for Godot" in 1975. During the following years, Wigger had sent him congratulations, books or messages of various content, and Beckett answered him kindly. - "[...] Bien reçu hier les deux livres dont je me promets beaucoup de plaisir et votre gentille carte de voeux. Je suis très touché que vous ayez pensé à mon anniversaire et vous remercie de tout coeur. Je pense souvent aux amis du Schiller et leur dis à tous un grand Grüss Gott! [...]" (13 April 1972). - "[...] Retour de voyage je trouve avec le beau livre du cher vieux Fontane votre gentille carte de voeux [...]" (23 April 1974). - "[...] Als Stock absagte, wollte ich Sie. Mir wurde geantwortet, Sie seien nicht mehr frei. Jetzt ist es mit Fernau abgemacht. Ich bedaure sehr [...]" (18 Aug. 1975). - "[...] Un grand merci pour votre toi-toi-toi. Le travail ici s'est bien passé. Retour à Paris cette semaine [...]" (10 Oct. 1976). - "[...] Many thanks for your card from Dublin. Hope all went well & no casualties [...]" (25 April 1977). - "[...] J'ai peur que le théâtre ne m'ait fait ses adieux. Moi qui aimerais tant pouvoir jouer encore une fois avec la chère bande à Godot. Bolli, Klaus, Carl, embrasse-les bien fort à ma place [...]" (12 April 1980; Beckett refers to the Berlin "Godot" performers, Horst Bollmann, Klaus Herm and Carl Raddatz). - "[...] I feel my theatre days are over - as director at least. TV perhaps not yet quite. I often think of you all & of our times together - with fondness & nostalgia [...]" (6 April 1983).
Small 8vo. 9 pages on 5 ff. Extraordinary and long musical letter from Bizet to Charles Gounod, notably about "Roméo et Juliette", whose rehearsals Bizet supervised at the Opéra-Comique during Gounod's exile in England: "Les liens qui nous unissent sont de ceux que ni l'absence ni le silence ne peuvent relâcher. Vous avez été le commencement de ma vie d'artiste. Je résulte de vous. Vous êtes la cause, et je suis la conséquence. J'ai craint d'être absorbé, je puis vous l'avouer maintenant et vous avez pu remarquer les effets de cette inquiétude. Je crois être aujourd'hui plus maître de ma main, et je ne sens plus que les bienfaits de votre salutaire et décisive influence [...] Je ne sais, mon cher Gounod, quelles sont les causes qui vous ont éloigné de nous! ... Nous pensons souvent à vous [...] Nous vous regrettons et nous vous aimons toujours. Nous avions bien besoin de vous ici [...] Le moment est venu d'organiser à Paris de grandes masses chorales. Vous seul aviez l'autorité nécessaire pour mener cette œuvre à bonne fin ... que d'années encore pour que l'un de nous se sente assez robuste pour initier nos Parisiens aux écrasantes beautés de Bach et de Haendel. Vous nous manquez ... et nous ne nous consolons de votre absence qu'en espérant votre retour lorsque l'heure de Polyeucte sera venue […]". - As for "Roméo et Juliette", Bizet has many things to ask Gounod, mainly regarding the question of the cuts to be made, of which he draws up a list, act by act. For the finale he intends to follow the version of the Theatre Lyrique. Finally, he urges Gounod to support Ernest Reyer rather than François Bazin to succeed Michele Carafa at the Institute: "un poëte ferait mieux l'affaire qu'un rhêteur sans style, sans érudition, sans conviction, sans idée, sans quoi que ce soit qui ressemble de près ou de loin à une qualité artistique". - Small tears to centrefold, otherwise in perfect condition.
Zusammen 10 SS. auf 6 Bll. (Qu.-)8vo. Die Karte mit eh. Adresse. An den Physiker Ernst Lamla über Alfred Landés "Neubegründung" der Quantenmechanik, "eine für mich peinliche Sache, unter der ich schon seit Jahren leide. Er spielt mich nämlich immer gegen Bohr, Heisenberg, v. Weizsäcker aus, als hätte ich besseres gesagt als diese. In Wahrheit scheint es mir, als habe er alles missverstanden, sowohl das, was B[ohr], H[eisenberg], u. W[eizsäcker] gesagt haben, als auch meine Meinung dazu. Ich habe gerade mit Heisenberg darüber korrespondiert, der meine Meinung teilt. Landé ist auf einem früheren Stand der Theorie stehen geblieben, hat die Sache nicht weiter verfolgt, weiß nichts von Quantenfeldtheorie und glaubt, meine alten Formulierungen hätten auch heute noch Gültigkeit. Wahr daran ist nur, daß damals vor 35 Jahren meine Ideen von den Kopenhagenern etwas 'modifiziert' wurden, wie wir damals sagten, und darüber hat er sich geärgert. Aber heute sind das olle Kamellen. Das peinliche ist, daß er mich herausstreicht u. die andern verhöhnt und schlecht macht. Was er selbst dazu tut, ist recht kümmerlich. Daß ihm viele Leute zustimmen und Sonderdrucke erbitten, zeigt doch nur, daß die Zahl der weniger bega[bt]en größer ist als die der verständigen [...]". Born rate Lamla aber, die Arbeit nicht einfach abzulehnen, sondern diese anzunehmen unter der Bedingung, "die Anwürfe gegen Gegner" wegzulassen (25. IV. 1960; im linken Rand ohne Textberührung gelocht). - Mit der Karte vom 15. VIII. 1961, geschrieben während eines längeren Klinikaufenthalts in Göttingen, dankt Born für zwei ihm übersandte Aufsätze. - "Was Sie von Weizsäcker gehört haben, ist ganz richtig: ich habe große Lust, das, was ich über das Farbenproblem denke, niederzuschreiben, und zwar in der Form einer philosophischen Betrachtung. Und ich hatte vor, darüber auf der Lindauer-Konferenz (Ende Juni) zu sprechen. Aber das ist wieder zweifelhaft geworden, weil ich schon wieder erkrankt bin; euphemistisch an einer Zirkulations-Störung, die jedoch mein Arzt so ernst nimmt, daß ich strenge Anordnungen befolgen muss […]" (2. I. 1962). Der Aufsatz über das "Farbenproblem" dürfte dann doch geschrieben worden sein, da er unter dem 6. V. d. J. dafür dankt, "die Möglichkeit einer Veröffentlichung meines Farben-Vortrags ins Auge zu fassen". Der letzte Brief betrifft Fahnenkorrekturen: "Ich habe um Revision (möglichst gebrochen mit Figuren) gebeten, weil die Figuren doch eine etwas komplizierte Angelegenheit sind, die ich gern selber kontrollieren möchte […]" (25. XI. 1962). - Beiliegend ein gedrucktes Portrait aus der "Zeitschrift für Physik" mit faksimilierter Unterschrift. Alle Briefe mit Eingangsstempel.
Large 8vo. 3 pp. on bifolium. Amicable letter to Fanny von Pausinger, with whom Brahms had spent his last summer sojourn at Pörtschach, remembering the nice time together and some residents.
Small 4to. 1 p. on a bifolium. In German. To her confidant, the former Prussian hussar commander Friedrich Wilhelm (von) Bauer (1731-83), who had entered Russian service in 1769 and had been promoted to Lieutenant general in 1773, soon acting as her head engineer: "To prove to you that, although I was ill yesterday and am still weak today, I am indeed alive, I send you the Viennese news about your lawsuit with Count Trumbach; when you are through with these papers, you may return them to the Vice Chancellor and tell me what you further wish to be done [...]" (transl.). - In 1780, Bauer was made general of engineering; he was responsible for the construction and maintenance of Catherine's ports, fortifications, roads, canals, and salt mines. In 1782 he created the "Hydraulic Engineering Corps". During the last years of his life, Bauer acted as Catherine's indispensable advisor in all technical matters (cf. NDB). The "Count Trumbach" mentioned in the letter is in all likelihood Friedrich Adolf Rudolf von Trümbach, who - like Bauer - had commanded a Prussian militia corps during the Seven Years' War. - A little stained, browned and wrinkled, but generally well preserved.
Oblong folio. 35 pp. on 37 ff. Brown ink on drawing-paper with some additions and corrections in pencil. Original wrappers. Screw-bound. Illustrated with two original ink drawings, one signed (ca. 53 x 29,5 cm and 19 x 19,6 cm). - Together with an 11-page typed copy of the manuscript with notes and corrections in ink and pencil. Also, a typed description of the manuscript and receipt from the "Librairie Francaise" in London, as well as 3 autograph letters signed with 3 autograph envelopes by Cocteau. Beautiful draft for a lecture given by Cocteau during his four-month stay with his friend, the avant-garde composer Ivor Markevitch, in Vevey, Switzerland in 1938. The French text ranges from apparently incoherent cues to elaborate lines of thought, touching highly diverse subject matters such as surrealism, cubism, jazz, poetry, religion, Orphism, and some of Cocteau's favourite artists and historical figures including Picasso, Max Ernst, Marcel Proust, Baudelaire, and Napoleon. The "Causerie" revolves around an expansive definition of poetry and the idea that poetry is truth itself: "Epoch without sacred monsters. I am one of the last writers whose mythology gradually forms as he exists. Legends, follies, inaccuracies. Advantage of legends; one burns a straw man. Legends surrounding men living in a glass house and recounting everything [...] - We hate the truth. Here we come to the heart of our subject. Poetry is scandalous because it is truth itself. Poets, children (Let [them] come to me, he knew what he did). Quote the Swan in majuscules, very proud. Pure poetry. Nonsense from Minos and Pasiphae. Poetry everywhere. Vinci's time. Believed poet, painter, etc. Alas, we've gone too far. Any photographer is a poet [...] Beware of serious men, laughter rends a man in two, reaching the soul, following the tree, the bird. False grandeur, grandeur laughs. For Max Ernst's admirable photo collages, montages, etc. Poetry of posters, of window displays, of street shops. Music Hall, fun fair for a dime, before, after. Dangerous poetry, poet's room, police raid. Any suspect. Poets come from a country where the language is neither alive nor dead, not yet born, heard. The somnambulist poet exploited by forces, he cannot mingle too much, else he ends up with evil. I do not believe in precursors but loneliness is still loneliness. Even in real poetry [...]". - This beautiful manuscript, complete with two elegant original drawings, is highly illustrative of Jean Cocteau's thinking, influences, and lifelong themes. It was acquired by the literary scholar Bill Chapman in 1954, when he was writing his doctoral thesis on "The Aesthetics of Jean Cocteau". The transcript with extensive notes, explaining Cocteau's allusions and identifying his sources, was prepared by Chapman, who corresponded with Cocteau during his research, as the three enclosed letters show. Referring to the manuscript, Cocteau thanks Chapman for being "the Champollion of his hieroglyphs" and discourages speculative interpretations: "Merci d'essayer d'être le Champollion de mes hieroglyphes. Trop de gens prennent encore des vocables hieroglyphiques des poètes pour de simples figures qu'ils interprètent à leur usage personnel. Soyez l'ami des Nombres et de notre algèbre. Haïssez la Fantaisie et dites vous que nous ne voulons pas être admirés mais être crus. Marco Polo fut appelé le menteur de Venise, parce qu'il témoignait [...]" (Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferret, 22 Feb. 1953). - In a letter from 27 March 1953, Cocteau affirms his position that "artistic and religious audacity are not incompatible", naming the Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain as an influence. In the final letter of the collection, Cocteau taunts the author Jean-Pierre Millecam as an "adorable egocentric" whose selfhood is the "star that governs his sky" (25 Feb. 1954). Apparently, Chapman had warned Cocteau of Millecam's character. - Deep tears to the spine and abrasions to the cardboard wrappers. The first two pages of the manuscript with the illustrations (on verso) are loose. Some pages show minor tears, two pages have further minor damage. Some browning. Two of the letters to Chapman show some tears and creasing.
