Books and Documents

Deluxe-paper copy

Volume II of Dernier Royaume, deluxe copy

This is the second book illustrated by the photographer, following La Mandragore in 1991, on a text by Michel-Ange Serreti.The same title would be used two years later by Edouard Boubat, the photographer and friend of the writer, for one of his last books, a tribute to Lella, his muse. Christian Bobin, a keen admirer…

"In the weeks following the announcement of the prizewinner, a rumor spread through Paris that the Goncourt had been a resounding commercial failure. Now, while the jurors owe their aura to their power to bring happiness to booksellers, a publisher, a distributor, a writer and, sometimes, readers, it is also well known that nothing is…

Marcel Proust's copy, presented by Reynaldo Hahn

An autograph manuscript of a journey to Naples

Le Clézio's second published book, appearing two years after Le Procès-verbal, La Fièvre is a collection of short stories about small, passing moments of madness, drawn from “familiar experience.” Still gripped by the anguish of city life, Le Clézio writes in a register of near-physical rage: pain, toothache, fatigue and sleeplessness run throughout La Fièvre,…

In 1967, two dolphins held a press conference, in English, before a dumbfounded audience of journalists. They spoke — somewhat nasally, since they lack vocal cords and use their blowholes, but clearly. An international event... entirely fictional: many researchers have dreamed of this chapter of Robert Merle's novel. Unfortunately, Dr. Lilly's research, on which the…

Deluxe-paper printing

PAB's own unique poem-book

This short story was written in Echandens in December 1962. It appeared only once, serialized in issues no. 901 and 902 of the magazine Elle, dated 29 March and 5 April 1963. No manuscript exists: like many of Simenon's postwar writings, the story was typed directly. The original typescript has been lost, and no copy…

Lakeville mimeograph, inscribed to de Fallois

Living at 'Shadow Rock Farm' in Lakeville, Simenon wrote his novels for Presses de la Cité at an impressive pace. Three titles were given a local, limited first edition, mimeographed and distributed exclusively through French & European Publications at Rockefeller Center in New York: Maigret chez le ministre, Les Témoins and Maigret et le corps…

Chancah, Tixacacal and Chun Pom are three ancient Aztec or Mayan cities celebrated by the young Le Clézio during his stay in Mexico in the 1970s. In his thirties, Le Clézio turned away from narratives of urban anguish, leaving the metropolis to explore elsewhere — and Mexico in particular. The book revolves around the dead…

One of 60 deluxe copies, bound by Louise Bescond

Wells's pacifist pamphlet, signed to his French publisher

Michel Chasles's copy, acquired from the forger Vrain-Lucas

Published in May 1944 by Éditions de Minuit, this poem is dedicated “to the memory of Lucien Legros, shot at eighteen,” who had gone underground after taking part on 16 April 1942 in a protest against the arrest of Raymond Burgard, a Resistance teacher at the Lycée Buffon. Arrested by the special police brigades on…

Deluxe-paper copy

Deluxe printing of his last book published in his lifetime

Binding by Renaud Vernier

Original drawing, for Pierre Tchernia

Deluxe-paper printing

Deluxe-paper printing

A striking graphic realization of Apollinaire's famous "Chantre." This poem, which appeared in Alcools in 1913, consists of a single line, said to concentrate every sonorous musicality of the French language: “et l'unique cordeau des trompettes marines.”

One of 20 deluxe copies

Deluxe-paper copy

Deluxe copy on Holland paper

Deluxe-paper printing

Deluxe-paper copy