‎Autographes‎

‎Scribe, Eugène, French playwright (1791-1861).‎

‎Lithographed document with handwritten entries signed "Eugène Scribe". Paris, 14. V. 1849.‎

‎Small folio. 1 p. Payment order from the Comédie-Française ("Théâtre Français"), for Eugène Scribe's play "Adrienne Lecouvreur". Scribe was supposed to receive 5,000 francs from the treasurer of the theatre, according to a contract from 9 March 1849. The play had already premiered on 14 April 1849, a month prior to the payment. - Co-signed by the Sociétaires Jean-Baptiste Provost (1798-1865), Edmond Geffrey (1804-1895), and an unidentified signatory. - Traces of folds. With some foxing to the upper and lower margins and minor tears. Dust-stained.‎

‎Auer, Leopold von, Violinist, Violinpädagoge und Dirigent (1845-1930).‎

‎Eigenh. Brief mit U. New York, 6. XI. 1929.‎

‎1 S. 8vo. An den Violoncellisten und Konzertagenten Norbert Salter: "Bedauerlicher Weise habe ich keine Schüler die so kostbare Violinen zu kaufen im Stande sind [...]".‎

‎Becker, Julius, Komponist (1811-1859).‎

‎Eigenh. Brief mit U. Leipzig, 30. VII. 1840.‎

‎1¾ SS. 8vo. An einen namentlich nicht genannten Musikverleger, wohl Friedrich Hofmeister (1782-1864): "Die freundliche Theilnahme, welche Ew. Wohlgeb. meinen in Ihrem Verlage erschienenen zweistimmigen Liedern geschenkt, ermuthigt mich Ihnen aufs Neue einige Compositionen mit der Bitte um deren Durchsicht zu übersenden, hoffend Sie wieder sich vielleicht geneigt finden, eins oder das andre in Ihrem Verlag auf zu nehmen [...]". Bei den "zweistimmigen Liedern" wird es sich um "5 Gesänge für Bass oder Bariton, op. 10" gehandelt haben, die 1838 bei Hofmeister in Leipzig erschienen waren. - Stellenweise unbedeutend fleckig und mit kleinen Randläsuren.‎

‎Beethoven, Ludwig van, composer (1770-1827).‎

‎Autograph letter signed ("Beethoven"). [Vienna, end of March 1806].‎

‎Oblong small 4to. 1 page. With autograph address on reverse ("An Herrn v. Mayer"). In German. To Friedrich Sebastian Mayer, with instructions for the singer who performed the role of Don Pizarro at the premiere of "Fidelio" (in the original première of 20 November 1805 as well as in that of the reworked version of 29 March 1806): "Hier der Ite Akt - diesen Abend den Zweiten - wo eigentlich nur wenige Veränderungen gemacht worden - sobald beyde Akte geschrieben, bitte ich sogleich, mir sie wieder zu zustellen" ("Here is the 1st Act - the second will follow this evening - which in fact contains only few changes - when both have been copied, please return them to me directly"). - The reception of Beethoven's first "Fidelio" version had been lukewarm; the second had enjoyed greater success. However, it was not until 1814, when Beethoven produced a third version of his only opera, that the work met with resounding cheers. Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient, one of the greatest tragic sopranos of the 19th century, who had accepted the role of Leonore in 1822, was instrumental for the opera's ever-increasing popularity. When Vienna's State opera, destroyed by Allied bombs during WWII, re-opened in 1955, it was Beethoven's "liberation opera" that was chosen to mark the occasion. - Slightly browned and wrinkled, overall in good condition. Beethoven, Briefwechsel (ed. S. Brandenburg), no. 244.‎

‎Brendel, Alfred, Pianist (geb. 1931).‎

‎Eigenh. Visitkarte mit U. Wien, Dezember 1962.‎

‎1 S. Qu.-12mo. Großes Visitkartenformat. "Herzlichst & ungesund wie immer, Ihre ferfetteten, bzw. verdünnten Iris & Alfred". Alfred Brendel war in erster Ehe mit der Keramikkünstlerin Iris Brendel (geb. Heymann-Gonzala, 1929-2007) verheiratet. - Mit Angabe der neuen Adresse in der Ungargasse.‎

‎Albach-Retty, Rosa, Schauspielerin (1874-1980).‎

‎Albumblatt mit eigenh. U. O. O. u. D.‎

‎½ S. Qu.-8vo. Die Tochter des Schauspielers und Regisseurs Rudolf Retty debütierte 1890 am Deutschen Theater in Berlin; am Berliner Lessing-Theater konnte sie als Franziska in Kleists "Minna von Barnhelm" ihren ersten größeren Erfolg erzielen. Sie kam 1903 an das Wiener Burgtheater, wo sie wenige Jahre danach zur Hofschauspielerin aufstieg. Neben zahlreichen klassischen und komischen Rollen am Theater spielte die Großmutter Romy Schneiders seit 1930 auch in einigen Filmen, so etwa in Franz Antels "Der Kongreß tanzt" (1930).‎

‎Chung Ling Soo [i. e., William Ellsworth Robinson], American illusionist (1861-1918).‎

‎Photographic portrait, signed in ink "Chung Ling Soo". No place, [ca. 1912].‎

‎8vo (140 x 70 mm). Halftone print. Portrait postcard, signed in ink "Chung Ling Soo", with Chinese characters adjacent, depicting the magician head and shoulders, his head shaved and wearing a queue, in an embroidered jacket. This image was also used as the frontispiece for the programme for the Alhambra Theatre, Paris, in September 1912. - W. E. Robinson was an American illusionist famous for creating the persona of a Chinese magician, Chung Ling Soo, an act he performed both on and off the stage. Dressed in traditional Chinese attire, he shaved his head, wore his hair in a queue and created an elaborate "back story" for himself. He never spoke onstage unless in broken English and communicated to journalists via an interpreter. He became highly popular and one of the highest-paid vaudeville performers, helped no doubt by the publicity resulting from his feud with a real Chinese magician, Ching Ling Foo, who claimed he had stolen his act. Soo was most famous for his "Condemned to Death by the Boxers" trick and was fatally injured by a bullet during a performance of the act at Wood Green Empire in 1918. After his death, the public was shocked to learn that he was not Chinese.‎

‎Georg, Rita, Sängerin (1900-1973).‎

‎Albumblatt mit eigenh. U. O. O., 28. IV. 1932.‎

‎½ S. Qu.-8vo. Auf etwas größerem Trägerpapier montiert. In Bleistift. Rita Georg, als junge Sängerin von dem Komponisten Franz Lehár entdeckt und gefördert, hatte ihre erste Filmrolle in dem Stummfilm "Das Gebot der Liebe" (1919). Sie war 1926 am Wiener Burgtheater in Karl Farkas' Revue "Journal der Liebe" und als erste Sonja an der Seite von Richard Tauber in Lehárs 1927 uraufgeführtem "Zarewitsch" zu sehen. Größere Bekanntheit erlangte sie als Mary in Emmerich Kálmáns "Die Herzogin von Chicago" im Theater an der Wien. Ab 1933 verlegte sie ihre Wirkungsstätte nach Frankreich und später in die Niederlande.‎

‎Huber, Walther, Schauspieler (ca. 1887-1945).‎

‎Albumblatt mit eigenh. U. O. O., 11. V. 1932.‎

‎½ S. Qu.-8vo. Walther Huber stand neben seiner Tätigkeit als Burgschauspieler, als der er von 1917 bis 1936 wirkte, in Filmen wie "Der Musikant von Eisenstadt" und "13 Stühle" vor der Kamera.‎

‎Kern, Adele, Sängerin (1901-1980).‎

‎Albumblatt mit eigenh. U. O. O. u. D.‎

‎1 S. Qu.-8vo. Mit dreiseitigem Goldschnitt und beidseitig feiner lithogr. Bordüre. Adele Kern wechselte nach ihrem Debüt 1924 an der Bayerischen Staatsoper (als Olympia in "Hoffmanns Erzählungen") als erste Koloratursopranistin nach Frankfurt am Main. 1927 folgte ihr Debüt an der Staatsoper in Wien in der Rolle der Zerbinetta in Strauss' "Adriadne auf Naxos", einer ihrer späteren Paraderollen. Zudem sang Kern bei den Salzburger Festspielen, an den Staatsopern von Berlin und München sowie in der Uraufführung von Franz Lehárs "Schön ist die Welt".‎

‎Marberg, Lili, Schauspielerin (1876-1962).‎

‎2 Albumblätter mit eigenh. U. O. O. u. D.‎

‎(1+1 =) 2 SS. Qu.-8vo. Ein Albumblatt mit Widmung an die Tochter sowie spätere Mitarbeiterin und Nachlassverwalterin des Wiener Malers Franz Martin Haberditzl, Magdalena (1919-2017): "Herzliche Grüße Frl. Lene Haberditzl von Lili Marberg". - Lili Marberg sorgte nach Auftritten und Engagements an verschiedenen Theatern (Zwickau, Elberfeld-Barmen, Thalia-Theater in Hamburg) am Münchner Schauspielhaus ab 1903 für Furore in Oscar Wildes "Salome" und wurde nach diesem Publikumserfolg als Nachfolgerin von Helene Odilon an das Deutsche Volkstheater in Wien geholt. Sie wechselte schließlich ans Wiener Burgtheater, dem sie bis 1950 angehörte. Marberg spielte die weibliche Hauptrolle in den Uraufführungen von Arthur Schnitzlers "Das weite Land" und George Bernard Shaws "Pygmalion". - Das kleinere Blatt mit abgerundeten Ecken.‎

‎Ortner-Kallina, Elisabeth, Schauspielerin (1910-2004).‎

‎Albumblatt mit eigenh. U. O. O. u. D.‎

‎1 S. Qu.-8vo. Elisabeth Ortner-Kallina trat mit 18 Jahren ins Ensemble des Wiener Burgtheaters ein, wo sie im Laufe der Jahre weit über hundert verschiedene Rollen verkörpern sollte, darunter zahlreiche große Charakterrollen wie die Titelrolle in Schillers "Jungfrau von Orléans", die Ismene in Sophokles' "Antigone", Lady Milford in "Kabale und Liebe" und Sittah in Lessings "Nathan der Weise". Aus der Ehe mit Oskar Werner ging eine gemeinsame Tochter hervor.‎

‎Reimers, Emmerich, Schauspieler (1886-1956).‎

‎Albumblatt mit eigenh. U. O. O., 19. V. 1932.‎

‎½ S. Qu.-8vo. Emmerich Reimers studierte Germanistik, sein Schauspieldebüt gab er 1908 als Mortimer in "Maria Stuart" am Stadttheater Eisenach. Er spielte dann an den Stadttheatern Altona und Leipzig und kam 1918 ans Wiener Burgtheater. Er war in Liebhaber- und Charakterrollen zu sehen und mit der Schauspielerin Maria Mayen verheiratet.‎

‎Seebach, Marie, Schauspielerin und Opernsängerin (1829-1897).‎

‎Eigenh. Albumblatt mit U. Berlin, 24. X. 1896.‎

‎1 S. auf Doppelblatt. Qu.-8vo. Rein das Herz, / Hoch der Sinn, & Rastlos das Streben!‎

‎Ziková, Zdenka, Sängerin (1902-1990).‎

‎Albumblatt mit eigenh. U. ("Zdenka Zika"). O. O., 1932.‎

‎1 S. Qu.-8vo. Mit dreiseitigem Goldschnitt und beidseitig feiner lithogr. Bordüre. Zdenka Ziková, die mit dem Komponisten der tschechischen Nationalhymne František Škroup verwandt war, trat als Solistin vornehmlich an den Nationaltheatern in Prag und Wien auf und arbeitete nach ihrem Abschied von der Bühne als Gesangspädagogin. - Mit Spuren alter Montage und Rostspur alter Heftung.‎

‎Godin, Louis, astronomer (1704-1760).‎

‎Autograph letter signed ("Godin"). Petit-Goâve, Saint-Domingue (Haiti), 28. X. 1735.‎

‎4to. 2½ pp. A long, highly interesting letter written from Haiti, during the early months of the French Royal expedition for the measurement of the meridian arc. - In 1734 Godin had been requested to submit to the French chief minister the best means of measuring the exact figure of the Earth, and proposed sending expeditions to the Equator and the polar sea. The plan was approved, and three members of the Académie, Pierre Bouguer, Charles de La Condamine, and Godin, were sent on the mission to Peru. They sailed from La Rochelle on 16 May 1735 and remained in Haiti for six months, taking observations. They would arrive in Quito in February 1736, cross the Andes, and remain for two years. - In his letter, Godin discusses mémoires read at the Academy, in particular that of Maupertuis: "Des deux memoires lus à notre occasion dans l'Academie, celuy de M. de Maupertuis, me toucher les plus. M. Bouguer avoit fait apeuprès la mesme chose autant que j'en peux juger n'en ayant vu qu'un, des le temps que nous etions à Rochefort. Il me montra pendant les 8 premiers jours de la Traversée ce qu'il avoit trouvé la dessus et nous remismes à une plus ample lecture dans l'occasion. Nous sçavons donc quel degré de precision nous devons esperer en prenant toutes les precautions possibles. Le mémoire de M. Cassini, nous l'avions fait entre nous des Paris mesme et nous devions chercher une occasion de le pratiquer. J'avois proposé cette methode à nos Messieurs et nommé une Isle fort propre à l'execution ; mais la difference dans les Inclinaisons n'est pas à beaucoup près celle que vous marquez qu'a trouvée M. Cassini et il s'en faut qu'on tire de cette observation la precision qu'on aura d'ailleurs. Je n'ay pensé la pratiquer aussi que comme quelques autres assez peu precises mais qui doivent cependant estre examinées suivant la commodité des lieux. Il y a comme cela quelques autres desseins qu'on pourra m'enlever, ce qui me fait repentir de n'avoir pas publié ou du moins remis au Secretariat de l'Academie les differentes idées que j'ay eues à l'occasion de ce Voyage. J'ay déjà perdu quelque chose qui valloit mieux que cela [...] Toutes les observations astronomiques que nous avons pu faire pendant un sejour de trois mois se reduisent aux hauteurs meridiennes des astres et aux Eclipses des satellites de [Jupiter]. Nous n'avons pas toujours eu le temps favorable. L'Eclipse de [Lune] du 2 de ce mois ne nous a pas eté visible. Pour les autres observat. astronom. particulieres nous n'etions pas assez bien placés pour y travailler". - Very light browning in places. Old page numbers (13-16) in red ink in a different hand; very well preserved.‎

‎Hedin, Sven, Asienforscher (1856-1952).‎

‎Eigenh. Portraitpostkarte mit zweifacher U. O. O., 28. III. [?] 1950.‎

‎1 S. 8vo. An einen Peter Krauß mit Dank "für Ihren lieben Brief! Bitte grüssen Sie recht herzlich die liebe Schwester Martha. Herrn Dr Dipper werde ich nie vergessen können. Als Arzt war er viel grösser als alle die der P.U.M.C. [...]". - Edmund Dipper war in den 1920er Jahren Chefarzt am Deutschen Hospital in Peking, Schwester Martha wird wohl eine der Diakonissen, die als Pflegepersonal dort tätig waren. Hedin selbst hatte in den Jahren 1927 bis 1935 die internationale und interdisziplinäre Chinesisch-Schwedische Expedition geleitet, bei der die Mongolei, Xinjiang und Tibet erforscht wurden. Das Peking Union Medical College (PUMC) war über Paul H. Stevenson, der am PUMC lehrte, mit der Expedition verbunden, die er als Konsulent betreute, ohne selbst an ihr teilzunehmen. - Geringe Gebrauchsspuren.‎

‎Dubuffet, Jean, French painter (1901-1985).‎

‎7 autograph letters signed, 4 letters signed, 13 autograph notes, one of which signed, and 5 autograph receipts. Paris, Vence, El Goléa (El Meniaa, Algeria), and no place, 1948-1960.‎

‎Various formats. Altogether ca. 23 pp. on 32 ff. Together with 2 postcards by Lili Dubuffet, 1 letter by Alexandre Vialatte, a facsimile postcard by Jean Dubuffet, the reproduction of a group photograph with Dubuffet and Sibille Boffard, a poster for a 1950 exhibition at Galerie Nina Daucet, a short text on the relationship between Dubuffet and Boffard, and other documents. In French. Correspondence with his neighbour in Paris, informal assistant, and close friend Sibille Boffard. Most letters are charming documents of the friendship, including the earliest two letters from Dubuffet's 1948 stay in El Meniaa (El Golea), Algeria. On 23 January he sends greetings to Boffard and mutual friends including the writer Alexandre Vialatte and complains about the weather: "Who expects to find heat here is terribly mistaken. One lives wrapped in the wide and heavy burnous that deprives you of the usage of the hands and the hood makes it impossible to see and to move the head". The second letter from 22 April is no less skeptical: "Travelling is like hunting marsh birds - long, tedious times, inconvenience and annoyance - occasionally rewarded with a good catch. Travelling to countries that are very uncomfortable for the body and the mind has this advantage over others that they make the return more enjoyable. We have been waiting for several days for a car that removes us from this place in the desert [...]". In a letter from 15 May 1949, Dubuffet contemplates the institution of "two kinds of marriage", one that is easily dissolved and one "for the venturers" that is inseparable, and invites Boffard for cake. In an undated letter, he thanks her enthusiastically for a party, underlining that it "has been a long time since I had been so highly amused". Two letters, one of which is dated 13 July 1955, the other undated, of a personal nature strike a darker note. In the dated letter from Vence, Dubuffet first thanks Boffard for sending him yearbooks that he uses to clean his brushes. He then mentions that she has been "severely tested" by life, wishing her well and discusses his wife's depression that renders the atmosphere in the house "often sombre". In the second letter, also to thank Boffard for yearbooks, Dubuffet writes about a severe case of lumbago that keeps him from work. - Two undated letters probably from the late 40s contain work-related instructions for Boffard. In a typed letter, Dubuffet instructs her to varnish a glass pane in his workshop, to convey two drawings of hippos from his "Collection de l'art brut" to a photographer, and to gather information concerning possibilities for the reproduction of a drawing of Slavko Kopac, the longtime curator of the Art brut collection. The second letter with instructions is truly remarkable, as Dubuffet had sent art supplies to Boffard to be distributed to the outsider artists Georges Berthomier (1897-1963) and Fernand Costa in the psychiatric hospital of Ville-Évrard. Dubuffet added a sketch of the hospital, indicating the pavilion of Juliette Élisa Bataille and enclosing a list of several patients with details concerning their interest in artistic work. He also asks Boffard to meet a Madame Sée in order to establish contact with a Swedish psychiatrist. Dubuffet's famous and groundbreaking Art brut exhibition was held in October 1949 at the Galerie René Drouin. The enclosed facsimile postcard was Boffard’s invitation to the opening. - The final three letters concern works by Dubuffet in Boffard’s possession. In an undated letter, he asks her to lend him a "small gray gouache" of his for an exhibition at the gallery of René Drouin, possibly the Art brut exhibition. This is possibly the same gouache that Dubuffet discusses in a long typed letter from 15 April 1960. There he bitterly complains to Boffard, as she "refuses to help him with the research" on the gouache that had apparently changed ownership in the meantime. Dubuffet explains to her that it is normal and beneficial for a collector to participate in the preparation of an artist's catalogue raisonné. In the final letter from 22 April 1960, Dubuffet thanks Boffard for her response, explaining that he is convinced that the new owner, a Mrs de Gavardy, will permit photographs to be taken. - Ten notes are instructions for Sibille Boffard or indicate the names of businesses, including a frame maker and a bookbinder, with which she had to deal for him. Three notes contain short aphorisms on love: "On est toujours soûlé quand on est amoureux". - Well preserved overall. Several notes and letters with instructions crossed out by Sibille Boffard. Some browning, occasional minor tears, particularly to the notes and receipts.‎

‎Favrat, Marc (Marquis de), painter, lover of Elisabeth of Romania (fl. 1950).‎

‎Autograph correspondence card signed. Golfe-Juan (Cannes), 9. VII. 1957.‎

‎Oblong 8vo. 1¾ pp. To a Madame with the news that Favrat has returned from Paris, where he spent a nice evening at Florence's place, and about a small request (not further discussed) by their mutual friend Pierre Besançon de Wagner, husband of the Belgian-born fashion designer Maggy Rouff (Marguerite de Wagner): "Je rentre de Paris où j'étais depuis cette charmante soirée chez Florence. J'en garde d'ailleurs une souvenir d'autant plus agréable puisque j'eu le plaisir de vous revoir aussi que Monsieur le Préfet. Je n'oserais pas vous importuner avec la petite requête si malicieusement présentée pas notre ami Pierre Besançon [...]". - Marc Favrat had met Elisabeth of Romania (1894-1956) in France, where she finally settled in Cannes some years after her expulsion from Romania in 1947, when the Romanian People's Republic had been proclaimed. The much younger aspiring artist Favrat became Elisabeth's lover, equerry (or Grand Chamberlain), and adopted son in the year of her death. - With printed monogram, on mourning paper.‎

‎[Reparation payments of the Romanian People's Republic - Deciry, Jean / Manescu, R.].‎

‎Typed "Accord entre la République française et la République populaire roumaine concernant le règlement des problèmes financiers en suspens entre les deux pays". Bucarest, 9. II. 1959.‎

‎4to. Ca. 11 pp. on 12 ff. (one of which the title-page). Including a typed application protocol, 5 typed letter copies, and a cover letter (copy). With information on progress made in the settlement of French financial claims on Romania and compensation of French public or legal persons whose assets, rights or interests have been affected by a Romanian measure of nationalization, expropriation, requisition, and other similar measure or whose property has suffered war damage. The bank of the People's Republic of Romania must order payment to various French and Dutch banks within fifteen days after the agreement coming into effect, for example the equivalent in Francs of "1.775,243" kilograms of gold to the "Banque de France": "La Banque d'Etat de la République Populaire Roumaine, dans les quinze jours qui suivront l'entrée en vigueur de l'accord, notifiera: a) à la Banque de France [...]". - With traces of old, partly rusty, stapling. Cover letter with handwritten note.‎

‎Fort, Paul, symbolist poet (1872-1960).‎

‎2 autograph calling cards signed. [printed address: Paris], 7 Dec. 1937 and 28 Jan. 1938.‎

‎Oblong 12mo. (1+2 =) 3 pp. on 2 ff. In French. To the engineer Marc Ferlet (1896-1971), in hopes of support, as Fort is advanced in years, suffers from poor health, lacks funds, and has six children to care for. Fort therefore recommends to Ferlet his volume of poetry, "Vol d'Oiseaux noirs": "Pour demander en toute déférence à Monsieur M. Ferlet de se montrer favorable à mon appel, lorsque je viens, sans avoir eu l'honneur de lui être présenté, sur le conseil de plusieurs amis des Lettres, l'adjurer de se joindre, s'il le peut, au petit groupe de mes amis qui [...] veulent bien s'intéresser à ce livre de chants désolés [...]" (7 Dec. 1937). - The second calling card (28 Jan. 1938) contains Fort's thanks, to be taken in stead of a full letter, as Fort's ill health kept him from writing earlier and longer: "Mon malheureux état de santé ne me permettant pas, hélas! de vous écrire en cette heure même [...]". – Fort's volume of poetry "Vol d'oiseaux noirs au temps des cerises" (Paris, A. J. Klein, 1932) was originally published merely 45 copies, numbered by hand and not available for sale.‎

‎Hesse, Hermann, Schriftsteller (1877-1962).‎

‎"Skizzenblatt". Ms. Gedicht mit eigenh. U. "Am Neuenburger See", "Ende 1946".‎

‎138:210 mm. Zusammen mit einem Lichtdruckportraits Hesses (250:188 mm) in Passepartout unter Glas. Gerahmt (565:365 mm). "Kalt knistert Herbstwind im dürren Rohr, / Das im Abend ergraut ist; / Krähen flattern vom Weidenbaume landeinwärts [...]". Das Gedicht, das mit einem eh. "Gruss von H Hesse" versehen ist, wurde erstmals in der Baseler "Nationalzeitung" am 15. XII. 1946 gedruckt. Waibler G 408.‎

‎Merezhkovsky, Dmitry Sergeyevich, Russian novelist, poet, religious thinker, and literary critic (1866-1941).‎

‎Autograph letter signed ("D. Merejkovsky"). Paris, 26. VI. 1934.‎

‎4to (267 x 205 mm). 1½ pages. In French. To Henriette Roggers-Farrère, the wife of the French novelist Claude Farrère. Merezhkovsky thanks Henriette (who is in the Basque country, recovering from an accident) and her husband "for the very touching care which you take over my poor 'Atlantis"', and he will pass on a letter of recommendation to Paul Valéry. "But, alas! I have little hope, for decidedly it appears that it is forbidden to speak of Atlantis in Europe as it is of rope in the house of a hanged man". - Merezhkovsky's "The Secret of the West: Atlantis-Europe" was published in Berlin in 1930. In it, the author writes in apocalyptic terms of the destruction of the ancient Atlantis and draws analogies to the decline and imminent collapse of Europe. The recipient of the letter, the actress Henriette Roggers, married the writer Claude Farrère in 1919. - In fine condition.‎

‎Simenon, Georges, Belgian writer (1903-1989).‎

‎3 typed letters signed. In English. Epalinges, 25 July 1968, 20 Feb. 1969, and 13 March 1969.‎

‎4to. Altogether 3 pp. Correspondence with his editor Robert K. Spencer at Appleton-Century-Crofts concerning several projects. In the earliest letter, Simenon thanks Spencer "for the good news about the successful career of 'Trois Nouvelles de Georges Simenon' [...] and of 'Tournants Dangereux'". The latter title was published as early as 1953, whereas the three novels appeared in 1966, both in French and for an American audience. He expresses his hope that Spencer "will find some suitable material in 'La Rue aux Trois Poussins'" for another anthology but concedes that he has not written any novels in twenty years. - In February 1969, Simenon asks for an author's fee of "10% of the volumes sales price" for "various short stories" appearing in a textbook. Simenon also informs Spencer that he cannot extend his "field of action to all English speaking countries of the world", referring specifically to "the British Empire" and Canada, which shall remain "an open market". - The third letter was sent with a contract "reflecting our recent correspondence", asking Spencer to return it signed. Simenon hopes that "the new anthology will have the success of the previous textbooks". - The two letters from 1969 with recipient's notes in ballpoint pen and pencil; the letter from 20 February 1969 with a minor tear to the upper margin. Well preserved.‎

‎Fleming, Alexander, Scottish biologist and pharmacologist (1881-1955).‎

‎Photograph signed. No place, ca. 1950.‎

‎Vintage gelatin silver print. 200 x 160 mm. Matted (ca. 310 x 260 mm), framed (350 x 306 mm) and glazed with metal plaque caption for the 1945 Nobel Prize winner for Physiology or Medicine mounted beneath the photograph. An appealing signed half-length portrait vintage photograph, circa 1950, showing Fleming seated and smoking a cigarette while signing a book on his knee. Signed "Alexander Fleming" in dark fountain pen ink across a white area of the image between his hands.‎