1948Best.-Nr. 366533Copenhagen 1948. 1-1/2 pages on a single sheet. 1 vols. 4to. Fine with envelope. 1-1/2 pages on a single sheet. 1 vols. 4to. Letter from Louis Ferdinand Céline 1894-1961 author of Voyage au bout de la nuit Journey to the End of the Night and Mort à crédit Death on the Instalment Plan during his postwar limbo in Copenhagen. After the Allied landing in June 1944 Celine and his wife Lucette had fled France for Germany and later to Denmark where he was imprisoned for a year and a half. At the time he was writing this letter Céline was shunned by the French literary establishment and seeking funds. He was convicted of collaboration in 1950 but was granted amnesty in 1951. He returned to France later that year. He writes to Georges Geoffroy a Parisian jeweler whom he knew from first world war days seeking assistance with money owed to him and with copyright matters concerning Foudres et flèches a play published in 1948. He tries to tempt his friends to make "the pilgrimage to our mists and glaciers" Reading in part "Mon Vieux Frere Je tente par Daragnès et Marie Canavaggia de réunir qq fonds qu'elle ou lui te porteront à moins que tu montes toi même à Montmartre. Il s'agit d'argent que me doit un Laboratoire de Palaiseau depuis 4 ans! - et de droits d'auteur sur une petite connerie-ballet que me tire SORLOT en ce moment en luxe - une niaiserie Foudres et Flèches. Ballet mythologique 1948. . vous tenter les uns et les autres au pelerinage vers mos brumes et glaciers. Lucette est malade. L'hiver de ces 4 dernières années ont été trop durs. Bien affecteux Louis". unknown books
1687Best.-Nr. 39856Amsterdam: Abraham Wolfgang 1687. 3 volumes. A total of 21 libretti with minor duplication as follows: Vol. I With libretti to 5 works: Atys Isis Bellerophon Proserpine and Le Triomphe de l'Amour. Named cast list and full-page engraved frontispiece illustrating a scene from the opera to each libretto. Occasional decorative woodcut head- and tailpieces and initials. 1f. recto collective title verso contents. - Atys . ornée d'Entrées de Ballet de Machines & de Changements de Theatre. 1f. recto title verso blank pp. 3-70. - Isis . Representée devant sa Maiesté à Saint Germain en Laye. 1f. recto half-title verso blank 1f. recto title verso blank 5-14 15-69 i blank pp. 1f. blank. - Bellerephon . Representée par l'Academie Royale de Musique. 1f. recto half-title verso blank 1f. recto title verso blank 5-12 13- 56 2ff. "Permission". Pp. 15/16 with minor loss to lower outer corner affecting a few words of text. - Proserpine . Representée devant Sa Majesté à Saint Germain en Laye. 1f. recto title verso blank 1f. recto half-title verso blank 7-69 i blank pp. 1f. blank. - Le Triomphe de l'Amour. Ballet. Dansé devant Sa Majesté à S. Germain en Laye. 1f. recto half-title verso blank 1f. recto title verso blankl 5-28 1f. recto "Vers pour la Personne et le Personnage de ceux qui sont du Ballet du Triomphe de l'Amour" verso blank 31-47 i blank pp. Free front endpaper and lower portion of final page with ownership signature "Andriot;" rear pastedown with early ownership statement. Rear free endpaper lacking. No frontispiece. 12mo. Full dark brown leather with raised bands on spine. Vol. II Recueil des Opera des Balets & des plus belles Pieces en Musique qui ont été representées depuis dix huit ou vingt ans jusques à present devant Sa Majeste Tres-Chrêtienne. Divisées en trois parties. Tome Second. Imprimés à Paris & les Vend a Anvers Chez Henry van Dunwaldt Librairie au Marché aux Oeufs aux trois Moines 1688. With occasional decorative woodcut head- and tailpieces and initials. 1f. recto collective title verso contents. With libretti to 7 works: Bellerophon Proserpine Le Triomphe de l'Amour Persée Phaëton Amadis and Roland. Occasional decorative woodcut head- and tailpieces and initials. 1f. recto collective title verso contents. - Bellerophon . Representé devant Sa Majesté le blank Janvier 1679. 1f. recto title verso blank 3-10 11-48 pp. Published 1688. - Proserpine . Representée devant Sa Majesté à Saint Germain en Laye le blank de Fevrier 1680. 1f. recto title verso blank 3-5 6-60 pp. One leaf loose. Published 1688. - Le Triomphe de l'Amour. Ballet Dancé devant Sa Majesté à s. Germain en Laye. 1f. recto title verso blank 1f. 3-47 i blank pp. Published 1687. - Persée. 1f. recto title verso blank 3-57 i blank pp. 1f. blank. Published 1688. - Phaëton . Representée . devant Sa Majesté à Versailles le sixième jour de Ianvier mil six cens quatre-vingts-trois. 1f. recto title verso cast list 3-8 9-59 i blank pp. Published 1687. - Amadis Tragedie. 1f. recto title verso cast list 3-9 10-60 pp. Published 1687. - Roland . Representée devant Sa Majesté à Versailles le huitième Janvier 1685. 1f. recto title verso cast list 3-9 10-60 pp. Published 1693. 12mo. Full dark tan calf with triple gilt rules to boards raised bands on spine in decorative compartments gilt dark red leather title label gilt. Vol. III Recueil General des Opera Representez par l'Academie Royale de Musique depuis son etablissement. Tome Huitième. Paris: Christophe Ballard seul Imprimeur du Roy pour la Musique ruë St. Jean de Beauvais au Mont-Parnasse. Avec Privilege de Sa Majesté 1706. With libretti to 9 works: Tancrede Ulysse Les Muses Amarillis Le Carnaval & La Folie Iphigenie Telemaque Alcine and La Venitienne. With full-page engraved frontispiece illustrating a scene from the opera to each libretto except Amarillis. Occasional decorative woodcut head- and tailpieces and initials. 1f. recto collective title verso blank 1f. contents. - Tancrede . Representée par l'Academie Royale de Musiquel'An 1702. Les Paroles de M. Danchet. & La Musique de M. Campra. LVIII. Opera. 1 title 2 cast list 3-56 pp. - Ulysse Tragedie Représentée par l'Academie Royale de Musique l'An 1703. Les Paroles de M. Guichard. & La Musique de M. Rebel. LVIII. Opera. 57 title 58 cast list 59-110. - Les Muses Ballet Représenté par l'Academie Royale de Musique l'An 1703. Les Paroles de M. Danchet. & La Musique de M. Campra. LIX. Opera. 111 title 112 cast list 113-172 pp. - Amarillis pastorale Representée par l'Academie Royale de Musique à la place de celle qui se trouve dans le Ballet des Muses. Composée par MM. Danchet & Campra. 173 title 174 cast list 175-180. - Le Carnaval et La Folie Comedie-Ballet Représentée par l'Academie Royale de Musique l'An 1704. Les Paroles de M. de la Mothe. & La Musique de M. Destouches. LX. Opera. 181 title 182-183 "Avertissement" 184 cast list 185-232 pp. - Iphigénie en Tauride . Représentée par l'Academie Royale de Musique l'An 1704. Les Paroles de M. Duché. & La Musique de M. Desmarests. Mise au Théatre par MMrs. Danchet & Campra. LXI. Opera. 233 title 234 "Avertissement" and cast list 235-290. - Télémaque Tragedie Fragments des Modernes. Représentée par l'Academie Royale de Musique l'An 1704. Cette Piece a esté mise au Théatre par les soins de M.M. Danchet & Campra. LXII. Opera. 291 title 292 "Avertissement" and cast list 293-332 pp. - Alcine Tragedie. Represéntée par l'Academie Royale de Musique l'An 1705. Les Paroles de M. Danchet. & La Musique de M. Campra. LXIII. Opera. 333 title 334 cast list 335-392. - La Venitienne Comedie-Ballet Représentée par l'Academie Royale de Musique l'An 1705. Les Paroles de M. de la Mothe. & La Musique de M. De la Barre. LXIV. Opera. 393 title 394 "Avertissement" 395-396 named cast list 397-436 iii Privilege i blank pp. 12mo. Full mid-tan mottled calf with raised bands on spine in decorative compartments gilt titling gilt. Binding of Vol. I quite worn rubbed and bumped; some internal wear. All volumes with minor internal wear and browning; occasional stains and dampstaining; tears to several tears repaired. A interesting collection of libretti to works by Lully and other major composers of the Baroque era. Abraham Wolfgang unknown books
1724Best.-Nr. 39464Paris: L'Imprimerie De Jean-Baptiste-Christophe Ballard Seul Imprimeur du Roy pour la Musique & Noteur de la Chapelle de Sa Majesté. . Avec Privilege Du Roy 1724. Folio 37.5 x 24.5 cms. Full modern dark brown leather with raised bands on spine red speckled edges. 1f. blank 1f. recto half-title verso printer's note 1f. recto title. verso blank 5 dedication to the King dated 17. December 1697 6 "Airs a Jouer" 7 "Airs a Chanter" 8 cast list 300 pp. 1f. blank. With fine large woodcut device to title incorporating figures playing musical instruments; fine woodcut head- and tailpieces; occasional decorative woodcut initials. Binding slightly worn rubbed and bumped; minor wear and browning to pastedowns; free endpapers lacking. Minor internal wear; first leaf partially detached and browned and stained at margins; light uniform browning; minor foxing; browning and foxing slightly heavier to margins of last several leaves. A very good copy overall crisp and wide-margined. Third edition of the work first published in 1697 with a second heavily revised edition published in 1708. BUC p. 268. Hirsch II 196. Lesure p. 168. Sonneck p. 42. RISM D1832. Issé in a prologue and three acts by Destouches to a libretto by Antoine Houdar de Lamotte received its first concert performances at Fontainebleau on 7 October 1697 and at Versailles at the Trianon on 17 December 1697; its first stage performance was in Paris at the Opéra on 30 December 1697. The work "was an immediate success and Destouches's future was secured. Louis XIV gave him 200 louis with the comment that 'since Lully no music had given him so much pleasure' Titon du Tillet. . Destouches and his librettists dealt with the conventional genres of their time in an original manner. Issé is a pastorale but has heroic characters; Le Carnaval et la Folie is one of the first examples of a lyric comedy in France; Les élémens an opéra-ballet is clearly a prototype for the later ballet-héroïque; and Les stratagèmes de l'Amour is perhaps the only ballet-héroïque with a comic intrigue although we are assured that it is a 'noble Comedy and one that has the character of Antiquity' libretto." James R. Anthony in Grove Music Online A "remarkable figure in French musical life during the first half of the 18th century. Destouches was of aristocratic stock entitling him to entrée in circles usually closed to musicians. As a boy he was educated by the Jesuits and under their protection traveled to Siam 1687-8. Before becoming known as a composer and gaining acclaim as a musical administrator Destouches served in the king's musketeers. He left the army in 1694 to pursue a career in music studying for a time with Campra. He collaborated with his cousin the librettist Antoine Houdar de la Mott on a series of tragedies of which the pastorale-héroïque Issé 1697 and Omphale 1701 were particularly successful. When the directorship of the Académie Royale de Musique became vacant in 1712 Destouches served in the interim before being appointed inspecteur gènsmallèral in 1713. In 1728 he was finally made director." Sadie: Companion to Baroque Music p. 117. L'Imprimerie De Jean-Baptiste-Christophe Ballard, Seul Imprimeur du Roy pour la Musique, & Noteur de la Chapelle de Sa Majesté. unknown books
1968Best.-Nr. 320293New York: Delacorte/Seymore Lawrence 1968. Hardcover. xx 359p. interview with Céline from the Paris Review Chronology Glossary very good first US edition first printing stated boards with red cloth spine and gilt titles mild shelfwear in unclipped lightly worn dj with fading to spine red flame image faded. Autobiographical novel first of a trilogy of related works. Delacorte/Seymore Lawrence hardcover books
1936Best.-Nr. 2986Julius Kittls Nachfolger, Leipzig - M.-Ostrau, o.J. [1936]. 645(1) S., rot-bedruckter OLn, dunkler Farbkopfschnitt, Anrisse an den Vordersatzfalzen, Buchblock jedoch fest. DEA. Insgesamt ordentliches Exemplar dieser seltenen Ausgabe. Good copy. Rare edition.
2001Best.-Nr. 74101München/Zürich, Piper Verlag, 2001. Origi.Pappband mit Schutzumschlag, 8°, 126 Seiten.
1859Best.-Nr. 903018AGParis, Charivari und Martinet, 1859. Lithographie 21 x 27,5 cm, Blattgröße 26 x 32,5 cm.
1859Best.-Nr. 903017AGParis:, Charivari u. Martinet, 1859. Lithographie 10 x 19 cm, Blattgröße 26 x 32,5 cm.
1909Best.-Nr. 22316ALeipzig, 1909. Ca. 21,5 x 14,7 cm. 109 (4) Seiten, mit Notenbeispielen. Rückenbroschur.
1826Best.-Nr. 1003N19Paris: De Bure 1826. Leather. Very Good. 5" by 3". François-Robert Ingouf. The complete works of the esteemed composer of French comedies a prominent figure in Restoration Drama bound in full decorative calf. The complete series of Oeuvres Choises de Destouches The Works of Destouches in three volumes comedic operas from the classical French composer. Published in 1826 by De Bure.In full black decorative calf. Volume I contains a frontispiece of Destouches based on the sculpture by François-Robert Ingouf.Destouches originally entered the theatrical scene after escaping his family's wishes to become a lawyer. From then he became a very successful operatic composer opera being appointed the Inspector General of the Academie Royale de Musique by Louis XIV and bringing French comedy traditions to English restoration theatre as seen in these works.- Volume I: Le Philosophie Marie Le Glorieux.- Volume II: Le Triple Mariage Le Dissipateur.- Volume III: La Fausse Agnes Le Tambour Nocturne. Each work contains a preface introducing the play. In full black decorative calf. Externally smart with minimal marks to boards. Slight rubbing to joints heavier to head of front joint of vol. I with small loss to dye. Minor bumping to heads and tails of spines a little heavier to extremities with minor loss to calf. Marble end papers are generally bright and clean with minor fading. Internally firmly bound. Pages are generally bright and clean with the odd spot to leaf extremities heavier to first and final leaves. Very Good De Bure hardcover
2018Best.-Nr. x-2812450800Classiques Garnier 2018. Paperback. New. 1128 pages. French language. 8.66x5.98x2.44 inches. Classiques Garnier paperback
1757Best.-Nr. 896F50Paris; Yverdon: Duchesne; Francois le Breton; 1757-1765 . Leather. Very Good. 8.5" by 5.5". None. A smart sammelband of seven mid-eighteenth century theatrical works largely comedic in tone but with a vanishingly scarce tragedy titled 'Marcellus ou Les Persecutions' also present. In the original French.A sammelband of seven French theatrical works the majority being comedies from popular playwrights.The first work is a 1757 edition of 'La Coquette Corrigee' by 'Delanoue' the pseudonym of Jean-Baptiste Simon Sauvé de La Noue.The second work is a very 1763 edition of 'Le Droit du Seigneur' by Voltaire published in the same year as the unauthorised first single volume edition of the five act play.The third play is Charles Simon Favart's popular comedy 'L'Anglois a Bordeaux'. A very scarce copy published in the same year as the play was first performed.The fourth comedy is a scarce 1765 early edition of Charles Simon Favart's comedy 'Isabelle et Gertrude ou Les Sylphes Supposes'. Published in the same year as the first edition but with different pagination and lacking the six sheets of music present in the first edition.The fifth work is a posthumously published 1758 edition of playwright Philippe Nericault Destouches's 'Le Philosophe Marie' which was first produced in 1927.The sixth work is a 1765 edition of Jean-Francois Regnard's 'Le Joueur' first performed in 1696.The final work is the very scarce tragic drama 'Marcellus ou Les Persecutions: Tragedie Chretienne' by Ponce Dehaye-Polet. The first edition of this vanishingly scarce work from a writer about whom little is known.With the loosely inserted bookplate of Irish philosopher Rev. Francis Hutcheson known as one of the founding fathers of the Scottish Enlightenment.A fascinating collection of French dramas and comedies. In a full calf binding. Small loss of leather to back strip head. Joint heads starting with boards firmly held. Loosely inserted bookplate. Internally firmly bound. Pages age toned due to paper type with light handling marks throughout. Very Good Duchesne; Francois le Breton; hardcover
1920Best.-Nr. 760211920. Fine. circa 1930 8.40 x 13.30 cm Rare photographic portrait of René Destouches uncle of Louis-Ferdinand Céline accompanied by his wife Pauline Dauteville. Vintage gelatin silver print. Inscription ""M. et Mme Destouches"" ""Mr. and Mrs. Destouches"" on verso. One small corner loss and minimal creasing. René Destouches brother of Fernand Destouches married Pauline Dauteville with whom he had two children. Céline borrowed his moonstruck character inherited from a fall from the cliffs of Sainte-Adresse ""il était tout à fait sonné. Il se marrait doucement quand on lui parlait. Il se répondait à lui-même"" ""he was completely dazed. He would laugh softly when spoken to. He would answer himself"" and the hard labor he endured throughout his life for the character of Uncle Rodolphe in Death on the Installment Plan. To darken the picture even further Céline probably lent Uncle Rodolphe elements from the life of another of his uncles Charles Destouches whose wife had disappeared tragically at the age of twenty-eight: ""Une pauvre malheureuse elle crachait déjà ses poumons. Ça a pas duré trois mois"" ""A poor unfortunate woman she was already coughing up her lungs. It didn't last three months"" Death on the Installment Plan Denoël & Steele 1936. unknown
1920Best.-Nr. 76019Rennes: Menzil 1920. Fine. Menzil Rennes circa 1921 14.50 x 21.80 cm Rare and unpublished childhood portrait of Colette Destouches only daughter of Louis-Ferdinand Céline born in 1920 on albumen paper mounted on cardboard from the Menzil studio. Manuscript caption ""Colette Destouches"" inscribed on recto and verso with the mention ""1920"". The portrait was taken by the Menzil house 6 rue Beaumont Rennes the city where Céline met and spent several years in the company of Édith Follet his second wife and mother of Colette. This photograph of Colette Destouches who is only a few months old is to our knowledge unpublished. Céline retained throughout his life an affection for his daughter whom he saw regularly in Rennes Geneva and Paris and who was ""surely more possessive in his way with her than he had been with any of his wives his mistresses. He had dreamed for her a glorious future of a medical career as if to strengthen their complicity"" Frédéric Vitoux La Vie de Céline coll. Folio 2005 p. 636. Menzil unknown
1900Best.-Nr. 75325Paris: J. Couturier 1900. Fine. J. Couturier Paris s. d. ca 1900 10.30 x 15.50 cm une photographie au format carte cabinet Photographic portrait of Hermance Delhaye Destouches 1830-1869 paternal grandmother of Louis-Ferdinand Céline in cabinet card format on albumen paper mounted on cardboard from J. Couturier studio. Cardboard slightly trimmed at lower margin. Handwritten caption on verso. A bourgeoise of Flemish origin Céline's grandmother married Auguste Destouches in 1860 and had five children. Upon the premature death of her husband in 1874 at the age of thirty-nine the provincial Hermance tried her luck in Paris with Amélie Céline's aunt where she squandered her fortune and ended up being kept thanks to her daughter's demi-mondaine lifestyle. In Mort à crédit Céline borrows her second name Caroline for the character of the grandmother who runs the antique shop on rue Montorgueil. This aspect of the character however relates to the shopkeeper life of his maternal grandmother Céline Guillou whose first name served as the writer's pen name. J. Couturier unknown
1900Best.-Nr. 76037Paris: A. Lauga 1900. Fine. A. Lauga Paris s. d. ca 1900 14.20 x 10.50 cm une photographie Photographic portrait of Charles Destouches uncle of Louis-Ferdinand Céline pictured with his wife and their young daughter Charlotte DestouchesCélines cousin known as Lolotteon albumen paper mounted on a card from the Parisian studio A. Lauga. Small loss to lower right corner. Some glue residue along the edges. Handwritten caption on verso. The bohemian life of Uncle Charles Destouches inspired the character of Uncle Arthur in Death on Credit: Il a vécu en vrai bohème en marge de la société dans une soupente en cheville avec une bonniche. Elle travaillait au restaurant devant l'École Militaire. Grâce à ça il faut en convenir il arrivait à bien bouffer. Arthur c'était un luron avec barbiche velours grimpant tatanes en pointe pipe effilée. Il s'en faisait pas. Il donnait fort dans la 'conquête'. But the tragic true story of the death of his wife Joséphinealso shown in the photographclaimed by cholera despite the care of Dr. Proust Marcels brother reappears in the character of Uncle Rodolphe. By blending the lives of two of his uncles Céline gives Rodolphe the simple-mindedness of René and the grief of Charles Destouches who loses his mind after the death of his tubercular wife: Elle est morte dans sa chambre même au 'Rendez-vous'. Il voulait pas qu'on l'emmène. Il avait bouclé sa lourde. Il revenait chaque soir coucher à côté. C'est à l'infection qu'on s'est aperçu. Il est devenu alors furieux. Il comprenait pas que les choses périssent. C'est de force qu'on l'a enterrée. Il voulait la porter lui-même sur 'un crochet' jusqu'à Pantin. . 'Bonjour ! qu'il me faisait. Bonjour mon petit fi !. Tu la vois hein ma Rosine'.' Il me désignait plus loin que la Seine toute la plaine. un point dans la brume. 'Tu la vois' Je lui disait 'Oui'. Je le contrariais pas. A. Lauga unknown
1877Best.-Nr. 76022Bucarest Bucharest: Studio Louis 1877. Fine. Studio Louis Bucarest Bucharest 14 juin 1877 6.70 x 10 cm Rare photographic portrait of Amélie Destouches aunt of Louis-Ferdinand Céline in cabinet card format on albumen print mounted on cardboard from Studio Louis. Manuscript captions ""Suzannica 3 ans Bucarest ce 14 juin 1877"" ""Suzannica 3 years old Bucharest this 14th June 1877"" and ""Zenon Zawirski"" in another hand on verso. The portrait was taken by Studio Louis at 127 Calea Mosilor in Bucharest. At twenty-four Amélie married the wealthy Romanian Zenon Zawirski who poses beside her with their daughter Zenone Zawirska then three years old. Céline devoted an unflattering portrait to her in Death on the Installment Plan borrowing her features for the character of Aunt Hélène whose Slavic adventures he transposed to Russia rather than Romania. Though still alive when the novel was written Céline nonetheless had his character die in dishonor and shame: ""Elle a pris tout le vent dans les voiles. Elle a bourlingué en Russie. À Saint-Pétersbourg elle est devenue grue. À un moment elle a eu tout carrosse trois traîneaux un village rien que pour elle avec son nom dessus. Elle est venue nous voir au Passage deux fois de suite frusquée superbe comme une princesse et heureuse et tout. Elle a terminé très tragiquement sous les balles d'un officier. Y avait pas de résistance chez elle. C'était tout viande désir musique. Il rendait papa rien que d'y penser. Ma mère a conclu en apprenant son décès : 'Voilà une fin bien horrible ! Mais c'est la fin d'une égoïste !'"" ""She caught all the wind in her sails. She knocked around Russia. In St. Petersburg she became a whore. At one point she had everything carriage three sleighs a village all to herself with her name on it. She came to see us at the Passage twice in a row dressed up superb like a princess and happy and all. She ended very tragically under an officer's bullets. There was no resistance in her. She was all flesh desire music. It made papa sick just thinking about it. My mother concluded on learning of her death: 'What a horrible end! But it's the end of a selfish woman!'"" Studio Louis unknown
1875Best.-Nr. 76004Paris 1875. Fine. Paris circa 1875 13.20 x 21.80 cm une photographie Original photograph mounted on rigid cardboard showing Fernand Destouches father of writer Louis-Ferdinand Céline top right posing alongside his brothers René Georges and Charles - from top to bottom and left to right. Edges of the rigid cardboard slightly bumped. This portrait of the four Destouches brothers in uniform with laurel collar dates from their happy schoolboy years at the Le Havre lyceum. The photograph a true incarnation of a carefree and bygone past must undoubtedly have held importance in the eyes of the four brothers who would reproduce as adults the exact pose of this childhood portrait for a second family portrait preserved in the collection of François Gibault Anton Sonia « Louis-Ferdinand Céline d'un Havre à l'autre : entre autofiction transposition et imaginaire » Le Territoire littéraire du Havre dans la première moitié du XXè siècle 2013 fig. 20 photograph taken around 1905. Our photograph is reproduced on page 11 of the Album Céline Gallimard 1977. Born in 1865 in that same city Fernand Destouches who became a quartermaster then sad insurance clerk retained a passion for the sea and its vessels. He occupies a choice place in his son's second novel Mort à crédit in which Céline further darkens the aborted aspirations and impossible character of his father for the character of Auguste Ferdinand's father : « Mon père il était pas commode. Une fois sorti de son bureau il mettait plus que des casquettes des maritimes. Ç'avait été toujours son rêve d'être capitaine au long cours. Ça le rendait bien aigri comme rêve. . C'était un gros blond mon père furieux pour des riens avec un nez comme un bébé tout rond au-dessus de moustaches énormes. Il roulait des yeux féroces quand la colère lui montait. Il se souvenait que des contrariétés. Il en avait eu des centaines. Au bureau des Assurances il gagnait cent dix francs par mois. En fait d'aller dans la marine il avait tiré au sort sept années dans l'artillerie. Il aurait voulu être fort confortable et respecté. Au bureau de la Coccinelle ils le traitaient comme de la pane. L'amour-propre le torturait et puis la monotonie. Il n'avait pour lui qu'un bachot ses moustaches et ses scrupules. Avec ma naissance en plus on s'enfonçait dans la mistoufle ». ""My father wasn't easy-going. Once out of his office he'd wear nothing but caps naval ones. It had always been his dream to be a ship's captain. It made him quite bitter as dreams go. . He was a big blond man my father furious over nothing with a nose like a baby's all round above enormous mustaches. He'd roll fierce eyes when anger rose in him. He only remembered annoyances. He'd had hundreds of them. At the Insurance office he earned a hundred and ten francs a month. Instead of going into the navy he'd drawn seven years in the artillery by lot. He would have liked to be strong comfortable and respected. At the Coccinelle office they treated him like dirt. Pride tortured him and then the monotony. All he had for himself was a high school diploma his mustaches and his scruples. With my birth on top of it we were sinking into poverty"" Mort à crédit Paris Gallimard coll. Folio 1952 p. 53 His three uncles appearing in the photograph - René Georges and Charles - are immortalized and deliciously mistreated in Mort à crédit : Rodolphe René Destouches « Mais le plus cloche de la famille c'était sûrement l'oncle Rodolphe il était tout à fait sonné. Il se marrait doucement quand on lui parlait. Il se répondait à lui-même. Ça durait des heures. Il voulait vivre seulement qu'à l'air. Il a jamais voulu tâter d'un seul magasin ni des bureaux même comme gardien et même de nuit. Pour croûter il préférait rester dehors sur un banc. Il se méfiait des intérieurs. Quand vraiment il avait trop faim alors il venait à la maison. Il passait le soir. C'est qu'il avait eu trop d'échecs. La ""bagotte"" unknown
1900Best.-Nr. 75323Paris: A. Emile 1900. Fine. A. Emile Paris s. d. ca 1900 6 x 17.20 cm Une photographie au format carte de visite Rare period photograph of Fernand Destouches 1865-1932 father of Louis-Ferdinand Céline carte-de-visite format albumen print mounted on card from studio A. Émile. Two small adhesive marks to lower margin of the print also showing two tiny lacks to upper corners. Manuscript caption on verso. One of the principal protagonists of Death on the Installment Plan the petit-bourgeois Fernand Destouches from Le Havre is transformed by his son into a formidable belching and irascible character: « Mon père Auguste il tripotait sacrait jurait déglinguait chaque fois la douille et le manchon. C'était un gros blond mon père furieux pour des riens avec un nez comme un bébé tout rond au-dessus de moustaches énormes. Il roulait des yeux féroces quand la colère lui montait. Il se souvenait que des contrariétés. Il en avait eu des centaines. Au bureau des Assurances il gagnait cent dix francs par mois. » ""My father Auguste he fiddled swore cursed broke the socket and sleeve every time. He was a big blond my father furious over nothing with a nose like a baby's all round above enormous mustaches. He rolled fierce eyes when anger rose in him. He only remembered annoyances. He'd had hundreds of them. At the Insurance office he earned a hundred and ten francs a month."" Death on the Installment Plan Denoël & Steele 1936 Throughout his life Céline maintained an atmosphere of fictional romance around his father's life and claimed that he held a baccalaureate and a degree in letters. The family's financial failures as well as his father's aborted ambitions amplified by Céline into sordid proletarian dramas served as the cornerstone for Death on the Installment Plan which he forbade his mother to read. Of utmost rarity. A. Emile unknown
1920Best.-Nr. 760201920. Fine. circa 1930 12.50 x 17.80 cm Rare photographic portrait of René Destouches uncle of Louis-Ferdinand Céline. Photographic enlargement in a probably later printing. Inscription ""René Destouches"" on the back. René Destouches remained employed all his life in various menial jobs following a serious fall from the top of the cliff at Sainte-Adresse. Céline devoted passages to him in Mort à crédit under the features of uncle Rodolphe: ""Mais le plus cloche de la famille c'était sûrement l'oncle Rodolphe il était tout à fait sonné. Il se marrait doucement quand on lui parlait. Il se répondait à lui-même. Ça durait des heures. Il voulait vivre seulement qu'à l'air. Il a jamais voulu tâter d'un seul magasin ni des bureaux même comme gardien et même de nuit. Pour croûter il préférait rester dehors sur un banc. Il se méfiait des intérieurs. Quand vraiment il avait trop faim alors il venait à la maison. Il passait le soir. C'est qu'il avait eu trop d'échecs. La ""bagotte"" son casuel des gares c'était un métier d'entraînement. Il l'a fait pendant plus de vingt ans. Il tenait la ficelle des ""Urbaines"" il a couru comme un lapin après les fiacres et les bagages aussi longtemps qu'il a pu."" ""But the most cracked in the family was surely uncle Rodolphe he was completely punch-drunk. He would laugh quietly when you spoke to him. He would answer himself. It would go on for hours. He only wanted to live in the open air. He never wanted to try a single shop or offices even as a watchman and even at night. To get by he preferred to stay outside on a bench. He was wary of interiors. When he was really too hungry then he would come to the house. He would come by in the evening. It's because he had had too many failures. The 'bagotte' his casual work at the stations it was a training job. He did it for more than twenty years. He held the string of the 'Urbaines' he ran like a rabbit after the cabs and the luggage as long as he could."" unknown
1900Best.-Nr. 75327Paris: J. Couturier 1900. Fine. J. Couturier Paris s. d. ca 1900 10.30 x 15.50 cm une photographie au format carte cabinet Photographic portrait of Auguste Destouches paternal grandfather of Louis-Ferdinand Céline after a painting of the period in cabinet card format on albumen paper mounted on cardboard from J. Couturier studio. Cardboard slightly trimmed at lower margin. Handwritten caption on verso. The literature professor from Le Havre is among the recurring characters in Céline's works; this model whose career as an agrégé long resonated with the aspiring writer is powerfully evoked in the preface to Guignol's band 1944: « Faut que je vous avoue mon grand-père Auguste Destouches par son nom qu'en faisait lui de la rhétorique qu'était même professeur pour ça au lycée du Havre et brillant vers 1855. C'est dire que je me méfie atroce ! Si j'ai l'inclination innée ! Je possède tous ses écrits de grand-père ses liasses ses brouillons des pleins tiroirs ! Ah ! redoutables ! Il faisait les discours du Préfet je vous assure dans un sacré style ! Si il l'avait l'adjectif sûr ! s'il la piquait bien la fleurette ! Jamais un faux pas ! Mousse et pampre ! Fils des Gracques ! la Sentence et tout ! En vers comme en prose ! Il remportait toutes les médailles de l'Académie Française. Je les conserve avec émotion. C'est mon ancêtre ! Si je la connais un peu la langue et pas d'hier comme tant et tant ! Je le dis tout de suite ! dans les finesses ! J'ai débourré tous mes ""effets"" mes ""litotes"" et mes ""pertinences"" dedans mes couches. Ah ! j'en veux plus ! je m'en ferais crever ! Mon grand-père Auguste est d'avis. Il me le dit de là-haut il me l'insuffle du ciel au fond. ""Enfant pas de phrases !."" » ""I must confess to you about my grandfather Auguste Destouches by name who practiced rhetoric who was even a professor for that at the Le Havre lycée and brilliant around 1855. That's to say I'm terribly wary! If I have the innate inclination! I possess all my grandfather's writings his bundles his drafts whole drawers full! Ah! formidable! He wrote the Prefect's speeches I assure you in a hell of a style! How sure he was with his adjectives! how well he turned a phrase! Never a false step! Moss and vine! Sons of the Gracchi! the Sentence and all! In verse as in prose! He won all the medals of the French Academy. I keep them with emotion. He's my ancestor! If I know the language a bit and not since yesterday like so many others! I say so right away! in the subtleties! I've purged all my 'effects' my 'litotes' and my 'pertinences' in my diapers. Ah! I want no more of it! It would kill me! My grandfather Auguste agrees. He tells me so from above he breathes it into me from heaven deep down. 'Child no phrases!.'"" Guignol's band Denoël 1944 J. Couturier unknown
1763Best.-Nr. 53707Paris etc.: various publ. 1763-1788. 38 parts in 4 vols. 8vo 20x13 cm. Contemporary half leather spines gilt with ribbons; with red and green morocco title-labels; marbled covers. Titles with title-vignette; woodcut headpieces. - 1 NN Voltaire. Le dépositaire. Lausanne Grasset 1772. 84 pp. Barbier I882. First edition. - 2 Monsieur D M Voltaire. Les Guebres ou la Tolérance. Genève Grasset 1769. 48 pp. brown spots. One of the 1769 editions but without 'Préface' and 'Épitre' but with mention Genève. Not mentioned in Quérard I964. - 3 Voltaire. Les lois déminos ou Astérie. Genève se trouve à Toulon 1763. 60 pp. - 4 Voltaire. Irène. 1783. 34 pp. - 5 Voltaire. Brutus. Marseille chez Mossy 1774. 52 pp. - 6 Hume trad. Voltaire. Le caffé ou l'Écossaise. Nouv. éd. Ruault 1777. 50 pp. - 7 Sedaine. Le philosophe sans le savoir. Avignon 1772. 54 pp. - 8 M.D.B. Nadir ou Thomas Kouli-Kan. Alex. & Ant. Jombert 1780. 60 pp. - 9 l'abbé Le Blanc. Aben-Saïd empereur des Mogols first ed. 1736. Prault fils 1737 1787. 60 pp. - 10 Dorat. Adelaide de Hongrie. Monory1774 à la date de l'originale. 62 pp. - 11 Marmontel. Venceslas 1759. La Haye se vend à Marseille Mossy 1777. 56 pp. - 12 NN Mme de Graffigny. Cénie. 1750. Mossy1776. 60 pp. - 13 Scarron. Dom Japhet d'Arménie. 1653. Mossy 1776. 68 pp. - 14 Destouches. Le tambour nocturne. Nouv. éd. Didot l'Ainé. 66 pp. - 15 idem. Le philosophe marié. Didot l'Ainé 1778. 82 pp. - 16 Idem. L'homme singulier. Ruault 1778. 86ii pp. - 17 idem. Le glorieux. 1732. Delalain 1781. 104 pp. - 18 Montfleury père et fils. La fille capitaine. Nouv. éd. Compagnie Librairies Associés 1771. 66 pp. - 19 NN Dorat. Le célibataire. 1775. Didot l'Ainé 1778. 72 pp. - 20 Gresset. Le méchant. Didot Ainé 1778. 78iipp. -21 De Chamfort. Mustapha et Zéangir. 1776. Didot l'Ainé 1778. 54 pp. 22-24: Publisher: Avignon L. Chambeau 1773-74: 22 Diderot le fils naturel 54 pp. 23 Nivelle de la Chaussée. La gouvernante. 24 De Campistron. Le jaloux désabusé. 56 pp. - 25-29: Publisher: Paris Duchesne: 25 A. Collalto. Les trois jumeaux Venitiens 1773 en quatre actes. 1777. 26 De la Noue. La coquette corrigée. 1756. 1774. 27 NN Nivelle de la Chaussée. Le préjugé à la mode. 1776. 64 pp. 28 Poisson. Le Mercure gallant. 1776. 60 pp. 29 Delaunay. Le complaisant. 1732. Nouv. éd. 1776. - 30-38: 'Nouv. éditions' published by Ruault 1777-84: 30-31 Boursault. Esope à la cour & Esope à la ville ou les fables d'Ésope. 1780-86. 68 & 92 pp. 32 Rochon de Chabannes. Les amans généreux. 52 pp. 33 De Boissy. Les dehors trompeurs. 72 pp. 34 A. Montfleury. La femme juge et partie. 56 pp. 35-36 Colardeau. Astarbé & Caliste 1760. 1777. 44 & 46 pp. 37 De la Harpe. Jeanne de Naples.46ii pp. 38 Le Mierre. Guillaume Tell. 36 pp. -- Nice spotless convoluut. various publ. hardcover
1967Best.-Nr. x-9401757496Springer Verlag 1967. Paperback. New. 148 pages. 9.02x5.99x0.32 inches. Springer Verlag paperback
1820Best.-Nr. 69158Paris: Chez Haut-Coeur 1820. Fine. Chez Haut-Coeur Paris 1820 13 x 21 cm 6 volumes reliés New edition preceded by a notice on the life and works of this author. Half bottle-green shagreen bindings spines with four raised bands decorated with gilt compartments gilt fillets on marbled paper boards marbled endpapers and pastedowns bindings signed Vernier-Reitz at foot of spines. Work illustrated with plates. Occasional light foxing. Handsome set in charming signed bindings. Chez Haut-Coeur hardcover
1715Best.-Nr. 19023Cont. full mottled calf with 5 raised bands. Spine-gilding quite worn hinges gently repaired. A little brown-spotted. Rare first edition. hardcover
