We offer a selection of letters and manuscripts from men and women who, through their writings, acts or discoveries, have influenced the course of history.
Autograph letter signed « ADreyfus » [to général Percin]
[Paris], 21st July 1906, 1 p. in-8°
« If I have known many villains, many cowardices, I have at least had the consolation of meeting some brave men »
First edition of the 87th issue of journal L’Aurore
[Paris, 13th January 1898], 4 p. in-plano
« The truth is on the march and nothing will stop it »
Autograph letter signed « du Paty de Clam » [to Georges Bonnamour]
Paris, 28 March 1898, 3 p. in-12° on mourning paper
« The wretched proceedings of the Zola affair… »
Autograph letter signed « Jules Soury » to Eugène Fasquelle
S.l, 4th October 1904, 1 p. in-8°
« Twelve firing squad bullets for Jewish traitor Alfred Dreyfus »
Autograph letter signed « Z » to Alice Mirbeau
N.p [Addlestone], Tuesday 30th August [18]98, 4 p. in-8° on laid paper
« It only gives me one passion, that of sacrifice, the will to immolate myself »
Unpublished autograph manuscript, signed « Emile Zola »
[Grosvenor Hotel, London, 19 July 1898], 5 pages in-4 on ligned paper
« Of all my open letter to the president, a few lines had been skilfully extracted… to prevent the truth to shine on the Dreyfus affair »
Autograph letter to Madam Dumans
Meaux, 20 Dec. 1695, 1 p. in-8°
« The order of the Church was formerly to receive confirmation before communion; this remains its spirit even today »
Two autograph cards signed (Ledringhem, 2 & 27 Dec. 1914)
Autograph cards signed « Schneider » and « Colonel Blacque-Belair »
« I was happy to have been able to get your son the medal he deserved less for his wound than for his courage »
Autograph letter signed (paraph) to Mme de Vintimille
[Paris], 16 August 1806, 4 pp. in-12°, in brown ink
« Chateaubriand is already speaking of his return… »
Autograph letter signed « A. Thiers » to Edmond Cavé
N.p., 13 Feb. 1840, 2 p. in-8°
« I know the interest you have in Madame Valmore. However, I want to… beg you to do everything you can for her »
Autograph letter signed « Henri Bergson » to Jean Becquerel
Paris, 24 Sept[ember] 1922, 16 pages in-8°
« From the point of view of the theory of Relativity, there is no longer absolute motion or absolute immobility »
Portrait of Empress Eugenie by W&D Downey, period albumen print
[London, c. 1871], CDV format
Elegant portrait of the Empress, with a melancholic gaze
Autograph letter signed « Romain Rolland » to Victor Margueritte
Villeneuve (Vaud) [Switzerland], 10 Oct. 1933, 3 p. in-8°
« Hitler must fall. He must, for the sake of world peace itself. »
Autograph letter signed « Beauh. de Lavalette » to Eugène de Beauharnais
N.p, [11th] May [1807], 5 p. in-12°
« We have been so dejected and discouraged by the loss of my poor cousin »
Autograph letter signed « Morellet » to Maine de Biran
N.p.n.d. [29 or 30th Dec. 1813], 3 p. in-8° in black ink on laid paper
« Voltaire said of Montesquieu: “Mankind had lost its title deeds; Montesquieu rediscovered them and restored them to humanity.” »
Portrait of Napoléon III by Disdéri
N.p.n.d, c. 1868, cdv format
Famous and elegant full-length portrait of Emperor Napoleon III
Autograph letter signed « L Davout » to his wife, Aimée Leclerc
Osterode [current Ostróda in Poland], 16 April [1807], 6 p. in-4°
« We do not know here whether the peaceful intentions of our emperor will prevail over the intrigues of our eternal enemies, but in any case we are more able than ever to make them triumph by our arms »
Eight autograph signed letters to Admiral Charner
Paris, 1840–1841, 26 pp., 1/12 in-4° and in-8°
Preparations of La Belle-Poule for the expedition to return the Emperor’s remains
Autograph letter signed « Joseph Caillaux » to Philippe Pétain
Mamers, Sarthe, 30 Apr. 1944, 1 p. in-8° on grey paper, in black ink
« I know President Roosevelt means to claim he backed you from the start »
Letter signed « Duc de Bassano » to the Comte de la Chapelle, Alfred de Morton
[Camden Place, Chislehurst] July 1879, 1 p. in-8° on mourning paper
« I have been instructed by Her Majesty the Empress to convey to you her many thanks for the sentiments you have expressed to her in her immense misfortune »
Photomontage on period albumen vintage print
N.p.n.d, cabinet format (10 x 13,5 cm)
Famous photomontage depicting the Imperial Prince weeping over the death of his father, Napoleon III
Autograph letter signed « LRebatet » to Pierre Viansson-Ponté
Paris, 29th. Feb. 1972, 2 p. in-4° on his letterhead of rue Le Marois
« To spare Sartre the prison he deserves a hundred times more than the petty Maoist troublemakers, you are depriving him of that honour… »
Autograph manuscript signed « P. » : Léon Trotsky
Les Monties [Gers], « early Aug.1982 », 30 p. in-8° in blue ink
« So for the first time I was seeing this historic figure, true to his image, clean-shaven, with the legendary goatee… »
Autograph letter signed « Affre » to comte de Rambuteau
[Paris], 13 March [183]8, 2 p. in-8°
« I forgot to ask you to officially inform the ladies of the Abbaye-aux-Bois of the municipal council’s decisions »
Autograph manuscript, with an autograph poem signed
[Paris, 24 Apr. 1945], 7 p. in-4° in blue and brown ink
« Stalin, who today commands the victorious armies in Berlin, who commands the decisive battle that liberates the world and France from the Nazi monsters… »
Autograph letter signed « Henri » to Aimé Gaspard de Clermont-Tonnerre
Venice, 20 Feb. 1862, 1 p. 1/4 in-8°, in black ink
« This beautiful map of France, whose view brings back such sweet memories for me »
Autograph letter signed « A. Barbès » a republican writer in exile
The Hague, 6th February [18]69, 3 p. in-8° on blue laid paper
« It is abominable that France should have found herself in the direction of a tyranny capable of imprinting such a stain on its history! »
Autograph quote signed « Maryse Bastié »
N.p.n.d., 1 p. in-8° oblong
« The hours when we feel the price of life most are those we live dangerously »
Signed autograph manuscript (fragments)
N.p.n.d., 4 p. in-8°
Rare manuscript drafts, enriched with numerous original drawings
Autograph letter signed « votre charmant Castor » to Jean-Paul Sartre
Shannon [Ireland], n.d. [10 and 11 Sept. 1947], 2 pp. in-4° then 6 pp. in-8° oblongs
« It’s funny how Chicago seems unreal to me; Paris too actually. It feels like I’m going to stay here my whole life. I’m going to knock back a little whisky… »
Autograph manuscript for her essay Must we burn Sade ?
N.p.n.d [1951], 7 pages in-4 on grid paper
« Sade’s eroticism is no longer just an individual attitude; it is also a challenge for society »
Autograph manuscript (fragments) with an A.l.s for La Longue Marche
[Paris, 1956] 15 p. in-4° on graph paper, with two envelopes
« China is not a political entity; I guess with joy, that it has a sky, its colors, its trees, a flesh »
Autograph aphorism signed « H. Bergson »
Paris, 15 Feb. 1929, 1/2 p. in-12°
« Happiness is found only on the condition that it should not be sought after »
Autograph letter signed « H. Bergson » to Raphaël Cor
Paris, 22nd March 1935, 2 p. in-8°
« I find interesting the relationship you establish between immoralism and the sexual question… »
Autograph letter signed « Léon Blum » to Louis-Alfred Natanson
N.p.n.d., [Paris, 14 December 1894], 3 p. 1/2 petit in-8° on cream paper
« You see, my poor Fred, we are too sensitive beings. We end up suffering even from things that are indifferent to us »
Autograph letter signed « J-Bénigne de Meaux » to François Diroys
Paris, 29th Dec. 1681, 4 p. small in-4°, brown ink
« The right of bishops to judge matters of doctrine is always without difficulty »
Autograph letter signed « Marie Amélie » à Narcisse-Achille de Salvandy
Claremont [United-Kingdom], 3 Sept. 1857, 1 p. 1/4 in-8° on mourning stationary
« I will never forget your dedication to my beloved King and to my family »
Autograph letter signed « Marie Amélie » to Narcisse-Achille de Salvandy
Claremont [United-Kingdom], 3 Nov. 1854, 2 p. in-8°
« Her loss is the object of my deepest regrets as well as those of my children because they all shared my feelings for her »
Autograph postcard signed « Robert Brasillach » to Thierry Maulnier
[Lyon, 1933 or 1934], 1/2 p. in-12°
« We read Nietzsche aloud to one another »
Autograph letter signed « Robert Brasillach » to Thierry Maulnier
[Prison de Fresnes], 30 January 1945, 1 p. in-8°
« Believe that all this keeps me warm company in my cell and makes me neglect the iron chains »
Autograph letter signed « Robert Brasillach » to Thierry Maulnier
[Paris, late 1930s], 1 p. in-8°
« Live a slave or die! »
« La Tondue de Chartres »
Period film print
[Chartres, rue Collin-d’Harleville, 16 août 1944], 14,5 x 21,5 cm
Scarce period film print of “La Tondue de Chartres”, Robert Capa’s masterpiece
Autograph letter signed « Chamfort » to Guillaume Alexandre Tronson du Coudray
N.p., « 8 Aug., l’an 2 » [1793], 1 p. small in-4° in laid paper
« It is important both to the defendant and to me that this happen as soon as possible »
Autograph letter signed « Le Vte de Chateaubriand » to Abel
Paris, 29th Sept. 1815, 4 pp. in-8°
« I was advocating for freedom of speech, which provoked Buonaparte’s fury and his renewed threats to have me executed »
Autograph aphorism signed « Chateaubriand »
N.p.n.d. [Paris, 1836] 1 p. in-8°
« I was fleeing, but the specter pursued me »
Autograph letter signed « C » [to Louis de Fontanes ?]
[La Vallée-aux-Loups] 9 7bre [September] 1813, 3 p. in-8°
« I am as old as Herod. I only dream of the history of the past. I’m only in love with Agnès Sorel »
Autograph letter signed « Chateaubriand » [to Hippolyte La Morvonnais ?]
Paris, 18 July 1834, 2 p. in-8° à l’encre noire
« Soon I will be lying on my little island of sand and I will hear the sound of your footsteps and the waves »
Autograph letter to Léonce de Lavergne
Paris, 6th August 1838, 3 p. 1/2 small in-4° on bifolio
« I walked on this beach where Bonaparte took his last step »
Autograph manuscript signed « André Citroën »
N.p, 3rd April 1926, 1/2 p. in-8°
« It is through specialization and standardization that production is intensifies »
Autograph carte-de-visite signed « GC. » [to Michel Alexandre Gaston Tournier]
N.p.n.d, 2 p. in-24° (7.4 x 4.8 cm)
« With my best wishes, my dear general »
Autograph manuscript signed « JB Clément »
N.p, dated 23rd April 1869, 4 p. in-8°
« J’en couperai pour cette belle France / Dont j’ai chanté la gloire et les revers »
2 stereoscopic views of Paris during the Commune of 1871
Original photographs, albumen prints 7,7 x 7,4 cm. Mounted on printed Bristols
Autograph letter [to Jacques Pierre Brissot]
N.p.n.d. [25 June 1789], 2 p. in-12° on laid bi-folio
« The Amis des noirs are in a minority that the majority seeks to humiliate »
Autograph letter signed « A. de Custine » [to Madame de Courbonne]
Rome, 5 Feb. 1852, 9 p. ¼ in-8°, in brown ink
« Everything is so imposing at the Vatican that one always returns from it both amazed and enriched. Michelangelo, that sublime corrupter of art, is nowhere more astonishing! »
Autograph quote signed « F. Darlan »
N.p., 1 May 1939, 1 p. in-8° oblong
« The Empire is only viable if it has a powerful, ardent and well-trained navy. »
Two autograph letters signed « Gaston Doumergue » to notary Leverne
Paris, 11th November 1926 et 21st May 1931, 2 p. in-8°
«I request you to hand over to Mrs. Graves all remaining documents in your study concerning our agreement of July 1926 »
Autograph quote signed « F. d’Espèrey »
N.p., 21 January 1937, 1 p. in-8°
« War is cheaper than servitude »
Autograph letter signed « Dr Freud » to a fellow psychoanalyst
Vienna, 17 March 1907, 3 p. in-8° in blue ink
« One cannot rely on the gratitude of one’s patients in psychoanalysis »
Autograph manuscript
N.p.n.d. [c. 1969], recto only , on lined paper, in black felt-tip pen
« All our words are the projection onto other men of our will to dominate »
Autograph manuscript (first draft)
N.p.n.d [1971], 4 p. 1/2 in-4°
« The target remained the same: a Negro who thinks »
Autograph letter signed « MB de la Motte Guyon » to Bossuet
Meaux, Monastère de Sainte-Marie, 15 Apr. 1695, 1 p. 1/4 in-4°
« God forbid that such blasphemy should ever enter my mind »
Autograph letter signed « Helvetius » to Jean-Simon Lévesque de Pouilly
N.p., [1759 or 1760 ?], 7 p. in-4° in brown ink on laid paper
« It is not relations, but physical objects, that act immediately upon the human body. Everything, if I may put it thus, is body. »
Autograph letter signed “Victor H” [to Joséphine Trébuchet]
Brussels, 19th December [1851], 1 page in-8°
“I fought for the right, for the truth, for the righteous, for the people, for France”
Draft of an autograph poem
N.p.n.d [Guernesey, 1859], 1 p. in-8° (140 x 145 cm)
« Never mind O traitor! at point-blank range my book shoots you! »
Two letters, one autograph and one signed, to Frédéric Samuel Ostervald
Brest and Paris, 13 August 1780 and 12 Nov. 1783, 3 p. 1/4 in-8°
« Two small books were published in your country two or three years ago; one is titled Reflections on Negro Slavery… and I do not know who the author is »
Letter signed « Lamartine » to Louis de Jacquelot
Paris, 8 9bre [November 1840], 2 p. in-8°
« The serious circumstances in which we found ourselves made me go out… of my usual calm in politics »
Autograph letter to François d’Usson de Bonrepos
N.p.n.d. [between 1675 and 1701], 3 p. in-8°, black in on laid paper
« I shall be by my fire these days; if you happen to come to our side, come warm yourself by it »
Autograph letter to president Henault
N.p.n.d. [Versailles, c. 1750s], 1 p. in-4°
« I just finished reading the life of Mr. de Turenne, what a man, we would search in vain for his equal… »
Autograph letter to President Hénault
N.p.n.d. [Versailles ? c. 1753], 2 p. in-4°, in brown ink on laid paper
« I have recently had a small figure of the infant Jesus painted, depicted reclining upon straw, as at the moment of his birth »
Autograph letter signed « Claude Lévi-Strauss » [to Thierry Maulnier]
Paris, 12th Nov. 1985, 1 p. 1/2 in-4° on Collège de France letterhead
« A problem posed by The Social Contract, on which all of Rousseau’s political philosophy fails… »
Autograph letter signed « Claude Lévi-Strauss » [to Pierre Lévy]
[Paris], 15 Dec. [19]69, 1 p. 1/4 in-4°, on Collège de France letterhead
« After La Fresnaye, whose contemplation continues to delight him, the Dufy album adds a new wing to this incomparable monument »
Autograph card signed « Cl. Lévi-Strauss » [to Pierre Lévy]
N.p.n.d. [Paris, 1971], 1 p. in-12° oblong, in black ink
« This charming Dufresne catalogue »
Autograph letter signed « Claude Lévi-Strauss » [to Thierry Maulnier]
Paris, 1st March 1977, 1 p. 1/4 in-4°
« Votre envoi… fait regretter que la jeune philosophie (la moins jeune aussi) ait perdu le secret d’une langue aussi ferme, claire et pure »
Two autograph letters signed « Max » to his mother Suzanne Baron
N.p.n.d. [summer-fall 1925], 3 p. 1/4 in-4° all together, in blue ink
« I often wonder why I am part of this world, for my life is made of continual suffering »
Autograph manuscript
N.p.n.d. [Mittau, c. 1802 ?], 2 p. 1/2 in-4°
« The Concordat itself is an effect and not the cause of evil. The true cause is the Revolution; by shaking off the yoke of legitimate authority, one has violated even God’s law »
Autograph letter signed « LP » [to his wife, Queen Marie-Amélie]
Nancy, 14 June 1831, 3 pp., octavo, in brown ink
« My entrance was splendid in that vast courtyard. All the soldiers had come down at the sound of my approach »
Autograph letter to her « dear sister » [Clotilde de France ?]
[Paris], 21 March 1791, 1 p. in-12° in black ink on watermarked paper
« We live like cave dogs »
Autograph letter signed « MT » to Théodore Charlet
N.p. [Vienna, Austria] 2nd January 1850, 2 p. in-8°
« I was pleased to learn that your daughter was pregnant. I wish it were the same here, but unfortunately it is not the case »
Autograph letter to Théodore Charlet
« G… » [Gorizia, Italy], 24 June 1844, 2 p. 1/4 in-8°
« Very touched by her devotion and by the way she shares my sorrow »
Autograph letter signed « Ch Maurras » [to Thierry Maulnier]
[Paris] Prison de la Santé, 19 April 1937, 8 pp. in-8°
« It is not possible for Action Française to delay any longer the choice that is necessary between its direction, its destiny, its national obligation »
Autograph letter signed « ton Charles Maurras » to René de Saint-Pons
N.p.n.d. [1894], 22 p. in-8° on laid paper, in black ink
« A Jew drags a regiment of Jews after him, and when the Jews are found somewhere, they must destroy: this is absolutely fatal »
Autograph letter signed « Ch. M » [to Thierry Maulnier]
[Paris], 18 July [19]37, 4 pp. in-8°
« Should I believe they want me as a master, or as an exclusive friend? These schoolgirl notions have nothing to do with serious politics »
Autograph letter signed « El viejo » to his mistress Jeanne Schneider
[Prison de Fleury-Mérogis], 10 Sept. [19]76, 2 p. in-4°
« That’s the way society is… it condemns gangsters, yet gets a hard-on reading about their lives! »
Autograph letter signed « El viejo » to his mistress Jeanne Schneider
[Prison de Fleury-Mérogis], 25 Janv. [19]77, 2 p. in-4°
« Sometimes I’d tell everyone to fuck off just to be completely alone »
Autograph letter signed « El viejo » to his mistress Jeanne Schneider
[Prison de Fleury-Mérogis], 8 Dec. [19]76, 2 p. in-4°
« To be honest, I don’t give a fuck about their sentence… even if I were condemned to death, I think I’d still laugh! »
Autograph letter signed « Eugénie » to Marie-Thérèse Bartholoni
[Camden Place], Chislehurst, 1st June [1872], 4 pp. petit in-8°
« My son asks me to send his regards to the young ladies »
Autograph letter signed « Eugénie » to an unknown recipient
[Camden Place, Chislehurst], 4 February [18]73, 1 p. 1/2 in-8°
« Sensitive to your sympathy and the regrets you express to me for the one we mourn »
Letter signed « Necker »
Paris, July 12 1790, 1 p. in-folio on laid paper
« I saw with great satisfaction, in these speeches, the homage of the sentiments that the King is so worthy of obtaining, and which must animate all the French people »
Original photograph by Vezenberg – Co. in S. Petersburg
Period albumen print (1896). Business card format
Moving portrait of the Romanov family in 1896
Autograph letter signed « L. Pasteur » [to professor Charles Bouchard]
Paris, 19th July 1888, 3 pages in-8° on laid paper
« Its immunity has been tested by inoculation on the surface of the brain »
Autograph quote signed « Ph. Pétain »
S.l., 1st August 1936, 1 p. in-8° oblong
« Strength ensures independence, attracts alliances and maintains friendships »
Autograph letter signed « Petain » [to Jean-Louis Forain ?]
N.p, 10th August 1918, 1 p. in-8° on his letterhead
« A few corpses descend the Marne along the water… »
Autograph letter signed « Jean Potocki » to Firmin Didot
Tulczyn, 1st December [1810], 1 1/4 p. in-4°
« I realize every day that it is difficult to see clearly in science when you are so far from the home of the enlightenment »
Autograph letter signed « Louis-Napoléon » to his friend Pierre de Bourgoing
Camden Place [Chislehurst], 27th February 1871, 2 p. in-8°
« Who would have thought, when we were fighting there with chestnuts last summer, that the French and the Prussians would cut each other’s throats! »
Autograph letter signed « Louis-Napoléon » [to Mathilde de Saulcy]
Camden Place, Chislehurst (Kent), 18 August 1871, 4 p. in-12°
« We have already been told that Parisians were more favorably disposed toward the Emperor »
Autograph letter signed « Louis-Napoléon » to Charles Duperré
[Chislehurst], n.d. [9 Jan. 1873], 1 p. on bifolio in-8°, in black ink
« The Emperor is no more! »
Portrait of the Imperial Prince – Period print, slightly later edition
[London, c. 1873–1875], cabinet format
Superb portrait of the Imperial Prince in the uniform of a cadet at the Woolwich Academy
Proof sheet for Histoire des deux Indes
N.p., [c. 1784–1788], 3 p in-4°, on laid paper
« Tremble, you who feed men with falsehood, or who make them groan under oppression. You are about to be judged »
Autograph letter signed (third person) to Hélène T. Mazel
[Paris], 29 November 1843, 1/2 p. in-12°
Autograph letter of one of Juliette Récamier, with five additional letters about her
Autograph letter signed « Romain Rolland » to Francis Jourdain
Villeneuve (Vaud), Villa Olga, 13 May 1932, 2 p. 1/4 in-8°
« It is absurd to suggest that French imperialism had Doumer assassinated »
Autograph letter signed « Romain Rolland » to Louis Chazai
Villeneuve (Vaud) [Switzerland], 30th January 1924, 2 p.1/2 in-8°
« I am sending you my most recent book on Mahatma Gandhi, this extraordinary man who is stirring up the new Asia, this new Christ »
Autograph letter signed « Françs. E. de Geneve » to Madame de Charmoysi-Marclaz
N.p.., 20 May 1606, 2 p. 1/2 in-4°
« It is of such great importance that I cannot refrain from speaking to you of the exercises of the heart and of the soul »
Two autograph manuscripts for « L’Engagement de Mallarmé »
N.p, [1952], 2 p. in-4° in blue ink on graph paper
« Creature or creator, there is no other choice »
Autograph note to Claire de Duras
N.p.n.d, “Sunday” [after 1815], 1 p. in-12°
« Will you go this evening to visit Mde de la Châtre ? »
Lettre autographe signée « N de Staël H » à Claire de Duras
S.l.n.d. « ce samedi » [septembre 1815], 1 p. in-12°
« I love you beyond all gratitude »
Autograph letter signed “Princesse de Chimay” to a friend
S.l, 27 May [circa 1816], 2 pages in-8
“by grace by charity by all that you will please my friend be human”
Autograph letter signed « J.V. » to Aurélien Scholl
[Londres], 29 8bre [October] [18]77, 6 pp. in-8°
« I am thinking of letting my political hopes lie dormant, and returning to my profession »
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