It is a true imaginary museum, represented by a beautiful collection of letters and manuscripts from artists. Included are letters from French artists such as Cézanne, Duchamp, Gauguin, Géricault, Manet, Monet, Renoir, and Signac, as well as from international figures like Dalí, Ernst, Hogarth, Man Ray, Mondrian, Turner, Munch, Klimt, and Picasso, among others. Several of these letters feature original drawings: one by Gauguin includes a small sketch; Renoir sketches the portrait of his model wearing a hat and asks her to bring it to the next sitting; a note from Picasso is decorated with small colored strokes; and a manuscript by Dalí is adorned with surrealist drawings.

Artist Letters and Manuscripts

An edition of Euclidis Megarensis Geometricorum elementorum published by Henri Estienne in 1516 is the first French edition of Euclid’s Elements of Geometry, following the editio princeps printed in Venice in 1482. Another treatise by the Greek geometer, La perspectiva, published in Madrid in 1584, is the oldest surviving Greek work on optics and perspective. The theories of Copernicus sparked much controversy, and Johann Schöner was among the first to defend them in his De iudiciis nativitatum (Nuremberg, 1545). The famous astronomical tables of Kepler, the Tabulae Rudolphinae, published posthumously in 1627, marked another major step forward in the history of astronomy. A youthful treatise by Galileo, Trattato della sfera (1656), reflects his teaching and reproduces the lectures he gave at the University of Padua in the late 1590s. Also noteworthy are Claude Perrault’s Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire naturelle des animaux and his study on the Mesure de la Terre, both published for the King’s Cabinet and bound together in a magnificent red morocco binding adorned with the Louvre lacework pattern. In the field of natural sciences, Redouté’s Alphabet-flore deserves mention: published at the end of his career in 1835, this hand-colored album is very rare and presents 192 flowers, each accompanied by its symbolic meaning. In the domain of applied sciences and agronomy, Martínez de Campos’s Memoria sobre el mejor modo de fabricar el azúcar, published in Havana in 1797, is the first book printed in Cuba on sugar production. Closer to our time, a scientific manuscript by Saint-Exupéry, complete with equations and technical diagrams, deals with his research on aerodynamics.

Science

This catalog features a remarkable discovery: a portrait of Victor Hugo made in Jersey in 1852–1853. This daguerreotype adds to the eight others already known. Classic yet rare, Goya’s plates for Los Proverbios and Matisse’s for Jazz appear alongside a suite of Bracquemond prints after Moreau, exceptionally printed on parchment, and a collection of engravings by Hogarth. The catalog also includes several original drawings: in addition to those by Dalí, Picasso, and Renoir that decorate some of their letters, it features a striking drawing by Antonin Artaud and several by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, including one depicting The Little Prince.

Illustrated Books, Photographs & Original Drawings

Several great names of French Chanson are brought together here for an exceptional concert. Serge Gainsbourg dedicated several records to Jane Birkin’s brother or parents; included are several rare test pressings, as well as a few books — one of which bears the cheeky inscription: “Love is a pain in my ass.” Jacques Brel sings “Au suivant” and other songs contained in a handwritten notebook from his estate. A deeply moving love letter from Édith Piaf to Toto Gérardin is accompanied by a notebook filled with her handwritten notes, where she copied the lyrics of some of her most beautiful songs. Manuscripts by Boris Vian focus on jazz — notably the trombonist Jay Jay Johnson — and on the jazz clubs of Saint-Germain-des-Prés.

French Chanson

What could be better than reading the great works of literature in their original editions? One can revisit Pascal’s Pensées in a period binding; admire a fine edition of Rimbaud’s Une Saison en enfer bound by Martin — the very copy that once belonged to President Georges Pompidou; and discover the Hollande paper copy of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, which belonged to the great collector of the author, John B. Stetson. From the twentieth century, the collection includes a large-paper copy of Romain Gary’s La Vie devant soi, published under his pseudonym Émile Ajar, and another large-paper copy of Joseph Kessel’s Le Lion, featuring a beautiful dedication to Maurice Druon.

First Editions

Paris

Director | Specialist

Benoit Puttemans

Patricia de Fougerolle

Sale Coordinator | Books

Fanny Gras

Meet our Specialists

For assistance with bidding and registration, please contact: +33 (0) 1 53 05 53 48 
 
 <a class="Link" href="mailto:bids.paris@sothebys.com">bids.paris@sothebys.com</a>

Stay informed with Sotheby’s top stories, videos, events &amp; news.

Artist letters, scientific books &amp; first editions 16th–18th centuries (lots 1–29) 19th century (lots 30–57) 20th century (lots 58–98)

Livres & Manuscrits, dont une collection de lettres de Kafka à Gauguin