Poèmes et prose choisis
Poèmes et prose choisis is one of the decisive collected volumes from René Char’s middle period and was published by the NRF in Paris in 1957. It is not a simple reprint, but a carefully considered edition with many variants, in which Char reorders and reframes his own work. The book therefore becomes a kind of self-chosen gateway into his poetic universe. For readers and collectors alike, it marks an important moment: the poet presents a concentrated image of his work up to that date, while the first edition was also conceived as a bibliophile object. The small issue on vélin de Hollande underscores that double status. This copy, number 18 of the 23 on that paper, gains further significance from the autograph inscription to Dr Zara, dated July 1970. It is thus not only a rare first state, but also a personally marked copy.
Quantity
Char, Rene
Poèmes et prose choisis
1957 | Paris | NRF
Rare Char on vélin de Hollande, with a later inscription that gives the copy a personal resonance.
Poèmes et prose choisis is one of the decisive collected volumes from René Char’s middle period and was published by the NRF in Paris in 1957. It is not a simple reprint, but a carefully considered edition with many variants, in which Char reorders and reframes his own work. The book therefore becomes a kind of self-chosen gateway into his poetic universe. For readers and collectors alike, it marks an important moment: the poet presents a concentrated image of his work up to that date, while the first edition was also conceived as a bibliophile object. The small issue on vélin de Hollande underscores that double status. This copy, number 18 of the 23 on that paper, gains further significance from the autograph inscription to Dr Zara, dated July 1970. It is thus not only a rare first state, but also a personally marked copy.
€900
Condition Report:
In-Depth Study
References & Bibliography
Format
In-8 (Octavo) approx. 20 × 26 cm
Edition Particulars
One of the 23 copies on vélin de Hollande, with autograph inscription to Dr Zara, dated July 1970.
Print Run
566
Copy Number
No. 18
Paper
Vélin de Hollande
Inscription
Envoi
Product DETAIL
This collective edition gathers a selection of René Char’s poetry and prose, offering a broad view of the forms in which he moves between lyric, prose poem, note, and aphoristic concentration. There is no linear narrative and no fixed cast of characters; at the centre stands a voice approaching love, revolt, nature, memory, wartime experience, and moral vigilance through constantly shifting forms. The selection shows how Char alternates brief, highly charged poems with compact prose and meditative passages. The result is not a continuous narrative whole, but an ordered field of intensities and insights. The many variants make clear that this is also a moment of rereading and recomposition. For the reader, the book is both anthology and new composition. Its atmosphere is tense, lucid, and elemental, with Char’s characteristic blend of aphoristic hardness and lyrical openness.
Michaux, Henri
Ailleurs
*Ailleurs* is a keystone in Michaux’s imaginary ethnographies—an atlas of inner geographies, issued by NRF in 1948. Miguet’s sober bordeaux morocco binding matches the text’s clarity and restraint. With dry precision and wry humor, Michaux details peoples, rituals, and languages that are both alien and oddly familiar. The airy layout paces attention and thought. This copy belongs to the small head issue on vélin pur fil and is notably fresh. A book that relocates the reader in place—a cartography of the mind.
Book
€1,050
Ribemont-Dessaignes, Georges
Ariane
A remarkable copy of *Ariane*, published in the *Les Cahiers Nouveaux* series, inscribed with a poetic and enigmatic message by Ribemont-Dessaignes to Jacques Matarasso. This deluxe Japan paper edition was elegantly rebound in 1994 by Georges Leroux, in a restrained style that echoes the work’s Dadaist spirit.
Book
€1,100
Gracq, Julien
Au château d'Argol
Julien Gracq’s debut novel, issued by José Corti, sets a gothic castle on the Breton coast as the stage for a charged, almost dream-logic encounter between three figures. The prose is musical and image-rich, favouring symbolic landscapes and metaphysical weather. Born near Surrealism yet distinctly independent, the book establishes Gracq’s lucid enchantment from the start. For bibliophiles this is a key title: an early Corti publication, scarce in appealing condition, and the opening note of a major twentieth-century voice. Its limited print-run and initially slow reception add to the sense of discovery. This copy is on publisher’s stock.
Book
€610
Dominique Fourcade, Pierre Buraglio · Buraglio, Pierre
Au travail ma chérie
First volume in the Préférence series: a focused encounter between Dominique Fourcade and Pierre Buraglio. The Imprimerie nationale produced an exemplary typographic edition on Rives wove, limited to 100 copies signed by both. Buraglio “illuminates” the book with spare, hand-made interventions—strokes, contours, accents—that let the page breathe. The plain wrappers in a sturdy case stress the workshop feel. This copy bears a presentation to Jacques Dauchez, adding a vivid bibliophilic provenance. A scarce, exact book where typography, gesture, and poetry hold each other in balance.
Book
€725
When a Signature Becomes Provenance
A signature confirms; a dedication connects; an association copy tells a story.
The Fragile Meaning of ‘Complet’
In auction descriptions, “complete” often sounds reassuring — but it is only meaningful when verified against the colophon, the justification, and the bibliography. For The Hidden Page, clarity begins where vague market language ends.
Size does (not) matter
Size does (not) matter: The Paradoxical Power of Format in Avant-Garde Book Art