Pour un Malherbe
With *Pour un Malherbe*, Francis Ponge reaches one of the high points of his late work. The book is not merely a study of the seventeenth-century poet Malherbe, but a concentrated meditation on language, form, discipline, and literary authority. Ponge uses the historical figure as an interlocutor through whom he clarifies his own poetics. The result is at once a critical essay, a self-portrait, and an ars poetica. This 1965 first edition belongs among the major books of Ponge’s maturity and holds strong intellectual appeal for the bibliophile. Its generous quarto format gives the text a solemn, almost monumental presence. The later chocolate box-calf binding by Miguet, enriched with geometric balsa elements, further turns this copy into a true bibliophilic object.
Quantity
Ponge, Francis
Pour un Malherbe
1965 | Paris | NRF
A major Ponge copy in which literary gravity and refined bibliophily meet with rare harmony.
With *Pour un Malherbe*, Francis Ponge reaches one of the high points of his late work. The book is not merely a study of the seventeenth-century poet Malherbe, but a concentrated meditation on language, form, discipline, and literary authority. Ponge uses the historical figure as an interlocutor through whom he clarifies his own poetics. The result is at once a critical essay, a self-portrait, and an ars poetica. This 1965 first edition belongs among the major books of Ponge’s maturity and holds strong intellectual appeal for the bibliophile. Its generous quarto format gives the text a solemn, almost monumental presence. The later chocolate box-calf binding by Miguet, enriched with geometric balsa elements, further turns this copy into a true bibliophilic object.
€1,700
Condition Report:
In-Depth Study
References & Bibliography
Format
In-4 (Quarto) approx. 25 × 32 cm
Edition Particulars
One of 66 deluxe copies on Hollande paper.
Print Run
66
Copy Number
No. 24
Paper
Hollande
Inscription
No inscription
Product DETAIL
In this book, Ponge examines what it means to be a writer under the gaze of a major regulating poet of French classicism. Malherbe appears not simply as a historical subject, but as a measure, a counterpoint, and an ally. Ponge reflects on precision, exactness, rhetorical discipline, and the responsibility of the word. At the same time, the book is deeply personal, because its reflection on Malherbe continually bends back toward Ponge’s own working method. The text moves between criticism, autobiography, and poetic self-questioning. *Pour un Malherbe* thus becomes a key work for understanding Ponge not only as a poet of things, but also as a thinker of writing.
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
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Gracq, Julien
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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
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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
Aragon, Louis
Anicet ou le panorama
With *Anicet ou le panorama* (Paris, NRF, 1921), Louis Aragon delivers an early, deliberately hybrid novel written at the hinge between Dada disruption and the rise of Surrealism. The book proceeds by visions and sequences—a “panorama” in which identity, desire, and the act of looking continually shift. In this bibliophile form (“tirage de tête” reserved for NRF bibliophiles), the novel also becomes a collectible object intended for a small inner circle. This copy is specifically designated “pour le Dr. Sourdel” and numbered XLVIII, underscoring the selective, personalized nature of the issue. Published under the NRF imprint, Aragon is anchored in the literary center while keeping the book’s formal audacity intact. A key item for understanding the nervous modernity of the early 1920s.
Book
€1,150
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