Search Results: French Literature from Grimalkin Books

Newton Abbot, U.K.: David & Charles, 1981. Like d'Artagnan, a penniless Dumas went to Paris as a young man to seek his fortune, with dazzling results. Michael Ross makes Dumas' life every bit as fascinating as one of his historical novels. The book is in As New condition with an As New dust jacket. I've placed the dust jacket into an archival Brodart protective sleeve. The book is bound in brown paper-covered boards with die-stamped gilt spine titles. I'm not familiar with this particular British publisher, and this book may possibly be a First Edition since no later printing history is mentioned. The book measures 6 1/2 by 9 1/2 inches and includes 293 pages.. Hard Cover. As New/As New. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

New York: Hurst & Company This rare science fiction adventure title from the author of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and From the Earth to the Moon is in Good condition (click on photo). Although the book is not dated, the covers suggest that the book was published around the turn of the century. The front panel and spine have Americanized Art Nouveau floral designs. The front panel has a pastedown of a Gibson-girl type beauty. The book is bound in red cloth and shows wear and discoloration, including rubbing and fraying at the edges and corners, and a crease in the spine cloth. As for the interior, the binding is secure, even though there is a hinge split before the Contents page. The pages themselves have only light age toning, and are for the most part clean, with an occasional small margin stain. The book measures 5 ¼ by 7 ½ inches and includes 286 pages. . Hard Cover. Good/No Jacket. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall.

New York: Random House, 1945. The book is in clean, Very Good condition, except for sunning of the front panel and spine. (Click on photo.) The book is bound in a light blue cloth, with top-edge red stain. As for the interior, the book is tightly bound, the pages are clean and bright, with no marks, tears, or stains. The 23 stories include such authors as Balzac, Mérimée. Sand, de Musset, Gautier, Flaubert, Daudet, Zola, de Maupassant, de Saint Exupéry, Sartre, and more. There's an Introduction by Lewis Galantiere. . First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/No Dust Jacket. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1916. This handsome edition of "The Blue Bird" is in Very Good Plus condition with no dust jacket. It's a clean copy with a lovely blind-stamped floral pattern on both panels and spine, as well and bright gilt die-stamped lettering on the front panel and spine. There is also top-edge gilt. The book has only light shelf-rubbing. See photo. The binding is tight and secure, with no marks or inscriptions from former owners, and the pages are clean, without stains, tears, or foxing. This is the early, non-illustrated edition, first printed in 1911. The book measures 5 1/4 by 7 7/8 inches and includes 287 pages.. Very Good +/No Jacket. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

New York: P.F. Collier & Son, 1910. This odd volume is from a set of eight, each book dealing with actual historical crimes. This three-sectioned volume deals with the poisoner, the Marquise de Brinvilliers; a cruel and arrogant Russian countess, Vaninka; and finally, a notorious aristocrat, the Marquise de Ganges. The book is bound in a deep cerise cloth with a blind-stamped cameo illustration of two swordsmen fighting. The book has gilt spine titles and blind-stamped crossed swords on the spine as well. The spine is somewhat faded, with some fraying at the spine tips. The book is tightly bound, and the pages are clean with no marks, stains, tears, or signatures from former owners. One exception: on the two pages where there are black-and-white illustrations, there is some light margin foxing on the text pages opposite the illustrations (caused by acidity in the illustration paper stock). The book has a color drawing on the Half-title page. The book measures 5 1/4 by 8 inches and includes 302… Read More

Boston: Joseph Knight Company, 1896. Celebrated Crimes was originally published in France between 1839-1840 in eight volumes. This First Edition Thus is an English translation published in 1896 by Joseph Knight Company of Boston. Unlike other American publishers who followed the French prototype of releasing this work of famous true crimes in eight volumes, this publisher chose instead to release ten of the 18 essays in three volumes only, of which this is Volume III from a broken set. This particularly handsome and ornate book includes four famous crimes: The Marquise de Ganges, Karl Ludwig Sand, Vaninka, and Urban Grandier. Joseph Knight had several alternate bindings, using the differing designs in different colors. This is from one of the red-cloth versions. (There was also one like it in brown cloth.) The elaborate design shows nine vignette drawings of a gilt sword within a mirrored border of black bats on the front panel, plus three identical vignette designs on the spine. The titles in… Read More

New York: P.F. Collier & Son This odd volume from a set of Dumas contains the complete "The Chevalier de Maison Rouge" and is in Very Good condition (click on photo). The book is bound in gray cloth with gilt spine lettering. The book is tightly bound, and the pages are clean and bright throughout. There is a discreet name stamp of the original owner on the front endpaper. The book includes a frontis illustration, with tissue guard. Although the book is undated, it is from around 1900. The book measures 5 3/4 by 8 inches and includes 413 pages. . Hard Cover. Very Good/No Jacket. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

Houghton Mifflin, 1916. This thoughtfully conceived collection is a First Printing, with only a 1916 copyright date and no further printing history. (Later printings and editions are stated as such.) The book is in close to Fine condition (click on photo). It includes 21 plays from the greatest drama and comedy of Greece, Rome, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Denmark, and Norway, from 500 B.C. to 1879 A.D. It does not include any classical plays from Great Britain, which are easily found in other collections, but concentrates instead on the rest of Europe. The complete contents are as follows: Agamemnon by Aeschylus, translated by E.D.A. Morshead; Oedipus the King by Sophocles, translated by Sir Richard Claverhouse Jebb; Medea by Euripides, translated by Gilbert Murray; The Frogs by Aristophanes, translated by J. Hookham Frere; The Captives by Plautus, translated by Edward H. Sugden; Phormio by Terence, translated by Morris H. Morgan; The Star of Seville by Lope de Vega, translated by Philip M.… Read More

Boston: D.C. Heath and Company, 1966. First printed in 1927, this revised edition, published in February, 1966, is in As New, unread condition, with illustrated covers and no dust jacket, as issued. The book is in French, with lovely woodcut illustrations, and a French-to-English Vocabulary section in the rear. The book measures 5 1/2 by 8 5/16 inches and includes 194 pages. . Hard Cover. New/No Jacket, as Issued. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

New York: Current Literature Publishing, 1910. Cosmopolis by French novelist, essayist, and poet Paul Bourget is in Very Good + condition. (Click on photo.) Jules Lemaitre of the French Academy, in a Preface, compares Bourget to Balzac and Stendhal and contends that Bourget never created "a stupid character." The book has purple covers, a slightly faded spine, a paste-down spine label, which shows some darkening, and top-edge gilt, which has some light flaking. The interior is excellent, and, in fact, the book was never read, since many of the pages are still uncut. The book includes a handsome frontis pen-and-ink drawing of the author, with a tissue guard. The book measures 5 3/4 by 8 1/4 and includes 375 pages. . Hard Cover. Very Good +/No Jacket. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

London: Privately Printed, 1901. This handsome, uncut two-volume set of Balzac's humorous and erotic goings-on during France's Middle Ages is illustrated with six laid-in photogravure plates with tissue guards. The books are in Very Good condition. Although the Translator's Preface from 1874 states that this is the first English translation of Balzac's comic masterpiece, the books themselves were probably published in 1901, based on the dated illustrations. The books are bound in dark green linen cloth with pastedown spine labels and are listed as the Touraine Edition. Both volumes have top-edge gilt and rough-cut pages at the sides and bottoms. The books have light rubbing at the extremities. There are no former owner signatures. The bindings are tight and secure. The pages are bright and sparkling throughout, with no tears or stains. Each volumes measures roughly 6 1/2 by 9 inches. Volume 1 has 342 pages; Volume 2, 311 pages. Due to the five-pound weight, domestic Media… Read More

New York: P.F. Collier & Son, 1902. This book is an odd volume from a uniform series that Collier published in the early 20th Century called "The French Classical Romances." The volume is in Very Good condition. (Click on photo). The book is bound is a light green cloth with lettering and design elements (ribboned banner, fleur-de-lis and crown) on the front panel and spine. The book has no inscriptions from former owners. The binding is secure and the pages are clean and unmarked. Translated from the French by W. Blaydes, the book includes a critical introduction by W.P. Trent, plus a frontis portrait of Daudet (with tissue guard) and other portraits of the author in the rear, with descriptive notes by Octave Uzanne. The book measures 5 3/4 by 8 1/4 inches and includes 430 pages. . Hard Cover. Very Good/No Jacket. Illus. by . 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

New York: Random House, 1950. This handsome volume is in Near-Fine condition and appears to be unread. (Click on photo.) A small blindstamp square on the rear panel indicates that it's a BOMC edition. This collection includes 49 of the author's most famous stories. The book is bound in 3/4 black cloth with bright gilt spine lettering, and handsome decorative front and rear panel boards. The expressionistic black-and-white artwork of Adolf Dehn complements the darker elements of De Maupassant's tales. The book measures 7 by 10 3/8 inches and includes 334 pages. . Hard Cover. Fine/No Jacket. Illus. by Adolf Dehn. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall.

New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1891. Although published anonymously by "the author of Straight-On," this book was later identified as having been written by Jeanne Schultz. Originally published by Appleton in 1888, this is the First Illustrated Edition, with six full-page and 20 vignette illustrations by Jean Claude. This charming story of a French teenager on the verge of womanhood, and, later, romance has captivated readers since it was first published. The book is bound in a patterned paper over boards, with a decorative burgundy cloth spine, with floral gilt designs and titles in die-stamped gilt on both front panel and spine. The boards show a lot of rubbing along all edges and corners. The spine tips are also rubbed and there is a small tear in the spine crown. The binding is tight and secure, and the pages are mainly clean, with an occasional small stain. There is also a damp stain at the very top of the opening pages. The book measures 6 3/8 by 8 11/16 inches and includes 195… Read More

Boston: The Frederick J. Quinby Company, 1904. This edition of "Friquette" was limited to 1000 copies, of which this is a rarer unnumbered copy. The book was translated from the French into English by Edith Mary Norris. The book is in Very Good condition (click on photo), with forest green cloth covers and gilt spine lettering, as well as top-edge gilt. The binding is tight and secure. The pages are bright and sparkling throughout. The book has four full-page illustrations, including a frontis, with tissue guard. There is a small bookseller's stamp on the front free endpaper. The book measures 6 by 8 3/4 inches and includes 380 pages.. Limited Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/No Jacket. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.