france language

Softcover. Paris, DIANE SELLIERS, 1st, 2015, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Softcover, in a pictorial dust wrapper, 395 pages. Color illustrations by Pat Andrea give a whole new surrealistic look to the classic tales. FRENCH TEXT.

Hardcover. London, National Gallery, 1st, 2019, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 95 pages in color. In a long career that spanned the French Revolution, the rise and fall of Napoleon, and the Bourbon Restoration, Louis-Leopold Boilly (1761-1845) created innovative and daring paintings in the midst of the most turbulent times. Bringing together two dozen of Boilly's works--the majority of which have never before been published--this handsome volume includes portraiture, scenes of seduction, and groundbreaking representations of raucous Parisian street life. A master technician with acute powers of observation and a wry sense of humor, Boilly invented the term trompe l'oeil and popularized the genre through his stunningly realistic compositions. In this first English-language publication on Boilly in more than 20 years, Francesca Whitlum-Cooper vividly brings the artist and the period he lived in to life, shedding new light on Boilly's work and expanding our understanding of how art functioned within France's rapidly changing political environment.

Hardcover. NY/Paris, Pergamon Press, reprint, 1969, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Approximately 7000 pages, 5 hardcover volumes complete, each book is 10" by 15'', bound in burgundy cloth covers with gilt lettering. Reproduced from the original 1651 17-volume edition, reduced here allowing 4 pages per sheet. French text. Clean, bright copies. No dust jackets ever issued. HUGE VOLUMES, DOMESTIC SHIPPING ONLY.

Paris, Honore Champion, 1st thus, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, pale blue boards stamped in black and blue, 1086 pages. Translated to French by Pierre Coste, edited by Georges Moyal. Name on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.

Hardcover. Boston, MA, Richardson & Lord, 1st edition, 1826, Book: Fair, Dust Jacket: None, 125 pages plus publisher ads. Hardcover. Small: 4.5" W x 5.5" L. Previous owners' names on front endpapers. Brown, marbled cover boards, brown quarter cloth, rubbing and chipping to cover boards (see image). Tanning and some foxing to pages from age (see image), doesn't affect text. Binding tight. Spine straight. Charming old, tiny textbook.

Hardcover. New York, Pantheon Books, 1st, 1989, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 484 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. Clean, tight copy with only minor wear to dust jacket. Nice copy.

Hardcover. Paris, Guide Conty, 2nd Ed., circa 1902, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, blue cloth stamped in black and gilt, now faded. A charming pocket-size travel guide to the Loire/Orleans region. 336 + 56 + 72 + IV pages. No date but presumed circa 1900. Lots of ads, illustrations, several fold-out maps. ALL IN FRENCH LANGUAGE. Nice condition.

Softcover. Paris / London, Paul Holberton, 1st, 2004, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 216 pages in color. Jean Helion (1904-1987) became a leading member of the international Abstraction-Creation group in the early 1930s. He then took abstraction to New York, where he advised the avant-garde collector A. E. Gallatin on purchases for his Gallery of Living Art, a crucial influence on the early phases of the developing New York School. In France after World War II, however, he evolved a unique language of painting, employing people and objects that are both contructivist and naturalistic--his own language of signs populated by shop-window dummies, newspaper readers, and startling nudes. In his return to figuration he may be compared to his close friends Balthus and Alberto Giacometti, even though his style is unique. This book is the first in English on the artist for some thirty years. Mild crease to front cover, otherwise a clean, bright copy. DOMESTIC SHIPPING ONLY.

Softcover. Woodbury NY, Barron's , 1st, 1976, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 90 pages, color illustrations. English language edition. Paintings of France and Holland by Dutch artist, Johan Barthold Jongkind [1819-1891]. A volume in the series, 'Les Carnets de dessins'. Clean copy.

Softcover. Paris, Des Deux Coqs D'or , 1st thus, 1967, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 12 pages stapled, illustrated in color by Richard Scarry. A French language edition (edited) of My Little Golden Book of Manners published in the U.S. in 1962. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Aperture, reprint, 2001, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 144 pages. Originally published in French by La Guilde du Livre (Lausanne, Switzerland, 1952) and here reissued by the Aperture Foundation in a first English-language edition, this a profile of life in mid-century rural France by the great American photographer Strand (1890-1976). Following World War II, Strand moved to France and documented its rural areas in photographs. These close-up, seemingly candid images of the people, the countryside, and the architectural structures contain Strand's characteristic style of realism, depth of detail, and innate sensitivity to the environment. To supplement these exquisite pictures, French poet Roy, who knew Strand personally, provides a delightfully lyrical potpourri of poems, commentary, and collages assembled from bits of small-town newspapers. The timeless spirit of the Gallic legacy captured in the photos and words will be savored by Francophiles. Strand's importance in 20th-century photography makes this a highly recommended addition for public libraries and special photography collections.

Softcover. Paris, Les Impressions Nouvelles, 1st thus, 1988, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 540 pages. FRENCH TEXT. Name on front fly leaf otherwise clean, tight copy.

Softcover. Paris, Librairie Floury, 1st, 1947, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, gray wrappers with black and red lettering, 213 pages. Illustrated with black & white plates. Small tears at foot and crown of paper spine. Clean, tight copy. FRENCH TEXT.

Hardcover. Oxford UK, The Voltaire Foundation, 1st, 1991, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover in blue cloth, gilt lettering on spine, 251 pages. As France moved from the seventeenth to the eighteenth century, it found itself in the grip of anglomanie - a fascination with new English ideas in the domains of science and philosophy. Chief among the English thinkers it enthusiastically embraced was John Locke. On his visits to France and in his personal correspondence, Locke interacted with prominent French thinkers, scientists and savants of the day, such as Charles Barbeyrac and Pierre Magnol, and his works engaged in a critical dialogue with those of Descartes. However, Locke has been feted to such an extent that his position in the history of ideas in France is often overlooked. In Locke in France 1688-1734, Ross Hutchison re-examines and re-contextualises the precise nature and extent of Locke's influence in France by exploring how his ideas were incorporated into contemporary French debates and controversies in the transitional period from the seventeenth to the eighteenth century. Hutchison highlights the various channels of dissemination which brought Locke to the attention of the French, including translations of his major works and his personal friendships with French Protestant exiles. Hutchison also presents case studies of interactions in which Lockean ideas played a dominant role in the evolution of French thought, ranging from political theory to the nature of language, theories of education, and the relation between soul and matter. Clean copy, no dust jacket.

Softcover. NY, Seven Stories Press, reprint, 2012, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 431 pages. A fascinating document of an extraordinary life, Memoirs of A Breton Peasant reads with the liveliness of a novel and bristles with the vigor of an opinionated autodidact from the very lowest level of peasant society. Brittany during the nineteenth century was a place seemingly frozen in the Middle Ages, backwards by most French standards; formal education among rural society was either unavailable or dismissed as unnecessary, while the church and local myth defined most people's reasoning and motivation. Jean-Marie Deguignet is unique not only as a literate Breton peasant, but in his skepticism for the church, his interest in science, astronomy and languages, and for his keen--often caustic--observations of the world and people around him. Born into rural poverty in 1834, Deguignet escapes Brittany by joining the French Army in 1854, and over the next fourteen years he fights in the Crimean war, attends Napoleon III's coronation ceremonies, supports Italy's liberation struggle, and defends the hapless French puppet emperor Maximilian in Mexico. He teaches himself Latin, French, Italian and Spanish and reads extensively on history, philosophy, politics, and literature. He returns home to live as a farmer and tobacco-seller, eventually falling back into dire poverty. Throughout the tale, Deguignet's freethinking, almost anarchic views put him ahead of his time and often (sadly, for him) out of step with his contemporaries. Deguignet's voluminous journals (nearly 4,000 pages in total) were discovered in a farmhouse in Brittany a century after they were written. This narrative was drawn from them and became a surprise bestseller when published in France in 1998. Clean copy.

Hardcover. New York , Marie Chardin/privately printed, 1st, 1936, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: Fair, 64 pages illustrated in 2-colors and full color by Bess Bethell. SIGNED BY AUTHOR on title page. Red cloth with black type and drawing of a penguin on front. Fraying to top of spine, previous owner's inscription on front fly leaf. Dust jacket worn, chipped. A children's reader, number and alphabet book, all in French.

Hardcover. Paris, France / Amsterdam, Editions Cercle D'art / Abrams, 1st, 1967, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket with the gray wrap-around band present. First English language edition, translated from the French by Humphrey Hare. Preface by Douglas Cooper. Thick folio. 11-1/4 in. x 12 in. 199 pages. Profusely illustrated with tipped-in color plate reproductions. (160 color mounted plates & 2 portraits in monochrome (including mounted frontis.). Sturdy and handsome joint publication with oatmeal cloth lettered with colorful letters by Picasso created specifically for the publication of this book. Clean copy. Due to size and weight, DOMESTIC SHIPPING ONLY.

Hardcover. Florence, Italy, Cantini, 1st, 1989, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 271 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket in SLIPCASE cover. ITALIAN TEXT. Color pictures. Previous owner's bookplate on end paper, otherwise clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to dust jacket. Slipcase has some tape repair on bottom edge. Red cloth covers with gilt lettering on spine.

Hardcover. Paris, Denoel, reprint, 1977, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 123 pages of b&w cartoons by Sempe, originally published in 1964. Green cloth covers with fading to spine. previous owner's signature on front fly leaf. Otherwise clean, very good. French language but most of his cartoons are wordless.

Softcover. NY, New York Review Books, 1st US., 2005, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 488 pages. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, between the reign of Louis XIII and the Revolution, French aristocratic society developed an art of living based on a refined code of good manners. Conversation, which began as a way of passing time, eventually became the central ritual of social life. In the salons, freed from the rigidity of court life, it was women who dictated the rules and presided over exchanges among socialites, writers, theologians, and statesmen. They contributed decisively to the development of the modern French language, new literary forms, and debates over philosophical and scientific ideas. With a cast of characters both famous and unknown, ranging from the Marquise de Rambouillet to Madame De Stael was a, and including figures like Ninon de Lenclos, the Marquise de Sevigne, and Madame de Lafayette, as well as Pascal, La Rochefoucauld, Diderot, and Voltaire, Benedetta Craveri traces the history of this worldly society that carried the art of sociability to its supreme perfection-and ultimately helped bring on the Revolution that swept it all away. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Duke University Press, 1st, 2003, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 440 pages. Black cloth, no dust jacket. The Edge of Surrealism is an essential introduction to the writing of French social theorist Roger Caillois. Caillois was part of the Surrealist avant-garde and in the 1930s founded the College of Sociology with Georges Bataille and Michel Leiris. He spent his life exploring issues raised by this famous group and by Surrealism itself. Though his subjects were diverse, Caillois focused on concerns crucial to modern intellectual life, and his essays offer a unique perspective on many of twentieth-century France's most significant intellectual movements and figures. Including a masterful introductory essay by Claudine Frank situating his work in the context of his life and intellectual milieu, this anthology is the first comprehensive introduction to Caillois's work to appear in any language. These thirty-two essays with commentaries strike a balance between Caillois's political and theoretical writings and between his better known works, such as the popular essays on the praying mantis, myth, and mimicry, and his lesser-known pieces. Presenting several new pieces and drawing on interviews and unpublished correspondence, this book reveals Caillois's consistent effort to reconcile intellectual rigor and imaginative adventure. Perhaps most importantly, The Edge of Surrealism provides an overdue look at how Caillois's intellectual project intersected with the work of Georges Bataille and others including Breton, Bachelard, Benjamin, Lacan, and Levi-Strauss.

Hardcover. Paris, Garnier, 1911, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 625 pages, original blue paper wrappers here bound in half leather and marbled boards, spines with raised ribs and gilt design, floral end papers. Top edge gilt, 4 color plates.

Hardcover. London, Collins, 1st UK, 1962, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, red cloth, unpaginated (approx. 64 pages), illustrated in b&w by Irene Haas. This is a picture book that introduces young readers to a variety of useful French phrases by describing the trip of two intrepid young travellers by sea to France, by boat train to Paris, and then through sight-seeing adventures. Each phrase is accompanied by a detailed, witty, black and white pictures showing when it might be used. A wonderful picture-book for the young French language learner. Clean. No dust jacket.