René Boylesve storyteller

René Tardivaux (1867-1926), known as René Boylesve, is a novelist remained nowadays in the shadow, while his work and his peers acknowledgement (he was elected to the Académie Française in 1908), place him among the important writers of the late 19th / early 20th century. The Biography Of Modern French Authors, named the "Talvart" after its author's name and a reference for bibliophiles, points :

Novelist of provincial life, it is with a delicate art, all of flexibility and shades, that he has set in charming melancholic pictures, treated in greyness certain types, certain aspects of provincial and bourgeois existences ; he unveiled tender and passionate souls while their simple outsides seemed out of a novel and he depicted them with  talent od a carefull pastellist.

Like some of his colleagues, Rene Boylesve also composed libertine tales in the spirit of those of the 18th century, making as a storyteller entertaining narrations that nevertheless retain his sensitive style. Le Carrosse aux deux lézards verts (The two green lizards Carriage), whose title alone evokes the light-hearted approach, was published in 1921 illustrated with, rare thing for a first edition, compositions embellished with watercolours by George  Barbier, a Art Deco illustrator then at the height of his fame.

Currently, the library offers Loliee:

• BARBIER (George) - Boylesve (Rene). Le Carrosse aux deux lézards verts. Conte. Orné d'aquarelles de George Barbier. Paris, Editions de la Guirlande, 1921, in-4, half-gray binding (Flammarion). First edition illustrated with 52 drawings and diagrams enhanced with watercolors and 8 off-texts engraved and executed in watercolour by George Barbier. Limited to 300 copies. One of the first 25 copies on Japan paper, with a dedication to the literary critic and essayist Gonzague Truc (1877 - 1972).

"Les Ziaux" by Raymond Queneau with an inscription to Maurice Blanchot

Les Ziaux is the second collection of poems published by Raymond Queneau in 1943 at Gallimard,  house edition he joined in 1938 first as a reader, translator and then a member of the reading committee. The book we offers is an issue reserved to press with a dedication to the writer Maurice Blanchot. The latter joined Gallimard through Jean Paulhan and he published his first novel in 1941, Thomas The Obscure, a dark and abstract text. Both authors have a fascination for literature, its mechanical and share a taste for philosophy. They also have a common friend, Michel Leiris. They both found themselves at Georges Bataille's place who gathered his contemporaries to feed thoughts for his college of sociology.

In Les Ziaux, the work of Queneau on phonemes and language wears a playful tone that is characteristic of his talent. "La Petite aube" becomes "la microaube" and "quand le soir meurt , la toute petîte crêpe... la crépuscule." Below, the poem that gives its name to the collection.  

LES ZIAUX 

les eaux bruns, les eaux noirs, les eaux de merveille
les eaux de mer, d'océan, les eaux d'étincelles
nuitent le jour, jurent la nuit
chants de dimanche à samedi 

les yeux vertes, les yeux bleues, les yeux de succelle
les yeux de passante au cours de la vie
les yeux noirs, yeux d'estanchelle
silencent les mots, ouatent le bruit 

eau de ces yeux penché sur tout miroir
gouttes secrets au bord des veilles
tout miroir, tout veille en ces ziaux bleues ou vertes
les ziaux bruns, les ziaux noirs, les ziaux de merveille

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• QUENEAU (Raymond). Les Ziaux. Paris, Gallimard, collection « Métamorphoses », 1943, in-8, olive green revorim binding signed by Jean de Gonet (8/200). First Edition. Issue reserved for the Press service on "châtaignier" paper, with a dedication from the author to  : à Maurice Blanchot / « Mais qui voit ? Qui entend ? Qui parle ? »  / amical hommage / Queneau. [to Maurice Blanchot / "But who sees? who hears ? Who speak ?" / friendly compliments /Queneau]. 

Pierre Loti : the sweet bitterness of a sailing traveler

Julien Viaud alias Pierre Loti (1850-1923), born in Rochefort, came from a Protestant family. Attracted by the sea, he decided, at the age of thirteen, to sail across oceans, like his elder brother, Gustave, a navy surgeon. Two years later, Gustave died in the Straits of Malacca. Viaud family encountered then some serious financial difficulties. In 1866, Julien moved to Paris to prepare his entrance to Naval school. Brilliant student, he was received in 1867 and admitted to the Borda, a school ship in the Brest roads. Two years later, appointed midshipman, he took on board on the Jean Bart. His travels led him to Algeria, Turkey, Brazil, in the East, the United States and Canada ...
From the countries he visited, Loti showed a special affection for Tahiti which was first photographed by Gustave. There, he found his author's pseudonym, Loti, name of a tropical flower. In Constantinople, he lived a tragic passion with Hatice, a woman who belonged to the harem of a local dignitary. In the East, he signed a marriage contract with a young Japanese nicknamed Madame Chrysanthème, whom story is related in the eponymous novel published in 1887. It was his first great success, after An Iceland Fisherman. The same year, back in France, he married the daughter of a notable family from Bordeaux, who will give him a first son. He had, a few years later, another line of descent with Crucita, a Basque woman. In 1891, he was elected to the French Academy, against Emile Zola.
Sailing author, Loti forwards with simplicity and delicacy his traveler's impressions. But beyond the pleasant aspect of his work, always emerges a kind of sadness, anxiety which makes him more than just an exotic novelist. The man himself is more complex, fiendish that the one depicted in biographies. He also enjoyed, according to contemporaries allusions, compagny of men. His physical appearance dawns the ambiguity of the character. Gabriel-Louis Pringué met him in 1913 at a luncheon organized by the  Princess Alice of Monaco at the Chateau Haut-Buisson and wrote (in 30 ans de dîners en ville, éd. Adam, 1948) :

Loti had his face made up with rose and wore, to gain size, heeled stilts. In his strangely face shined admirable aquamarine eyes, with a mysterious depth veiled with concern. That distant look, as if lost in a dream, was unsettling. He spoke little, but when he narrated, he did it with a colorful and inimitable poetry that recalled his books whom prestigious charm belongs to eternity.

(source : Wikipédia)

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• LOTI (Pierre). La Mort de Philae. Paris, Calmann-Lévy, s.d. [1908], in-12, original covers, half morocco binding (Léon Lapersonne). First edition. Copy dedicated from the author to the french painter and writer Georges Cain (1856-1919).
• LOTI (Pierre). Correspondance inédite. 1865-1904. Publié par sa nièce Madame Nadine Duvignau et N. Serban, professeur à la faculté de Jassy. Paris, Calmann-Lévy, 1929, in-12, original covers, half morocco binding. First edition. One of the 25 first copies on imperial Japan paper. 
• FOUJITA - LOTI (Pierre). Madame Chrysanthème. Soixante illustrations originales en couleurs de Foujita. Paris, Éditions Excelsior, 1926, in-4. Deluxe edition with  60 illustrations in colors by Foujita. One of the 425 copies on Arches paper.

50 engravings by Zwy Milshtein

Unknown to the general public, Zwy Milshtein is a painter, engraver and writer who, aged more than 75 years old, has produced an abundant and amazing work . Born in 1934 in Moldova, Milshtein moved to Israel in 1947 with her mother and brother, then moved to Paris in 1956 after getting a scholarship. "I consider my painting as a expressionist painting with the influence of masters such as Bosch, Brueghel, Goya and Soutine" he says.
Our bookshop offers, in a binding by Jean-Paul Miguet, a set of 50 engravings in black, mounted on tabs, each numbered and signed by the artist. Most of those representing faces or figures with an urban background.
To See : the Artist's website.

Currently,  the librairie loliée offers :

• MILSHTEIN (Zwy). 50 gravures. In-16, 50 engravings mounted on tabs, binding in full old rose morocco with folder and case  (J.P. Miguet). Unique isssue bringin together 50 engravings all signed and numbered by Milshtein.