EVANGELINE: A TALE OF ACADIE by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
George M. Hill, 1895. This edition has a really pretty decorated cover, pale green cloth with orange, dark green flowers, and a gilt sky background. Illustrated: uncredited black and white plates and chapter headings throughout the text. Contains "Notes on the Poem" with helpful info. Evangeline is an 1847 epic poem by Longfellow, loosely on the 1755 expulsion of the Acadians from Nova Scotia and the migration of some of those Acadians to Louisiana. In the poem, a maiden named Evangeline Bellefontaine is torn from her lover, Gabriel Lajeunesse, on their wedding day. She searches for him throughout Louisiana and the Ozarks. I won't give away the ending, but it is tragic. It is important to note that this tale is fictional and the characters invented. By the way, Longfellow never visited Louisiana. Evangeline was adopted for the screen on more than one occasion: in 1929, Evangeline was played by Dolores Del Rio.
CONDITION: Interior pages are clean with tight binding. Some foxing to front endpaper. A little bit of dirt and a light red pencil streak on inside back cover. Penciled numbers on upper right corner of front endpaper. Cloth cover has bumping to corners and wear to edges.Wear along top and bottom of the spine. There is an area of speckly brown spots along the bottom of the front cover. $15

TO AN UNKNOWN LADY by ANDRE MAUROIS (Second Printing)
E.P. Dutton, 1957. Stated second printing. Translated by John Buchanan-Brown. Advice for women from this French writer re: male/female relationships. A self-help book with a literary spin. Dramatic and campy cover image. Maurois (original name: Emile Salomon Wilhelm Herzog) was a biographer, novelist, and essayist. He was often quoted, my favorite line of his is, "In literature as in love, we are astonished at what is chosen by others". Cover flap forcefully states that "No people on earth are wiser in the ways of men and women than the French..." Small world: He married Simone de Caillevet, a niece of Marcel Proust.
CONDITION: Interior is clean with tight binding. There is a price in pen in the upper right corner of the endpaper. Red cloth cover has wear at top and bottom of spine and slight bumping to corners. A bookplate is pasted on the inside front cover. Not price-clipped, original price of $2.95 is crossed out and 59 is written in pencil. Dustjacket is fray on edges with some tears and chips. Back cover is dirty. $10 SOLD!

LES CONQUERANTS by ANDRE MALRAUX (Gallimard 1967 Collection Soleil)
TEXT IN FRENCH. Malraux was a French novelist, adventurer, art historian, and statesman; he was also France's Minister for Cultural Affairs for 11 years. His most famous book is LA CONDITION HUMAINE (MAN'S FATE). LES CONQUÉRANTS (THE CONQUERORS) was his first first major novel and deals with the Chinese Revolution: specifically, a revolutionary strike and its European organizers in Canton. The Swiss Frenchmen, Garine, a propaganda chief, is the most memorable figure in this book. This edition is part of the Collection Soleil, a very attractive series of limited edition reprints bound in warm gold cloth with bright yellow endpapers. This volume is #280 in the series, #1953 of 4100 copies. Interesting trivia: Malraux suffered from Tourette's syndrome.
CONDITION: Beautiful Condition. Interior like new. Slightly dirty along top and bottom of spine. Front lower right corner is bumped. Has a thin plastic wrap which I believe came with it when published--this is missing some large pieces but I will ship it to protect cover. $18

FAUST by JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE NEW!
Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1890. "Vignette Edition, Profusely Illustrated by Frederick J. Boston." Translated from the German by John Anster. Intricate tooled cover design. Very detailed and delicate b/w drawings throughout. One of those classic works of literature that most people know about but have never actually read. (I don't mean you, I mean me!) Goethe's masterwork was based upon an old legend, a favorite subject of Europe's travelling puppet shows, which Goethe is known to have enjoyed as a boy. The tale is about a scholar named Faust, who in his quest for forbidden knowledge, summons the Devil (represented by Mephistopheles), offering to sell him his soul if the Devil will serve him for a period of time. It's claim to fame in my mind is that it was the inspiration for the brilliant Dudley Moore and Peter Cook movie Bedazzled. Also the basis of a remake with Brendan Fraser, but you can't blame Goethe for that.
CONDITION: Front and back hinges are cracked, but interior is still attached to cover. All interior pages are intact. Foxing to endpapers. Green cloth cover has bumping to corners and wear to edges, top and bottom of spine. $12

MAD LOVE by ANDRE BRETON (First American Edition)
University of Nebraska Press, 1987. Great cover design! Although not stated, I believe this to be the first U.S. edition. Translated from the French by Mary Ann Caws, who also wrote the introduction. Illustrated with photographs and paintings by Man Ray, Brassai, Ernst, and others. Breton was a founder of the Surrealist movement, a poet, essayist, critic, and editor. First published in France in 1937, this autobiographical reminiscence evokes Breton's involvement with Jacqueline Lamba (to whom the volume is dedicated). Mad Love is dedicated to defying "the widespread opinion that love wears out, like the diamond, in its own dust." The central theme is the experience of meeting someone that suddenly changes the course of your life. Lamba was married to Breton for about ten years. She eventually became frustrated by the limitations of their relationship; despite her talent as a painter, Lamba was viewed by Breton more as lover and muse than as an artist in her own right. She eventually left him for the American sculptor David Hare. After that marriage ended, she devoted herself to painting, and gradually became a recluse. At her death, she had created over 400 canvases. Maybe Breton should not have bucked the diamond metaphor.
CONDITION: Interior pages clean, bright, white with tight binding. Purple cloth cover has one small damp stain at lower right corner of back cover. Some bumping to top and bottom of spine. Dustjacket is not price-clipped ($17.50). Dustjacket has wear along all folds. Some small tears and creases along the top and bottom edges all around. $16