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68 HUXLEY, Aldous. Texts & Pretexts. An Anthology with Commentaries. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1933 From an English novelist to a French poet First US edition, first printing (“M-G” on imprint page), presentation copy, inscribed by the author “For Paul Valéry, with gratitude & admiration. Aldous Huxley. 1933” on front free endpaper. The work was first published in the UK the previous year. Valéry is one of the authors that Huxley quotes in the volume. Aldous Huxley first met Paul Valéry in Paris in January 1920. In his 1953 essay, “The French of Paris”, Huxley recalled “talk about Paul Valéry – or, much better, talk with Paul Valéry; talk which, for a foreigner, was no less fatiguing than rewarding; for Valéry spoke faster than anyone I have ever listened to and with an indistinctness of utterance most unusual in a Frenchman. His conversation was like that of an oracle – marvellous but enigmatic, illuminating but not entirely comprehensible”. When, in 1930, Huxley settled in France, the two writers became close friends. They participated in many activities as literary intellectuals and enjoyed correspondence together. Occasionally, Huxley identified himself with Valéry’s “alter ego”, Monsieur Teste, by adopting his motto of “stupidity is not my strongest suit”. In a letter dated 14 October 1933 from Huxley to his brother Julian, he noted that he was taking part “in a Congress under the presidency of Valéry” in Paris, comprising a group of “intellectuals discussing what if anything can be done to safeguard the intellect in the present state of affairs”. Given that Huxley gave a later US edition of Text & Pretexts to Valéry, the Paris Congress may have been the occasion for presentation of the present volume. Octavo. Original orange cloth, spine and front cover lettered in gilt, spine and front cover with horizontal rule design in gilt, grey endpapers. Book label of Pierre Bergé. Spine toned, corners bumped, some minor soiling to front cover, occasional browning; a very good copy. ¶ Bromer A32.3; Eschelbach and Shober 58. £3,750 [158164]
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69 JAMES, Henry. The Madonna of the Future and other tales. In two volumes. London: Macmillan and Co., 1879 Presentation to the elegantly coiffed Mrs Lombard First edition, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the vol. I half-title, “Mrs. Lombard, from her old friend, H. James, Paris. Nov. 3d 1879”. The Lombards were from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and friends of the James family. Mrs Lombard (born Harriet H. Jones, 1821–1884) often travelled in Europe with her daughters Fanny (Frances, 1840–1914) and Essie (Esther, 1845–1912). “Mrs. Lombard was a chronic invalid who was always admirably coiffed, a detail which Henry introduced into his tales in describing certain itinerant American ladies abroad” (Edel, Life , II, p. 163). The presentation is an appropriate gift, as the title story is set in Florence, where the Lombards usually stayed when in Europe. The book was published in October 1879 in an edition of 500 copies. These six stories had previously been published in America, in Scribner’s , Harper’s and The Galaxy , and three in a book publication, and were gathered together here for the first time and revised throughout. James was back in Paris for a short visit in the autumn of 1879; when revising his works for the New York edition, he remembers the small shabby salon of the Hôtel Garni not far from the Rue de la Paix, where he was writing A Bundle of Letters while a snowstorm raged outside with a violence rare in Paris. 2 volumes, crown octavo. Publisher’s dark blue fine-bead-grain cloth, double-rule border and curved-edge panel in black on front covers and in blind on back covers, lettering and publisher’s device in gilt and decorative rules at top and bottom in black on spines, brown coated endpapers, edges
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