Collection: Basque Country and Southwest

The regionalism of the Southwest is first evident in local collections, often printed in small numbers and distributed outside Parisian circles: municipal libraries, learned societies, printers in Pau or Bayonne. A good part of our collection comes from these confidential circuits, which explains the presence of limited editions difficult to find elsewhere.

Our current selection attests to this.Bayonneby Jean Cassou (Emile-Paul frères, 1927, "Portrait de la France" collection) is one of 1,500 numbered copies on Lafuma vellum. Francis Jammes, a central author in the Basque Country collection, is present with Pipe, Chien. Le rêve franciscain. Iles.(Mercure de France, 1933), an original edition enhanced with an autograph inscription signed by the author. On the Landes and Gascony side, Au temps des échassesby Félix Arnaudin (1928) remains a reference: original edition limited to 310 numbered copies on Madagascar-Lafuma-Navarre paper, complete with the frontispiece portrait and one hundred photographs Au temps des échasses, Félix Arnaudin. Regarding bullfighting, a subject in its own right in the Landes and Gascon Southwest, Histoire de la corrida en France, du Second Empire à nos joursby A. Lafront (Julliard, 1977) documents French bullfighting for over a century Histoire de la corrida en France, A. Lafront.

This regional collection is divided into several categories:Bayonne and the Basque Country,Béarn and the Pyrenees,Gascony and the Landes, Spain and the border,bullfighting,the history of the Basque Countryand Basque language and traditions. Each category groups items by angle rather than diluting them in a single collection.

We have been established in Bayonne since 2011, at the heart of local successions and sales in the region. This proximity feeds a regional collection that Parisian bookstores cannot build in the same way.

Yes, if the author or subject is sought after: Francis Jammes or Pierre Loti remain in demand even in standard editions. The colophon and the condition of the spine matter more than age alone.

Collation, edition verification, search for inscriptions and provenance: the estimation is free and without obligation to sell, at the bookstore or from photos. A good part of this collection comes from Southwest estates, which is often how items reach us.

Bullfighting has its own category in our collection, but it remains rooted in the Landes and Gascon Southwest: bullrings in Mont-de-Marsan, Dax or Nîmes, bullfighting magazines, numbered editions by regional authors.