Gargantua and Pantagruel, which spewed forth from the pen of this doctor-monk between 1532 and 1564. The work was condemned by the Church and the faculty at the Sorbonne in Paris. Rabelais’s unique literary legacy is without peer.]]> François Rabelais]]> Books]]> Gargantua and Pantagruel.]]> François Rabelais]]> Every effort has been made to trace copyright ownership and to obtain permission for reproduction. If you believe you are the copyright owner of an item on this site, and we have not requested your permission, please contact us at special.collections@otago.ac.nz ]]> Books]]> École des Beaux Arts in Paris, he worked as an architectural ornament sculptor but continued to produce his own artworks. Rodin’s style eschewed the more idealised, neo-classical portrayal of the human form for a more naturalistic approach, something that did not initially endear him or his artwork to the ‘establishment’. Despite this, and accusations of surmoulage – a form of plagiarism – Rodin cemented his reputation as an artist of renown by 1900. He worked in plaster, bronze, clay, marble, and on paper; his most famous works are ‘The Kiss – Le Baiser’ (marble; 1889) and ‘The Thinker – Le Penseur’ (bronze; 1904) both housed in the Musée Rodin which is still open in Paris today.]]> Georges Grappe]]> Catalogues]]> Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière was a 36-volume treatise on the intricacies of countless branches of scientific endeavour. The work presented ground-breaking ideas on evolution and climate change, and frequently placed Buffon at odds with theological societies. In this particular volume, Buffon outlines his theory on the origin of the Earth, concluding it to be 70,000 years older than the date officially sanctioned by the Church.]]> Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon]]> Books]]> Germain Brice]]> Books]]> New Description of Paris, first published in French in 1684 and then translated into English in 1687, offered to lead its readers ‘directly to such Sights as they most Fancie’. This engraving depicts a section of the city from the Île de la Cité, one of two remaining natural islands in the Seine.]]> Germain Brice]]> Books]]> Calligrammes (1918), a series of poems that incorporated words, letters and phrases into complex visual collages, like concrete poetry. Subtitled ‘Poems of Peace and War 1913-1916’, many of them – like his ‘Letter to André Billy, 9th April 1915’ - reflected his experiences while an infantryman during WWI. ‘Harden Old Heart’ was not published in his lifetime. The poet who wrote ‘I love art so much, I have joined the artillery’ died on 9 November 1918, the day the Armistice ending the War was announced.]]> Guillaume Apollinaire]]> Books]]> H. A. Vossler]]> Books]]> Hardouyn]]> Manuscripts]]> Contes drolatiques that would appear in ten volumes. In reality, he finished 30 stories, publishing under the title, Les Cents Contes drolatiques, in 1832, 1833, and then 1837; the other 70 remain fragmentary pieces. Although best known for his large novel sequence La Comédie Humaine, it was to his Droll Tales that he looked for literary immortality: ‘The Droll Tales will constitute my principal title to fame in days to come’ (letter to Madame Hanska, August 1833). They have been illustrated by many artists, including Gustave Doré and Mervyn Peake. Here Jean de Bosschère (1878–1953), the Belgian artist, offers his interpretation on Balzac’s Rabelaisian tales.]]> Honoré de Balzac]]> Books]]> James Duncan]]> Books]]> Français. After consulting with other polar explorers like Bruce and Shackleton, Charcot set off on his second voyage into the Antarctic on the Pourquoi-pas? in 1908. Aboard ship were 30 men, 250 tons of coal, various pieces of scientific apparatus, provisions for three years, a dozen sledges, and several pairs of skis. Boat and crew wintered over on the SE coast of Petermann Island on the Antarctic Peninsula. Despite ‘violent and continual attacks of Antarctic tempests’ they carried out scientific observations and collected data. Despite experiencing some sickness, all survived and returned to France in June 1910.]]> Jean Charcot]]> Books]]> Fables are like a basket of strawberries. You begin by selecting the largest and best, but, little by little, you eat first one, then another, till at last the basket is empty’. So wrote the famed memorialist Madame de Sévigné (1626–1696) on Jean de La Fontaine’s Fables, produced in several volumes from 1668 to 1694. The 239 stories – many of them morality tales that highlight the foibles of human nature – derive from classical fabulists such as Aesop and Phaedrus, earlier French writers like Rabelais and Clément Marot, and from the East, like this one: ‘The Bear and the Gardener’ (L’ours et l’amateur des jardins), a tale warning against making foolish friendships. La Fontaine’s work is a classic and requires little enhancement. However, in 1868, Gustave Doré (1832-1883), the French artist, produced his timeless illustrations for the text. This is a late 19th century English language reprint.]]> Jean de La Fontaine]]> Books]]> un potager’ – for Louis XIV in 1678. On nine hectares, La Quintinie made use of raised beds, glass cloches, and walled gardens to provide the King’s kitchen with a year round supply of produce. Using newly developed growing techniques, he was able to produce most fruit and vegetables out of season. Described as ‘something between an outdoor laboratory and an early example of agribusiness’ (Thompson, 2006), La Quintinie oversaw 30 gardeners, who helped him grow, amongst other things, the King’s favourite – peas. This translated edition shows the layout of the potager with central water reservoir.]]> Jean de La Quintinie]]> Books]]> Elémens des Mathématiques is a pivotal work that encapsulates the progress of knowledge, and immortalises France’s contribution to the mathematical world. Prestet’s decisive rejection of geometry in favour of modern algebra was indicative of a societal move towards the knowledge of modernity. Elémens crucially includes a proof of Descartes’ rule of signs, with this revised and expanded edition providing early modern work on the fundamental theorem of arithmetic, as first indicated by Euclid in c. 300 BC.]]> Jean Prestet]]> Books]]> Jodocus Sincerus [Justus Zinzerling]]]> Books]]> John Rewald]]> Books]]> Jules Verne]]> Books]]> Astrolabe from 1826 to 1829. He and his crew spent a great deal of time in the South Pacific, especially New Zealand. Some of the specimens collected on this voyage are still in the Natural History Museum in Paris.]]> Jules-Sébastien-César Dumont d'Urville]]> Books]]> Lucy Norton]]> Books]]> Marcel Haedrich]]> Books]]> Robertus Stephanus) took up printing. In 1539, he became ‘typographer Royal’, having produced many fine works, especially those by the Church Fathers and classical writers. In fact, the reign of François I (1515-1547) is called the ‘Golden Age of French typography’. In 1550, Estienne fled to Geneva, and was the first to divide the chapters of the Bible into numbered verses. This less than elegant Cicero is one of his small format Parisian productions.]]> Marcus Tullius Cicero]]> Books]]> Marie de Rabutin-Chantal Sévigné]]> Books]]> Essais (Essays), digressive self-reflective musings covering everything from ‘Smels and odours’, ‘Friendship’, and ‘Of Exercise or Practise’, to (as here) ‘Of Idleness’ and ‘Of Lyars’, were first published in French between 1580 and 1588. In 1603, John Florio (1553-1625), language tutor at the Court of James I, translated them into English. This is the second English edition of 1613. In the past, those influenced by Montaigne’s Essays have included fellow Frenchmen Descartes, Pascal, and Rousseau.]]> Michel de Montaigne]]> Books]]> Ministère de Travaux Publics]]> Pamphlets]]>