• ALDE, June 18: CHAPPE D'AUTEROCHE (JEAN). Voyage en Sibérie fait par ordre du Roi en 1761 contenant les mœurs…, Paris, 1768. €4,000 to €5,000.
    ALDE, June 18: HENNEPIN (LOUIS). Description de la Louisiane nouvellement découverte au Sud-Ouest de la Nouvelle France…, Paris, 1688. €3,000 to €4,000.
    ALDE, June 18: LA BOULLAYE-LE GOUZ (FRANÇOIS DE). Les Voyages et Observations, Paris, 1653. €1,500 to €2,000.
    ALDE, June 18: LE BRUN (CORNELIS DE BRUYN DIT CORNEILLE). Voyage au Levant, c'est à dire dans les principaux endroits de l'Asie mineure..., Delft, 1700. €6,000 to €8,000.
    ALDE, June 18: SAINT-NON (J.-CL. RICHARD, ABBÉ DE). Voyage pittoresque ou description du royaume de Naples et de Sicile, Paris, 1781-1786. €3,500 to €5,000.
    ALDE, June 18: (CALVIN JEAN). SÉNÈQUE. Annei Senecae..., Paris, 1532. €2,000 to €3,000.
    ALDE, June 18: ADRIEN LE CHARTREUX. De remediis utriusque fortunæ, [Cologne, vers 1470]. €5,000 to €6,000.
    ALDE, June 18: GAZA (THÉODORE). [...] Introductivæ grammatices libri quatuor. Ejusdem de mensibus opusculum sanequampulchrum, Venise, 1495. €8,000 to €10,000.
    ALDE, June 18: LACTANCE. De divinis institutionibus. De ira Dei. De opificio Dei. De phoenice carmen, Rome, 1468. €30,000 to €40,000.
    ALDE, June 18: LUTHER (MARTIN). Der Erste [– Achte und letze] Teil aller Bücher und Schrifften des thewren, seligen Mans Doct. Mart. Lutheri, Iéna, 1555-1568. €5,000 to €6,000.
    ALDE, June 18: POLITIEN (ANGE). Omnia opera, et alia quædam lectu Digna, Venise, 1498. €8,000 to €10,000.
    ALDE, June 18: SIDOINE APOLLINAIRE. Poema aureum ejusdemque Epistole, Milan, 1498. €3,000 to €4,000.
  • SD | Scandinavian Art & Rare Book Auctions
    The Øiesvold Collection
    June 14, 2025
    SD | Scandinavian Art & Rare Book Auctions, June: 14: HIERONYMUS MÜNTZER (1437 – 1508): (Northern and Central Europe) No title recto. Nuremberg, 1493.
    SD | Scandinavian Art & Rare Book Auctions, June: 14: SIGISMUND VON HERBERSTEIN (1486 – 1566): «Commentari della Moscovia et partmente della Russia.» Venice, 1550.
    SD | Scandinavian Art & Rare Book Auctions, June: 14: SEBASTIAN MÜNSTER: «Cosmographiae universalis Lib. VI in quibus iuxta certioris […]» Basel, 1559.
    SD | Scandinavian Art & Rare Book Auctions, June: 14: SEBASTIAN MÜNSTER: «Deerwunder und seltzame Thier / wie die in den Mitnächtigen Länder im Meer […]» Basel, c. 1550.
    SD | Scandinavian Art & Rare Book Auctions, June: 14: WILLEM BARENTSZ (1550 – 97): «Deliniatio cartæ trium navigationum per Batavos, ad Septentrionalem plagem [...]» Amsterdam, 1598.
  • Sotheby's
    Bibliothèque Jacques Dauchez - Autour de Dubuffet
    5-19 June
    Sotheby’s, June 5-19: Bissière, Roger. Cantique à notre frère soleil de saint François. 1954. 1,000 - 1,500 EUR
    Sotheby’s, June 5-19: Céline, Louis-Ferdinand. La vie & l’œuvre de Philippe Ignace Semmelweis. 1924. Rare édition originale, avec envoi. Joint : La Quinine en thérapeutique, 1925. 4,000 - 6,000 EUR
    Sotheby’s, June 5-19: Céline, Louis-Ferdinand. Mort à crédit. 1936. Édition originale. Bel exemplaire sur Hollande. 2,500 - 3,500 EUR
    Sotheby's
    Bibliothèque Jacques Dauchez - Autour de Dubuffet
    5-19 June
    Sotheby’s, June 5-19: Chillida, Eduardo ─ Emil Cioran. Face aux instants. 1985. Un des 100 exemplaires sur Arches. Eau-forte signée. 600 - 800 EUR
    Sotheby’s, June 5-19: Dubuffet, Jean. Ler dla canpane. L’Art Brut, 1948. Édition originale. 3,000 - 5,000 EUR
    Sotheby’s, June 5-19: Dubuffet, Jean. L'Herne Jean Dubuffet. 1973. Un des 100 exemplaires du tirage de luxe avec une sérigraphie originale en couleurs. 1,000 - 1,500 EUR
  • Gros & Delettrez
    Livres & Manuscrits Arméniens
    Jeudi 12 juin 2025
    Paris, Francis
    Gros & Delettrez, June 12: BIBLE, Venise 1733, reliure arménienne
    Gros & Delettrez, June 12: CHARAKNOTS, manuscrit XVIIe-XVIIIe siècle
    Gros & Delettrez, June 12: CHARAKNOTS, manuscrit daté 1606, reliure arménienne
    Gros & Delettrez, June 12: CHARAKNOTS, manuscrit début XVIIIe siècle, reliure arménienne
    Gros & Delettrez, June 12: CHARAKNOTS, Amsterdam 1664
    Gros & Delettrez, June 12: CHARAKNOTS, Amsterdam 1702, reliure arménienne
    Gros & Delettrez, June 12: DICTIONNAIRE arménien, manuscrit XVIIe-XVIIIe siècle.
    Gros & Delettrez, June 12: EVANGILE, manuscrit 1735-1737, reliure arménienne
    Gros & Delettrez, June 12: LIVRE DE PRIERES, Grégoire de Narek, manuscrit
    Gros & Delettrez, June 12: GEOGRAPHIE, Ghoukas INDJIDJIAN, Venise 1802-1806
    Gros & Delettrez, June 12: MANUSCRIT THEOLOGIQUE, XVIe-XVIIe siècle
    Gros & Delettrez, June 12: MASHTOTS, manuscrit XVIIIe-XIXe siècle, reliure arménienne
    Gros & Delettrez, June 12: LETTRE ENCYCLIQUE, manuscrit XIXe siècle
    Gros & Delettrez, June 12: NOUVEAU TESTAMENT, Amsterdam 1668, reliure arménienne

Rare Book Monthly

Articles - May - 2015 Issue

Cayenne, The Dry Guillotine. Part 2: Adjudant Ramel, By the River of Synamary

We saw in the previous article dedicated to Louis-Ange Pitou, that it had become fashionable in the aftermath of the French Revolution (1789) to deport the political prisoners to Cayenne (French Guyana). Too much blood had been shed on the guillotine, and this new punishment was also a way for the new masters of the Republic to prove they were no bloodthirsty beasts. Yet, as the famous deportee Tronçon-Ducoudray put it, Cayenne was nothing but a “dry guillotine”—and he should know, as he eventually lost his life in Guyana. Some survived, though, including a young officer by the name of Jean-Pierre Ramel, who left a worthy testimony of his short stay in hell, and of his remarkable escape: Journal de l’Adjujant-Général RAMEL, l’un des déportés à la Guyane après le 18 Fructidor (Londres, 1799). Welcome back to Cayenne!

 

When he was arrested following the attempted coup of Fructidor 18th (September, 4th, 1797), Jean-Pierre Ramel the younger was a young officer, who already had a long story. Born in 1768, he joined the army at 15, and quickly moved up the ladder thanks to the many wars of the period. Winds changed rapidly at the time, and he was arrested a first time in 1794 with his brother, Jean-Pierre Ramel the older. The latter, a former member of the Legislative Assembly, was murdered during the Terror (1793-1794); but our author escaped death thanks to his acquaintances. Though he fought in the army of Moreau, and denounced the royalist conspiracy led by Gabriel Bottier in 1797, he was tagged as a royalist himself after he refused to obey an order of the Directoire (1795-1799) during the attempted coup of Fructidor 18th; consequently, he was arrested. In fact, he was almost lynched. “A whole bunch jumped at me. My sword was broken; I was dragged on the ground, torn apart. The most zealous among my murderers (...) tried to plunge his sword into my chest in the middle of the confusion.” He was sent to the prison of the Temple, ending up in the cell the royal family had formerly occupied. There he met his future companions of misfortune, including Tronçon-Ducoudray, Barthelemy, Marbois, Pichegru or Lafond. These men were sent to the end of the world without being properly tried, charged or heard.

 

Ramel’s book is usually less expensive than Pitou’s; is it less rare? Or is it because Pitou’s book comes as a two-volumes set? Nevertheless, though less literary, Ramel’s work is as interesting as Pitou’s. In fact, these two books tell stories which are both alike and totally different. They are like two parallel journeys into the same bottomless pit. Just like Pitou, Ramel first describes his terrible journey from Paris to the port of Rochefort, where he was embarked on board of La Vaillante. Etampes, Orléans, Blois, Tours, we follow the convoy on the roads of France. Locked into an iron cage which bars hurt them painfully at every bump, the prisoners were exposed to the winds and the rain. People on their way usually blamed and mocked them; but some felt sorry for them, and even offered to help them to run away. “I don’t know what blinded us so much, and especially the members of the Conseil des Anciens; but we thought that we would have betrayed ourselves if we had tried to escape our fate.” In Saint-Maure, they were so poorly watched that they hesitated. “Some suggested to take advantage of the situation, and I was one of them,” writes Ramel. The prisoners, failing to come to a unanimous decision, stepped back into their iron cages the next day, and headed towards Rochefort.

 

The middle passage

 

If Ramel, or some of his companions, had ever wondered what an African slave could feel while being taken to the New World, they sure had the beginning of an answer during their journey to Cayenne. Food was so scarce, and so disgusting, that famine is not a vain word to describe what the deportees went through. “Marbois was on the deck one day, suffering so much, he couldn’t behave himself no more,” testifies Ramel. “The Captain passed by him. I’m starving, starving! shouted Marbois with a strong though distorted voice, and with sparkling eyes. I’m starving, give me some food, or throw me overboard! The Cerberus was petrified; he sent some food to Marbois.” Ramel also mentions another companion, who was shouting with hunger like a madman; they feared he would bite them! “The horrors of this famine will never stop haunting me,” concludes our author.

 

But their arrival to Cayenne didn’t mean the end of their misery. As soon as disembarked, they had to walk to their place of confinement, alongside the Synamary River. One inhabitant, watching them as they went past, expressed his concern: “Ah, gentlemen! You’re going down to your grave.” And this sentence certainly stroke Ramel, who had been spitting blood for a few days. They reached the fort where they were to spend their whole incarceration. “This fort, made of beams and fences, has no external work. It’s a square of roughly a hundred height gauges, with four bastions and surrounded by a wide ditch filled with the water of the nearby river, so that it is isolated,” says Ramel. Just like Pitou, he portrays the ordinary daily tortures of Guyana such as the “chiques”, or Niguas—some insects that dwell into the pores of the skin, and which “if not quickly and properly removed, multiply and reproduce so fast, you soon have no other solution but the amputation.”—, mosquitos, scorpions, and even poisonous snakes “that often sneak into the fort.” The first victim was Murinais, “a respectable old man”; then Bourdon, who also died of disease. The “dry guillotine” was at work, and the French Governor of Cayenne, when contacted by the inmates for more clemency, sent a straightforward answer: “I don’t know why these gentlemen keep on harassing me, let them know they haven’t been sent to Synamary to live forever.”

 

The next victim was a highly respected figure among the deportees, Tronçon-Ducoudray—or Tronsson-Ducoudray, according to the modern spelling of his name. A lawyer by trade, he had volunteered to defend Louis XVI during his trial but had been turned down—however, he defended Marie-Antoinette! Of course, he couldn’t save her, but he did participate in saving the 132 “Nantais modérés”—one of the most resounding trials of 1794. He was a great orator, and his funeral oration of Murinais moved both the prisoners and their wardens to tears: “The soldiers and the Negroes were first moved, and then so much touched, that the fort soon resounded with their wailings,” writes Ramel. Ducoudray had cunningly adapted Psalm 137, the one that goes: “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, and there we wept when we remembered Zion.” Ducoudray never accepted his deportation, and apparently spent his stay there writing to the Directoire, demanding a legal act of accusation, and defending his positions. As Ramel puts it, “he was demanding some judges to the echoes of Synamary.” He died in May 1798, aged 48, after a long and painful agony, giving his friends a last piece of advice: “Run away, my friends, run away from Synamary!” It had indeed become a matter of life or death.

 

Run, Ramel, Run

 

The tropical forest bordering the French settlements in Guyana prevented any escape by land. The only solution was to join the neighbouring Surinam (Dutch Guyana) by sea. Pichegru, Dossonville, Larue, Le Tellier, Bartholomew and Ramel made up their mind “to deprive their tyrants of the pleasure to see us dying slowly under their iron fist.” Others like Marnois, Lafond and Tronçon-Ducoudray, refused to go with them, “hiding behind their innocence, as if it wasn’t the first cause of their proscription.” They obtained some passports from a “friend” in Cayenne, whose name is cautiously withheld by Ramel—without these papers, they feared they would be arrested in Surinam, then sent back to Cayenne. Their only hope lay in a small pirogue they had spotted near the fort—but none of them knew how to steer it. Fortunately, an American Captain recently captured by a French privateer, Mr Tilly, had been brought to Cayenne—he offered the prisoners to go with them. “We showed him the pirogue, and he shivered: No, no, gentlemen, don’t you even try, you’d perish without a doubt. This pirogue is too small, and it can’t take you to Surinam.” But they had no choice. Tilly’s ship carried 40,000 bottles of wine. The take was celebrated at night and, in the morning, our deportees cunningly made their move, killing a sentinel—Ramel coyly says he was thrown into the river—, and then jumping into the pirogue and heading to the open sea. Mr Tilly couldn’t come, as he had just been transferred to Cayenne; but his lieutenant, Mr Barrick, replaced him. They took several days to reach Surinam, almost dying for want, fearing the French ships sent after them, and miraculously escaping death after being shipwrecked on the coast. The people and the governor helped them out as much as they could. There they learnt that a ship named La Décade, had reached Cayenne three days after their escape, carrying 193 deportees—including Louis-Ange Pitou. It was high time they left, and almost too late for Ramel who, on his way back to England, remained unconscious for one month because of fever and exhaustiveness. That’s where the dry guillotine brought all these men, on the edge of death.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Swann, June 17: Lot 13: Arthur Rackham, Candlelight, pen and ink, circa 1900.
    Swann, June 17: Lot 28: Harold Von Schmidt, "I Asked Jim If He Wanted To Accompany Us To Teach The Hanneseys A Lesson.", oil on canvas, 1957.
    Swann, June 17: Lot 96: Arthur Szyk, Thumbelina, gouache and pencil, 1945.
    Swann, June 17: Lot 101: D.R. Sexton, The White Rabbit And Bill The Lizard, watercolor and gouache, 1932.
    Swann, June 17: Lot 127: Miguel Covarrubias, Bradypus Tridactilus. Three-Toed Sloth, gouache, circa 1953.
    Swann, June 17: Lot 132: William Pène Du Bois, 2 Illustrations: Balloon Merry Go Round On The Ground And In The Air, pen and ink and wash, 1947.
    Swann, June 17: Lot 137: Lee Lorenz, Confetti Hourglass, mixed media, 1973.
    Swann, June 17: Lot 181: Norman Rockwell, Portrait Of Floyd Jerome Patten (Editor At Boy's Life Magazine), charcoal, circa 1915.
    Swann, June 17: Lot 188: Ludwig Bemelmans, Rue De Buci, Paris, casein, watercolor, ink and gouache, 1955.
    Swann, June 17: Lot 263: Maurice Sendak, Sundance Childrens Theater Poster Preliminary Sketch, pencil, 1988.
  • Fonsie Mealy’s
    Chatsworth Summer Fine Art Sale
    18th June 2025
    Fonsie Mealy, June 18: William IV, c1830, oversized slope-top Rosewood Davenport Desk, Attributed to Gillows of Lancaster. With Provenance to Oscar Wilde.
    Fonsie Mealy, June 18: William IV, c1830, oversized slope-top Rosewood Davenport Desk, Attributed to Gillows of Lancaster. With Provenance to Oscar Wilde.
    Fonsie Mealy, June 18: William IV, c1830, oversized slope-top Rosewood Davenport Desk, Attributed to Gillows of Lancaster. With Provenance to Oscar Wilde.
    Fonsie Mealy, June 18: French Bateau Bed, exhibition piece from the Exposition Universelle—The Paris World’s Fair, 1878. Third quarter of the 19th century. With Provenance to Oscar Wilde.
  • Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!
  • Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 567. One of the Earliest & Most Desirable Printed Maps of Arabia - by Holle/Germanus (1482) Est. $55,000 - $65,000
    Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 681. Zatta's Complete Atlas with 218 Maps in Full Contemporary Color (1779) Est. $27,500 - $35,000
    Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 347. MacDonald Gill's Landmark "Wonderground Map" of London (1914) Est. $1,800 - $2,100
    Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 1. Fries' "Modern" World Map with Portraits of Five Kings (1525) Est. $4,000 - $4,750
    Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 539. Ortelius' Superb, Decorative Map of Cyprus in Full Contemporary Color (1573) Est. $1,100 - $1,400
    Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 51. Mercator's Foundation Map for the Americas in Full Contemporary Color (1630) Est. $3,250 - $4,000
    Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 667. Manuscript Bible Leaf with Image of Mary and Baby Jesus (1450) Est. $1,900 - $2,200
    Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 226. "A Powerful Example of Color Used to Make a Point" (1895) Est. $400 - $600
    Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 290. One of the Most Decorative Early Maps of South America - from Linschoten's "Itinerario" (1596) Est. $7,000 - $8,500
    Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 62. Coronelli's Influential Map of North America with the Island of California (1688) Est. $10,000 - $12,000
    Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 589. The First European-Printed Map of China - by Ortelius (1584) Est. $4,000 - $5,000
  • Forum Auctions
    A Sixth Selection of 16th and 17th Century English Books from the Fox Pointe Manor Library
    19th June 2025
    Forum, June 19: Euclid. The Elements of Geometrie, first edition in English of the first complete translation, [1570]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum, June 19: Nicolay (Nicolas de). The Navigations, peregrinations and voyages, made into Turkie, first edition in English, 1585. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, June 19: Shakespeare source book.- Montemayor (Jorge de). Diana of George of Montemayor, first edition in English, 1598. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, June 19: Livius (Titus). The Romane Historie, first edition in English, translated by Philemon Holland, Adam Islip, 1600. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum Auctions
    A Sixth Selection of 16th and 17th Century English Books from the Fox Pointe Manor Library
    19th June 2025
    Forum, June 19: Robert Molesworth's copy.- Montaigne (Michel de). The Essayes Or Morall, Politike and Millitarie Discourses, first edition in English, 1603. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, June 19: Shakespeare (William). The Tempest [&] The Two Gentlemen of Verona, from the Second Folio, [Printed by Thomas Cotes], 1632. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, June 19: Boyle (Robert). Medicina Hydrostatica: or, Hydrostaticks Applyed to the Materia Medica, first edition, for Samuel Smith, 1690. £2,500 to £3,500.
    Forum, June 19: Locke (John). An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding in Four Books, first edition, second issue, 1690. £8,00 to £12,000.
  • Finarte
    Books, Autographs & Prints
    June 24 & 25, 2025
    Finarte, June 24-25: ALIGHIERI, DANTE / LANDINO, CRISTOFORO. Comento di Christophoro Landino Fiorentino sopra la Comedia di Danthe Alighieri poeta fiorentino, 1481. €40,000 to €50,000.
    Finarte, June 24-25: ALIGHIERI, DANTE. La Commedia [Commento di Christophorus Landinus]. Aggiunta: Marsilius Ficinus, Ad Dantem gratulatio [in latino e Italiano], 1487. €40,000 to €60,000.
    Finarte, June 24-25: ALIGHIERI, DANTE. Il Convivio, 1490. €20,000 to €25,000.
    Finarte
    Books, Autographs & Prints
    June 24 & 25, 2025
    Finarte, June 24-25: BANDELLO, MATTEO. La prima [-quarta] parte de le nouelle del Bandello, 1554. €7,000 to €9,000.
    Finarte, June 24-25: LEGATURA – PLUTARCO. Le vies des hommes illustres, grecs et romaines translates, 1567. €10,000 to €12,000.
    Finarte, June 24-25: TOLOMEO, CLAUDIO. Ptolemeo La Geografia di Claudio Ptolemeo Alessandrino, Con alcuni comenti…, 1548. €4,000 to €6,000.
    Finarte
    Books, Autographs & Prints
    June 24 & 25, 2025
    Finarte, June 24-25: FESTE - COPPOLA, GIOVANNI CARLO. Le nozze degli Dei, favola [...] rappresentata in musica in Firenze…, 1637. €6,000 to €8,000.
    Finarte, June 24-25: SPINOZA, BARUCH. Opera posthuma, 1677. €8,000 to €12,000.
    Finarte, June 24-25: PUSHKIN, ALEXANDER. Borus Godunov, 1831. €30,000 to €50,000.
    Finarte
    Books, Autographs & Prints
    June 24 & 25, 2025
    Finarte, June 24-25: LIBRO D'ARTISTA - LECUIRE, PIERRE. Ballets-minute, 1954. €35,000 to €40,000.
    Finarte, June 24-25: LIBRO D'ARTISTA - MAJAKOVSKIJ, VLADIMIR / LISSITZKY, LAZAR MARKOVICH. Dlia Golosa, 1923. €7,000 to €10,000.
    Finarte, June 24-25: LIBRO D'ARTISTA - MATISSE, HENRI / MONTHERLANT, HENRY DE. Pasiphaé. Chant de Minos., 1944. €22,000 to €24,000.
  • Rose City Book & Paper Fair
    June 14-15, 2025
    1000 NE Multnomah, Portland
    ROSECITYBOOKFAIR.COM

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