Eric Chaim Kline, Bookseller

Relation officielle de la visite à Londres du conseil municipal et de la visite à Paris du conseil de comté de Londres, 16-21 octobre 1905 / 5-10 février 1906 [WITH] A typed letter from the London County Council, dated March 30, 1908 [FROM THE PRIVATE LIBRARY OF JOHN BURNS]

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Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1906. First edition. Softcover. Folio (13 1/4 x 10"). xxiv, 156pp. Original printed wrappers, with publisher's logo to front cover and title page. Front free endpaper handsigned by John Burn.* Decorative head-, and tailpieces. Book housed in its original soft peppled cloth chemise, with gold lettering to spine. Laid in is a typed letter from the London County Council dated March 30th, 1908, stating the following: "Dear Sir, I have the pleasure, in compliance with the request of the Syndic of Paris, to forward to you a copy of the official record of the interchange of visits between the Paris Municipal Council and the London County Council, which has been prepared by the Paris Municipal Council. I am, dear Sir, Yours faithfully, [Stamped signature] Clerk of the Council."

Splendidly illustrated throughout with 21 full-page heliogravures, this work is a detailed account of the visits exchanged between the Paris Municipal Council and the London Municipal Council, to London (October 16-21, 1905) and Paris (February 5-10, 1906). The two visits were meant to strengthen the entente which had been growing between the two nations since the Entente Cordiale** was signed on April 8, 1904.

Chemise rubbed along edges, with closed tears along joints and inner joints partly taped. Text in French and English. Chemise in overall fair to good-, wrappers and interior in very good condition. vg. Item #43532

* John Burns (1858-1943) was an English trade unionist and politician, particularly associated with London politics. He was a socialist and then a Liberal Member of Parliament and Minister. He was anti-alcohol and a keen sportsman. After retiring from politics, he developed an expertise in London history and coined the phrase "The Thames is liquid history." When the Liberal cabinet made a decision for war on August 2, 1914, he resigned and played no further role in politics. (From Wikipedia)

** The Entente Cordiale was a series of agreements signed on April 8, 1904 between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the French Third Republic which saw a significant improvement in Anglo-French relations. Beyond the immediate concerns of colonial expansion addressed by the agreement, the signing of the Entente Cordiale marked the end of almost a thousand years of intermittent conflict between the two states and their predecessors, and replaced the modus vivendi that had existed since the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 with a more formal agreement. The Entente Cordiale was the culmination of the policy of Théophile Delcassé, France's foreign minister from 1898, who believed that a Franco-British understanding would give France some security against any German system of alliances in Western Europe. Credit for the success of the negotiation belongs chiefly to Paul Cambon, France's ambassador in London, and to the British foreign secretary Lord Lansdowne. The most important feature of the agreement was that it granted freedom of action to the UK in Egypt and to France in Morocco (with the proviso that France's eventual dispositions for Morocco include reasonable allowance for Spain's interests there). At the same time, the UK ceded the Los Islands (off French Guinea) to France, defined the frontier of Nigeria in France's favor, and agreed to French control of the upper Gambia valley, while France renounced its exclusive right to certain fisheries off Newfoundland. Furthermore, French and British zones of influence in the not to be colonialized Siam (Thailand) were outlined, with the eastern territories, adjacent to French Indochina, becoming a French zone, and the western, adjacent to Burmese Tenasserim, a British zone. Arrangements were also made to allay the rivalry between British and French colonists in the New Hebrides. By the Entente Cordiale both powers reduced the virtual isolation into which they had withdrawn - France involuntarily, the UK complacently - while they had eyed each other over African affairs. The UK had no ally but Japan (1902), of little use if war should break out in European waters; France had none but Russia, soon to be discredited in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05. The agreement was upsetting to Germany, whose policy had long been to rely on Franco-British antagonism. A German attempt to check the French in Morocco in 1905 (the Tangier Incident, or First Moroccan Crisis), and thus upset the Entente, served only to strengthen it. Military discussions between the French and the British general staffs were soon initiated. Franco-British solidarity was confirmed at the Algeciras Conference (1906) and reconfirmed in the Second Moroccan Crisis (1911). (From Wikipedia).

Price: $175.00