a bibliographer s dozen

Transcription

1 a bibliographer s dozen book catalogs & book collecting Auction catalog as type specimen the second recorded copy. No. 13(III). (reduced). BRUCE M c KITTRICK RARE BOOKS Telephone: (610) info@mckittrickrarebooks.com

2 ONE OF THE EARLIEST OF THIS TYPE 1. Levesque, Guillaume. [Caption-title:] Catalogue Des Livres De La Bibliotheque De Feu Mr Levesque Ancien Avocat. [Paris, A. Cramoisy 1703]. Half-sheet 8vo. 87p. Stabbed in original drab wrappers (spine partially perished), old manuscript shelf label. $6800 Dispersal at public sale of A PROFESSIONAL S WORKING LIBRARY. This is not the universal library of the well-informed nobleman or government administrator, nor the choice collection of a bibliophile, nor the catholic selection of a wealthy tradesman. A notary at Châtelet in Paris (which housed the courts, police headquarters and municipal prison), Levesque (d. c. 1701) practiced law and published a collection of charters and privileges (Paris 1663). The present catalog proves his success in acquiring the tools of his trade. The books were sold by size, folio to duodecimo. Within each format, they are divided into a dozen categories, most with just a handful of entries. Roughly half the 800 lots are bundles, or paquets, books of similar size and subject stacked and tied with string. Accordingly, the number of titles offered easily approaches 3000 and the number of volumes Nearly all concern canon, civil and customary law. This arrangement favored two types of buyers, the antiquarian trade and practicing lawyers. The former could buy in bulk. The latter could obtain the sources essential to making a living by focusing on one class or several classes of material. For instance, for coutumes the purchase of only a couple dozen lots secured the laws of more than one hundred jurisdictions, a significant portion of the published corpus. The catalog quickly became a reference work. Guillaume Prousteau ( ), who practiced law, and from 1668 held that Chair at Orléans, acquired this copy for his use and study (p. [1], inscription tr.). He knew his books, having purchased the library of Henri de Valois. I locate only example in the U.S. (Grolier Club). In original condition. North, Printed Catalogues of French Book Auctions 10; Bléchet, Les ventes publiques de livres imprimés 68 (dated 1701); Marion, Collections et collectionneurs de livres au XVIII e siècle 444. COLLABORATION 2. Colomiès, Paul. La Bibliotheque Choisie. Paris, Gabriel Martin mo. [xvi], [iix], [ii blank], 376, xviii, [2]p. Contemporary speckled calf (rubbed), spine and red morocco label gilt, edges sprinkled red and brown. $750 Protestant bibliographer and librarian to the Abp. of Canterbury, Colomiès describes one hundred 16th- and 17th-century books on hunting, history, heresy, bibliography, the Bible, coins, chronology, classics. He gives a synopsis of their contents, provides context for their arguments, corrects errors and lists critiques. Scholar and physician Pierre Bonnet-Bourdelot ( ) and lawyer and wit Bernard de La Monnoye ( ) supplied the running notes (signed B. or M.). These update the entries with earlier and later editions, bibliographic citations and supplemental controversial literature. Bookseller Gabriel Martin (? ) revolutionized the auctioning of rare books in France and published this revised handbook for collectors. In good condition (a few scattered spots). Cioranescu 20103; Besterman, World Bibliography of Bibliographies 812.

3 B A IT & SWITCH 3. Formey, Jean-Henri-Samuel. Conseils Pour Former Une Bibliotheque Peu Nombreuse Mais Choisie. Berlin [= Paris], Haude & Spener mo. xx, 352p. Contemporary mottled calf (rubbed), gilt spine and label, edges marbled blue. $675 A CATHOLIC COUNTERFEIT of the first Best Books bibliography of French literature. Formey, a Protestant minister who fled to Berlin, originally issued this advice to collectors in It immediately dominated the buying patterns of Enlightenment Francophones and went through a number of printings. In 1756, on the appearance of the genuine Berlin printing (380p.), a consortium of Parisian (Catholic) booksellers compiled this look-alike, which consistently substituted editions of their own production or philosophic or religious bent in place of those chosen by Formey. HE WAS THE LEADING EXPONENT OF THE CABINET APPROACH TO COLLECTING building a library of fine copies of the most representative books in science, travels and voyages, dictionaries, atlases and eight other fields (see Petzholdt). In good condition, Courtois 1848 purchase inscription. Besterman, World Bibliography of Bibliographies 2348; Haag, La France protestante V: 143,XXVI; Petzholdt, Bibliotheca bibliographica 3. LIBRI S 4. Girardot de Préfond, Paul. Catalogue Des Livres. Paris, [F. Didot for] G.-F. Debure vo. [vi], lv, [i], 241p. Contemporary cat s paw sheep (worn), flat spine and label gilt (crown and base chipped), red edges, green silk marker. With: Ennery, Michelet d. Catalogue Des Livres. Paris, [A.G. Demonville] for G. Debure vo. vii, [i], 96, viip. and folding table. Woodcut headpiece of books. $2800 Ad I-II: Two notable book collections the first distinguished by discriminating taste, the second by comprehensive subject coverage. From the library of bibliophile and biblioklept Guglielmo Libri ( ) with his manuscript contents note on the front flyleaf (Catalogue (25.IV.1861) 2126); bookplate of E. Speeckaert. In good condition. Ad I: This catalog documents Girardot de Préfond s first collection one of the most celebrated of the 18th century. La Vallière bought extensively at this sale. The compiler, Debure, uses his introductory remarks to puff eighty-four lots and discuss bibliography and the emerging trends in collecting, like establishing the chronologic priority of unsigned undated editions, the correct number of preliminary leaves, the greatest rarities in a field, the salacious passages. Immediately after this sale, Girardot de Préfond began a second collection, sold en bloc a dozen years later to MacCarthy-Reagh. North, Printed Catalogues of French Book Auctions 135; Blogie, Répertoire des catalogues de ventes de livres II: 8; Peignot, Répertoire bibliographique universel 100 très estimé. Ad II: Two-thirds of this collection is devoted to the study of numismatics. Ennery owned unpublished manuscripts by antiquaries J.-J. Boissard ( ) and J. Foy-Vaillant ( ), La Science des Medailles annotated by the authors for an new edition, and Pellerin s own marked-up copies of his famous works on medals. Ennery

4 had over twenty thousand coins and medals, as well as paintings, sculpture and antiquities. Scattered marginal manuscript marks. Bound after are two painting catalogs: Ennery s of 1786 ([iv], iv, fldg. table, 77, [1]p.) and J.P. Le Bas of 1783 ([iv], xlix, 92p. only). North 328; Blogie II: 16; Peignot 97. A TASTEMAKER S COLLECTION 5. Aumont, Louis Marie Augustin, duc d. Catalogue Des Livres. Paris, G.-F. Debure vo. xii, [iii], [i blank], 415p. Retrospective mottled calf (nicely done), spine and title gilt, red edges. $2500 One finds in this catalog the best French vernacular books in all areas the best editions, printed on large paper (p. [iii], tr.). Filled with literature, theater and history, the duc d Aumont s library was also rich in the decorative arts, print suites, festival books, priced copies of art collection catalogs and architectural treatises. In red morocco, his 13-volume set of Piranesi made 1201 livres, while his large-paper copies of the Encyclopedie and Nouveau Dictionnaire together rose to 1732 livres. A contemporary annotator supplied THE HAMMER PRICES IN MANUSCRIPT and singled out those purchased by Parisian bookseller Pierre-Michel Lamy (fl ). Gentleman of the Bedchamber to Louis XV and to Louis XVI, the duc d Aumont oversaw official and theatrical state entertainment and was an outstanding collector of objets d art, particularly porcelains. In good condition (early upper corners lightly stained, outer margin of the title neatly supplied), some outer and lower edges uncut. North, Printed Catalogues of French Book Auctions 304; Blogie, Répertoire des catalogues de ventes de livres II: 15; Marion, Collections et collectionneurs de livres au XVIII e siècle 253. DESCRIBES THE LIBRARY S ARCHITECTURE 6. Le Prince, Nicole Thomas. Essai Historique Sur La Bibliotheque Du Roi. Paris, F. Belin mo. xxi, [iii], 372p. Contemporary mottled brown sheep, flat spine and red morocco label gilt, edges marbled red and blue, red silk marker. $1150 First Edition of the first study of the Bibliothèque Nationale, with the subsequently suppressed descriptions of other Parisian public and private libraries. In his introduction, Le Prince relates the history of the institution through its acquisition of major collections and individual rarities many treated in considerable detail. The main text describes, floor-by-floor, the various departments and cabinets (printed books, manuscripts, prints, patents of nobility and genealogies, medals, vases, religious charters and miscellaneous medieval historical documents). The author was Book Trade Inspector and long an employee of the National Library (before politics unseated him). Bound in front of this copy are THIRTY- ONE PAGES OF MANUSCRIPT NOTES from the 1820s, 1830s and 1840s on libraries from Caen

5 to St. Petersburg, medieval manuscripts, auctions, book-history journal articles and newly published bibliographies. Cioranescu 39395; Universal Catalogue of Books on Art II: A TASTE FOR ENGLISH BOOKS 7. Le Riche. Catalogue Des Livres, Grecs, Latins, François, Anglois, Italiens, Rares Et Singuliers. Paris, J.-G. Mérigot vo. [8], 152p. Contemporary blind-ruled speckled sheep (bumped), spine and two green labels gilt (rear hinge partly cracked), edges sprinkled blue, two pink silk markers. $3500 Nearly half of this collection of over 1800 books was literary, containing 15th- and 16th-century Romances of Chivalry, 17th- and 18th-century French drama and poetry, Baskerville Greek and Latin classics, Shakespeare s Works on large paper and a considerable clutch of other English authors Defoe, Fielding, Richardson, Sterne, etc. in English and in translation. History, science, theology and law round out the library. The auctioneer points out that many of the morocco and calf bindings were made in England. An early owner priced each lot in the margins, noted additional copies and missing lots and, on the title-page, identified the seller as one Le Riche, a government official in Soissons. I have located two copies in the U.S. (Grolier Club, Harvard) and two in France (both BnF). In nice condition (one corner repaired with loss of three sorts). Bound before is a priced copy of Le Camus de Limare s 1794 sale, one of the first important catalogues of a library of books on natural science (Taylor, Book Catalogues ed. Barlow 137; here lacking the index and Order of Sale). Peignot, Répertoire bibliographique universel 99. ARTICLES PRÉCIEUX PEIGNOT 8. Mello, André Claude Patu de. Catalogue Des Livres Suivi De La Notice D Une Collection D Instrumens. Paris, L.-É. Testu for Marie-Éléonore Pouget (widow of N.- M. Tilliard) and her son N.-N.-H. Tilliard [1800]. 8vo. xii, 250p. Contemporary gilt-ruled polished tan calf (bumped), flat spine decorated à la grotesque with gilt leaves, giltlettered morocco label (front hinge cracked), edges sprinkled blue, blue silk marker. $3500 An Enlightenment amateur with a penchant for the sciences, Patu de Mello specialized in mineralogy, botany, meteorology, zoology, anatomy, surgery, pharmacy, physics, balneology, chemistry, alchemy, mathematics, astronomy, pneumatics and acoustics. He bought at the sales of Colbert, Hoym, Girardot de Préfond, La Vallière and Soubise. He sought large paper, extraillustrated and hand-colored copies and bindings by Padeloup and Derome. In 42 volumes, his collection of Jesuit polymath Athanasius Kircher was the best in private hands at the time.

6 A CHOICE SELECTION OF OVER SEVENTY SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS, including telescopes, barometers, thermometers, microscopes, astronomical tools and pendulums concludes the sale. Lots are PRICED IN CONTEMPORARY MANUSCRIPT, and many have manuscript notes on duplicates and combined lots. It closes with an author index and the scarce separately issued Order of Sale. In excellent condition, some lower edges uncut, bookplate of French collector Maurice Escoffier ( ). Murray, Museums: Their History and their Use III: 98; North, Printed Catalogues of French Book Auctions 402. SOMETHING HAPPENED 9. Catalogue Des Livres De La Bibliotheèque Du Citoyen ***. Paris, J.-B. Bernard and Thuret vo. 106, [2 blank]p. Black cloth-backed gray boards, manuscript-lettered paper spine label. $2500 It started out well enough with the books traditionally classified into the five standard areas, but, around half way through the catalog, science got mixed with history with botany with literature with law. Unsold lots from the early sessions of the fifteen-day sale were combined with unrelated material later in the cycle. Books were withdrawn, a run of English books was shoehorned into travel, Didot s Classical authors were inserted between books on sculpture and maritime vocabularies. In short, the whole devolved into chaos. There were many low flyers, some expensive books and some that weren t then but are now. For example lot 1048, The North American Pilot (London 1777), made 10 livres. The most recent copy at sale (2009) fetched 44,000. The anonymous annotator priced every lot in manuscript and added notes on books in oblong format, maps mounted on linen, details of titles in fascicles, defective books, interesting bindings. By the time he got to the fugitive Additions (pp ), he was clearly exasperated enough to pen six lines ending, the sale was made with the same disorder apparent in the present catalogue (tr.). I have found one defective copy (Paris, lacking the Addition and Order of Sale) and one apparently complete (Manchester). In excellent condition. A PRINTER S PRIVATE COLLECTION 10. Ermens, Joseph. Description Bibliographique De La Bibliotheque. [Bruxelles], s.n. [1805]. Two volumes in three. 8vo. xii, 278p. and [iii], xiii-xx, [1 blank], p. and [2], p. Original blue wrappers (two volumes lined with printer s waste; spines slightly damaged), uncut. $3500 Only Edition, preliminary issue. Three decades a printer, bookseller, bibliophile and bibliographer, Ermens built a personal collection of over eight thousand titles, primarily focused on The Low Countries their history, topography, antiquities, art and architecture. For more than a half-century, IT WAS THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY IN THE FIELD (Besterman). Ermens compiled the catalog himself and had it printed, the books arranged into the five standard classes of theology, law, science and arts, literature and history. Under these headings he introduced dozens of rubrics and provided commentary, bibliographic citations and notes on the bindings and provenance of many items, particularly THE HUNDREDS OF RARE INCUNABLES. After adding a title-page and the conditions and order of sale (two leaves), Bruxelles bookseller M.J.G. Simon distributed Ermens printed catalog to posthumously auction the library.

7 The dispersal began in mid-november 1805 and continued for more than a month. I have located only two sets in the U.S. (LC and NYPL). In original condition (a few quires very lightly browned), scattered manuscript marks in the margins. Besterman, World Bibliography of Bibliographies 4208; Bigmore & Wyman, A Bibliography of Printing I: 165 ; Lesage et al., Catalogues de libraires exemplaires et éditions remarquables ; Blogie, Répertoire des catalogues de ventes de livres I: 52. THE? AUCTIONEER S INTERLEAVED COPY 11. Hinlopen, Jan. Catalogus Librorum. Utrecht, J. Altheer vo. [iv], 71p. Contemporary red speckled paper wrappers over flexible paper boards (spine gone), interleaved. $3200 Totaling 2343 lots grouped by format (folio to duodecimo), then by subject with discontinuous lot numbering (there are ten lots numbered 1 ), much of this scholarly library was bought by the consignor s sons, judging from the frequency with which Hinlopen JG. and Hinlopen C occur often next to the most expensive books on the interleaved blank leaves. These are ruled in five columns and completed in manuscript with lot numbers, buyers names and prices. The bookseller/auctioneer Altheer was also quite active. The big prices were for medieval manuscripts, variorum editions of Greek and Latin classical texts, recent medieval scholarship and local history. Telescopes, prints, drawings and portraits form the final hundred lots. No copy located in the U.S. In good condition, four leaves of manuscript with notes on the sale laid in. Blogie, Répertoire des catalogues de ventes de livres IV: 52.

8 JEFFERSON S CLASSIFICATION SCHEME 12. Arbeltier, avocat. Catalogue D Une Belle Collection De Livres. Antwerp, L.-P. Delacroix vo. [ii], 50p. Stabbed as issued in original printed wrappers (spine gone, first recto and final verso soiled). $1200 THE BELGIAN JURIST S AUCTION CATALOG IS DIVIDED INTO THOMAS JEFFERSON S THREE CATEGORIES OF KNOWLEDGE: Memory (including history, travel and natural science), Reason (philosophy, religion, language, medicine, agriculture and law), and Imagination (literature). (Our thanks to Meghan Constantinou for this.) Among Arbeltier s 650 lots we find Buffon s Histoire naturelle, bibliographic guides by Cailleau and Debure, and English literature in French translation (Fielding, Holcroft, Milton, Ann Radcliffe, Richardson ). The other two recorded copies are in Belgium. In original condition. Blogie, Répertoire des catalogues de ventes de livres I: 69. THE END 13. Verdussen, Aldegonde-Rebecca-Martine, née Cels. Catalogue D Une Grande Collection De Livres Reliés et Brochés. Antwerp, J.-J. Ancelle vo. [iv], 175p. Original blue wrappers, uncut. With: Verdussen, A.-R.-M. Catalogue De Livres En Feuilles. Antwerp, J.-J. Ancelle vo. [iv], 39p. An Ancelle woodcut title device. With: Verdussen, A.-R.-M. Catalogue De Caractères Et D Ustensiles D Imprimerie. Antwerp, J.-J. Ancelle vo. 15p. The title-page woodcut of shelves groaning with stock, a printing press and type cases. Illustrated on the title-page. $5800 Ad I-III: She ( ) ran the business for more than forty years, most of that time with the assistance of her son Henri-Pierre. Upon her death, he ordered the liquidation by public auction of the moveable assets of the two-hundred-fifty-eight year-old family-owned company of printers and booksellers (est. 1575). The auctions took place at the shop. The first catalogue offers their shelf-stock of bound books in 3175 lots. The second catalog presents their inventory of books in sheets in 604 lots. The third catalog lists their UTENSILS, PRESSES AND TYPES. Ad I: Arranged into the standard French categories of theology, law, science and art, literature and history, the books ready for retail sale were variously bound in morocco, calf, sheep, cloth and paper wrappers. In addition to author, title, imprint, number of volumes and format, entries note portraits, maps and plates, whether the example is on fine or large paper, if the edition is of particular rarity or scholarly interest and the number of copies of the title included in the lot (up to six; see II below). Three-quarters are 17th- and 18th-century books, the balance 16th- and 19th-century. English works are well represented in all fields. Two U.S. libraries hold this and the following catalog. Ad II: Similarly organized but clearly for the trade, this sale disposed of folded and gathered sheets OVER TWENTY THOUSAND COPIES, NEARLY HALF PRINTED IN THE 17TH CENTURY. The original copperplates for a couple of dozen of the Verdussens own books conclude the sale. Ad III: A FUGITIVE TYPE SPECIMEN. The description of each of the forty-two numbered lots is printed in the type font and size being auctioned roman, italic, Black Letter, Hebrew, music and display types, large woodcut letters and initials, letterpress symbols and rules. The rest of the shop contents, including fifty-four reams of paper of different sizes, chases, composing sticks, galleys, quoins, etc. were sold hors de série. I have located one example (Museum Plantin- Moretus). Le Clercq, Les Catalogues des Verdussen, imprimeurs-libraires et bibliophiles in De Gulden Passer , esp (I-III); Blogie, Répertoire des catalogues de ventes de livres I: 85 (I- III); Vandenhole, Inventaris van veilingcatalogi, (I-II only).