Catalogue raisonné de la Collection de Livres de M. Pierre Antoine Crevenna, Négociant à Amsterdam.
Engraved vignettes on titles & numerous engraved head- & tail-pieces throughout. Six vols. bound in one thick vol. Large 4to, cont. red pigskin-backed blue boards (some rubbing), vellum corners, spine lettered in gilt, entirely uncut. [Amsterdam]: 1776.
A fine uncut set, remarkably bound in one thick volume, of this rare and famous catalogue, privately printed in three hundred copies; it is one of the most highly appreciated 18th-century catalogues of a private library. Crevenna (d. 1792), a passionate and scholarly Italian bibliophile from Milan, spent most of his life in Amsterdam where he assembled his collections, rich in rare and excellent editions of the Greek and Latin classics and other important books and MS. including over 1000 incunabula, books printed by the Aldine and other presses, and important groups of Italian and French literature. By trade, he was a tobacco merchant who married Antoinetta Maria Bolongaro, the daughter of a very wealthy Italian merchant also living in Amsterdam.
Assisted by his librarian, the Milanese author Carl’Andrea Oltolina, he himself compiled this richly annotated catalogue, well-known for its many learned bibliographical notes. The catalogue also serves as an early catalogue of autograph MSS. The last volume comprises extensive indices, including incunabula arranged according to date, a list of the Greek and Latin authors, chronological lists of books printed by Aldus, the Giunti, Gryphius and others.
Very nice and large set with all the required errata leaves.
❧ Gustave Brunet, Dictionnaire de Bibliologie Catholique, col. 593–“Ouvrage recherché, assez rare; les descriptions des premières éditions y sont faites avec grand soin.” Peignot, p. 92–“Excellent ouvrage, assez rare, les descriptions des premières éditions y sont faites avec exactitude. On y relève quelquefois Debure.” Pollard & Ehrman, Table XXXII. Taylor, Book Catalogues, p. 8–“Crevenna assembled a gentleman’s library of expensive standard works and, as the preface relates, took much pleasure in the task. The catalogue lists more than a thousand incunabula and was important for that reason in a time before the appearance of larger and better bibliographies” (& see pp. 100, 129, 135, & 238).
Price: $9,500.00
Item ID: 2599
