(AUCTION CATALOGUE: PIXERÉCOURT, René-Charles Guilbert).

Bibliothèque de M. G. de Pixerécourt, avec des Notes littéraires et bibliographiques de ses deux excellens amis Charles Nodier et Paul Lacroix.

Engraved vignette of the collector’s bookplate on title. 2 p.l., 4, [4] (schedule of sale), vii, 414, 4 pp. 8vo, cont. red half-morocco & marbled boards, spine gilt, t.e.g. Paris: 1838.

[bound with]:

(—). Autographes et Manuscrits de M. G. de Pixerécourt…dont la Vente aura lieu le mercredi 4 November 1840 et jours suivans… Engraved vignette of the collector’s bookplate on title. vii, [1], 114 pp., one leaf of errata. 8vo. Paris: 1840.

Pixerécourt (1773-1844), the author of more than a hundred plays, “the Shakespeare and Corneille of the Boulevards,” was one of the founders of the Société des Bibliophiles français. The sale of his library was a major event in the annals of French bibliophily. The catalogue features wonderfully detailed and original literary and bibliographical notes by Charles Nodier and Paul Lacroix, the latter having taking down some of Pixerécourt’s own dictations, with each contributing separate prefaces.

The first catalogue, with 2313 lots plus the French Revolution lot, is printed on fine paper and dated 1838 (regular paper copies have the date of “1839“ on the title). Pixerécourt’s magnificent collection on the French Revolution, which occupies pages 343-414, sold for 3000 frs. and was divided between the Bibliothèque du Sénat and the Louvre. The autograph sale contained 1024 lots.

Fine copies, each priced throughout in a contemporary hand. From the library of Jean Viardot. Stamp of the bookseller Gaston Tort on each title.

❧ Gustave Brunet, Dictionnaire de Bibliologie Catholique, cols. 510-11–“Collection remarquable de livres curieux en tout genre, surtout pour la littérature française. Des notes bibliographiques assez nombreuses ajoutent à l’intérêt que présente cet inventaire; elles renferment souvent des détails curieux et peu connus.”.

Price: $2,500.00

Item ID: 3364