Item ID: 4986 Bibliotheca Hohendorfiana, ou Catalogue de la Bibliotheque de feu Monsieur George Guillaume Baron de Hohendorf. G. W. AUCTION CATALOGUE: HOHENDORF.

The Important Hohendorf Library

Bibliotheca Hohendorfiana, ou Catalogue de la Bibliotheque de feu Monsieur George Guillaume Baron de Hohendorf...

1 p.l., 240 pp.; 1 p.l., 200 pp.; 1 p.l., 288 pp. Three vols. in one. 8vo, orig. paste-paper wrappers (spine worn, upper wrapper nearly detached), uncut. The Hague: A. de Hondt, 1720.

The rare sale catalogue of the famous library of Georg Wilhelm, Freiherr von Hohendorf (d. 1719), Austrian general, Adjutant-General of Prince Eugene of Savoy, and his rival as a book collector. Hohendorf’s library contained a splendid series of early printed books, 16 Grolier bindings, a very complete collection of books from the Aldine Press, and a rich collection of MSS.

“Although this library of 6787 printed books and 252 manuscripts does not rank with the largest collections of the eighteenth century, the choice of books and the organization of the catalogue make it important.”–Taylor, Book Catalogues, p. 246. Hohendorf’s catalogue is the first to segregate Aldine imprints into a category of their own.

The auction did not take place as the collection was purchased en bloc by the Vienna Hofbibliothek before the sale for 60,000 guilders where it remains one of its chief glories.

Very good copy of a decidedly scarce book, preserved in a box. Minor browning (much less than usual).

❧ Folter 366. Peignot, p. 103–“Cette bibliothèque étoit une des plus curieuses de l’Europe…le catalogue est classé par format; il est fort riche, surtout en éditions de luxe, en manuscrits, en ouvrages imprimés chargés de notes manuscrites.” Pollard & Ehrman, p. 221 & no. 240.

Price: $3,500.00

Item ID: 4986