The First Auction Catalogue to Provide Collations
Catalogue des Livres de la Bibliothèque de feu Mr. de Sarolea, Seigneur du Ban de Cheratte, Barxhon, S. Remi, Fexhe, & Streel, Chanoine-Tréfoncier de la très-Illustre Eglise Cathédrale de Liège. Dont la Vente se fera publiquement à Liège…& commencera le 6 Février 1786.
3 p.l., 371 pp. 8vo, 19th-cent. calf-backed marbled boards (minor foxing & spotting), entirely uncut. Liège: S. Dauvrain, 1785.
An important first in catalogues: this is the first auction catalogue to provide collations; it is very rare. The catalogue was compiled by Jean Noël Paquot (1722-1803), scholar, professor of Hebrew, and librarian at the University of Louvain and later to the duc d’Arenberg. Paquot provides uncommonly long (and accurate) title transcriptions, authors’ names for anonymous works, critical annotations, and full pagination collations with lists of contents.
Saroléa, the wealthy canon of the Liège cathedral, was close to many members of the Enlightenment. He formed a library rich in botany, French literature, geography, and history.
2144 lots including some MSS.
Nice copy, priced throughout in a contemporary hand and with some buyers’ names.
❧ Gustave Brunet, Dictionnaire de Bibliologie Catholique, col. 597–“Il est utile parce qu’il donne avec le plus grand détail le contenu de chaque volume, le nombre des pages et des planches qui s’y trouvent.”.
Price: $2,750.00
Item ID: 5229
