“The Shakespeare & Corneille of the Boulevards”
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 half-title. 2 p.l., [4] (schedule of sale), vii, 414, 4 pp. 8vo, cont. cloth-backed marbled boards. Paris: 1838.
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.
The catalogue has 2313 lots plus a final lot describing Pixerécourt’s magnificent collection on the French Revolution, which occupies pages 343-414. This sold for 3000 frs. and was divided between the Bibliothèque du Sénat and the Louvre.
An interleaved copy, priced throughout in a contemporary hand. Bookplate of Eric Speeckaert.
❧ 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: $950.00
Item ID: 5909
