A Cabinet of Costumes, From the Goncourt Library

[Drop-title]: Catalogue de Costumes, Tableaux, Dessins, Gravures, et autres objets d’art, composant le Cabinet de feu… [22-24 March 1827; expert: ?Montfort].

14 pp. (of 16, title lacking, see below). 8vo (209 x 131 mm.), late 19th-cent. blue leather-backed marbled boards (spine rubbed), gilt title on spine. [Paris: 1827].

A very interesting and rare auction catalogue dispersing the eclectic cabinet of Talma (1763-1826), one of the great actors during the French Revolution and Napoleon’s reign. This catalogue comes from the library of the Goncourt brothers, with the customary red ink inscription of Edmond on the front free endpaper.

The contents of this sale are unnumbered. The first eight pages vividly detail costumes from Talma’s famous roles as Hamlet, Shakespeare, Nero, Clovis, Genghis Khan, etc. The remainder of the sale presents paintings (by Porbus, Ingres, Largillière, A. Brouwer, etc.), drawings, prints, along with shells, ceramics, enamels, minerals, arms, and medals. As with several other catalogues from the Goncourt library we have handled, the title-page was deliberately removed during the process of rebinding.

A good copy of a very scarce catalogue, with fine provenance; we locate no copy in North America. With the engraved bookplate of [H]enry [Pannier] (1853-1935), the Parisian art dealer and collector of early art auction catalogues, on the front paste-down.

❧ Lugt 11387. Blanc, Le Trésor de la Curiosité, Vol. II, pp. 371-72. See Bibliothèque des Goncourt, XVIIIe siècle (29 March - 3 April 1897), lot 263.

Add to Cart Ask a Question

Price: $1,250.00

Item ID: 7203