23 pp. 8vo (215 x 140 mm.), late 19th-century marbled boards, brown leather lettering-piece on spine. Paris: Me. Poquereau [sic.] & Joullain, 1778.

A very rare sale catalogue with no copy represented in North American institutional collections. The owner of this collection may have been Nicolas Le Sueur (1691-1764), the son of Pierre Le Sueur II. This catalogue describes 171 lots, mostly consisting of prints executed after famous paintings. The first three lots are “tableaux à gouache.” The prints include the works of Choffard, Woollett, Boullanger, Wille, P. Le Bas, Moreau, Strange, N. Porporati, A. Zingg, J. J. Flipart, etc.

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x, 64 pp., 1 leaf of vacations. 8vo (216 x 142 mm.), late 19th-cent. calf-backed marbled boards, blue morocco lettering-piece on spine. Paris: Guyot & Regnault-Delalande, 1817.

An important and rare print auction catalogue, fully priced in a contemporary hand; we locate only one copy in North America. The seller may have been François Etienne Logette, who is recorded as living on rue de Richelieu in previous years. A wealthy merchant, he put together an impressive group of prints, which this sale’s expert, Regnault-Delalande (1762-1824), has described in much greater detail than his customary catalogue entries.

The 191 lots, mostly... More

Two folding engraved facsimiles (one in red & black). xxviii, 583 pp.; 2 p.l., 473 pp. Two vols. 8vo, orig. blue wrappers, printed paper labels on spines, uncut. Paris: De Bure, 1815.

De Ricci described the Mac-Carthy-Reagh library as "extravagantly rich in books printed on vellum" and the Duke of Devonshire was inspired to put in a bid of 20,000 pounds for the collection which in fact brought only some 16,000 pounds when it came up for auction in 1817. The mysterious Mac-Carthy-Reagh had been a collector on a grand scale, purchasing Girardot de Préfond's collection en bloc in 1769 and... More

1 p.l., 109 pp. Small 8vo, attractive modern marbled wrappers. Berlin: 1815.

The very rare sale catalogue — Loh, Vol. 6, p. 102, locates no copy — of the fine scientific library of Meyer (1739-1811), owner of the Hof-Apotheke in Stettin. He studied chemistry in Berlin under J.H. Pott and A.S. Marggraf, and in 1764 he went to Uppsala University, where he studied botany with Linnaeus and possibly chemistry with J.G. Wallerius. In 1780 Meyer founded a distillery in Stettin to produce French-style brandy and liqueurs according to a process that he had developed in his apothecary shop.

This library... More

One folding engraved plate. Title printed in red & black. Double-page title, 14, 364, [1], 61, 925, [1], 485, [1] pp. Four parts in one vol. Thick 8vo, cont. calf (one corner worn, some browning due to the quality of the paper), single gilt fillet round sides, spine nicely gilt. Celle: J.G. Passin, 1744.

The very rare auction catalogue of the monumental collection of ancient and modern medals and coins formed by Gerhard Wolter Molanus (1633-1722), the influential Lutheran theologian and abbot of Loccum. After Molanus' death, the collection passed to his disciple and nephew Justus Christoph Boehmer (1671-1732), who succeeded... More

5 p.l., 219, [1] pp. 8vo, cont. boards, black leather lettering piece on spine. Paris: Silvestre, 1824.

An important sale. "Ce catalogue renferme une réunion très-nombreuse de livres imprimés par les Elzeviers; il en est de très-rares et qui étaient jusqu'alors restés inconnus aux bibliographes."­Brunet, Dictionnaire de Bibliologie Catholique, col. 498. A large number of Motteley's books come from the libraries of de Thou and the Comte d'Hoym.

We learn from the same source that Motteley (d. 1850), lived as a hermit, alone and isolated in a rundown apartment. He was afraid to make home repairs because of his fear of... More

1 p.l., xxiv, 74 pp. 8vo, self-wrappers, stitched as issued (stitching loose), leaves uncut. Paris: Regnault-Lalande, 1811.

The rare catalogue of this joint sale of the collections of Ozanne (1728-1811) and Coïny (1761-1809), which took place 2-11 December 1811. The former, a distinguished marine artist and engineer, collaborated with Duhamel du Monceau on several illustrated works and taught naval architecture and navigation to the sons of the royal family. Le Tellier de Courtanvaux used one of Ozanne’s ships as a platform to test Pierre Le Roy’s marine chronometer.

A student of Suvée and J.P. Lebas, Coïny exhibited at the Salon... More

viii, 104, 7 pp. 8vo (213 x 138 mm.), modern cloth-backed marbled boards, red sheep lettering-piece on spine. Paris: Coutellier & Regnault-Delalande, 1820.

An uncommon auction catalogue describing the artist’s vast collection of prints, paintings, and drawings, with the printed price-list bound-in at the end. Pallière (1761-1820), born in Bordeaux, studied under Vincent and exhibited portraits at the Paris Salons from 1798 to 1804. This is an especially large catalogue published by the expert Regnault-Delalande (1762-1824), with 378 lots.

Lots 1-288 & 367-78 consist of prints and large groups of prints by contemporary and Old Master artists. Regnault-Delalande has prepared... More

10 pp. Small 8vo, orig. printed wrappers (wrappers detached), partially stitched. Paris: F. Schayé, Me. Boulouze & Vignères, 1859.

82 lots. Pencil annotations throughout in a contemporary hand with nearly all prices and buyers’ names. Possibly F. A. Rapilly’s copy. Rapilly purchased a majority of the lots in this sale.

Good copy, with valuable provenance information; largely disbound. From the library of Jacques Fryszman (1909-98), the great historian of art and collector of drawings, who wrote the Lugt number in the top right corner of the wrappers (or first leaf of text) on nearly all of his catalogues. See Lugt... More

40 pp. Small 8vo (198 x 125 mm.), 20th-cent. cloth-backed marbled boards, title on spine. Paris: Pérignon & Chariot, 1813.

The scarce catalogue, fully priced in a contemporary hand, of the first auction administered by Pérignon (1785-1864), an influential dealer, collector, and eventual advisor to the Louvre. He assembled this group of paintings and drawings over the course of trips to Belgium and Holland. Many French dealers exploited the turbulent times of the Napoleonic era to travel and pry artworks from private hands and ecclesiastical collections.

The 144 lots described include works from the Northern school by Jordaens, J. B.... More

Numerous text illus. 2 p.l., xlvi, [2], 459, [1] pp.; 2 p.l., 274 pp., one leaf; 2 p.l., 309, [3] pp. Three vols. in two. Large 8vo, orig. printed wrappers bound in cont. blue morocco-backed marbled boards, signed “Petitot Rel.,” t.e.g. Paris: Techener, 1897-98-98. [with]: (—). Catalogue de la Collection de Dessins et Estampes de l’Ecole française du XVIIe et du XVIIIe Siècle de feu M. le Baron Jérôme Pichon. 2 p.l., 124 pp. Large 8vo, binding as above. Paris: A. Danlos, 1897.

The posthumous sale of Baron Pichon’s second library (more than 6000 lots) of illuminated manuscripts... More

8 pp. 8vo, 19th-cent. marbled boards (joints restored), spine gilt. Paris: Poultier & Constantin, 1807.

The rare sale catalogue, fully priced in a contemporary hand, of Louis François Prault (1734-1806), ancien Imprimeur du Roi and son of the great publisher and bookseller Laurent François (1712-80). Prault’s firm printed many auction catalogues in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Because of the Constantins relationship with the Prault family, who printed almost all of their sale catalogues, either Guillaume Jean Constantin or his son, Amédée, was the expert for this sale.

The present catalogue describes Prault’s choice collection of paintings (by Greuze... More