24 pp. 8vo, modern cloth boards. Paris: Regnault & Pauquereau, 1806.

A very rare catalogue of the stock of Nicolas (d. 1806), the Parisian gilder and print dealer. He owned a number of paintings and drawings by French artists such as Boucher, Chardin, Galloche, Vallayer-Coster, etc. A total of 202 lots are described. Regnault makes clear in the Avertissement that the items listed all come from Nicolas’s stock.

A very good copy. We locate no copy in North America. More about Catalogue de Tableaux, Gouaches, Dessins et Estampes encadrés et en feuilles, de Maitres anciens...

20 pp. 8vo, 19th-century brown half-cloth & marbled boards (spine a trifle rubbed), title on spine, spine gilt. [S.l.: 1737].

One of the very rare contemporary manuscript sale catalogues of the painting collection of the comtesse de Verrue (1670-1736), one of history’s greatest collectors of art as well as books. It is annotated with nearly all prices and a few buyers’ names. According to Lugt, there are no known printed catalogues of this sale of paintings — most likely never printed — and the Getty Provenance Index records 14 extant manuscript copies, all in institutional libraries, except this example.

“Verrue, may be best known today as Alexandre Dumas’s fictive dame volupté, a sobriquet she reputedly created and one that has too easily obscured her crucial role in the art world of early eighteenth-century Paris. She had the social confidence to renounce the traditional pattern of collecting that Crozat had eagerly embraced and turned from ‘serious’ Italian paintings to ‘petits sujets,’ bucolic landscapes, and amorous mythologies, primarily by painters of the Northern and French schools. Like Crozat, she shaped a remarkable and widely admired dwelling that was central to her identity and famous during her lifetime. The importance of each house was enhanced by the way it functioned. Each became a key site of artistic discourse, a place where art lovers and artists assembled, and a locus for assessing competing systems of value, where distinctive outlooks were forged, defined, and absorbed.”–Rochelle Ziskin, Sheltering Art (2012), p. 2. More about [Manuscript drop-titles]: Catalogue des Tableaux de Madame la Comtesse de Verrue dont la Vente a...

Woodcut printer’s device on titles. 4 p.l., xxvii, [1], 368 pp.; 547 pp. Large 4to, cont. Italian red morocco (covers of Vol. II a little rubbed), sides richly gilt with the arms of Pope Clement XIV in gilt in center of each cover, spines richly gilt (each tooled slightly differently), a.e.g. Faenza: G.A. Archi, 1769.

First edition, and a very handsome set with the arms of Pope Clement XIV on covers, of the first bio-bibliographical guide to the writers of Ravenna; about 2500 works by more than 600 authors are included. Ginanni (1698-1774), the learned Italian bibliographer and historian, was... More about Memorie Storico-Critiche degli Scrittori Ravennati.

Engraved frontis. port. of the author in Vol. I & one large engraved vignette. Titles printed in red & black. Four vols. Large thick 4to, cont. vellum over boards, spines lettered in gilt. Leipzig: J.F. Gleditsch, 1750-50-51-51.

First edition of the still essential bio-bibliographical dictionary; there are about 50,000 entries. Jöcher (1694-1758), was professor of philosophy and librarian at the University of Leipzig. The present book is his greatest work and continues to be of considerable use; it remains the only convenient place to find accounts of many obscure authors and their writings.

Fine set from the Bibliotheca Bibliographica Breslaueriana. More about Allgemeines gelehrten-Lexicon.

Engraved title with a bust of Anne of Autriche & 20 full-page engravings in the text of portraits of famous women. Woodcut printer’s device on printed title. [72], 452, [24] pp. (lacking the two final blanks) 18mo, later 18th-cent. French red morocco, sides richly panelled in gilt, flat spine richly gilt, a.e.g. Leyden: J. Elsevier; Paris: C. Angot, 1660.

A handsomely bound copy of the attractive Elsevier edition of Le Moyne’s highly popular collection of biographical accounts of famous women. Twenty women are featured in the book and in each case a biographical portrait is followed by a eulogy and a discussion of... More about La Gallerie des Femmes fortes.

Engraved vignette on title & divisional title, an engraved head-piece, & 22 engraved plates (one double-page). 5 p.l., 172, [2], 185-328 pp. Large 4to, fine cont. red straight-grained morocco, gilt fillets round sides, turn-ins gilt, spine finely gilt, contrasting green morocco labels on spine, a.e.g. [London]: B. & J. White, 1796.

[bound with]:

—. The Literary Life of the late Thomas Pennant, Esq. By Himself. Engraved frontis. port. of the author, two engraved plates, and one engraved double-page & folding hand-colored plate. 3 p.l., 144 pp. Large 4to. London: B. & J. White & R. Faulder, 1793. More about The History of the Parishes of Whiteford, and Holywell.

Engraved vignette on title. xvi, 416 pp. 8vo, orig. grey boards, red leather lettering piece on spine. Nuremberg: Raspe, 1797.

First edition of an extremely rare book; WorldCat locates no copy in the U.S. The present work contains a series of biographical accounts of twenty-one authors including Jacques Barrellier, Linnaeus, Nathanael Gottfried Leske, Fredrik Hasselquist, Simon Pelloutier, and other notable natural historians, scientists, and scholars. Schrank has also provided detailed bibliographies of the writings of each author.

Fine copy from the Wittelsbach library of the dukes and kings of Bavaria. With a one-page A.L.s dated 2 May 1797 from Schrank presenting... More about Nachrichten von den Begebenheiten und Schriften berühmter Gelehrten…Erster Band [all published].