99 pp. 8vo, attractive antique calf-backed paste-paper boards, spine gilt, red morocco lettering-piece on spine. Paris: Joullain, 1778.

The uncommon sale catalogue, fully priced throughout and with buyers’ names, of a noteworthy collection devoted primarily to Italian art and sculpture. Bourlat de Montredon (d. 1777), was an influential amateur and collector who resided in Constantinople for forty years.

The catalogue thoroughly describes 695 lots, many of which are composed of numerous items. Lots 579-671 are Bourlat de Montredon’s impressive group of books of prints, mostly focused on the architecture and decorative arts of Italy, including a number of works by... More

168 pp. Small 8vo (164 x 95 mm.), cont. pink paste-paper wrappers (edges worn). Rome: Mordacchini, 1825.

A scarce revised and updated edition (1st ed. under this title: 1819) of this museum catalogue. It describes the institution’s paintings and sculptures, a number of which had been seized by the French during the conquest of Italy and subsequently returned.

A very good copy; some soiling and wear to the wrappers.

❧ For an account of the museum’s establishment see C. Paul, “Capitoline Museum, Rome: Civic Identity and Personal Cultivation,” in The First Modern Museums of Art: The Birth of an Institution... More

60 double-page (two have flaps) & several single-page illus., using brush & washes of many colors. 30; 31.5; 31 folding leaves. Three vols. Large 8vo (308 x 210 mm.), orig. decorated semi-stiff boards, manuscript titles on upper covers, new stitching. [Japan]: Author’s Prefaces dated 1699 & 1709; Postfaces by Nobutomo Ban dated 1813 & 1841.

A most interesting and attractively illustrated manuscript. In the late 17th century, the brother of Kotaku Hosoi, Chimei (d. ca. 1697), a samurai in service to the Koriyama fiefdom, visited the Nara area and was saddened by the disrepair of the many mausoleums, tombs, and... More

2 p.l., 127 pp. 12mo (153 x 100 mm.), cont. pink paste-paper boards, green morocco lettering-piece on spine. Paris: L’Imprimerie des Sciences et Arts, n.d. [but ca. 1802].

The catalogue for a controversial exhibition of antiquities confiscated from Italy. According to the bibliographical research of Jean Joseph Marquet de Vasselot (see below), and Etienne Michon in his “Bibliographie des Catalogues du Musée des Antiques du Louvre” (1914-15), the present livret is a later printing of a catalogue first issued in 1800 at the time of the exhibition’s opening. The present book, like all five preceding printings, is strangely numbered starting... More

184 pp. 12mo (155 x 95 mm.), cont. pink wrappers, label in manuscript on spine, stitched as issued. Paris: L. P. Dubray, 1811.

[with]:

(—). Supplément à la Notice des Antiques du Musée Napoléon, contenant l’indication des Monuments exposés dans la Salle des Fleuves. 1 p.l., v, 24 pp. 12mo (150 x 95 mm.), cont. pink wrappers, title in manuscript on spine, stitched as issued. Paris: L. P. Dubray, 1811.

The livret for a seminal exhibition of antiquities, with the very rare supplement. This exhibition was originally held in 1800, and the present work is a later printing of the... More

1 p.l., 63 pp. (i.e., pp. 241-301). Large 8vo (250 x 163 mm.), orig. orange printed wrappers (spine a little rubbed), leaves uncut. Besançon: Jacques & Demontrond, 1916.

The scarce offprint, with new pagination, of Michon’s groundbreaking critical bibliography of early exhibition catalogues published by the Musée des Antiques. Michon (1865-1939), curator of antiquities at the Louvre and respected connoisseur, published two important catalogues on the Louvre’s holdings of antiquities. He also made numerous acquisitions of artifacts now considered foundational to the Louvre’s collections.

This work exhaustively examines 22 catalogues from 1800 to 1816. Michon undertakes a bibliographic survey of... More

Two vols. 8vo, orig. printed wrappers (wrappers of of Vol. I a little defective), orig. stitching. Shanghai: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1933.

[with]:

— Jia gu xue Shang shi bian 甲骨學商史編 [Oracle Bone Studies: Shang History]. 8vo, orig. printed wrappers, orig. stitching. Two vols. Shanghai: Zhonghua shuju, 1935.

First editions of two uncommon books on the so-called Chinese oracle bone inscriptions, referring to ancient divinatory inscriptions on animal scapulae and turtle plastrons.

“Scapulimancy began to emerge in China during the late Yangshao 仰韶 period (the earliest traces to be discovered so far date from about 4000 BCE)…Then... More