Recently in Catalogue Review Category

“Pure praises do not provide a comfortable existence; it is necessary to add something solid, and the best way to praise is to praise with cash-in-hand.” (Molière, The Middle Class Gentleman, Act I) 

The second catalogue to appear from Librairie Métamorphoses is a tour de force. No surprise, considering that the Parisian firm was founded by Michel Scognamillo, former librarian and confidante to French collector Pierre Bergé, the lifelong business and romantic partner of fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent. 

Before we talk about the contents, let’s look at the front matter. Smartly sheathed in a matte black binding and illustrated with a black-on-red silkscreen self portrait of Marcel Duchamp (#21 in the catalogue; price available on request), this volume is dedicated to Cédric Herrou, the 39-year-old olive farmer who ferried dozens of asylm seekers through France via what has been dubbed the French Underground Railroad. It is a fitting tribute, considering the contents of the catalogue are dedicated to the ideals of equality and freedom of expression.

So, what’s inside? Where to start? With the selection of material dedicated to poet Guillaume Apollinaire? Or the handwritten sheet music by George Bizet (€15,000)? Correspondence from George Sand to her dear friend Gustave Flaubert (€12,000) is marvelous, too, but perhaps the pièce de résistance is a 1671 edition of Molière’s The Middle Class Gentleman (Le Bourgeois gentilhomme), printed at the playwright’s expense and bound in its original vellum.

This particular volume is exceptional as a masterpiece of French literature and as a turning point in the editorial emancipation of Molière, who had personally financed the publication of his play Tartuffe in 1669. With The Middle Class Gentleman, Molière declined to transfer his rights to a bookseller after the play became successful, as he had done with Tartuffe. Now, the playwright retained all legal rights and profits for himself. And yet the haste with which this edition was printed is evident: typographical errors, erratic punctuation, and sloppy copy calibration abound, but these characteristics only add, according to the catalogue, “a certain charm” to the volume and to its rarity. Price available upon request.

There’s no website for Librairie Métamorphoses, but interested parties can visit the shop at 17 rue Jacob in the 6th arrondisement in Paris, call 33 06 13 92 76, or email at scolivre@gmail.com.

 
More treasures fill this beguiling catalogue, while the bibliographical notes are reason enough to seek it out. If only I had more than “pure praises” for Libraries Métamorphoses, but for now it will have to do.

Turn to any page of the recently published, two-volume, folio-size Catalog of the Cotsen Children’s Library: The Nineteenth Century  -- say, page 24 of volume II -- and the bibliographical detail accompanying each entry and illustration are case studies in thoroughness. In my case, page 24 reveals a charming, full-page, illustration of Theodore Léfèvre’s Bébé saurait bientôt lire (approx. 1880), a hand-colored wood engraving frontispiece for an elementary reader.

This project didn’t come together overnight; for over twenty years, a team of dedicated librarians and staff at the Cotsen Children’s Library at Princeton University have been fastidiously compiling a complete catalogue of that library’s research material. To put it mildly, this has been no small undertaking. Out of the nearly 100,000 items donated by Princeton alumnus (‘50) and Neutrogena executive Lloyd Cotsen, 23,000 non-circulating items spanning the 15th through the 20th century and written in thirty languages will ultimately be included in the multi-volume compendium.

Included in the Nineteenth Century are descriptions of 6,370 children’s books in the library’s holdings and 270 full-color illustrations. Titles were selected for this publication based on their illustrations or their representation of a particular style or development. As the focus is on the 19th century, work by well-known illustrators like Charles Perrault and Kate Greenaway figure prominently, as do examples of then-revolutionary printing and illustrating techniques.

These lavender, gilt-stamped cloth volumes are arranged alphabetically, with each entry given meticulous bibliographic detail. The pair is being sold through Oak Knoll Press for $250. Nineteenth Century joins the Cotsen’s earlier two-volume catalogue, published in 2000 and 2003, chronicling the library’s 20th-century holdings. A final, two-volume project is in the works that will examine the Cotsen’s children’s books dating from the 1400s through 1801.

Among some of the treasures in the Cotsen’s holdings include picture letters by Beatrix Potter, incunables, drawings by Edward Lear, and even an early-Coptic schoolbook. Though the Cotsen collection is non-circulating, the library hosts an array of impressive virtual exhibitions using its holdings. 

Images courtesy of Oak Knoll

Regular readers of Fine Books, in print and online, need no introduction to A.N. Devers, who not only writes for us but, in having recently launched her own rare book business, has also been featured as a Bright Young Bookseller. The Second Shelf focuses on “rare books, modern first editions, and rediscovered work by and about women writers.”

The Second Shelf has just released its first catalogue, which is unlike any rare book catalogue any of us has ever seen. For a few years in an earlier iteration of this blog, I wrote weekly catalogue reviews, but that sputtered out as I saw the same format, and sometimes the same books, over and over again. What makes The Second Shelf: A Quarterly of Rare Books stick out -- and makes it worthy of reviving the Friday catalogue review -- is its unique design: part catalogue, and part literary magazine.   

The literary components include pieces of writing about women by women, including essays by TJ Jarrett on Gwendolyn Brooks and Nell Stevens on Elizabeth Gaskell, the latter illustrated with lush photography by Jo Emmerson. There’s also an original poem by Ariana Reines, commissioned by The Second Shelf to address one of the catalogue’s highlights: Sylvia Plath’s tartan plaid skirt (price £12,500; $16,350).

As a catalogue, here are some of the offerings that caught my eye: a Robert Indiana lithograph of a costume design for Gertrude Stein (£800; $1,050). There’s a set of super charming hand-painted folk art dominoes dating to 1901 (£800; $1,050). There are some excellent editions of Austen, Bronte, and Du Maurier, as well. And, in addition to the tartan skirt and some other Plath memorabilia, there’s a privately printed, spiral-bound book from 1989 called Last Encounters (£575; $750), written by Plath’s neighbor Trevor Thomas Bedford, and which portrayed Ted Hughes in a bad light. Hughes took Bedford to court and attempted to have all copies of the book destroyed. Plath’s brown sleeveless dress, priced at £2,600 ($3,400), has already sold, according to Devers.

Speaking of what has sold so far, Devers has placed some Miriam Tlali editions in a library, as well as an edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. “My favorite thing in the catalogue is a Boots’ library copy of Patricia Highsmith, which we hung by a noose and the noose is included, and it sold!” There has also been interest in a collection of eleven Yayoi Kusama first editions.

The catalogue hasn’t been fully distributed yet--it’s still landing in mailboxes around the world. Devers printed 2,000 copies, of which half are spoken for in sales of single issues and subscriptions. A free trade list without the essays and features can be obtained by signing up for the Second Shelf newsletter, said Devers.

Devers, who was featured in Vanity Fair this week, is also founding a shop in London at 14 Smiths Court. She expects to open in mid-November.

Photo by Rebecca Rego Barry

New Jersey-based antiquarian bookseller Between the Covers (BTC) Rare Books recently published a full-color catalogue devoted to women. Seventy items items by, for, and about the fairer sex include paintings, pottery, books, and manuscripts hailing from around the globe and across time.

One of the high spots includes a letter written and signed by Helen Keller (1880-1968) when she was seven years old. Believed to be one her earliest missives, this one was composed only two months after she began instruction with Anne Sullivan (1866-1936) the woman who would become her lifelong instructor and friend. Writing to her cousin Anna Turner, Keller is describing a train trip she recently took to Huntsville, Alabama. Keller made rapid progress under Sullivan’s careful tutelage; according to Michael Anagnos, director of the Perkins Institute for the Blind during Keller’s lifetime, she had already mastered 450 words “which she could use correctly and spell with perfect accuracy” after only four months spent working with Sullivan.

                                                                                                                                                         Keller’s handwriting is remarkably neat, legible, and reflects her early writing style of omitting articles and using the word “did” in past tense constructions. Keller made tremendous gains in communication and graduated from Radcliffe College in 1904--the first blind-deaf person to receive a Bachelor of Arts--and eventually authored twelve books, including her autobiography, The Story of My Life.

Throughout her life, Keller championed for the blind and the unfortunate, and served as a beacon of hope to those facing overwhelming odds, believing, as she put it, that “although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.”

Accompanied by a cabinet card of Keller as well as twenty other members of her family, this piece of history is available for $28,000. Contact Between the Covers for more information.

Photo of Helen Keller with Anne Sullivan on vacation in Brewster, Massachusetts in 1888 credit: Part of the R. Stanton Avery Special Collections at the New England Historic Genealogical Society, via Wikimedia Commons.

Bonhams will hold its Fine Books and Manuscripts sale in London on Wednesday March 1st, and as usual, the accompanying full-color catalog brims with well-appointed material sure to pique the interest of a range of collectors. The theme for the March auction appears to be exploration and scholarly inquiry, with particular emphasis on science, technology, and literature through the ages.

Political documents pepper the catalog as well, such as a 1797 Letters Patent signed by President John Adams confirming the appointment of Thomas Bulkeley as the United States Consul for the port of Lisbon. Included in the lot is a letter rebuking any conflict of interest; Bulkeley sought no monetary favors in the deal because, “he possesses a very large independent fortune.” Estimated bids at $2492.20.

Arguably the highlight of the catalog is the collection of a deceased, unnamed French bibliophile comprising of fantasy and scientific literature from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries. The collector assembled his material over the past thirty years, focusing initially on the recent history of aviation and then moving into the annals of the past. Bonhams has arranged this section of the catalog into two sections: one dedicated to the philosophers and scientists whose heavenly observations informed their work, and the second explores the challenges of human flight.

Among the high spots in the deceased French bibliophile’s trove include a first edition, two-volume set of Jonathan Swift’s Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World...by Lemuel Gulliver, commonly referred to as Gulliver’s Travels, estimated at twenty-five thousand dollars. A 1634 first edition of Johannes Kepler’s A Dream: or, a Posthumous Work of Lunar Astronomy is also estimated at twenty-five thousand dollars.

Whether flights of fancy or grounded in scientific principles, the material in the forthcoming Bonhams sale has a common goal of making sense of the world beneath our feet and the universe above. The catalog is also available online for further browsing. 

So pleased to see the new print edition of the Raptis Rare Books catalogue, in which Matthew and Adrienne Raptis announce they’ve moved from Brattleboro, Vermont, to a glittering new gallery on Worth Avenue in Palm Beach, Florida. Raptis specializes in modern first editions, inscribed volumes, and “landmark books in all fields.” The firm last appeared on the blog when Nate Pedersen profiled Raptis in 2011 on the eve of the publication of their first catalogue.

The current full-color catalogue highlights an inventory of well-appointed high spots, such as a $150,000 presentation copy of James Joyce’s Ulysees in its original blue wrappers inscribed by the author, while children’s book collectors might be interested in a first edition near-fine set of Andrew Lang’s Fairy Books for $16,000. A signed, limited edition of Winnie-the-Pooh with an original handwritten poem by Milne is available for $55,000.

Snow-weary Northerners now have another reason to visit Florida in winter--best wishes to Raptis in their new home. See the catalog for yourself here.

French antiquarian bookseller Jean-Baptiste de Proyart recently published Catalogue Huit, a sumptuous compendium of illuminated manuscripts and rare books being offered for sale. This is the eighth catalogue de Proyart has released since setting up his own boutique, currently nestled on rue Fresnel in Paris’ tony sixteenth arrondissement, a stone’s throw from the Trocadero and the Palais du Chaillot. Prior to “sailing his own ship,” as he puts it, de Proyart cut his teeth in Sotheby’s London book department and provided expertise during the monumental, 12,000-volume, six-part sale of the collection of legendary bookseller Pierre Berès in 2005 and 2006.

                                                                                                                                                   Specializing in antiquarian rarities and beauties, de Proyart’s catalogues are vast archives of information, testaments to rigorous scholarship of the material at hand. Catalogue Huit, like the rest of de Proyart’s catalogues, are not merely filled with pretty pictures and hefty price tags; they are filled with history and provenance details that together provide an intimate examination of the world of antiquarian books while also reconstructing the world of the past as codified on paper. Turning to nearly any page reveals unique books with stellar provenance.

A 1531 Book of Hours illustrated by Geoffory Tory is, as de Proyart writes, a “masterpiece of French Renaissance illumination.” Bound in gold-tooled moroccan leather, the item illustrates why Tory’s contributions to the world of illuminated manuscripts are so coveted by collectors. This particular copy belonged to Louis Joinville (1773-1849), a bureaucrat during the French Revolution and later deputy to statesman and poet Pierre Daru. (Price available upon request.)

An oversize choir book (or graduel) dating from around 1450 includes songs chanted at daily mass. Finely painted letters in blue, red, green, and gold leaf, accompanied by miniature unicorns, dragons, and stags throughout the manuscript suggest that all the decorations were completed in one workshop. This particular Graduel is believed to have been created south of Cologne and once belonged to the prince of Oettingen-Wallerstein, a collector of European history. Bound in fifteenth-century vellum with illuminated illustration throughout, this Graduel is being offered for 380,000 euros.

Another exciting piece is the first appearance of François Marie Arouet (a.k.a. Voltaire) in print, a seven-page ode written while Voltaire was still a student at Louis le Grand. This early piece demonstrates the future philosopher’s brilliance at written discourse, and this Imitation de l’Ode du R. Père du Jay sur Sainte Genevieve is surprising, given Voltaire’s future views on religion. (Voltaire later repudiated claims that he was the author of the work. In a letter written in 1766, he quipped that if Saint-Genevieve, the patron and of Paris believed to save the city from Atilla the Hun, ever returned to earth, “she would be quite bitter” towards him.) This rare publication, of which only five copies exist in French institutions and none are known to be in American universities or libraries, is available for 15,000 euros.

For the francophile with deep pockets or big dreams, Catalogue Huit is hard to beat. Though not quite the same as a physical copy, a PDF of the catalogue may be downloaded here.

                                                                                                                                                          Image Courtesy of the bookseller.

Master bookbinder Tim Ely’s elaborate art books are sophisticated otherworldly mash-ups of landscapes, diagrams, and architecture meant to inspire and provoke. The Snohomish, Washington native has been making books for almost his entire life, finding inspiration on heaven and in earth, fusing science and art with paper and ink. Contemporary art bookbinding specialist Abby Schoolman Books recently prepared a catalog of eight of his art books entitled Timothy C. Ely 8 Books.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Cover for Bones of the Book. Photo courtsey of Abby Schoolman Books.

                                                                                                                                                                   If the name sounds familiar, that’s because Ely pops up frequently here on the FB&C blog, and he was featured in the winter 2011 print issue, as well. His mastery of bookbinding techniques coupled with artistic innovation follow in the footsteps of monastic illuminators and bookbinders, continuing the long legacy of book arts. “Beyond deep reading, I have found that the best way to become informed about an event or gather a bit of enlightenment is to make an expressive book,” Ely says in the catalog. 

Close-up of Ely’s binding technique. Photo courtesy of Abby Schoolman Books.

Some of the books are biographical, such as Bones of the Book ($100,000), in which Ely examines when his parents met at a paper mill, and how this serendipitous association of people and paper somehow led the artist to a lifelong fascination with the art of the book. “Bones of the Book reflects my identity as a maker of things, bones as structural supports, and how that metaphor maps itself onto the cultural object/artifact of the book,” Ely writes. Other creations are more speculative, ruminations on mechanical worlds in outer space, the transmission of thought, and the alchemy of creating spellbinding objects. No matter how you look at them, each is a multidimensional, multisensory work of art.

Timothy C. Ely 8 Books is available through Amazon. Contact Abby Schoolman Books for further information.

Catalogue Review: Lorne Bair, One Hundred Recent Arrivals

What I have at hand is not one of Lorne Bair’s “major” catalogues (one of which we reviewed in 2011), but it is a handy printed catalogue containing 100 new acquisitions, some of which he may have already sold at the California fair, and some of which he is likely to have for this weekend’s fair in Washington D.C. and next weekend’s Florida Antiquarian Book Fair in St. Petersburg. 

But a small catalogue makes a big splash when it is filled, as this one is, with so many good-looking books. Bair, as some may know, specializes in the history, art, and literature of American social movements. His offerings are often visually striking, and sometimes bizarre (in a good way). This catalogue features modern literature, he explains in a brief introduction, from a major collection of 19th- and 20th-century American literature. And while he calls it, “100 Books You’ve Totally Heard Of,” some aren’t seen terribly often, e.g. a first edition of Mary Poppins, in the pretty pictorial jacket in near fine condition ($950), or the American edition of E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India, in its scarce, text-heavy dustwrapper ($2000), or William Carlos Williams’ five-volume poem, Paterson, in near fine condition with original jackets ($1,750), or the American edition of John Dos Passos’ first book, One Man’s Initiation, in dust jacket ($1,500). 

There are also firsts from the standards: Faulkner, Hemingway, Hammett, Kerouac, O’Connor, Steinbeck, and Twain. Modern firsts collectors, take note.

I’d be insanely happy to have the first edition of Tim O’Brien’s If I Die in a Combat Zone, with a bookplate signed by the author inserted ($1,200). The book is near fine, the jacket is near fine, the signature is clear, and it is the work of a brilliant writer. I’m sure others out there might feel the same way about the 1954 Grove Press first English edition of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, the “best copy we have seen,” writes the bookseller ($3,750). If so, you know where to find it. 

We should imitate the bees, as they say, which wander and pluck suitable flowers to make honey, then carry whatever, they arrange and distribute through the honeycomb...[W]e should imitate these bees and also separate whatever we have collected from different readings (for things that are separated are preserved better), then to combine with the care and ability of our mind having been applied these various offerings into one flavor, so that even now if it is apparent from where it was acquired, yet it is apparent that it is something other than from where it came.

• Bright Young Things: Andrea Tomberg (finebooksmagazine.com)

• Guest Blog: Book Scouting in Bulgaria (finebooksmagazine.com)