Sotheby & Co. (London)
Third and final portion (catalogue for an auction conducted by Sotheby & Co., London, 9 December 1938)
London, Sotheby & Co., 1938
(25 cm), (4) pp., pp.309-554 (10), 41 leaves of plates (colour plate D; pls.82-121, some in colour, some folding), text illustrations. Lots numbered 1288-2493 (continues the pagination and lot numeration of parts 1-2, sold 23-25 March and 5-7 July 1938). Publisher’s printed wrappers. - The sale realised a total of £12,848 for about 1200 lots. “It serves to reinforce certain reflections aroused by the earlier [Schiff] sales. For example, it was more clear than ever that condition and binding are of supreme importance where French books of the eighteenth century are concerned” (from “Bibliographical notes”, in The Times Literary Supplement, 17 December 1938, p.808). The sale contained no less than four Grolier bindings (£150-£380); the 1536-1540 Aldine Pliny, with the arms of Cardinal Peretti (afterwards Pope Sixtus V), made £32 (ex-Hoe sale, $295), while Doni’s Lettere 1545 etc bound for Thomas Mahieu made £105 (ex-Christie-Miller sale, £92; returned to the market in the Maurice Burrus sale, Christie’s Paris, 15 December 2015, lot 55, €49,500). ¶ “Orders received by Maggs Bros Ltd” (label pasted on upper cover). Contents loosening in binding. Unmarked copy. No Price list.