Étienne Ader, Henri Baudoin & F. Lair-Dubreuil (Paris)
La bibliothèque de feu Édouard Rahir, première partie : Livres anciens du XVe au XIXe siècle : riches reliures anciennes, la plupart de provenances royales, personnages et amateurs célèbres : Quelques livres illustrés du XVIIIe siècle dans leur reliure ancienne en maroquin § Deuxième partie : Livres anciens illustrés des XVe et XVIe siècles : Livres d’heures : Riches reliures anciennes et modernes § Troisième partie : Livres illustrés du XVIIIe siècle : Riches reliures anciennes § Quatrième partie : Livres armoriés des XVIe, XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles : Riches reliures anciennes § Cinquième partie : Livres anciens des XVe, XVIe et XVIIe siècles : Belles reliures anciennes § Sixième et dernière partie : Livres anciens et modernes : Riches reliures anciennes et modernes (catalogues for auction sales conducted by Étienne Ader, Henri Baudoin & F. Lair-Dubreuil, with the expertise of Francisque Lefrançois, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 7 May 1930-4 May 1938)
Paris, F. Lefrançois, 1930-1938
Six parts, bound in two volumes (28.5 cm), I (7-9 May 1930): (4) ix (1), 64 (2) pp., portrait-frontispiece, [59] leaves of plates (some double-page). Lots numbered 1-250. II (6-8 May 1931): (4) 183 (1) pp., [66] leaves of plates (some double-page). Lots numbered 251-705. III (7-9 May 1935): vi, 60 (2) pp., colour frontispiece, [32] leaves of plates (some in colour, some double-page). Lots numbered 706-947. IV (5-7 May 1936): (4) 60 (2) pp., colour frontispiece, [20] leaves of plates (some in colour). Lots numbered 948-1204. V (19-21 May 1937): (4) 155 (3) pp., colour frontispiece, [9] leaves of plates (one in colour), text illustrations (some red & black). Lots numbered 1205-1611. VI (4-6 May 1938): (4) 113 (3) pp., colour frontispiece, [27] leaves of plates (some in colour, some folding), text illustrations. Lots numbered 1612-2091. Uniformly bound in two volumes (vol. 1: parts I-II; vol. 2: parts III-VI) in collector’s modern half-morocco (original wrappers discarded). - The posthumous sales of the private library of the great bookseller Édouard Rahir. Rahir had been apprenticed, aged sixteen, at Morgand and Fatout, and after Morgand’s death in 1898 he carried on the business, as “Édouard Rahir et Cie”, supported by the Rothschild bank (Rahir had paid out the Rothschilds by 1903). Rahir’s stock at the time of his retirement was sold anonymously in 1927-1929, and on 7 May 1930 began the series of six sales of his personal library, as “La Bibliothèque de feu Édouard Rahir, ancien libraire”, as Rahir had mandated, “for he had no respect for the retired bookseller who tends to forget that he has ever been in trade” (Arthur Rau, “Édouard Rahir 1862-1924” in The Book Collector, Summer 1967, pp.169-177). ¶ Fine, well-presented set.