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Museums, Collections & WunderkammerThere are 7 items

  • Gersaint (Edmé François), 1694-1750

    Paris, Flahault & Prault, 1736
    The catalogue of an auction sale commenced on 30 January 1736, in which 450 lots of shells and 132 of Surinamese insects and reptiles were offered. To recruit connoisseurs to the collecting of marine naturalia, Gersaint prefaces the catalogue with “Observations sur les Coquillages”, in which shells are elevated to the status of works of art, and described as a source of inspiration for architects, sculptors, and painters; with a “Liste des Principaux Cabinets”; and with a list of the authors who have described shells. At the head of the catalogue, is a still-life of shells and coral, designed by François Boucher, and engraved by Claude Duflos, which serves as a condensed illustration of the collection and its decorative potential, while identifying Gersaint as the source of Rococo chic.

    Bound with Catalogue raisonné d’une collection considérable de diverses Curiosités en tous Genres, contenues dans les Cabinets de feu Monsieur Bonnier de la Mosson. Paris, Jacques Barrois & Pierre-Guillaume Simon, 1744

    The second work in this volume is Gersaint’s catalogue of the collections gathered by Joseph Bonnier de la Mosson (d. 26 July 1744), divided for sale in nine sections, comprising shells, insects, and animals stuffed or in preserving fluids; scientific instruments, pharmaceutical apparatus, and machinery; ornamental turning, bronzes, porcelain, clocks, and other works of art; pictures and prints; and furniture. This copy was bound for Jean-Claude Fauconnet de Vildé, Conseiller de la ville de Paris (d. circa 1765).

  • Ginanni (Giuseppe), 1692-1753

    Venice, Antonio Bortoli, 1737
    First edition of the first work to deal exclusively with birds’ eggs and birds’ nests, illustrating the eggs of one hundred species, classified into three groups: predatory and non-predatory land birds, and aquatic birds, each with a brief account of the nest, breeding time, and physical features of the eggs. Ginanni had created on his property in Ravenna a garden rich in exotic plants and a “piccolo Museo di cose naturali”, containing many of the specimens here engraved. The continuation promised on the title-page never appeared, for the reason (published in the dedication of the author’s Opere postume 1755) that “non essendomi riuscito di fare altra sufficiente Raccolta di Uova d’Uccelli”.
  • Diana Parikian (Waterstock, Oxfordshire) in association with Bernard Quaritch Ltd (London)

    Oxford / London, Diana Parikian / Bernard Quaritch, 1984
    (25 cm), 82 pp. 75 items. Publisher’s printed wrappers. - A catalogue of 75 early books on collections of man-made and natural curiosities, arranged chronologically by country. Included are several fine association copies; the most striking item is the original woodblock for the view of Ferrante Imperato’s museum (Dell’historia naturale, Naples 1599): this later featured in Tous les savoirs du monde: Encyclopédies et bibliothèques, de Sumer au XXIe siècle (catalogue for an exhibition held at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, 1996-1997), and in Librairie Paul Jammes, “Cabinets de curiosités: collections, collectionneurs” (Paris 1997). The catalogue apparently was inspired by Colnaghi’s 1981 exhibition “Objects for a Wunderkammer” and the books were gathered jointly by Diana Parikian and Paul Grinke of Quaritch; offered for sale en bloc, most were sold to the Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities. “The customers who received this… were fortunate indeed. Only a few were printed… we understand that there are simply no more to be had” (from a review in The Book Collector, Spring 1985, p.97). The original edition of 1984 is rarely seen in the market; a second edition was published by Quaritch in 2006 (reviewed by Colin Harrison, in Journal of the History of Collections, volume 20, 2008, pp.147-148), and reprinted (In memoriam Diana Parikian) in 2012. ¶ Fine copy.
  • Biennale di Venezia (1986)
    Lugli (Adalgisa), editor

    Venice, Edizioni La Biennale / Electa Editrice, 1986
    (29.5 cm), 95 (1) pp., illustrations (some in colour). Publisher’s pictorial wrappers. - Essays by Adalgisa Lugli (Arte e meraviglia: antico, novecento, contemporaneo) and Maurizio Calvesi (Gli armadi delle meraviglie) and catalogue of works exhibited. ¶ Very good, unmarked copy.
  • Bergvelt (Ellinoor), born 1947; Kistemaker (Renée), born 1945, editors
    Amsterdams Historisch Museum

    Amsterdam, 1992
    (29 cm), 215 (1) pp., illustrations (some in colour). 422 catalogue entries. Loosely inserted is a supplement in English with abridged entries of the objects in the exhibition, “Distant worlds made tangible. Art and curiosities: Dutch collections 1585-1735”. Publisher’s pictorial wrappers. - An exhibition focused on Dutch collectors and collections of natural and artificial objects in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries (reviewed by Peter Parshall, in Print Quarterly, volume 10, June 1993, pp.180-182; noticed in Quaerendo, volume 23, 1993, pp.304-305). A companion volume of essays is not present here (ISBN 9789066303522). ¶ Fine copy.
  • Stafford (Barbara Maria), born 1941; Terpak (Frances), born 1948; Poggi (Isotta)
    Getty Research Institute (Los Angeles)

    Los Angeles, Getty Publications, 2001
    (26 cm), x, 405 (1) pp., illustrations (some in colour). 384 catalogue entries. Publisher’s pictorial wrappers. - Includes essays on “Wunderkammern and Wunderkabinette”, blow books, panoramas, diorama, perspective theatres, etc. ¶ Very good, unmarked copy.
  • Fearrington (Florence)
    Grolier Club (New York)

    New York, Grolier Club, 2012
    (23 cm), 124 (2) pp., illustrations (some in colour). 137 catalogue entries. Publisher’s pictorial wrappers. ¶ Very good, unmarked copy.
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