Three volumes (25 and 27 cm), I: xv (1), 152 pp. Lots numbered 1-1085. Publisher's green printed wrappers. II: 32 pp. Lots numbered 1-93. Publisher's beige printed wrapper. III: (4) 176 pp. Lots numbered 1-1512. Publisher's green printed wrappers. - Rare set of auction sale catalogues offering a portion of the vast library of the marquises of Astorga, established by Alonso Osorio, VII marqués de Astorga (c. 1533-1592), and over the next two or three centuries augmented through inheritance of the libraries of the Conde-Duque, Velada, Montemar, Leganés, Sessa, among others. The death in 1816 of the XVI marqués de Astorga required his heir to dispose of properties in Spain, and brought books and paintings onto the London and Paris markets. Another financial crisis, caused by the death in 1864 of Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, and XV duque de Sessa, was the occasion for these three sales of books held in Paris in 1870. ¶ Upper covers of parts I and III inscribed by the poet and journalist Jacques-Eutrope Lambert (1842-1910), the latter dated by him 15 May 1870. Otherwise unmarked; small defects to wrappers; insect damage in lower margin of 10 leaves of Part III.
Five volumes (29 cm), uniform half-morocco, a collector’s binding (original wrappers bound in). - Illustrated issues (limited to 500 numbered sets and printed on special paper) of five Firmin-Didot sale catalogues. The magnificent collections assembled by Ambroise Firmin Didot (1790-1876) were dispersed in eight sales conducted in Hôtel Drouot in Paris between 1877 and 1910. The first and two last sale catalogues are lacking here: “Estampes anciennes et dessins” (16 April-12 May 1877, experts Danlos fils & Delisle et G. Pawlowski); “Livres précieux, manuscrits et imprimés: Théologie, jurisprudence, sciences, arts, lettres, histoire [other title:] Partie de la bibliothèque de M. Ambroise Firmin-Didot” (10-14 June 1884, experts Émile Paul, L. Huard et Guillemin & Pawlowski); as well as an anonymous book sale (18-21 May 1910, experts Émile Paul et fils et Guillemin). Cf. André Jammes and Françoise Courbage, Les Didot: Trois siècles de typographie et de bibliophilie, 1698-1998, catalogue of an exhibition held at the Bibliothèque historique de la ville de Paris, 15 May-30 August 1998 (Paris 1998). ¶ No author’s index and list of prices for 1883 sale.
(25.5 cm), vii (1), 193 (3) pp. 2110 lots. Bound in contemporary black cloth, back lettered “Syston Park Library Dec. 1884” (printed yellow wrappers retained). - The Syston Park library was collected by Sir John Thorold (1734-1815), ninth baronet, and by his son, John Hayford Thorold (1773-1831). The elder Thorold commenced collecting about 1785, and by 1789 had become well-known in the Parisian salerooms; his pace began to slacken about 1800. Sir John’s principal contribution was an impressive group of Elzevirs; his son concentrated on Aldines, incunabula, and early printing, and rebuilt the library at Syston in 1822-1824 to house the new acquisitions (Tim Knox, “Sir John Thorold’s library at Syston Park, Lincolnshire” in Apollo, volume 146, September 1997, pp.24-29). The sale of the library in 1884 was tremendously successful, realising just over £28,000, with some outstanding prices: the 1462 Mainz Psalter on vellum (£4950), and the 42-line Bible (£3900), are most notable. The auctioneer afterwards distributed copies of the sale catalogue annotated with buyers’ names and prices. The present copy is one of these; there was also an issue of 25 annotated copies in a larger format (c. 280 × 195 mm, designated large paper in manuscript facing the title; see Christie’s sale of the Bibliotheca Bibliographica Breslaueriana, New York, 22-23 March 2005, lot 328: $2640). Further sales of books occurred on 3 July 1899, 5 March 1923 (lots 1-317), and 9 April 1923 (lots 411-795); the house was demolished in 1924. ¶ Good copy.
Three volumes (29 cm), I (13-25 April 1891): (4) xv (1), 448 pp. 2004 lots. II (20-31 May 1895): xxviii, 420 pp., [1] plate (portrait), text illustrations. 1753 lots. II (19-23 May 1896): viii, 150 pp., illustrations. Includes a Supplément (one leaf, describing lot 805 bis). Two volumes uniformly bound in contemporary red cloth, black skiver lettering-pieces; one volume bound in contemporary half-morocco (original wrappers retained in each volume). - Three (of eight?) auction sale catalogues dispersing the “second” library assembled by the architect Hippolyte-Alexandre-Gabriel-Walter Destailleur (1822-1893); his first library had been sold in 1879, becoming the foundation for the Kunstbibliothek in Berlin (Cédric Destailleur, “Hippolyte Destailleur: architecte-collectionneur” in L’artiste collectionneur de dessin: De Giorgio Vasari à aujourd’hui, edited by Catherine Monbeig-Goguel, Paris 2006, pp.147-162). Offered here are the catalogues of Destailleur’s most valuable books (sold 13-25 April 1891, realising 467,327 Fr.), his collection of ornament books and prints (sold 20-31 May 1895, realising 333,270 Fr.), and some of his drawings (sold 19-23 May 1896, realising 267,266 Fr.). Blogie II, 199 (April 1891); Blogie II, 217 (May 1895). ¶ Bindings fatigued. Two entries clipped from one leaf (1891 sale, pp.141-142), neatly replaced with typescript facsimiles.
London (i.e. Rome), Officina poligrafica romana, 1899
Two parts in one volume (27 cm), I: 401 (3) pp. Items 1-2382. II: 187 (21) pp. Items 1-2277. Bound in contemporary half-leather. - Parts I-II of the catalogue of Italian books in the library of Charles Fairfax Murray, compiled by Giuseppe Cavalieri. A third part (lacking here), describing books acquired from Gerolamo Marchese d’Adda (1815-1881), appeared three years later (London [i.e. Florence] 1902); the edition of this reputedly was limited to 62 copies. According to James Walsh, in The Book Collector, volume 18 (1969), p.164, “only 50 copies [were] printed” of the previous two catalogues. Cf. Arthur Rau, “The Italian Fairfax Murray catalogue (1899). Note 326” in The Book Collector, volume 19 (1970), p.96. ¶ Binding stamped with owner’s name at foot of spine: Avv. U. Carcassi. Occasional spotting (heaviest on endpapers); nonetheless, an attractive copy.
(25.5 cm), iv, 198 (2) pp., 25 colour plates (for lots 3, 64, 109, 117, 118, 134, 451, 474, 522, 524, 554, 560, 648, 651, 667, 695, 712, 734, 742, 756, 772, 787, 880, 958, 1002). 1031 lots. Contemporary linen-backed boards (original printed yellow wrappers bound in). - The magnificent Amherst Library of Didlington Hall – seventeen Caxtons, a Gutenberg Bible, the 1460 Catholicon, two Grolier bindings, etc. – had been consigned to Quaritch in September 1906 for sale en bloc, and a few months later a “Hand-list” of the books by Seymour de Ricci was circulated. When after a year no buyer emerged, Lord Amherst placed his collections in the hands of Sotheby’s. On the eve of the first session, the group of Caxtons was sold by Sotheby’s to J. Pierpont Morgan. The sales of 1908-1909 realised £32,592 (not including the Caxtons, reputedly sold for £25,000). Subsequent sales were held on 12 December 1911 (159 lots), 17 January 1921 (lots 529-657), and 14 November 1921 (1730 lots). ¶ Priced in pencil with buyers’ names (first and second days only).
Two works in one volume (25 cm), I (Gelli sale, 18 March 1912): (4) 76 pp., text illustrations. Lots numbered 1-378. II (Garcia Donnell sale, 14-18 June 1926): 214 (4) pp. Lots numbered 1-953. Morocco-backed boards, a collector’s binding (original wrappers bound in). - Rare auction sale catalogue of the collection of books on fencing and duelling assembled by Jacopo Gelli (1858-1935), author of Bibliografia generale della scherma (Florence 1890; second edition Milan 1895).
Bound with the sale catalogue of the collection assembled by the Cuban collector J.R. Garcia Donnell, a resident of Buenos Aires, founded on the library of Pedro Vindel (1865-1921). ¶ Paper of both catalogues becoming brittle, but at present in excellent state of preservation
(25 cm), viii, 190 pp., 20 plates. Lots 1-614 (books), 1-68 (prints and drawings). “Liste des prix d’adjudication” bound in. Morocco-backed boards, a collector’s binding (original wrappers bound in). - This remarkable collection had been sold privately in 1911 to J.P. Morgan (1837-1913), for 750,000 FF; upon its arrival in New York, however, it was judged by his son, John Pierpont “Jack” Morgan, Jr., and by his librarian, Belle da Costa Greene, to be unsatisfactory. The collection was returned to Paris to be sold as the Foulc collection, not in any way as part of Morgan’s library. The prices realised were exceptional, and mark the apogee for books of ornament: ever since, this type of book has languished on the market. The sculpture and other works of art collected by Foulc – some 200 objects, “the most outstanding group of works of the later Middle Ages and the Renaissance anywhere available today” – was bought en bloc for more than one million dollars by the Pennsylvania (now Philadelphia) Museum of Art (quotation from Fiske Kimball, “The Edmond Foulc Collection” in Bulletin of the Pennsylvania Museum, volume 25, February 1930, pp.4-11). ¶ Superb copy.
(25 cm), iv, 72 pp., [8] leaves of plates (3 folded). 211 lots. Publisher’s yellow printed wrappers. - These books and manuscripts had been collected by the eighth Earl of Pembroke (1655-1733), and were catalogued by Thomas Dampier, Bishop of Ely, in 1776. Nearly every one of the 211 lots is of great rarity and interest. The block book “Apocalypsis Sanctis Johannis” sold for £2120 to Quaritch (for Charles Fairfax Murray; now Pierpont Morgan Library, 21786); the 1459 Rationale divinorum officiorum sold for £1950 (Olschki); the 1486 “Boke of Seynt Albans” realised £1800 (G.D. Smith); a 15th century manuscript of Ptolemy’s Geographia made £1850 (Hiersemann); and the 1472 Jenson Macrobius on vellum sold for £1600 (Quaritch). The sale total was £38,938. A very large number of books – 55 of the 105 lots offered on the first day, alone – was bought the New York bookseller George D. Smith (1870-1920). Smith subsequently sold his Pembroke Library purchases en bloc to Henry E. Huntington, for $115,000. Cf. Donald C. Dickinson, “Mr. Huntington and Mr. Smith” in The Book Collector, volume 37 (1988), pp.367-393. ¶ Unmarked copy.
(25.5 cm), 96 pp., colour frontispiece, [7] plates (1 folding). 526 lots. Publisher’s printed yellow wrappers. - A portion of a celebrated library assembled for the most part by the Dante scholar, George Venables-Vernon, 5th Baron (1803-1866). The most valuable was lot 69, a complete copy of the block-book Biblia Pauperum (belonging to Schreiber’s Group IV, No. 10), which made £440 (now Victoria & Albert Museum, E.720-1918). A 15th-century illuminated manuscript of Boccaccio’s “Fiammetta” and the “Epistolae Heroides” (lot 79), formerly in the Heber and Utterson collections, sold for £154 (subsequently in the Cortlandt Bishop collection, his sale in 1938 lot 288; cf. Vittore Branca, Tradizione delle opere di Giovanni Boccaccio. II, Un secondo elenco di manoscritti e studi sul testo del “Decameron” con due appendici, Rome 1991, pp.30-31, as possibly the manuscript re-sold in Paris, 18 March 1981, lot 24). Early-printed books included the 1516 Ferrara Orlando Furioso (£118; returned to the market in an auction conducted by Libreria antiquaria Hoepli, 7-9 April 1927) and the 1477 Monte Sancto di Dio with engravings after designs attributed to Botticelli (£100). ¶ Unmarked copy. Corner of frontispiece torn away.
(26 cm), 35 (1) pp. 240 lots. Publisher’s yellow printed wrappers. - The fourth of six sales, spread over a decade. “If the Fairfax Murray library had been dispersed in one continuous series of sales, the event would have been truly sensational…”, for the collections of early books were “among the largest and choicest in private hands” (Seymour de Ricci, English collectors of books and manuscripts, Cambridge 1930, p.178). By far the most important volume in this sale was lot 11, the Block Book of the apocalyptic vision of St John (ex-Pembroke sale, 1914, £2120); here, it realised only £950 (now Pierpont Morgan Library, 21786). This portion also features the collector’s long series of Savonarola editions (lots 113-216). Unillustrated issue (the illustrated issue contains two plates). ¶ Wrapper discoloured; an unmarked copy. Contemporary typed List of prices realised and buyers’ names loosely inserted.
Two volumes (25 cm), I (6-9 May 1925): (6) 82 pp., colour frontispiece, 69 plates (pls.I-LXIX, some printed red & black), text illustrations. 320 lots. III (17-19 June 1926): (6) 148 (2) pp., folding colour frontispiece, 48 black & white plates, text illustrations (some in red & black). 325 lots. Publisher’s printed wrappers. - Two volumes (of three) only; lacking the second sale (30 November, 3 December 1925; 380 lots). These sales in 1925-1926 were intended to signal De Marinis’s retirement from the profession of bookselling; in fact, he afterwards “was not adverse to speculative purchases of single volumes or complete collections” (A.R.A. Hobson, Some memories of Congresses & Colloquia of the Association internationale de Bibliophilie, [Paris] 2011, p.15). ¶ Insignificant damage to wrappers; otherwise, good copies.
Two parts in one volume (25 cm), I (16 March 1925): vi, 80 pp., 12 leaves of plates (upper and lower covers of lot 15; lots 36, 43, 46, 59, 85, 112, 117, 147; upper and lower covers of lot 178). 185 lots. II (17-19 March 1925): (2) 106 pp., 8 leaves of plates (lots 91, 181, 406, 432/461, 520, 92/590, 586/587, 289/668). 822 lots. Morocco-backed boards, a collector’s binding (original wrappers bound in). - Catalogue of the collection of early English bindings assembled by E. Gordon Duff (1863-1924), at one time librarian of the John Rylands Library, prepared by G.D. Hobson using Duff’s own descriptive slips (bequeathed with his other papers to Cambridge University; MS Add. 8591-8632). “This liberal interpretation of an auctioneer’s duty toward the proper presentment of an exceptional collection has made the Sotheby’s catalogue of the Gordon Duff sale one of the most valuable reference works on early English binding” (E.P. Goldschmidt, “The Study of early bookbinding” in The Bibliographical Society 1892-1942: studies in retrospect, London 1949, p.179). Although all books were sold as bindings, not subject to return on account of textual deficiencies, the sale realised an unexpectedly high total of £8099. The top price, £601, was paid for a 13th century vellum manuscript of the Bible, illuminated by a Northern French artist; knocked-down to Maggs, it soon entered the Olschki stock, and in 1927 was purchased by the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore (Ms W. 61). ¶ Fine, unmarked copy.
(25.5 cm), 46 pp. Lots numbered 1-228. Publisher’s printed yellow wrappers. - The majority of these books were from a collection presented to the Royal Society in 1667 by Henry Howard (afterwards sixth Duke of Norfolk), whose grandfather, the Earl of Arundel, had bought them during his Embassy to Vienna in 1636. Travelling through Nuremberg, Arundel visited the Imhoff Kunstkammer and acquired what remained of the library of Willibald Pirckheimer (1470-1530), the humanist and friend of Dürer. In addition to the Arundel books, the Royal Society also disposed of other early books, among them Baxter’s “Call to the unconverted” translated into the Massachusetts Indian language by John Eliot (Cambridge, MA 1664); presented to the Society in 1669 by John Winthrop, Governor of Connecticut, and a member of the Society, it proved the most valuable book in the sale, purchased by Rosenbach against Quaritch, for £6800 (now Huntington Library, Rare Books 63563). Numerous stout volumes of Reformation tracts were offered; most were bought by Rosenthal or by E.P. Goldschmidt (the latter’s purchases were offered in Catalogue VII: Incunabula, Humanists, Reformation Tracts from the Library of Willibald Pirckheimer and other sources, 1926). Goldschmidt also bought, for £1000, a copy printed on vellum of the Cicero De officiis, Paradoxa printed at Mainz by Fust and Schöffer, 4 February 1466 (now in the Lilly Library, through acquisition of the George A. Poole collecton). Saleroom report in The Times Literary Supplement, 14 May 1925, p.340. Linda Levy Peck, “Uncovering the Arundel Library at the Royal Society: Changing Meanings of Science and the Fate of the Norfolk Donation” in Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, volume 52 (1998), pp.3-24. Unillustrated issue (also issued with 6 plates). ¶ Ruled in red and priced. A few pencil annotations of later date. Text loosening in wrappers.
Two parts in one volume (24.5 cm), I (16-21 November 1925): (4) 366 pp., [48] p. of plates. Lots numbered 1-2726. II: (22-29 November 1926): (4) 320 pp., [16] p. of plates. Lots numbered 2727-3378. Contemporary red cloth binding. - The first sale was “swept” by the booksellers Moorthamers (Brussels), E.P. Goldschmidt (London), and Baptiste Galanti (Paris). Parts I-II only; a third sale was conducted by Van Stockum’s Antiquariaat, 26-31 May 1930 (Bibliothèque de M. J.W. Six de Vromade, troisième partie: Manuscrits, ouvrages remarquables en tous genres, imprimerie, bibliographie, reliures, pamphlets historiques, atlas anciens, descriptions de voyages, ouvrages topographiques et historiques, histoire naturelle, ornithologie, ancienne chimie et physique, jurisprudence en sciences économiques, littérature Néerlandaise et étrangère, beaux-arts, etc., lots 3379-5263). ¶ First 160 lots priced in pencil. Preliminaries lightly spotted; otherwise, a good copy.
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.
New York, American Art Association, Anderson Galleries, Inc., 1932
(29.5 cm), (10) 84 pp. 168 lots. Publisher’s printed wrappers. - The gem of the collection was the Anglo-Saxon manuscript known as the Blickling Homilies (lot 2); sold for $55,000 (with John H. Scheide as underbidder) to the agent of Cortlandt Bishop (1870-1935), it returned to the market in the Bishop sale (Anderson Galleries, 5 April 1938, lot 285), and this time was acquired for Scheide (now Princeton University, Scheide Library, M71). Other extraordinary, early manuscripts were the Tickhill Psalter of about 1310, sold for $61,000 (now New York Public Library, Spencer Collection, Ms. 026), and a French translation of St. Augustine’s “De civitate dei” of about 1410, sold for $31,500 (bought by Cortlandt Bishop; returned to the market in his sale, 1938, when acquired by Philip S. Collins; gift of Mrs. Philip S. Collins to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1945-65-1). Among printed books were the 1476 Boccaccio ($45,000; now Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 32.458), two perfect Caxtons in one volume ($7000), and valuable Americana. Nonetheless, the total was less than expected, and the sale generally reckoned to be a disappointment. Preface by Seymour de Ricci. George L. McKay, American book auction catalogues 1713-1934, no. 9397. Unillustrated issue. ¶ Upper wrapper dusty. Priced in pencil.
(33 cm), (10) 158 pp., folding frontispiece and 57 plates (pls.1-57), text illustrations. 769 lots. List of estimates loosely inserted. Publisher’s printed wrappers. - Contains books from the library of the imperial residence of Tsar Nicolas II (Nikolay Alexandrovich Romanov; 1868-1919) at Tsarskoye Selo; from the library of Albert Herzog von Sachsen-Teschen (1738-1822), founder of the Albertina; and the famous world map drawn about 1415 by Albertinus de Virga (lot 56, reproduced on frontispiece) from the collection of Albert Figdor (1843-1927). Figdor had found the map in 1911 in a bookshop in Šibenik, Croatia, and had organised a detailed study. After his death, Figdor’s collections in Vienna passed to a niece, Margarete Becker-Walz, wife of a prominent Heidelberg lawyer. Somehow, she exported the map from Austria to Switzerland, where it was presented by Gilhofer & Ranschburg with full provenance and a reserve of 9000 Swiss francs. Immediately before the sale, the map was withdrawn, and it has been missing ever since (Albert Dürst, “Die Weltkarte von Albertin de Virga von 1411 oder 1415” in Cartographica Helvetica, volume 13, 1996, pp.18-21). ¶ Unmarked copy. In good condition, apart from the wrappers (in fragmentary state: small pieces missing, corner of lower wrapper missing).
Four parts in one volume (25 cm), I (Auktion VII; 3 May 1933): iv, 90 (2) pp., frontispiece, 4 p. of plates (Tafel I-IV), text illustrations. 404 lots. II (Auktion VIII; 6-7 November 1933): iv, 116 pp., colour frontispiece, 12 p. of plates (Tafel I-XII), text illustrations. 694 lots. III (Auktion IX; 11 May 1934): 93 (1) pp., colour frontispiece, 20 p. of plates (Tafel I-XX), text illustrations. 492 lots. IV (Auktion XI; 7 May 1935): 124 pp., 20 leaves of plates (Tafel I-XX), text illustrations. 498 lots. Morocco-backed boards, a collector’s binding (original wrappers bound in). - Sale catalogues of the Oettingen-Wallersteinschen Bibliothek, the first containing books collected by Marcus Fugger (1529-1597). Added in part IV is the collection of books on chess assembled by Tassilo, Baron von Heydebrand und der Lasa (1818-1899). Additional books (Beiträge aus den fürstlich Öttingen-Wallerstein’schen Bibliotheken in Maihingen und Seyfriedsberg) were offered in Karl & Faber, Auktion X, 13-14 November 1934; Auktion XII, 12-14 November 1935; Auktion XIII, 24-26 November 1936. ¶ Annotated by the bookseller Heinrich Eisemann (c. 1889-1972), whose “unrivalled knowledge of medieval illuminated manuscripts and early printed books placed him in the first rank of world booksellers” (obituary in The Times, 12 December 1972, p.19). Lacking Lists of Prices realised (one is present in photocopy).
Three parts in two volumes (25 cm), I (26-30 June 1933): iv, 158 (2) pp., [23] leaves of plates (seven in colour). Lots numbered 1-1313. II (24-25 July 1933): (2) pp., pp.163-208 (4), [5] leaves of plates. Lots numbered 1315-1657. Loosely inserted: “Supplement to the Catalogue of the Third and Final Portion” (lots 1490A-1490X). Uniform publisher’s printed green wrappers. - “The essential feature of the library is its freedom from specialization” (saleroom report, in The Times, London, 24 May 1933, p.13). It contained the four Shakespeare folios (the First made a record price, selling for £14,500 to Rosenbach for Francis Joseph Hogan; the Second and Third also fell to Rosenbach, for £440 and £2000), a manuscript of Jane Austen’s “Lady Susan” (sold to the Chicago dealer Walter Hill, £2100; the Morgan Library purchased it in 1947 from James F. Drake), Keat’s “Endymion”, a presentation copy from the author to Leigh Hunt (also Hill, £2400; now NYPL, Berg Collection). The Napoleonic collection contained a great number of letters either written by Napoleon or addressed to him, including eight love letters written to Josephine between June 1796 and May 1800 (Maggs, £4400), and Napoleon’s farewell letter to Marie Louise on leaving for Elba dated 20 April 1814 (also Maggs, £1000). The plaster cast of Napoleon’s face taken at St Helena by Dr Antommachi, formerly in the collection of Prince Anatole Demidoff, made just £40 (its last known owner was Octave Aubry). ¶ Unmarked copies. No Price lists.