The brothers Fyot, Charles Chardin, and the making of manuscript Aldine facsimiles on vellum

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The brothers Fyot, Charles Chardin, and the making of manuscript Aldine facsimiles on vellum

While the practice of supplying leaves in manuscript, where printed leaves were missing, has been customary since the very early days of printing, for the purposes of sale or bibliophile gratification, the making of meticulously accurate pen facsimiles of missing pages, and of entire printed books, seems to have evolved around the middle of the 18th century. Most facsimilists are shadowy figures, about whom very little or nothing is known.

In 1824, the auctioneers Debure frères presented the property of an ailing Parisian bookseller, Charles Chardin (1742-1826).¹ The cataloguer paused in the catalogue Avertissement to remark on Chardin’s habit of having missing pages in his Aldines and Elseviers “figuré sur Vélin” (copied in pen and ink), also whole books that he could not procure, and he identified the writer of these facsimiles as “Fyot”.²One of the four Aldines in the sale copied whole (lot 1335, Musaeus) and copies of the Aldine catalogues of 1498, 1503, and 1513, and 1503 Monitum (together in lot 2697) were described by the cataloguer as “très bien executé, par Fyot”. This “Fyot” also perfected for Chardin two copies of the 1499 Aldine Dioscorides (lots 805-806) and a copy of the 1465 Fust & Schoeffer Liber sextus Decretalium (lot 463). Ten manuscripts in the sale, some “en caractères d’imprimerie,” all on vellum, are likewise credited to “Fyot” (lots 780, 1610, 1615-1616, 1675-1676, 1679, 1709, 1937, 2581).

On a visit to Chardin’s shop some years previously, Dibdin had seen similar books, and he recorded his suspicion of Chardin’s motive for commissioning them:

There is another oddity about this courteous and venerable bibliopolist. He has a great passion for making his Alduses perfect by means of manuscript; and I must say, that supposing this plan to be a good one, he has carried it into execution in a surprisingly perfect manner: for you can scarcely, by candle-light, detect the difference between what is printed and what is executed with a pen. I think it was the whole of the Scholia attached to the Aldine Dioscorides, in folio [1824 sale, lots 805-806], and a great number of leaves in the Grammatical Institutes of Urbanus, of 1497, 4to. with several other smaller volumes, which I saw thus rendered perfect: - How any scribe can be sufficiently paid for such toil, is to me inconceivable: and how it can answer the purpose of any bookseller so to complete his copies, is also equally unaccountable: for be it known, that good M. Chardin leaves you to make the discovery of the MS. portion; and when you have made it, - he innocently subjoins - ‘Oui, Monsieur, n’est il pas beau?’”³

Two calligraphers named Fyot are known, mentioned sometimes as “Les frères Fyot”.⁴ The elder, F.F. Fyot (François-Florent), must have already acquired a reputation when in 1770 he wrote “Fête donnée à Chilly,” a record of theatrical performances in celebration of the marriage of the Dauphin and Marie-Antoinette, signing it on the title “F.F. Fyot scrip. Cal., 1770” before it was placed in a sumptuous mosaic binding and became a souvenir for the newlyweds (Aylesbury, Waddesdon Manor, Acc. No. 905).⁵ Another manuscript signed and inscribed with the same date 1770 is Besançon, Bibliothèque municipale, Ms 162. A manuscript signed “F.F. Fyot. Fecit et Scripsit Calamo, 1771” was once in the library of Dmitry Petrovich Buturlin (1790-1849),⁶ and another with the same inscription, but dated 1772, was present in the Chardin sale in 1824 (lot 1937).⁷

The latest of Fyot’s signed and dated manuscripts may be “Origine de la Monarchie française, ou abrégé chronologique des rois de France”, inscribed “F.F. Fyot Ecrivain calamo Exaravit mense Augusti 1783” (Pierre Bergé, Livres anciens & modernes, Paris, 27 February 2003, lot 61). A document written in that year states his address: “Ecrit et dessine a la plume, par F. F. Fyot ecrivain en lettres d’impression rue du Four St-Germain, maison du sieur Billardin Md Mercier, entre la Grille du Marché et la Porte de la Foire au 4e sur le devant 178” (Répertoire général et méthodique de la Librairie Morgand et Fatout, Paris 1882, item 3475).

Fyot aîné’s earliest work for Chardin may be “Les Clavicules de Salomon”, signed in a vignette “F.F. scriptsit” (p.4). When Chardin sent this manuscript to auction, in 1779 (Catalogue des livres rares et singuliers du cabinet de M. Filheul [pseudonym of Chardin], Paris, 3-29 May 1779, lot 507), Fyot was not mentioned.⁸ When it was resold, four years later (Catalogue des livres de la bibliothèque de feu M. le duc de La Vallière, I, p.422, lot 1402), it was described as “très joliment écrits en bâtarde & en ronde par F.F. Fyot” (now Paris, BnF, Archives et manuscrits, Français 25314). In a subsequent disposal of Chardin’s stock, in 1811, six modern manuscripts credited to “Fyot” were offered, but no “Copie figurée sur Vélin”.⁹

The earliest signed work of J.S. Fyot, known as “Fyot jeune,” appears to be the “Précis historique de la marine royale de France” signed on the title “J.S. Fyot le jeune” and dated 1777, executed for Antoine de Sartine, comte d’Albi (Anderson Galleries, Cortlandt Bishop sale, New York, 14-15 November 1938, lot 1787). In 1785, he wrote a “Recueil de fables” for the author Claude Watelet, with colophon “J. Fyot, Ecrivain a Paris” (Waddesdon Manor, Acc. No. 4675). In 1796, he signed a two-volume “La Clavicule ou la Clef de Salomon” (London, Wellcome Library, Mss 4669, 4670). The latest is perhaps the “Catalogue de la collection des Elzeviers” signed “Paris, J.S. Fyot scripsit, 1816,” supposedly a catalogue of Chardin’s collection (Jérôme Bignon sale, Paris, 8 January-12 February 1849, lot 3247; Charles Pieters sale, Ghent, 23-27 May 1864, lot 923).

The greatest consumer of their pen facsimiles was Alexandre Martineau de Soleinne (1784-1842). When his Bibliothèque dramatique was sold in 1843, the cataloguer Paul Lacroix described two “manuscrits sur vélin” and thirty-five “copies figurées sur vélin”. Somehow, Lacroix was able to discriminate between work executed by “Fyot aîné” (lots I, 585, 593, 632, 684, 721), by “Fyot jeune” (I, 538, 563, 574, 579; V/1 289), and by “Fyot” (27 lots). Similar distinctions were drawn when twenty-two “Copie figurée sur vélin” from the library of Émile Baudelocque were sold in 1850.¹⁰ Chardin’s Aldines figurée sur vélin in caractères d’impression are unsigned, and on present knowledge it seems impossible to attribute them to one brother or the other; it may be that they worked together, as an atelier.

No reliable biographical information exists for either brother.¹¹ “Fyot” was identified in 1860, as “prêtre bourguignon de la famille de Fyot de la Marche le théologien;”¹² but this identification is highly suspect, uncorroborated elsewhere. Charles Nodier’s assertion in 1829 that Fyot (referred to in the singular) had died impoverished “on a bed of straw” is also very doubtful.¹³

1. A document in the archive of Chardin’s client, William Beckford, calendared “Letter concerning his death, 1826,” appears to resolve uncertainty about the year of Chardin’s death (Bodleian Library, MS. Beckford c. 27, fols. 131-2). See, generally (no discussion of the creation of manuscript facsimiles), Livia Castelli, “Charles Chardin (1749-1826), libraire à Paris” in Histoire et civilisation du livre 10 (2014), pp.365-374 [link].

2. Chariot & Debure frères, Catalogue des livres rares et précieux, de manuscrits, de livres imprimés sur vélin, etc. de la bibliothèque de M. Chardin, Paris, 9 February-22 March 1824, p.v (“M. Chardin s’étoit plu à faire recopier les feuillets qui manquoient, de manière à en imiter l’impression … Ces feuillets refaits se trouvent principalement dans les Alde et dans les Elzeviers, dont plusieurs aussi ont été lavés; ils ont été écrits presque tous par Fyot, qui imitoit dans une telle perfection les impressions et les vignettes anciennes, qu’il seroit souvent difficile de s’en apercevoir. C’est ce même Fyot qui a fait les copies des Alde que M. Chardin n’avoit pas pu se procurer.” [link]).

3. Thomas F. Dibdin, A bibliographical antiquarian and picturesque tour in France and Germany (London 1821), II, p.402 [link].

4. Commendeur & Jacques Techener, Bibliothèque dramatique de Monsieur de Soleinne, tome cinquième, Paris, 4-16 November 1844, p.66.

5. Giles Barber, The James A. de Rothschild bequest at Waddesdon Manor: Printed books and bookbindings ([Aylesbury] 2013), no. 439.

6. Antoine-Alexandre Barbier, Catalogue des livres de la bibliothèque de s. e. m. le comte de Boutourlin (Paris 1805), I, pp.28-29 no. 111 [link].

7. In 1824, it was offered succinctly as a “Manuscrit sur papier exécuté par Fyot”; when it returned to the market in 1902, the cataloguer recorded the full subscription: “F.F. Fyot Scripsit Calamo, 1772” (Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of a selected portion of the valuable library of the late Rt. Hon.ble The Earl of Orford, London, 14 March 1902, lot 145).

8. Charles Nodier’s account of this sale, in Commendeur & Colomb de Batines, Catalogue des livres composant le fonds de librairie de feu M. Crozet, Paris, 2-20 December 1841, lot 1601, suggests that Chardin himself wrote “La profusion de ces notes laudatives, et souvent fort hyperboliques … M. Chardin pensait de ses livres tout ce qu’il en disait, et il l’a prouvé souvent en les rachetant lui-même au prix exorbitant auquel il les avait fait monter.”

9. It is not clear whether this was intended as an auction catalogue: Catalogue de livres précieux, manuscrits et imprimés sur peau-vélin, du cabinet de M.** [Chardin] (Paris: Le Blanc, 1811), items 357, 360, 362, 385, 388, 391. Also offered were anonymous modern manuscripts (e.g. lot 165, “Manuscrit moderne sur vélin”) and manuscripts “exécuté” by Jarry, Gilbert, and other named scribes. A subsequent sale held in London (S. Sotheby, The Chardin library. A Catalogue of the select and elegant classical library of that celebrated amateur, Mr. Chardin, 24-29 May 1819) offered no “copie figurée sur vélin”.

10. Boulouze & Potier, Catalogue des livres rares et précieux de la bibliothèque de M. E. B., Paris, 10-30 April 1850. Fyot aîné (lots 840, 847), Fyot jeune (lots 817, 8322), Fyot (lots 816, 822-826, 835-836, 838, 843, 845, 848, 862, 865, 905-906, 908 [link]).

11. There are notices of “Fyot” in Gustave Brunet, Dictionnaire de bibliologie catholique (Paris 1860), col. 372 [link]; also in the Bulletin du Bibliophile (1847), pp.242-243.

12. Gazette des beaux-arts (1860), p.121.

13. C. Nodier, Mélanges tirés d’une petite bibliothèque (Paris 1829), p.75 (“Ce pauvre homme est mort de faim sur une poignée de paille.” [link]). Two queries sent to Polybiblion: Revue bibliographique universelle soliciting information went unanswered: E.B., “Le calligraphe Fyot” 28 (1880), p.192 (“Il parait qu’il a existé deux Fyot, frères, sans doute, car les numéros 585 et 684 [in Bibliothèque dramatique de Monsieur de Soleinne, 1843] portent par ‘Fyot aîné’; au n° 574, on lit par ‘Fyot jeune’. C’est un point à éclaircir” [link]); F.C., “Calligraphes français” 30 (1881), pp.285-286 [link].

aldine facsimiles in the chardin stock

(1) Pietro Bembo, De Aetna (Venice: Aldo Manuzio, February 1495-1496)

provenance
● Charles Chardin (1742-1826)
● Chariot & Debure frères, Catalogue des livres rares et précieux, de manuscrits, de livres imprimés sur vélin, etc. de la bibliothèque de M. Chardin, Paris, 9 February-22 March 1824, lot 2090 (“m. bl. dent. tab. Copie figurée sur Vélin, d’un opuscule très Rare, consistant en 30 feuillets.”) [link]
● Sir John Henry Thorold, 12th Bt (1842-1922)
● Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of an important portion of the extensive & valuable library of the late Sir John Hayford Thorold, bart., removed from Syston Park, Lincolnshire, London, 12-19 December 1884, lot 253 (“a beautiful facsimile of the excessively rare edition, written on vellum so as almost to defy detection, blue morocco extra, silk linings, gilt edges, by Bozerian jeune, with anchor in gold on sides”) [link]
● James Rimell & Son, London - bought in sale (£3 5s)
● Sir Edward Sullivan, 1st Bt (1822-1885), exlibris
● Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of the choicer portion of the extensive & valuable library of printed books & manuscripts, engravings and autograph letters, formed by the late Sir Edward Sullivan, Bart. Lord Chancellor of Ireland, London, 19 May-12 June 1890, lot 111 (“a beautiful facsimile of the excessively rare edition, written on vellum so as almost to defy detection, blue morocco extra, silk linings, gilt edges, by Bozerian Jeune, with anchor in gold on sides”)
● Bernard Quaritch, London - bought in sale (£5); their Rough List 135: A Catalogue of Greek and Latin classics, also of modern Latinists and of works upon classical philology, Greek and Roman archaeology, and history (London 1893), item 1123 (£5 5s; “a beautiful facsimile on vellum executed in pen and ink; blue morocco extra, gilt edges, by Bozérian Jeune, silk linings and gilt edges; with the bookplates of the Syston Park Library and of Sir Edward Sullivan”) [link]

literature
Antoine-Augustin Renouard, Annales de l’imprimerie des Alde (Paris 1825), p.16 (“une copie figurée, faite sur vélin, depuis peu d’années, par l’écrivain Fyot, et que l’on a vu paroitre en 1823 à la vente des livres de M. Chardin”) [link; similar entry in third edition, 1834, p.7, link]

(2) Alessandro Benedetti, Diaria de Bello Carolino (Venice: Aldo Manuzio, after 27 August 1496)

Image

provenance
● Charles Chardin (1742-1826)
● Chariot & Debure frères, Catalogue des livres rares et précieux, de manuscrits, de livres imprimés sur vélin, etc. de la bibliothèque de M. Chardin, Paris, 9 February-22 March 1824, lot 900 (“m. r. dent. tabis. Copie figurée sur Velin, contenant 28 feuillets.”) [link]
● unidentified owner - bought in sale (FF 60)
● Sir John Hayford Thorold, 10th Bt (1773-1831)
● Sir John Henry Thorold, 12th Bt (1842-1922) [succeeded 1866, consigned library]
● Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of an important portion of the extensive & valuable library of the late Sir John Hayford Thorold, Bart., removed from Syston Park, Lincolnshire, London, 12-19 December 1884, lot 1131 (“facsimile of the rare Aldine edition, beautifully written on vellum, red morocco super extra, borders of gold, silk linings, gilt edges, by Bozerian Jeune”) [link]
● B.F. Stevens & Brown, London - bought in sale (£6) [Benjamin Franklin Stevens & Henry J. Brown, trading as B. F. Stevens & Brown from 1864]
● Robert Hoe (1839-1909), exlibris
● Anderson Galleries, Catalogue of the library of Robert Hoe of New York. Part II: L to Z, New York, 15-19 January 1912, lot 2489
● unidentified owner - bought in sale ($25)
● Chaucer Head Book Shop, New York [unidentified Chaucer Head catalogue, 1920s, item 166: price $50; “Manuscript written on 28 leaves of vellum, 8 1/4, by 5 1/2 inches, in Roman characters, being a facsimile of the 1497 Aldine edition. 8vo, red straight-grain morocco, gilt tooled back and sides, the latter with the Aldine anchor of Sir John Hayford-Thorold, purple silk doublures and linings, gilt edges by Bozerian Jeune. Manuscript facsimile on vellum of the rare First Edition of the earliest published treatise on syphilis. From the Syston Park and Robert Hoe collections with bookplates”)
● Charles Parsons Senter (1870-1932)
● American Art Association (Anderson Galleries), The library of the late Charles P. Senter, St. Louis, Mo., sold by order of Wilkens Jones and the St. Louis Union Trust Company administrators, New York, 25-26 October 1933, lot 220 (“Manuscript written on 28 leaves of vellum, 8 1/4 by 5 1/2 inches, in Roman characters, being a facsimile of the 1497 Aldine edition. 8vo, red straight-grain morocco, gilt tooled back and sides, the latter with the Aldine anchor of Sir John Hayford-Thorold, purple silk doublures and linings, gilt edges.”) [RBH 4055-220]
● Eli Moschcowitz (1879-1964) [lots 1-155 consigned “The Property of the late Dr Eli Moschcowitz of New York City”; medical director of Mount Sinai Hospital, professor of clinical medicine at Columbia]
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of science and medicine, printed books and autograph letters, London, 14 December 1964, lot 85 (“manuscript on vellum, 28 ll., red straight-grained morocco, gilt border on sides, Aldine anchor in the centre, spine gilt, g.e., purple silk end-leaves, from the Syston Park (sale in our rooms 12 December 1884, lot 1131) and Robert Hoe collections with book-plates”) [RBH Snow-85]
● Charles J. Sawyer, London - bought in sale (£45)
● Libreria Bourlot, Turin
● T. Kimball Brooker (purchased from the above, 1973) [Bibliotheca Brookeriana ID #0020]
● Sotheby’s, Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library, The Aldine Collection, D-M, New York, 18 October 2024, lot 838
● unidentified owner - bought in sale ($19,050) [RBH 11499-838]

literature
O.A. Bierstadt, The Library of Robert Hoe: A contribution to the history of bibliophilism in America (New York 1895), p.80 (“Here is a facsimile, finely written on vellum, of the rare 1497 edition of Nicola [sic] Leoniceno’s ‘Libellus de Epidemia, quam vulgo morbum Gallicum vocant’, one of the earliest books on the subject”)
Carolyn Shipman, A catalogue of books printed in foreign languages before the year 1600, forming a portion of the library of Robert Hoe (New York 1907), II, p.25 (“Manuscript copy of the same rare Aldine edition, beautifully written on vellum. The Syston Park copy.”)
Carolyn Shipman, Catalogue of manuscripts, forming a portion of the library of Robert Hoe (New York 1909), pp.191-192 (“a modern facsimile manuscript … From the Syston Park collection”)
G. Scott Clemons and H. George Fletcher, Aldus Manutius: a legacy more lasting than bronze (New York 2015), no. 23

(6) Aldo Manuzio, Institutionum grammaticarum libri quatuor (Venice: Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, December 1514)

provenance
● Charles Chardin (1742-1826)
● Chariot & Debure frères, Catalogue des livres rares et précieux, de manuscrits, de livres imprimés sur vélin, etc. de la bibliothèque de M. Chardin, Paris, 9 February-22 March 1824, lot 1098 (“m. bl. dent. tabis. Le dernier feuillet, contenant la souscription, et les 20 de l’appendix sont manuscrits. Ils imitent parfaitement l’imprimé. Ce volume est de plus raccommodé en plusieurs endroits.”) [link]
● unidentified owner - bought in sale (FF 20)

(7) [Aldo Manuzio], Libri graeci impressi (Venice: Aldo Manuzio, after 1 October 1498) – [Aldo Manuzio], Aldus Studiosus S. Librorum & graecorum & latinorum nomina … (Venice: Aldo Manuzio, 22 June 1503) – [Aldo Manuzio, third catalogue] (Venice: Aldo Manuzio, 24 November 1513) – [Aldo Manuzio], Aldi Monitum in Lugdunenses typographos (Venice: Aldo Manuzio, 16 March 1503)

provenance
● Charles Chardin (1742-1826)
● Chariot & Debure frères, Catalogue des livres rares et précieux, de manuscrits, de livres imprimés sur vélin, etc. de la bibliothèque de M. Chardin, Paris, 9 February-22 March 1824, lot 2697 (“Grand in-fol. vél. Ce sont des copies figurées sur Vélin, et très bien exécutées, par Fyot”) [link]

(8) Musaeus, Opusculum de Herone et Leandro [in Greek and Latin] (Venice: Aldo Manuzio, [before November 1495 (Greek); 1497-1498 (Latin)]

provenance
● Charles Chardin (1742-1826)
● Chariot & Debure frères, Catalogue des livres rares et précieux, de manuscrits, de livres imprimés sur vélin, etc. de la bibliothèque de M. Chardin, Paris, 9 February-22 March 1824, lot 1335 (“m. bl. dent. doublé de moire d’argent. Manuscript figuré sur Vélin, très bien executé, par Fyot.”) [link]
● unidentified owner - bought in sale (FF 104)
● John Hayford Thorold (1773-1831), monogram exlibris
● Sir John Henry Thorold, 12th Bt (1842-1922);
● Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of an important portion of the extensive & valuable library of the late Sir John Hayford Thorold, Bart., removed from Syston Park, Lincolnshire, London, 12-19 December 1884, lot 1369 (“manuscript facsimile of the excessively rare Aldine edition, beautifully written on pure vellum, blue morocco super extra, leather joints, silk linings and fly-leaves, gilt edges, by Bozerian Jeune, with Aldine anchor in gold on sides”) [link]
● B.F. Stevens & Brown, London - bought in sale (£9)
● William Loring Andrews (1837-1920), exlibris, signature; presented to Yale in 1894
● New Haven, Yale University, Beinecke MS 534 [Albert Derolez, catalogue update, 27 November 2007; link]

literature
Catalogue of the William Loring Andrews collection of early books in the library of Yale University (New Haven 1913), p.43
Cora E. Lutz, “Manuscripts copied from printed books” in The Yale University Library Gazette 49 (1975), pp.261-267 (pp.265-266)

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