ID 519410
Lot 119 | Ambroise Firmin-Didot (1790-1876)
Estimate value
£ 1 200 – 1 800
Catalogue illustré des livres précieux, manuscrits et imprimés, faisant partie de la bibliothèque de M. Ambroise Firmin-Didot. Paris: Adolphe Labitte & the widow Labitte, Librairie & Typographie Firmin-Didot & Cie., 1878-1884.
A very fine set of the limited edition on large paper, one of 500 copies, the first two volumes of the set subscribed to by Laurence Potier. Although the 3,320 lots sold in these six sales only represented a small portion of the vast collection of books and manuscripts assembled by Ambroise Firmin-Didot during his long life, they were the most valuable ones, realizing the vast sum of 2,612,743 frs, 25 centimes, including the 5% sales tax – the most important sale held in France since the MacCarthy-Reagh sale of 1815. Gustave Pawlowski, Firmin-Didot's old librarian and secretary, again collaborated in the compilation of the sale catalogues, as he had already done in the sale catalogue of the drawings and engravings in 1877. On the printed front wrappers, at least of the six volumes of the ordinary edition, underneath the names of Delestre and Labitte, is the note ‘Se Vend Au Profit Des Pauvres,’ a fact that has remained unrecorded by DBF, Jammes, and other authorities. Blogie II, cols. 150,154,159,164,168,172.
6 volumes, quarto (290 x 192mm). Approximately 200 plates. Indices and printed price lists. Contemporary crimson half morocco, marbled sides, top edge gilt, others uncut, by Edouard Pagnant.
Address of auction |
CHRISTIE'S 8 King Street, St. James's SW1Y 6QT London United Kingdom | |
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