Consul Joseph Smith (1628-1770) - photo 1
Consul Joseph Smith (1628-1770) - photo 2

Consul Joseph Smith (1628-1770)

Lot 191
09.12.2020 00:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
£ 1 500
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 470304
Lot 191 | Consul Joseph Smith (1628-1770)
Estimate value
£ 1 500 – 2 000
Consul Joseph Smith (1628-1770)

Bibliotheca Smithiana 1755

SMITH, Joseph, Consul (1682-1770) – PASQUALI, Giovanni Baptista (1702-84). Bibliotheca Smithiana, seu Catalogus librorum d. Josephi Smithii Angli per Cognomina Authorum dispositus. Venice: G.B. Pasquali, 1755.



The third (first complete) edition of the catalogue of Consul Smith's library, containing all the books in his library as of 1751, including some manuscripts. The collection was bought en bloc by George III for £10,000 in 1765 as a foundation collection for the King’s Library, now at the British Library. As British consul at Venice, Smith was a patron of artists and of the Pasquali press, as a focal point for British travellers on the Grand Tour. ‘Although there is no evidence that the Bibliotheca Smithiana was originally intended to be a sale catalogue, in the event it turned out to be just that’ (Morrison). The present copy belongs to the first issue, without the woodcut at the head of the Addenda & Corrigenda; the 352-page Appendix reprints in full some 200 prefaces, dedications, and epilogues in the incunables described. De Ricci, pp. 54-55; Morrison, ‘Records of a Bibliophile,’ in The Book Collector, vol. 43, no 1 (Spring 1994), no. 4; Taylor, pp. 261-62.



Quarto (239 x 172 mm). Title printed in red and black, with an impression of Smith's bookplate, engraved by A. Visentini. Contemporary Italian sprinkled boards, smooth calf spine richly gilt, black morocco lettering-piece (minor restorations at extremities); modern folding case. Provenance: Bernard Breslauer (sale Christie’s, Bibliotheca Bibliographica Breslaueriana, 22-23 March 2005, lot 807).

Auction house category:Books
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