• Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Alken (Henry). Sporting Notions, first edition, T.McLean, 1832-33. £800 to £1,200.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Bardi (Lorenzo). Nuova Raccolta delle piu interessanti Vedute della Citta di Firenze…, Florence, Lorenzo Bardi, [c.1840]. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Crawfurd (John). Journal of an Embassy from the Governor-General of India to the Court of Ava..., first edition, 1829. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Dawe (George, engraver). The Life of a Nobleman, first edition, Geo. Henderson, [c.1825]. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: [Doyle (John)], "H.B.". Political Sketches &c., 10 vol. including The Descriptive Key to H.B., Thomas McLean, [1829-51]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Eben (Adolphus Christian Frederick, Baron von) and Nicolaus Heideloff. Modèles de l'Uniforme Militaire Adopté dans l'Armée Royale de Suède, Rudolph Ackerman, 1808. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Geissler (J.G.G.) and Friedrich Hempel. Mahlerische Darstellungen der Sitten, Gebrauche und Lustbarkeiten bey den Russischen, Tartarischen…, 4 parts in 1, Leipzig and Paris, [1804]. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Hunt (Charles). Portraits of Winning Horses...of the Derby, Oaks, & St. Leger, from the Year 1842 to 1849…, Rock Brothers & Payne, 1849. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Kunike (Adolf Friedrich). Zwey hundert und sechzig Donau-Ansichten nach dem Laufe des Donaustromes…, Vienna, Leopold Grund, 1826. £3,000 to £5,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Lasinio (Carlo). [Matrimony], Florence, 1790. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Reinhardt (Joseph). A Collection of Swiss Costumes, in Miniature, second English edition, James Goodwin, [1828]. £800 to £1,200.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Wengen (Gottfried Durst von). Die Öffentliche Maskerade Bamberg am Fastnachts-Montage 1833…, Bamberg, [1833]. £2,000 to £3,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD
  • Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG BEADED JUDICIAL COLLAR. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A COMPLETE RUN OF VISIONAIRE MAGAZINE THROUGH 2010. $6,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: LAW REVIEW OFFPRINT SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: META REBNER'S WORKING SCRIPT OF THE LOVED ONE. $1,500 - $2,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A KATHY GROVE PORTRAIT OF CYNDI LAUPER FOR THE FEBRUARY 1989 DETAILS COVER. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A PLASTIC COAT BY MILLIE DAVID FEATURED IN SOHO NEWS STYLE SECTION, FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANNIE FLANDERS. $500 - $700
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG JEWELRY BOX. $600 - $900
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A SET OF JONI MITCHELL LYRICS FOR "IF I HAD A HEART." $2,000 - $3,000
  • 19th Century Shop
    Catalogue 198 just published
    19th Century Shop. Darwin and Wallace, first printing of the first paper on natural selection
    19th Century Shop. Shakespeare’s Poems, first collected edition
    19th Century Shop. Walt Whitman portrait inscribed with a Leaves of Grass poem
    19th Century Shop. Major Elizabeth Barrett Browning manuscript notebook
    19th Century Shop. Spock's Baby Book, original MS
    19th Century Shop. Cellarius, Harmonia Macrocosmica, the great celestial atlas

Rare Book Monthly

Articles - January - 2016 Issue

The Golden Calf – the First Pierre Bergé Sale

Pierre Bergé (© Pierre Bergé and associates)

The first sale of Pierre Bergé’s collection was a success as it generated 11.7 millions euros. But are the exorbitant prices of these books a good omen for the future of old books?

 

«Yes, the sale was a success and Pierre Bergé is very happy about the results,» confesses Benoit Forgeot, the main expert for the sale. The first of the six auction sales took place at Drouot’s on Friday, 11 December, and the room was so packed it was almost impossible to come in. Many prestigious people attended, including the French thinker, Alain Minc, who is the administrator of the Foundation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent, and the controversial Jean-Claude Vrain, involved in the Aristophil scandal—a 800 millions euros bankruptcy over old manuscripts with 18,000 abused investors. Many influential people had left absentee bids while others anxiously waited over the phone or behind their computer screens. Pierre Bergé was in a nearby building, closely following the sale. The atmosphere was good, according to our expert, but it was actually a little tense as a lot of money was at stake. Pierre Bergé, said to be a tough man, was very demanding, especially as far as appraisals were concerned. «He required that they should be quite high,» says Mr Forgeot, «and we had to argue with him over several of them to make them as appealing as possible.» At the end of the day, the 85 years-old businessman, and former companion of the late Yves Saint Laurent, was not disappointed.

 

Results

 

« It is one of the biggest collections in the world,» underlines Mr Forgeot, «and it is very open on various cultures, periods and writers. Pierre Bergé clearly chose his books with care. Furthermore, he granted us, the experts an invaluable favour by leaving us totally in charge of the catalogue.» And what a catalogue! A thick in-folio volume that looks like a Bible, the result of an eight-month full-time job. The auction house of Pierre Bergé is used to important sales, as it was already in charge of the sale of Pierre Beres’ collection that generated some 35 millions of euros a few years ago. But Pierre Bergé’s collection should gather even more. «The six sales altogether should generate around 40 millions,» he says. « We’ve just collected 11.7 millions euros with this first one even though six important books (out of 180) had been retrieved from the sale, including the manuscript of André Breton’s Nadja, which was directly sold to the National Library of France.» There were a few disappointing results, though; including the folio edition of William Shakespeare’s works, which didn’t go over 200,000 euros—a very fair price, indeed. The first edition of Montaigne's Essais was sold for 140,000 euros only. Pierre Bergé was personally unhappy about the 368,000 euros obtained for the first edition of Madame Bovary dedicated by Flaubert to “the master”—meaning Victor Hugo. Coming across the buyer, Jean-Claude Vrain, a few minutes after the sale was over, he told him: “You got it for nothing. If you want to sell it back, I promise I’ll buy it back from you.”

 

Yet, Mr Forgeot is quite satisfied with this result: «Pierre Bergé’s reaction is emotional, we can’t fight it. But it is actually a good price.» Other books sold very well, including the manuscript of Flaubert’s L’Education Sentimentale (470,000 euros), the works of Louise Labé (see previous article—430,000 euros) or Les Fleurs du Mal by Baudelaire (notwithstanding the appraisal of 60,000 euros, it went for 225,000 euros), which was also bought by Jean-Claude Vrain. The first edition of Saint Augustin’s Confessions sold for a very good price too (260,000 euros), and when a gorgeous drawing of Victor Hugo went for 400,000 euros, the audience gave a round of applause. For his part, Jean-Claude Vrain made it clear that he is not retired from business yet. Though said to be ruined, he eventually bought for more than almost 2 million worth of books, shouting his name out loud to the auctioneer as a challenge. He probably had orders from some discreet buyers, and was overheard saying: «I’m still getting hard as wood!»

 

The rich buyers get richer

 

The market is supposedly morose but these incredibly expensive books were sold at very high prices, and the few ones that did not meet the reserve price are already in the process of being sold aside. So, what does such a sale tell us about the market for old books? It might seem a very good omen, but at the same time, the ever-increasing prices of exceptional books go along with the ever-decreasing prices of “ordinary” ones. It is the painful stigma of the general situation: a deep economical crisis that makes the rich richer, and which gives a hard blow to the middle-class. Under these conditions, old books obviously represent a good investment for wealthy people—well, at least the exceptional ones. «Whereas exceptional books become more and more expensive, the ordinary ones get less and less expensive,» commented Mr Forgeot. He then quotes several sales that recently made impressive results, such as Sotheby’s Pirie sale in New York (15 millions) or Christies’ in Paris (3 millions). «You must make the difference between the “learned buyers”, who buy old books that are not available otherwise, and the collectors. The first ones used to buy ordinary books because they wanted to read them. Booksellers would organise the rarity of these books to maintain high prices.”

 

The Internet revolution has freed these buyers from the yoke of their suppliers. Indeed, a quick search on the Addall website, for example, will demonstrate that most old books are not that rare. “These buyers have stopped buying books at over the top prices,” says Mr Forgeot. “They buy reprints or they read on-line, and this is hurting the market of ordinary old books. But the collectors, who are interested in exceptional copies, buy more than ever.” So, who are these “collectors”? “People who do not buy books, but objects. They don’t necessarily read their books, but they simply buy icons. In this regard, the more our world becomes virtual the more these icons become valuable.” Mr Forgeot here quotes an unexpected example: the success of Aristophil. Beg your pardon? “I’m not talking about the scandal here, but about their former exhibitions of old manuscripts. The one of the French writer Romain Gary, for example, was twice extended when hosted in 2010! To be truthful, I love Romain Gary, but I would not have bet a dime on this project. It shows that people are now longing for this kind of relationship with art.” Does it mean that people queue in front of exhibitions just like the Romans queued in front of the temples of their divinities? It has always been a touchy subject; but if Mr Forgeot is right, then bibliophilism will soon be nothing but idolatry. This would be quite ironic, if books, which took Man out the dark cave of ignorance and superstition, should become the objects of Man’s pagan worshipping. No wonder they will get more and more expensive, then. The calf of the Jews was not made of clay, was it?

 

Pierre Bergé, who used to call his antiquarian books his “best friends”, confesses, in one of the promotional videos for the sale that he did not read them, out of “respect”. Just like princesses during the days of courteous love, books are worshipped, but hardly honoured. What’s the use, then, to get “hard as wood”? Mr Forgeot is an optimist, and he rejoices. He who loves building up catalogues and talking about books and their authors, sees a bright future ahead, full of learned booksellers who will explain books, describe them with passion... to impotent (but rich) buyers of pagan icons? Hallelujah! Or should we say, Hallelu-aristophil?

 

(c) Thibault Ehrengardt

Rare Book Monthly

  • Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HARRISON, Benjamin. Document signed (“Benj Harrison”) as governor of Virginia, certifying the service of Daniel Cumbo, a Black Revolutionary soldier. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HIGHLY IMPORTANT MORMON ARCHIVE. ALLEY, George. Archive of 23 Autograph Letters Signed by Mormon Convert George Alley to His Brother Joseph Alley. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [AVIATION]. [ARMSTRONG, Neil A.] Aviation Hall of Fame Gold Medal MS64 NGC, Awarded to Neil Armstrong in 1979. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: NEWLY DISCOVERED FIRST PRINTING OF "WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE... " FROM THE ONLY NEWSPAPER ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL PROCESSION. $4,000 to $8,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: A VERY RARE ACCOUNT OF BLACKBEARD’S DEATH AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PIRATE ITEMS EXTANT. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [VIETNAM WAR]. The original pen used by Secretary of State William P. Rogers to sign the Vietnam Peace Agreement, Paris, 27 January 1973. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: SONS OF LIBERTY FOUNDER COLONEL BARRÉ ANNOTATED TITLE-PAGE, “WHICH OUGHT TO ROUSE UP BRITISH ATTENTION”. $4,000 to $6,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: [Shakespeare (William)]. [Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies], second folio edition, [by Tho.Cotes, for Robert Allot], [1632]. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Bible, Czech Biblia Bohemica, first complete Bible printed in the Czech vernacular, Prague, August 1488. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Shabthai Tzvi.- Collection of four printed and illustrated broadsides detailing the appearance, rise and fall of the false messiah, Shabthai Tzvi, Augsburg, 1666-67. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Leaf from the Beauvais Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [Northern France (perhaps Beauvais or Amiens)], [fourteenth century (c.1310)]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Aubrey (John). [Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme], manuscript in English, Latin and Greek, [c. 1693]. £30,000 to £50,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Poems on Various Occasions, first edition, Harriet Maltby's copy, Newark, Printed by S. & J. Ridge, 1807. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression with dust-jacket, 1937 [but 1938]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Blake (William).- Thornton (Robert John). The Pastorals of Virgil, 2 vol., engraved plates by William Blake, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: America.- Mount (William J.) & Thomas Page. The English Pilot…, [bound with] The Fourth Book, describing The West Indies Navigation from Hudson's-Bay to the River Amazones, 1721. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Oldfield (Henry Ambrose), Rajman Singh Chitrakar & others. An album of 160 photographs and 13 original artworks, (1833-1919), [c. 1850s-1880s]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.

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