Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20): Lot 51. Ortelius' Influential Map of the New World - Second Plate in Full Contemporary Color (1579) Est. $5,500 - $6,500
Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20): Lot 165. Reduced-Size Edition of Jefferys/Mead Map with Revolutionary War Updates (1776) Est. $4,750 - $6,000
Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20): Lot 688. Blaeu's Superb Carte-a-Figures Map of Africa (1634) Est. $3,000 - $3,750
Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20): Lot 105. Striking Map of French Colonial Possessions (1720) Est. $2,750 - $3,500
Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20): Lot 98. Rare First Edition of the First Published Plan of a Settlement in North America (1556) Est. $3,000 - $3,750
Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20): Lot 181. Important Map of the Georgia Colony (1748) Est. $2,750 - $3,500
Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20): Lot 547. Ortelius' Map of Russia with a Vignette of Ivan the Terrible in Full Contemporary Color (1579) Est. $1,400 - $1,700
Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20): Lot 85. Homann's Decorative Map of Colonial America (1720) Est. $1,600 - $1,900
Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20): Lot 642. Blaeu's Magnificent Carte-a-Figures Map of Asia (1634) Est. $3,000 - $3,750
Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20): Lot 748. The Martyrdom of St. John in Contemporary Hand Color with Gilt Highlights (1520) Est. $1,000 - $1,300
Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20): Lot 298. Scarce Early Map of Chester County (1822) Est. $2,750 - $3,500
Ketterer Rare Books Auction November 25th
Ketterer Rare Books, Nov. 25: H. Schedel, Liber chronicarum, 1493. Est: € 25,000
Ketterer Rare Books, Nov. 25: P. O. Runge, Farben-Kugel, 1810. Est: € 8,000
Ketterer Rare Books, Nov. 25: W. Kandinsky, Klänge, 1913. Est: € 20,000
Ketterer Rare Books Auction November 25th
Ketterer Rare Books, Nov. 25: W. Burley, De vita et moribus philosophorum, 1473. Est: € 4,000
Ketterer Rare Books, Nov. 25: M. B. Valentini, Viridarium reformatum seu regnum vegetabile, 1719. Est: € 12,000
Select items from the first sale of La Bibliothèque de Pierre Bergé
Pierre Bergé, the French industrialist and co-founder of Yves Saint Laurent Couture House, is auctioning his collection of rare books and manuscripts beginning this December. Assembled over the course of fifty years, 1,600 items known as La Bibliothèque de Pierre Bergéwill be brought to auction between now and 2017, and these sales, conducted by Pierre Bergé & Associés in collaboration with Sotheby’s, will go down as some of the most important of the 21st century.
Collecting for Mr. Bergé has always been a highly personal affair, and being French with a passion for literature, his collection has a strong component of it from his country. As his wealth and means for collecting grew, so did his eye for special copies and connections. Many items are signed, belonged to important people, or possess other unique properties. As stated at the end of one of the video interviews available online, he believes that book collecting is like psychoanalysis—“for it to work, you must pay.” And pay he did. Estimates for the entire collection total nearly $30 million, making this one of the most valuable private collections ever assembled. This first sale focuses on items of literary interest, with future sales containing botany, gardening, music, philosophy, and politics.
Serious collectors of French literature are probably salivating at the prospect of obtaining some of the material. However, the collection has no borders, and his favorite authors were often sought in their native tongues. Much more than simply French literature is for sale, and all of it is superb. One such example is lot 79, being a copy of The Personal History of David Copperfield, and includes a signed letter from Dickens to the original owner. Mr. Bergé notes in the catalogue’s opening statement that this is the first “true” book he ever read. Other titans on offer include Dostoievski (lot 94), Robert Louis Stevenson (lot 100), Oscar Wilde (lot 108), and Robert Frost (lot 141).
The scale of this first auction is not huge—188 lots—yet it still spans six centuries, from lot 1, St. Augustine’s Confessions, printed in Strasbourg circa 1470, to lot 188, William Burroughs’ Scrap Book 3, published in New York in 1979. Four video conversations are available online between Mr. Bergé and several literary figures (authors, publishers, and professors), and I highly recommend viewing them; they will be linked at the end of this article. Mr. Bergé discusses his personal philosophy for collecting, as well as some of his favorite books and authors. He reveals in these conversations that very rarely was anything obtained by accident. That in these 188 lots, though they are spread over a large swath of time, each item meant something special to the purchaser and were sought out specifically.
This first sale of La Bibliothèque de Pierre Bergé takes place December 11, 2015 at 3:00 PM CET at Hôtel Drouot in Paris. The auction catalog can be viewed in its entirety here.
For the series of video conversations with Pierre Bergé, two are available through Sotheby's page for the sale, and two are available on the dedicated website's Video page.
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 37: Archive of the pioneering woman artist Arrah Lee Gaul, most 1911-59. $3,000 to $4,000.
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 66: Letter describing the dropping water level at Owens Lake near Death Valley, long before it was drained, Keeler, CA, 26 July 1904. $3,000 to $4,000
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 102: To Horse, To Horse! My All for a Horse! The Washington Cavalry, illustrated Civil War broadside, Philadelphia, 1862. $4,000 to $6,000
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 135: Album of cyanotype views of the Florida panhandle and beyond, 224 photographs, 174 of them cyanotypes, Apalachicola, FL and elsewhere, circa 1895-1896. $1,200 to $1,800
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 154: Catalogue of the Library of the United States, as acquired from Thomas Jefferson, Washington, 1815. $15,000 to $25,000
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 173: New Englands First Fruits, featuring the first description of Harvard in print, London, 1643. $40,000 to $60,000
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 177: John P. Greene, Original manuscript diary of a mission to western New York with Joseph Smith, 1833. $60,000 to $90,000
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 243: P.E. Larson, photographer, Such is Life in the Far West: Early Morning Call in a Gambling Hall, Goldfield, NV, circa 1906. $2,500 to $3,500
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 261: Fred W. Sladen, Diaries of a WWII colonel commanding troops from Morocco to Italy to France, 1942-44. $3,000 to $4,000
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 309: Los mexicanos pintados por si mismos, por varios autores, a Mexican plate book. Mexico, 1854-1855. $2,000 to $3,000
Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 8: Diaries of a prospector / trapper in the remote Alaska wilderness, 5 manuscript volumes. Alaska, 1917-64. $1,500 to $2,500.
Finarte, Nov 20-21: Alighieri, Dante - La Commedia, [col commento di Jacopo della Lana e Martino Paolo Nidobeato, curata da Martino Paolo Nidobeato e Guido da Terzago. Aggiunto Il Credo], 1478
Finarte, Nov 20-21: Alighieri, Dante - La Commedia [Commento di Christophorus Landinus, edita da Piero da Figino. Aggiunte le Rime diverse; Marsilius Ficinius, Ad Dantem gratulatio], 1491
Finarte, Nov 20-21: Lactantius, Lucius Coelius Firmianus - Opera, 1465
Finarte, Nov 20-21: Alighieri, Dante - Le terze rime di Dante, 1502
Finarte, Nov 20-21: Boccaccio, Giovanni - Il Decamerone. Di messer Giouanni Boccaccio, 1516
Finarte, Nov 20-21: Giordano Bruno - Candelaio comedia del Bruno nolano achademico di nulla achademia; detto il fastidito. In tristitia hilaris: in hilaritate tristis, 1582
Finarte, Nov 20-21: Petrarca, Francesco - Le cose volgari di Messer Francesco Petrarcha, 1504
Finarte, Nov 20-21: Legatura - Manoscritto - Medici - Cosimo III de' Medici / Solari, Giuseppe - I Ritratti Medicei overo Glorie e Grandezze della sempre sereniss. Casa Medici..., 1678
Finarte, Nov 20-21: Alighieri, Dante - La Divina Commedia di Dante Alighieri con varie annotazioni, e copiosi Rami adornata, 1757
Finarte, Nov 20-21: Lot containing 80 printed guides and publications dedicated to travel and itineraries in Italy
![<b>Finarte, Nov 20-21:</b> Alighieri, Dante - La Commedia, [col commento di Jacopo della Lana e Martino Paolo Nidobeato, curata da Martino Paolo Nidobeato e Guido da Terzago. Aggiunto Il Credo], 1478](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/45a90570-7486-4199-91da-bd2e9a044380.jpg "<b>Finarte, Nov 20-21:</b> Alighieri, Dante - La Commedia, [col commento di Jacopo della Lana e Martino Paolo Nidobeato, curata da Martino Paolo Nidobeato e Guido da Terzago. Aggiunto Il Credo], 1478")
![<b>Finarte, Nov 20-21:</b> Alighieri, Dante - La Commedia [Commento di Christophorus Landinus, edita da Piero da Figino. Aggiunte le Rime diverse; Marsilius Ficinius, Ad Dantem gratulatio], 1491](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/99566626-91f5-42da-8f8c-05fae35b4c67.jpg "<b>Finarte, Nov 20-21:</b> Alighieri, Dante - La Commedia [Commento di Christophorus Landinus, edita da Piero da Figino. Aggiunte le Rime diverse; Marsilius Ficinius, Ad Dantem gratulatio], 1491")
