Exceptional catalogues: <br>Livres Anciens and Livres Precieux
- by Bruce E. McKinney
Livres Precieux offered by Bernard & Stephane Clavreuil
By Bruce McKinney
When you cut into a superb fillet you know, before your taste confirms, that something special is at hand. Quality has a feel to it. In the book trade there is a certain magic that many dealers aspire to and a few actually provide. In London, stepping through the front door of Maggs Bros. is stepping into the history of exceptional printed material. So many important books have passed this way and you know it at a glance.
In Paris there is Chamonal which is short for Rodolphe Chamonal, heir and current proprietor, of the shop his father built following WWII. Located in the shadows of Paris's book auction bourse, the scale and airiness of the shop suggest a location that has been there since Gertrude Stein, James Joyce and Ernest Hemingway drank and dined nearby. The inventory is extensive and eclectic. In other words you'll find something of interest but it may be a book you haven't heard of before. A French volume about San Francisco printed in 1856 with all the images in color is something I bought there years ago. For the lucky few there is a small room in the back where subject, condition and provenance rarities are displayed, discussed and negotiated. A trip to the inner sanctum a few years ago brought me face-to-face with a large bound volume of "Guerre D'independence American" manuscripts that today sit a few feet away from my desk.
A fifteen minute walk away is Libraire Thomas-Scheler, the family business of Bernard & Stephane Clavreuil located at 19, rue de Tournon. Here the shop is smaller but a portion of the material is very exceptional. The Clavreuils are very French and the standards strictly double A. For them the example must be superb and the book important. One can only wonder where they find such material. Here too I have purchased. On one trip I purchased a copy of Ferdinandi Cortesii, Von dem Newen Hispanien,...printed in 1550 in German and containing, according to Harisse, a translation of the second and third letters from the Latin edition of the Cortes Letters, with extracts from Peter Martyr's fourth decade, from Oviedo, and other extracts relating to the Canary Islands, Venezuela, and American discoveries down to the year 1543. This copy is from the library of Henri Ternaux-Compans, the extraordinary bibliographer of the 19th century and has his library mark, a ram and his initials on the cover. It is an absolute gem, a collector's book.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("Martinus Luther") to His Friend the Theologian Gerhard Wiskamp ("Gerardo Xantho Lampadario"). $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: An Exceptionally Fine Copy of Austenís Emma: A Novel in Three Volumes. $40,000 - $60,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Presentation Copy of Ernest Hemmingwayís A Farewell to Arms for Edward Titus of the Black Mankin Press. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript Signed Integrally for "The Songs of Pooh," by Alan Alexander. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript of "Three Fragments from Gˆtterd‰mmerung" by Richard Wagner. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Preliminary Artwork, for the First Edition of Snow Crash. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("T.R. Malthus") to Economist Nassau Senior on Wealth, Labor and Adam Smith. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Finely Bound by Michael Wilcox. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: First Edition of Lewis and Clark: Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Artwork for the First Edition of Neal Stephenson's Groundbreaking Novel Snow Crash. $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: A Complete Set Signed Deluxe Editions of King's The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("John Adams") to James Le Ray de Chaumont During the Crucial Years of the Revolutionary War. $8,000 - $12,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000.
Heritage Auctions Rare Books Signature Auction December 15, 2025
Heritage, Dec. 15: John Donne. Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death. London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
Heritage, Dec. 15: F. Scott Fitzgerald. Tender is the Night. A Romance.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Jerry Thomas. How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion, Containing Clear and Reliable Directions for Mixing All the Beverages Used in the United States…
![<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/8caddaea-4c1f-47a7-9455-62f53af36e3f.jpg "<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.")
