Strictly Morocco!: Portrait of a reasonable collector
- by Thibault Ehrengardt
Les Contes de la Fontain.
Mr. Wolfi hardly ventures beyond the 18th century but makes an exception for his favorite binder, Bozerian. He loves mosaic bindings, bindings “à la fanfare”, etc. but is not that keen on coats of arms he judges “too impersonal”. According to him, a prestigious provenance means a book coming from the bookshelf of a famous book collector such as Beckford or the Duke de La Valière. Mr. Wolfi is a meticulous man who has read a lot of old booksellers’ catalogues; that’s where he spotted the must-have editions. When mentioning the Khel edition of Voltaire’s works, he means a full morocco bound copy, with the figures bound “avant la lettre” (before the numbers of the pages were indicated on the engravings) – the top one. As far as his copy of La Fontaine’s Les Contes is concerned, it is the 1762 edition, in two in-8° volumes, “one of the 10 or 20 copies bound in reliures de présent”, he precises. Full morocco? Come on, of course... bound by Derome le jeune with Mr. Gravelot’s irons. An exceptional copy. On his bookshelf also lies a fantastic copy of La Fontaine’s Les Fables. It is composed of four in-folio volumes bound in contemporary red morocco. "One of the 100 copies printed on grand papier from Holland," proudly underlines Mr. Wolfi. "The margins are 500 mm high.” His almost incredible copy of Chardelos de Laclos’ Les Liaisons Dangereuses is so clean, it looks like it was printed and bound yesterday. “These two in-8° volumes are hard to find in that kind of binding – the post-Revolution period was not the best one for bindings. This one is signed Bozerian, and the book was printed on vellum paper.” Another book that took Mr. Wolfi some time to find is Don Quichote by Cervantès, the quarto edition of 1746, illustrated with plates “avant la lettre”. No room for mediocrity on this bookshelf.
Mr.Wolfi loves to glance through his treasures, but he does not read them. “I download Gallica’s scanned copies”, he says. To read an old book always damages it to some extent and Mr. Wolfi is obsessed by preservation. He talks about his treasures in a casual way, making reason the card by applying strict, almost mathematical, rules to his passion. But the latter remains the gale that moves him. As a matter of fact, it has taken him into a slightly different direction, lately, and Mr. Wolfi seems to enjoy the excitement of the hunt more than the taste of the game. He loves tracking down the perfect morocco at the perfect price all around the world. “I have recently bought an original edition of Helvetius’ De l’Homme in an American sale at a derisory price!” Denmark, England, France... Mr. Wolfi leaves 10 orders to win one book. He also buys from professional booksellers at times, and even from eBay, where he says he has found a couple of very nice books. Nonetheless, Mr. Wolfi is still looking for his Grail : a copy of Voltaire’s Contes et Nouvelles from 1778... in full morocco, of course. “Voltaire’s contes were not that prized at the time, they were rarely bound in morocco.”
Koller, Mar. 25: KAFKA, FRANZ, SCHRIFTSTELLER. Eigenh. Brief mit Unterschrift. Prag, 20. Oktober [19]15. CHF 30,000-40,000.
Koller, Mar. 25: EINSTEIN, ALBERT. Zwei eigenhändige Briefe an Ernst Gabor Straus, unterschrieben "A.E" bzw. "A. Einstein". [Princeton], [19]45. und [1950]. CHF 30,000-40,000.
Koller, Mar. 25: HORTENSE DE BEAUHARNAIS, MUTTER VON NAPOLEON III. Album aus ihrem Besitz mit 69 Aquarellen und Pinselzeichnungen in Sepia oder Grau… CHF 14,000-18,000.
Koller, Mar. 25: ZOOLOGIE - ORNITHOLOGIE - Seligmann, Johann Michael. Verzameling van uitlandsche en zeldzaame Vogelen. Teile 1-8 (von 9) in 2 Bänden. Mit 421 prächtig altkolorierten Kupfertafeln. CHF 14,000-20,000
Koller, Mar. 25: BOTANIK - Berlèse, Lorenzo und Johann Jakob Jung. Iconographie du genre camellia... 3 Bände. Mit 300 Farbstichtafeln "a la poupée.” Paris, [1839-]1841-1843. CHF 12,000-18,000.
Forum Auctions Natural History: The remaining stock of Antiquariaat Junk, 1899-2026 25 March 2026
Forum, Mar. 25: Botany.- Andrews (H.C.) Coloured Engravings of Heaths, 4 vol. in 2, first edition, [1710,--94]-1802-1809-[1830]. £10,000 - £15,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Butterflies.- Cramer (Pierre) and Caspar Stoll. De Uitlandsche Kapellen voorkomende in de drie Waereld-Deelen…,, 5 vol., Amsterdam & Utrecht, 1779-91. £8,000 - £12,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Voyages.- Darwin (Charles) and others. Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle, 3 vol. in 4, including Appendix to vol.2, first edition, 1839. £8,000 - £12,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Butterflies.- de Graaf (Willem Diederik Vincent). [Inlandsche Kapellen in beeld], 170 fine original watercolours, [Enkhuizen], [1800-40]. £8,000 - £12,000.
Forum Auctions Natural History: The remaining stock of Antiquariaat Junk, 1899-2026 25 March 2026
Forum, Mar. 25: Birds.- Dresser (Henry Eeles). A History of the Birds of Europe, 9 vol., including supplement, first edition, by the author, 1871-96. £6,000 - £8,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Zoology.- Felines.- Elliot (Daniel Giraud). A Monograph of the Felidæ or Family of the Cats, first edition, for the Subscribers, by the Author, [1878]-1883. £25,000 - £30,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Birds.- Frisch (Johann Leonard). Vorstellung der Vögel Deutschlandes, 2 vol., first edition, Berlin, Friedr. Wilhelm Birnsteil, [1736]-1763. £40,000 - £60,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Birds.- Gould (John). The Birds of Great Britain, 5 vol., first edition, by the author, 1862-1873. £30,000 - £40,000.
Forum Auctions Natural History: The remaining stock of Antiquariaat Junk, 1899-2026 25 March 2026
Forum, Mar. 25: Pomology.- France.- Poiteau (A.) Pomologie Française. Recueil des Plus Beaux Fruits cultivés en France, 4 vol., Paris, 1846. £30,000 - £40,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Botany.- [Robin (Jean)]. Histoire des Plantes, nouvellement trouvées en l'Isle Virgine…,, 1620; with Geoffrey Linocier L'Histoire des plantes, second edition, 1619-20. £3,000 - £4,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Asia.- Japan.- Siebold (P.F. von). Nippon. Archiv zur Beschreibung von Japan, 7 parts in 6 vol., first edition, Leyden, [1832]-1852. £35,000 - £45,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Asia.- Valentijn (Francois). Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën..., 5 vol. in 8, first edition, Dordrecht [&] Amsterdam, 1724-26. £8,000 - £12,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Botany.- Australia.- Redouté (P.J.).- Ventenat (Étienne Pierre). Jardin de la Malmaison, 2 vol.,, Paris, 1803-04[-05]. £30,000 - £40,000.
