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.
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.
