110 Antiquarian and Modern Books from L'Ancre Aldine
Ancient and modern books from L'Ancre Aldine.
By Michael Stillman
L'Ancre Aldine, the Lyon, France, bookseller, has issued their 16th catalogue. It carries the heading of Livres Anciens & Modernes (Antiquarian and Modern Books) and Cent-Dix Livres Choisis (One Hundred Ten Selected Books). As you might imagine, the catalogue is written in French. This can be said of most of the books offered as well, though not all. Just as there is a wide range of publication dates in a catalogue of antiquarian and modern books, there is a great variety of subjects covered. Here are a few of the books you will find.
Item 71 is a recollection of a very bad time in Lyon, and all of France: Tableau des prisons de Lyon, pour servir a l'Histoire de la Tyrannie de 1792 et 1793, published in 1797. Author Antoine Francois Delandine wrote numerous books on various subjects, and was a minor political figure. He ran afoul of the authorities as the Revolution turned to the Reign of Terror, and Delandine got to observe prison life from the inside. He was lucky to escape the guillotine. In later years, Delandine settled down to become Director of the Library of Lyon, and produced several bibliographic works. Priced at €1,100 (euros, or approximately $1,374 in U.S. currency).
Abbe Francois Timoleon Choisy would probably be classified as a cross-dresser today, though it's doubtful the term was used in the late 17th century. Actually, it was Choisy's mother who encouraged his dressing as a woman, so dressing him until he was 18. As a result, Choisy drifted back and forth in his manner of dress throughout his life. He at one time instructed young women in how to dress, hired by mothers who thought he was a woman. Choisy took advantage of the opportunity, as despite the dress, he was strongly heterosexual. Choisy would likely have lived in obscurity except that his mother was a friend of King Louis XIV, and he grew up around the court. He even participated in a diplomatic mission to Siam, but for the most part, the King had few roles for a man of his unusual appearance. Item 22 is Choisy's book Memoirs pour servir a l'histoire de Louis XIV, a gossipy book published posthumously in 1727 recounting the life and times of the author and the people he knew, including those at the court. €300 (US $375).
Item 69 is a memoir of negotiations between France and England near the close of what was known as the French and Indian War in America (part of a larger conflict known as the Seven Years War in Europe). It is by French officer Etienne-Francois de Choiseul de Stainville: Memoire historique sur la negociation de la France & de l'Agleterre [sic], depuis le 26. Mars 1761. It was these negotiations, resulting from France's military defeat at the hands of the British, that forced them to surrender virtually all of their possessions in North America. Canada was ceded to the British, while France turned over Louisiana to their ally Spain, in compensation for the latter losing Florida. €400 (US $500).
Sotheby’s Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library. The Aldine Collection D-M 18 October 2024
Sotheby’s, Oct. 18: Herodianus Syrus, Herodiani Historiarum, Venice, Heirs of Aldo & Torresano, 1524, Parisian binding for Jean Grolier by Jean Picard, ca. 1540
Sotheby’s, Oct. 18: Musaeus, Opusculum de Herone et Leandro, Venice, Aldo, 1495 (Greek text), interleaved with 1497–1498 (Latin text), English olive morocco by Charles Lewis, the Botfield copy
Sotheby’s, Oct. 18: Horatius Flaccus, Horatius, Venice, Aldo, 1501, Bolognese brown goatskin (between 1501 and 1503), arms of Mino Rossi and illuminated initials throughout
Sotheby’s, Oct. 18: Lucretius, De rerum natura, Venice, Aldo, 1500, English early eighteenth-century red morocco, the Fletcher copy
Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: CATESBY, MARK. 1683-1749. The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands. $100,000 - $150,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: AUDUBON, JOHN JAMES. 1785-1851. The Birds of America, from Drawings Made in the United States and their Territories. $30,000 - $50,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: ADAMS ON HIS PEAR TREES AND A LOST PORTRAIT BY SALEM ARTIST HANNAH CROWNINSHIELD. ADAMS, JOHN. 1735-1826. $10,000 - $15,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: EARLIEST MAP DEVOTED TO NORTH AMERICA. FORLANI, PAULO. fl.1560-1571. $20,000 - $30,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: HAMILTON DEFENDS THE CONSTITUTION. HAMILTON, ALEXANDER. 1757-1804. $20,000 - $30,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION BROADSIDE. Boston, September 14, 1768. $5,000 - $8,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: ONE OF THE EARLIEST ILLUSTRATIONS OF A SURGICAL PROCEDURE. BARTHOLOMAEUS ANGLICUS. $10,000 - $15,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: RICHARD FEYNMAN'S ANNOTATED COPY, WITH TWO EARLY FEYNMAN AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPTS. $15,000 - $25,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: THE FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN COMPUTING. TURING, ALAN MATHISON. 1912-1954. $30,000 - $50,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: FINE OIL PORTRAIT OF ALBERT EINSTEIN BY EUGEN SPIRO. $40,000 - $60,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: PENICILLIN MOLD MEDALLION INSCRIBED BY ALEXANDER FLEMING. FLEMING, ALEXANDER. 1881-1955. $30,000 - $50,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: APPLE "TWIGGY" MACINTOSH PROTOTYPE USED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF DEMONSTRATION SOFTWARE. $80,000 - $120,000
Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 24: A Superb Extra-illustrated Copy of Nicolay and Hay’s Work About Lincoln. $50,000 – 70,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 24: The First Volume of De Bry's Great Voyages, Thomas Hariot's Description of Virginia. $50,000 – 70,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 24: An autographed cabinet card of Custer as lieutenant colonel. From his last sitting. $800 – 1,200.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 24: The Congressional Committee, Lincoln's Funeral Springfield Illinois, 3 May 1865. $4,000 – 6,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 25: A remarkable ninth plate daguerreotype of an interracial couple. $30,000 – 50,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 25: What may be the earliest known images of an identified plantation and enslaved African Americans posed with their owner. $20,000 – 30,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 25: Through Tickets to All Principal Points West Via Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railroad For Sale at This Office. $500 – 700.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 25: 15th New York Infantry / Regiment of Engineers GAR regimental colors. Ca 1880. $1,500 – 2,500.
Jeschke Jádi Auction 153 Friday October 25 and Saturday October 26, 2024
Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1556. Senghor, Les Élégies Majeures. Geneve 1978.
Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1572. Lew Tolstoy. Anna Karenina. First Edition, Moscow, 1878.
Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 49. Petrarca. Das Gluecksbuch, Augsburg, 1536.
Jeschke Jádi Auction 153 Friday October 25 and Saturday October 26, 2024
Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1060. Immanuel Kant, Critik der reinen Vernunft. First Edition, Riga, 1781.
Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 585. Bonaparte, Iconografia della fauna Italica. Rome, 1832f.
Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 548. Robert Fludd. Utriusque cosmi maioris, Frankfurt, 1617f.
Jeschke Jádi Auction 153 Friday October 25 and Saturday October 26, 2024
Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1496. Jacob / Picasso. Chronique des Temps, 1956.
Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 571. Christian von Wolff. Works, Halle 1741f.
Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 969. Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Dekorationen innerer Raeume. Berlin 1874.
Jeschke Jádi Auction 153 Friday October 25 and Saturday October 26, 2024
Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1457. Goethe. Das Tagebuch. Print on Vellum. Berlin, Officina Serpentis. 1934.
