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A study on the evolution of antique books prices.
«Fine books are the best investment», both in a financial and in a cultural viewpoint.
(Madame de Pompadour and Damascène Morgand.)
A STUDY ON THE EVOLUTION OF ANTIQUE BOOK PRICES, COMPARED TO VARIOUS INVESTMENTS :
« Dow Jones » Index of the New York Stock Exchange
The evolution price of American real estate since 1890
« twenty-franc piece »
« hectare of ploughable soil in Ile-de-France »
« French cost of building index »
« real purchasing power in 2008 real terms »
This study made with the help of the Bank Lazard’s services is the first one dedicated to the evolution of the real prices of rare and precious books from the 19th century to nowadays. It should catch the attention of book lovers and wise financiers and increase the interest in our books of “upper culture” so great the results of mid and long-term are striking.
If you want to read this study written in French, click on the following image :
SOON AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH !
Travels through the Ottoman Empire.
The rare first edition of this work dedicated to the Ottoman Empire,
handsomely illustrated by the de Bry brothers.
Frankfurt, 1597.
BRY, Johann Theodor et Johann Israel. I. Acta Mechmeti i Saracenorum Principis natales, vitam, victorias, imperium et mortem eius ominosam complectencia. Genealogia successorum eiusdem ad modernum usque Mechmetem III.
II. Vaticinia. Severi et Leonis in Oriente…
Frankfurt, Jo. Theodorum & Jo. Israelem de Bry, 1597.
2 parts in 1 volume 4to [18.9 x 14.7 cm]. (1), (8) pp. with the frontispiece, the dedication and the notice to the reader, pp. 1-58, (1) bl.l., pp. 59-96, (6) pp. with the index, (1) bl.l.
Contemporary limp vellum, title handwritten on the spine, ties.
Rare first edition of this important work dedicated to the Ottoman empire.
Cicognara 1863 ; Praz S. 291 ; Göllner 2286 ; Blackmer Coll 464 ; Atabey 331.
The text is divided into 2 distinct parts. The first one recounts the history of Islam since its creation by Mahomet until the sultanate of Mahomet III from 1595 to 1603; the second part relates a prophecy of the fall of the Ottoman Empire. 
The rich and superb illustration by the Bry brothers consists of 9 plates in the first work illustrating the life of the prophet and 16 finely engraved emblems in the second text.
« Dieci tavole oltre il bellissimo frontespizio ornano il primo opusculetto, e 16 emblemi intagliati con grande accuratezza trovansi nel secondo. In tutto tavole 26 accompagnate dal testo relativo ». (Cicognara 1863).
A very fine copy of this rare work dedicated to the Ottoman Empire, preserved in its contemporary vellum.
The last copy to appear at auction was sold by Sotheby’s London on the 28th of May 2002 for £ 9 560 (= € 15 000). It was bound in 19th century morocco by Hardy and was missing 3 leaves.
Price: €16 500
*****
First edition of the most important work from the 18th century
dedicated to the Ottoman Empire.
Prestigious copy with the first volume contemporary bound with the posthumous arms
of Maria Theresa of Austria, Holy Roman Empress and queen of Hungary and Bohemia.
MOURADJA D’OHSSON, Ignace de. Tableau général de l’empire Othoman, divisé en deux parties, dont l’une comprend la Législation Mahométane ; l’autre, l’Histoire de l’Empire Othoman. Dédié au roi de Suède.
Paris, de l’imprimerie de Monsieur, 1787-1790.
2 parts in 2 volumes large folio (505 x 330 mm) of: I/(4) ll. including the frontispiece, x pp., (1) l., 324 pp., (2) ll., 2 charts on double-page (marked A and AA), 1 folding-pl. (B), 1 pl. of writings (C), and 23 plates out of pagination representing 37 figures including 3 on double-page; II/ (1) l., viii pp., 357, 41 plates including 4 folding plates representing the subjects 41 to 137.
Part 1 bound in contemporary red Russian young goat , triple gilt filet on borders of the covers, arms gilt-stamped in the centre, spine ribbed and decorated, green morocco lettering-pieces, inner gilt border, blue watered silk doublures and endpapers, gilt edges. Part 2 bound in contemporary green quarter-calf, spine ribbed.
First edition of this fundamental work for the understanding of the Ottoman Empire.
Brunet, III, 1932 ; Cohen 763 ; Graesse 618 ; Blackmer 1164 ; Atabey 846.
« The only perfect source of information regarding the laws and constitution of the Turkish Empire ». Burckhardt
The second volume is dedicated to the Muslim religion and its rituals. It comprises details about the two holy cities and the pilgrimages, and shows a superb view of the Mecca.
« A very well executed work. The first two volumes deal with religion and Mahometan legislation. [… »] (Brunet)
« For Turkey, the excellent work of Mouradja d’Ohsson must not be omitted. The plates are beautifully executed in the line manner, and the testimony of Burckhardt to the valuable and interesting information this work contains, should alone secure it a place in every well chosen library. It is a noble work in all respects, and I give it an earnest and hearty recommendation to every collector of spirit and taste” (T. Frognall Dibdin, The Library Companion, p. 436).
Mouradja d’Ohsson, born in Constantinople, was the secretary and first interpreter of the Swedish ambassador in Constantinople. He became a chargé d’affaires in 1782 and was appointed chevalier of the order of Wasa, then plenipotentiary minister and extraordinary envoy.
« He offered to write Selim II’s reign, but soon he conceived the plan of a ‘Tableau général de l’empire ottoman’, from then he devoted himself without reservation to this venture. In 1784, as d’Ohsson had managed to obtain not without difficulty a definite knowledge about uses, habits, customs, internal practices of the seraglio that had always missed to the rest of Europe, about a nation that has always been unable to become familiar with, he went to Paris to implement his rich materials. In 1788 he published the first folio volume of the ‘Tableau général de l’empire ottoman’; he published the second one the following year. The revolution that arose in France suspended his literary enterprise; he went to Constantinople […]. This work was about to be finished when d’Ohsson died in 1807, and this great project was let incomplete. » (Peignot, Dictionnaire biographique et bibliographique, 557)
A third volume, published by courtesy of the author’s son desirous to continue the project of his father, will appear 30 years later, in 1820.
The excellent and abundant illustration comprises 1 frontispiece and 68 plates representing 138 subjects, including 9 on double-page and 2 folding. A large part of the illustrations was engraved after drawings by J. B. Hilaire, the artist who went with Choiseul-Gouffier in 1776. Other plates are engraved after drawings by Moreau le jeune and Cochin.
As plates 13, 19 and 36 of the first volume were printed late, and consequently delivered after the publication of the volume, they are not present in our copy that was bound as soon as the printing of the volume ended.
« As plates 13, 19 and 36 of the first part were executed after the volume, they are missing […]. » (Brunet)
« This work has not been finished. The first volume encloses besides an engraved title and 4 plates marked A, AA, B and C 40 plates numbered 1-40 (pl. 13, 19 and 36 have been executed after the volume and are usually missing), the second one pl. 41-137 ». (Graesse)
« Plates 13, 19 and 36 are missing in many copies » (Cohen).
A prestigious copy of the most important publication from the 18th century dedicated to the Ottoman Empire. The first volume that was published shortly after the death of Maria Theresa of Austria was contemporary bound in red morocco with her posthumous arms.
Maria Theresa of Austria (1717-1780) has been Holy Roman empress, archduchess of Austria, and queen of Hungary and Bohemia. She led the War of the Bavarian Succession (1740-1748) against Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony as well as France and Spain. This war made her lose Silesia. In 1745, she had her husband Francis I elected Holy Roman emperor, because she could not officially have this title. Impressed by her outdoing personality her contemporaries soon named her « the great Maria Theresa ». Then she led the war against Frederick II in the Seven Years’ War (1756-1762), in order to get back Silesia, but she failed. Maria Theresa of Austria is the mother of 16 children, including Marie-Antoinette, who married Louis XVI in 1770.
The second volume which was published at a later date was bound in a simple green quarter-calf binding.
Price: € 19 500
*****
First edition of this important book dedicated to the Ottoman Empire
at the very beginning of the 19th Century.
POUQUEVILLE, F.C.H.L. Voyage en Morée, à Constantinople, en Albanie, et dans plusieurs autres parties de l’empire Othoman, pendant les années 1798, 1799, 1800 et 1801. Comprenant la description de ces pays, leurs productions, les mœurs, les usages, les maladies et le commerce de leurs habitans ; avec des rapprochemens entre l’état actuel de la Grèce, et ce qu’elle fut dans l’antiquité […].
Paris, chez Gabon, 1805.
3 parts in 3 volumes 8vo [200 x 123 mm]: I/ (3) ff., vii pp. for the preface, 542, 1 plate, 1 folding map and 1 folding table; II/ (2) ff., 287 pp., xv pp., 1 plate and 1 folding plate, III/ (2) ff., xxi pp., 344, 1 folding plate.
Bound in contemporary full calf in a design resembling tree roots, flat spines decorated with gilt urns and suns, red and green morocco lettering pieces, marbled edges.
First edition of this pioneering book about Greece.
The French Librarian of Literary guide, p. 417; Bibliothèque de M. le Baron Silvestre de Sacy 4546; Atabey 988; Blackmer 1344; Weber, I, 5.
Pouqueville (1770-1838) was given the permission to take part in Bonaparte’s expedition to Egypt in 1798, as a member of the committee of sciences and arts. On his return to France, he was captured by pirates and delivered to the pasha of Tripoli, a vassal of the sultan that France was fighting. Pouqueville became a prisoner of war. The pasha of Tripoli sent him to Constantinople, where the sultan kept him shut up in the Castle with Seven Towers during 2 years.
Released in 1801, Pouqueville went back to France and published his Voyage en Morée.
His book gives very interesting ethnographic information.
« The first and probably the best of all Pouqueville’s books on Greece… the work contains a great deal of information on popular customs, superstitions, songs etc. » (Blackmer).
“We had not, as yet, a work that gave a just idea of the peninsula, so celebrated in antiquity, as the Peloponesus, and which is now one of the most important possessions of the Turks in Greece. The ‘Voyage’ of M. Pouqueville now supplies this want, and furnishes all the knowledge that could be desired respecting this peninsula”.
The illustration consists of a folding table and 5 engraved plates including 3 folding.
A fine copy preserved in its contemporary uniform bindings in calf with decorated flat spines.
Atabey’s copy, also bound in contemporary calf, was sold for £ 8 300 by Sotheby’s on the 29th of May 2002 (lot 963) (that is to say 13 000 euros).
Price: € 6 500
One of the earliest work about French Guiana
Rare first edition of the account of the mission to Cayenne undertaken by the French in 1652.
An exceptional copy which belonged to one of the survivors of the expedition,
Father Jacques Aléaume, who inserted at the time in his copy
a map of Cayenne richly annotated in his own hand.
BIET, Antoine. Voyage de la France Equinoxiale en l’isle de Cayenne, entrepris par les François en l’année MDCLII. Divisé en trois Livres. Le premier, contient l’établissement de la Colonie, son embarquement, & sa route jusques à son arrivée en l’Isle de Cayenne.
Le Second, ce qui s’est passé pendant quinze mois que l’on a demeuré dans le païs.
Le Troisième, traitte du temperament du païs, de la fertilité de la terre, & des mœurs & façons de faire des Sauvages de cette contrée.
Avec un Dictionnaire de la Langue du mesme Païs.
Paris, François Clouzier, 1664.
4to [230 x 173 mm] (12) ll. (title, dedication, foreword, table, privilege), 432 pp., 1 folding map with a flap.
Bound in contemporary full brown granite-like calf, spine ribbed and decorated, red morocco lettering-piece with little loss, mottled edge. Joints lightly rubbed.
Rare first edition of the account of the attempt of the establishment of a colony in Cayenne undertaken by the French in 1652.
It is one of the earliest works about French Guiana.
Streit 1974 ; Leclerc 2236 ; Brunet, I, 941 ; Chadenat 18 ; Sabin 5269 ; Picot, Catalogue Rothschild, 1993 ; Rahir, La Bibliothèque de l’amateur, 323 ; Bulletin de la librairie Morgand et Fatout, 9094 ; Huth 167 ; Field, An Essay towards an Indian Bibliography, 127 ; Rich 334 ; Arents 287.
« Very rare » (Morgand et Fatout).
« No relation throws as much light as Biet’s one on the natives of Guiana; he described them in their primitive simplicity. The vocabulary of their language is composed with care, and it is preceded with useful remarks concerning the language of Galibis people common to all the inhabitants of the coast from the amazons’ river. » Biblioth. Des Voyages ». (Chadenat).
« An account of the conquest of French Guinea. The country and nations are very accurately described». (Bohn, Catalogue of a very select collection of books, 562).
“The first book contains an account of Cayenne; the second the history of the first fifteen years; and the third of the natives, who are very accurately described. A vocabulary of their language is added.” (Pinkerton).
Antoine Biet, born about 1620 in the diocese of Senlis, is a French missionary who embarked for Cayenne in 1652 with a 600 settlers troop sent to America by a company which owned the colony. The venture had a terrible ending, and Biet had to devote himself to his companions’ relief, as they were the victims of diseases and poverty. He came back to France after a fifteen months stay in America and started to write the relation of his travel.
The first two books give a detailed account of the preparation of the expedition and of the settlement of the colony in Cayenne, which ends in a big failure as hunger and diseases quickly decimate the settlers.
The conflicts with the natives are also described in this second part. The third book is a detailed study of the island and its population.
The Dictionnaire de la Langue des Sauvages Galibis given by Biet, which fills pages 399 to 432, is of the highest interest.
The Galibis Indians live dispersed among Guiana, Surinam, Guyana, Brazil and Venezuela.
« Father de Marivault was appointed director of the colony in the country: the two others were Messrs de Vertaumon and Isambert. In accordance with the colony’s demand, Father de Marivault took care of things spiritual, helped by 4 other clergymen, Messrs Chasteau, Colsonet, Aleaume and Biet. »
A very precious copy which belonged to Father Jacques Aleaume, one of the 4 clergymen who took part in the expedition to Guiana, and the only one who survived the adventure with the book’s author, Antoine Biet.
Biet mentions several times the name of his colleague during his account:
-p.4: « Le sieur Abbé de l’Isle de Marivault associa six Ecclesiastiques avec lui, deux desquels manquèrent de courage après sa mort, les autres quatre ont passé dans le pays, à savoir les sieurs Chasteau, Colsonet, Aleaume et moi ».
-p.26 : « On mit dans chaque vaisseau deux Ecclesiastiques, pour avoir soin du spirituel ; j’étais dans l’Admiral avec Monsieur Chasteau, & dans le saint Pierre étaient Messieurs Colsonet & Aleaume ».
-p.129: « Le sieur de Vertaumon Gouverneur du Fort commence à faire paraître par ses intrigues qu’il voulait se rendre absolu & indépendant des Seigneurs de la Compagnie, qui étaient dans le pays […]. Il ne voulait pas que l’Ecclesiastique que je lui avais laissé, & qu’il m’avait demandé avec instance, fut dépendant de moi, ni de qui que ce fut. La place que je tenais dans la Colonie faisait que tous les Ecclesiastiques dépendaient entièrement de moi. Je lui avais donné le sieur Aleaume, très homme de bien, & très docte, en qualité de Chappelain, pour assister dans le fort la Garnison, & administrer les Sacrements aux malades seulement ».
-p.140: On February 5th 1653, a peace treaty written by Biet is signed by various Lords of the Colony; within appears the following article: « Ledit sieur Vertaumon se charge de fournir des vivres de ceux qu’il a, & qu’il aura des Sauvages & de la Compagnie, au sieur Aleaume Chappelain du fort & à son Clerc, … ».
-p. 191 : In the passage relating the « fuite honteuse du sieur de Vertaumon & de tous ses adherans dans la Barque, après avoir pillé le fort », Biet informs us of the way Jacques Aléaume left Guiana, on April 10th 1953 : « Le 9e jour d’Avril […], le sieur de Vertaumon faisait transporter dans la barque le meilleur qui appartenait à la Compagnie […]. Il débaucha Monsieur Aléaume Chapelain du fort, à qui il fit emporter les ornements nécessaires pour célébrer la Sainte Messe […]. Le plus grand pirate & forban de la mer n’aurait pas agi de la sorte ».
Among the 5 clergymen gone on this expedition to Guiana, Fathers Biet and Aleaume were the only ones to survive the difficult life conditions of the colony.
Father Aléaume was in a way saved from famine, which was decimating the colony, thanks to his fort’s chaplain position because Mr de Vertaumon who was running this fort had taken control of food, and was keeping the main part of it for the men working for him.
Besides, an old document told us that Jacques Aléaume was the priest of the church Saint-Paul of Orleans in 1665.
The present copy is grangerized. Actually Jacques Aléaume, its original owner, inserted at the time a detailed map of the colony in the volume, entitled Carte de l’Isle Cayenne située à 5 degrés de latitude Septentrionale, en la Terre-Ferme de l’Amérique appelée vulgairement Güaiane, Coste sauvage Roïaume du Roy doré, pais des Amazones et aujourd’hui France Equinoctiale. Paris, chez Jacques Lagniet, s.d. (1664-1672).
This rare map is recorded in the Inventaire du fonds français, graveurs du XVIIe siècle. (Bibliothèque nationale, Département des estampes ; [réd.] par Roger-Armand Weigert,… - Paris : Bibliothèque nationale, 1973) sous le n° 421 (p.124).
The present copy is of the highest interest because Jacques Aléaume, who took part in the 1652 expedition, inserted in his copy a map of the colony engraved by Lagniet, and he also added on it many handwritten information.
He indicates with his pen: the « pointe de Mahury », the « Rivière de Mahury », the « tribus difficiles en 1652 », the « Anse de Rémire », « l’Ile aux lézards », the « Montagne de Romata », the « crique », the « Colline de Conabo », the « fontaine », the « Pointe de Ceperou », the « Mont de Ceperou », the « Fort de Saint Michel Ceperou », …
Aléaume also drew various habitations on the map, such as “carbets”, the “Habitations de Mahury”, “l’Habitation du sauvage Appoto”, the one of “Biraumont”…
He gives very precise details concerning some parts of the map: « Grande anse où les barques ou chaloupes peuvent aborder… », « Rivière de Cayenne qui a … à son embouchure » …
This map is especially interesting because Aléaume added to it a 12 x 16 cm paper portion on which he drew a part of Cayenne which is not represented on the printed map, situated on the west side of the fort where he lived. Aléaume represented on this document the boats at the colony’s disposal (boats, pirogues), the rivers of Corou and Macouriague, and the houses of some savages, including the one of Pepora, drawn on the banks of the river of Corou.
An exceptional copy of this account of the terrible mission to Cayenne undertaken in 1652 by the French, which belonged to one of the two clergymen who survived the disaster, and who grangerized it with a map of Cayenne covered with his detailed handwritten notes.
Provenance: handwritten ex libris of Jacques Aliaume and ex libris with arms of Henry Somerset, second duc de Beaufort (1684-1711) on the paste-down.
ABPC lists only one copy of the present work in a contemporary binding without any restoration that appeared on the market since 1975.
Price: €19 000
The precusor of the altimeter by Mendeleev
Extremely rare first edition of this work presenting for the first time
the barometer invented by Mendeleev.
St Petersburg, 1876.
No copy listed in any public institutions worldwide.
MENDELEEV, Dmitri Ivanovich. O barometricheskom nivelirovanii i o primenenii dlia nego vysotomera. (=About barometric levelling and about application of the altimeter).
St Petersburg, Université de la ville, 1876.
Large 8vo [252 x 158 mm] of (2) ll., viii pp., 184 pp., 1 folding plate. Two stamps from the Library of west Siberia on the half-title, allowing the sale of the copy. Preserved in its original beige printed wrappers, untrimmed. Spine of the wrappers worn, small portion of the tail of the spine missing.
Extremely rare first edition of this first presentation of the barometer invented by Mendeleev.
Dmitrii Ivanovich Mendeleev (1834-1907) is one of the most important scientists in the history of Russia and in the history of science. He discovers in 1869 the periodic law of chemical elements – one of the main laws of natural science. Mendeleev wrote a great number of works among which the famous « Osnovy khimii » (principles of chemistry) in 2 parts, 1869-1871, the first detailed presentation of inorganic chemistry. Tending towards the basic research in chemistry, he also specializes in technology, physics, metrology, meteorology, aeronautics, etc. He created the basis of the theory of liquids, and proposed his own way of cracking division of oil, invented a type of powder without smoke, and promoted the use of fertilizers, the irrigation of dry lands. He will be one of the main founding members of the Russian Chemical Society (1868). He will remain professor of chemistry at the University of St Petersburg from 1865 to 1890.
Mendeleev is the inventor of what he will call a “differential barometer” or altimeter. At the beginning of the 1870’s, in application of his gas density researches, he decides to use the normal barometer before understanding that he doesn’t need to define the absolute meaning of atmospheric pressure but the exact meaning of its changes. With this aim, he builds the differential barometer which is considered by all specialists as the precursor of the altimeter.
The very high precision of changes of pressure is reached thanks to the unusual choice of the manometrical liquid.
From 1872 to 1876 Mendeleev studied very carefully the various possibilities of construction of his barometer and its improving. The final construction of the equipment is presented in this work of a great scarceness.
Mendeleev was considering several fields of application to this barometer thanks to the definition of the modulation of altitudes of the various points of the ground. It would be used for the construction of railroads and in any kind of geological and forest researches before giving it its aeronautical letters patent of nobility.
« The centenarian of the independence of the United States was marked by an international fair in Philadelphia in June 1876. The town received various eminent personalities, famous for their contribution to the scientific or artistic fields. The local newspaper published the names of the famous people present at the exhibition. A new type of barometer, invented by the Russian chemist Mendeleev, was listed under n°241 of the catalogue of inventions and innovations exhibited. »
The present treatise is illustrated with a folding plate showing a view and a side section of the barometer.
A precious copy of this extremely rare scientific work, complete with its folding plate and preserved untrimmed in its original printed wrappers.
We couldn’t locate any copy of this work in a public institution worldwide (OCLC, COPAC, ccfr).
Price: €23 000
First edition of L’Atlantide on Japanese vellum
First edition of L’Atlantide.
One of 50 copies printed on Japanese vellum.
Paris, 1919.
BENOIT, Pierre. L’Atlantide.
Paris, Albin Michel, 1919.
8vo [184 x 118 mm] of 350 pp., (1) l. of table.
Bound in full red straight-grained morocco, five gilt filets on covers, spine ribbed and decorated with blind-stamped and gilt filets on the panels and with dot filets on the bands, gilt stamped date on the foot of the spine, green morocco doublures decorated with a gilt filet on the border, red, pink and gilt marbled endleaves, gilt over untrimmed edges, yellow printed wrappers and spine preserved. Case. Binding signed by Maylander.
First edition of the second novel by Pierre Benoit, one of only 220 copies printed.
Talvart, I, p. 363.
Copy n°19, one of 50 copies printed on Japanese vellum.
The second novel of Pierre Benoit, L’Atlantide confirmed his success after Koenigsmark. This novel was received as a return to the « novelistic novel », which manages to make the reader dream and to give him a total feeling of change of scene.
« Pierre Benoit puts in context here a princess of legend, the bewitching Antinéa, descendent of the ancient Atlanteans, who attracts in her palace of the Hoggar the travelers of the desert to intoxicate them with love, make them die and collect next to her their mummies. It is in this place of enchantment and mystery, where a primitive charm is combined with the subtle refinements of culture that two officers arrive one day, Saint Avit and Morhange, lost during a Saharan expedition. » (Dictionnaire des Œuvres, I, 291)
A precious copy, on of 50 copies printed on Japanese vellum, finely bound with its yellow printed wrappers in a morocco binding with morocco doublures.
Provenance: Georges Donckier de Donceel’s collection with ex libris.
Price: 3 500 €