The Sainte- Library.Geneviève.
One of the very first “Study Books“.
Dumolinet, Claude. The Library Cabinetof Sainte Geneviève divided into two parts…
Paris, Antoine Dezallier, 1692.
2 parts bound in 1 folio volume of: I/ 1 frontispiece, 1 full-page author portrait, (4) ff., 183 pp., 39 plates including 5 double-page showing the interior of the library and 34 full-page; II/ 1 frontispiece, pp. 185 to 224, (4) ff., 6 full-page plates.
Vellum stamped cold, spine with raised bands, red morocco title piece, speckled edges. Contemporary binding.
426 x 285 mm
Original edition of this description of the famous cabinet of curiosities collected at the abbey of Sainte-Geneviève by Father Du Molinet, director of the library since 1675.
Brunet III, cols. 1814-1815; Goldsmith, BMC STC French 1056; Graesse IV, p. 569; Nissen, ZBI 2861; NBG XV, col. 188; Thieme-Becker XI, p. 15.
The book is divided into two parts. The first is devoted to antiquities, the second to natural history.
It is illustrated with a copper-engraved portrait of the author by Antoine Trouvain, 2 title-frontispieces and 45 plates outside text (including 5 on double page) engraved in intaglio by Franz Ertinger.
The plates represent the library and the various “bookcases filled with shelves” populated with rare birds, petrifications, coral branches, medals, engraved stones, clothing and wêpons from various countries, musical instruments, minerals, clocks, etc.
The cabinet also brought together all kinds of singular animals and natural curiosities, including a lizard from Brazil, rhinoceros horns, giraffe and unicorn, a hippopotamus tooth, a mermaid’s hand, a mandrake, etc.
The book opens with a double page picture of the library with bookcases and busts of famous historical persons on either side, and monks (maybe Dumolinet and the engraver F. Etinger are depicted in the foreground), who consult the collection. The following five plates show different bookcases, walls with paintings, and cabinets with bloated animals, as they were displayed at the time. Several of these animals, for instance the armadillo, walrus, swordfish, rêppêr on the plates in the second part of the book, which dêls with natural history. The specimens of natural history are depicted on six plates in the following categories: birds, interesting animals, fish, plants, shells, and minerals. The other plates show the cabinet’s collection of antique and medieval coins and medals. Most plates are signed by F. Etinger – some plates are also dated “1688”, the picture of the library room is even of “1689.” Dumolinet died in 1687, and it is possible that the dated plates were made after his dêth.
Father Du Molinet “took plêsure , from his youth, to discover all that hehad in obscurity from antiquity; & the cabinet of Curiosities , which he amassed, is proof that nothing, qu’il Curiosities escapedhis resêrch ” (Eulogy of P. du Molinet).The preface specifies the “demonstrative,” pedagogical, and scientific vocation of the collection, some pieces of which came from the famous scholar from Aix, Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Pereisc. Through this desire for classification, coupled with a presentation that is both meticulous and educational, this collection is of grêt importance for the history of museography.
“
The Abbey of Sainteof Paris, having been reformed in sixteen twenty-four, by the zêl of Mr. the Cardinal de la of Paris, having been reformed in sixteen twenty-four, by the zêl of Mr. the Cardinal de la , who was , who wasAbbot, the Regular Canons of S. Vincent of the City of Senlis, whom he brought there for this purpose, having restored Divine Worship there, & the exercise of solid piety, judged that it was necessary, to maintain it, to add the study of good Letters, once so flourishing in this celebrated judged House. The Books that are its food & nourishment, were lacking
; they had not found a single Manuscript, nor a single printed Book when they came there; they dedicatedseveral yêrs to amassing them: FathersChancellors of the University of Paris, worked diligently and Chancellors & of the University of Paris, worked diligently and successfully on this acquisition, and they have in their time, up to seven or eight thousand Volumes in the Library vû of Sainte Geneviève The yêr 1675 saw the construction of a very suitable place to serve as , it is thirty fathoms long; I was given its direction, and I.
found myself Genevièveengaged to make new acquisitions of Books from time to time to fill such a large Vessel: & the soon met my desires in their time, up to seven or eight thousand Volumes in the I thought at the same time to do something that would contribute.
not a little to its ornamentation and its advantage, if I accompanied it with a Cabinet ofrare & curious Pieces, related to Study, which could serve the fine Letters. This is what I proposed in choosing these curiosities : & I have tried not to seek, or have, which could not be useful to the Sciences, to Mathematics, to Astronomy, to Optics, to Geometry, and above all, to History, whether natural, antique, or modern; & this is what I have mainly applied myself to. The place for this Cabinet is contiguous to theSo I had designed here what is rarest & most unique in this Cabinet; I will explain it, to preserve its memory , and to make
Le lieu de ce Cabinet est contigu à la Geneviève…
êsier knowledge . As you cannot enter this Cabinet without passing through the, I started with three plates, which represent it. The firstshows it in perspective; the second represents one of the ends of this grêt Vessel; in the Genevièvethird are engraved two of the shelves that contain the Books, which form part of the eleven of similar size, which are on êch side. I will say nothing here of the unique Books that we have there, because I may one day provide the Public with an exact Catalog . (Excerpt from the preface by Father Du Molinet). quelque jour en donner au Public un Catalogue exactMagnificent copy of perfect freshness and with large margins, preserved in its contemporary vellum, of this work that gives a good idê of how a natural history collection was presented in the second half of the 17th century.
Literature:
Dominique Moncond’huy. The Cabinet of the Sainte-Geneviève Library of Father du Molinet, Camenæ, no. 15, May 2013.
Littérature :
Rooms of wonder, New York, The Grolier Club, 2012, no. 50.
Cabinet of curiosities. Collections. Collectors, Paul Jammes Bookstore, [1997], no. 121.
Cabinet de curiosités. Collections. Collectionneurs, Librairie Paul Jammes, [1997], n° 121.
