Rare Books and Manuscripts Auctioned at Christie's. Among other highlights, the sale includes a illuminated missal for the use of Notre-Dame de Paris, a surrealist card game, an XNUMXth-century travelogue, and a rare volume of fashion and commerce costume engravings. The global estimate for the sale is around 1 million euros.
One of the highlights of the sale is a sumptuous late 40.000th-century illuminated missal for the use of Notre-Dame (estimate: €60.000 – XNUMX). The provenance of this remarkably well-preserved volume makes it truly exceptional. Indications suggest that the manuscript was used by a priest at Notre-Dame, particularly for his Calendar which lists all the saints of the Church of Paris. Another rare and exceptional lot is a 10.000th century prayer book woven entirely with punched cards on a Jacquard loom, which allows various intricate patterns to be created. It is believed that only about fifty copies of the work, between craftsmanship and the first computer technology, were produced (estimate: € 15.000 – XNUMX).
La sale includes also a magnificent travel book of 1782, with original red morocco binding and illustrated with suggestive hand-colored plates. These highly detailed images are highly evocative of the customs of India, Malaysia and China.
The artist, Pierre Sonnerat, one of the greatest illustrators-naturalists of the time, was commissioned by King Louis XV to explore the Orient
SONNERAT, Peter (1748-1814)
Journey to the East Indies and China made by order of the king, from 1774 to 1781…Paris: the author, Froulé, Nyon, Barrois, 1782
This is the first example of a book describing and depicting a number of previously unknown bird and fruit species such as the lychee. A copy of Diderot's Encyclopédie for sale brings together all 35 volumes and 3.129 illustrated plates of the original version. It is stamped with the coat of arms of Maria Feodorovna (1759-1828), Empress consort of Russia (estimate: €30.000 – 50.000).
Sale includes also a valuable collection of late XNUMXth century engravings by the Larmessin, one of the main dynasties of engravers of the Grand Siècle. This is probably the most complete series of "Costumes of the Crafts" of the family ever seen on the market. The characters, in the manner of Arcimboldo, combine emblematic tools and objects that represent a trade or a social status. Beyond their artistic value, these carvings are rooted in masquerade traditions dating back to the 1936th century: spectacular costumes were meant to impress at first sight. An exhibition at the MoMa in 30.000 highlighted the links between this imaginative, "Arcimboldesque" aesthetic and the collages of Max Ernst or the experimentation of Dali. (Estimate: €40.000 – XNUMX).
Stories of Love and Hate: Letters from Famous Writers and Artists
Several lots highlight the mutual influences, quarrels and deep friendships between writers and artists. Fascinating conversations, as well as more heated exchanges, are revealed in manuscripts and letters handwritten. A letter from Flaubert to his muse, the poet Louise Colet (Estimate: €6.000 – 8.000), a manuscript by Leo Tolstoy in response to a speech by Émile Zola (Estimate: €10.000 – 15.000) and a letter from Pierre Soulages to Michel Butor (Estimate: €6.000 – 8.000) should appeal to collectors.
Illustrated texts by René Char are also on sale by great artists of the twentieth century such as Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso, as well as Letter Amorosa (1963), one of the most beautiful books illustrated by Georges Braque. The volume combines poetic forms and the language of colors. It is superbly tied by PL Martin (Estimate: €30.000 – 40.000).
Tarot and playing cards
A complete tarot deck, printed on woodblocks and colored with stencils, produced by the card-maker Nicolas Bodet in the 10.000th century, should appeal to card game enthusiasts (estimate: €15.000 – 1941). In XNUMX, the Surrealist group exiled to Marseilles attempted to resume its activities. The idea of reinterpreting the traditional mazzo di carte she was born in one of the cafés of the city, the Brûleur de loups. The project was quickly entrusted to the artist Frédéric Delanglade. The deck of cards for sale, printed for the first time in 1943, brings together the original drawings by Delanglade and his sketches. It is an invaluable record of this period in the history of Surrealism (estimate: €5.000 – 7.000).
Cover photo: TAROT – Nicolas BODET (active between 1743 and 1751) Taraut cards made by Nicolas Bodet in Berg Straet in Brussels.
