Fine Books 1700-1850
1734-1765 Thesaurus by Seba
2017 SOLD for € 510K by Christie's
In this context which was highly conducive to the natural sciences, Albertus Seba settled around 1700 as a pharmacist near the harbor. He requires the sailors to bring him back the exotic plants which will be used for his apothecary preparations and the animals, shells and minerals which will constitute his repository of curiosities.
In 1717 Tsar Peter the Great paid his second visit to Amsterdam. Twenty years earlier he had been introduced by Witsen to Ruysch who taught him how to catch butterflies. On the occasion of his new visit the Tsar buys in their entirety the natural history collections of Ruysch and Seba.
Seba's procurement process was inexhaustible. He constitutes after that sale a new collection even more important than the previous one and decides to establish and publish a catalog with the help of the best scientists and engravers. His classification by physical features will directly influence Linnaeus who visits him twice in 1735.
Seba died in 1736 whereas only the first two volumes of his Thesaurus had been published, in 1734 and 1735. The edition will be completed with the third and fourth volumes in 1758 and 1765. This natural history by Seba is a splendid large folio 50 x 34 cm and somehow the counterpart for animals of the masterpiece of botany, the Hortus Eystettensis published by Besler in 1613.
On November 28, 2017, Christie's sold for € 510K from a lower estimate of € 350K a complete copy of Seba's Thesaurus, lot 547. Its binding in the mosaic style is exceptional : the first two volumes were bound by the Dutch master Mandelgreen ; the two later volumes were bound in an identical style without loss of craftsmanship.
A gorgeous copy of Seba's marvelous Natural History work, up for auction in Paris on 28 Nov: https://t.co/lxRo5z0RKy pic.twitter.com/TEysgzmEmF
— Christie's Books (@ChristiesBKS) November 8, 2017
1795-1808 Oriental Scenery
by Thomas and William DANIELL
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2023 SOLD for € 600K by Christie's
In 1784, Thomas Daniell had a great idea. Accompanied by his nephew William then aged 14, he traveled throughout India during nearly ten years to draw and sketch the most spectacular monuments.
The Mysore War took place appropriately during this period, fueling the curiosity of the aristocracy to this immense country. Back to London in 1795, the Daniells understood that their images could support one of the most beautiful books of their time.
Published by portfolios in a limited edition and completed in 1808, this work titled "Oriental Scenery" was a commercial success despite a very expensive selling price.
The Daniell's book consists of six parts in Elephant folio size 73 x 52 cm, including 144 hand-colored aquatints. Monuments are sumptuous, with some animation. The later work of the younger Daniell on British landscapes reinforces a possible comparison with their famous contemporary Turner.
The beautiful book of Thomas and William Daniell seems to have inspired the British architects. The quality of its views of monuments has certainly influenced the early travelers photographers of India, half a century later. The aquatint was the most suitable technique for this project at a time when lithography had just been invented.
Coming from a Rothschild collection with a period binding in three volumes with their arms and with the ex libris of Baron James de Rothschild, an example of the Oriental Scenery was sold for € 600K from a lower estimate of € 100K by Christie's on November 22, 2023, lot 82. This set does not have the in octavo text volumes nor the 8 plans.
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2013 SOLD for £ 340K by Sotheby's
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2009 SOLD for £ 240K by Christie's
1809-1828 La Description de l'Egypte
2011 SOLD for € 1.1M by Christie's
The many scholars who accompanied Napoleon in Egypt had reaped a lot of information, some of which were of very high importance. The Rosetta stone was rediscovered during the expedition.
In line with the work of the eighteenth century encyclopedists, Napoleon decreed that the multidisciplinary observations of his 160 scientists had to be gathered in one publishing project. He did make it by his official Imprimerie Impériale.
"La Description de l'Egypte" is a monumental work by its size and its quality. It includes 23 volumes, which were developed in parallel from 1809 to 1828. It contains 974 plates, some in colors, most of them involving several drawings.
A copy was sold for € 1.1M from a lower estimate of € 500K by Christie's on May 11, 2011. It has been bound by Jean-Joseph Tessier as recommended by the printer. It is preserved in its original mahogany display case. A photo showing the importance of this set in its furniture had been published in the pre sale release shared by AuctionPublicity.
The Description of Egypt had such prestige that its second French edition, by Panckoucke, was started in 1821 without waiting for the completion of the official edition.
1827-1838 The Birds of America by AUDUBON
see dedicated page :
1830-1888 Bird Books by GOULD
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2008 SOLD for £ 1.25M by Christie's
At that time the nomenclature of Linnaeus' system was still very incomplete. Gould opens the sample boxes received by the ZSL. The collection of birds from the Himalayas includes superb unpublished species that awakens in 1830 his vocation as a publisher. He draws the sketches and his wife Elizabeth prepares the illustrations.
Gould continued this work until his death in 1881, successively publishing birds from Europe, Australia, Asia, Great Britain and New Guinea. America, treated independently by Audubon since 1827, was limited by Gould to partridges.
His scientific contribution to Australian zoology is outstanding. Dissatisfied with his edition in London in 1838-39, he traveled on the spot with his wife and repealed the copies already delivered to replace them with a more complete set based on his own discoveries. He also published three volumes on Australian mammals, the only ones of his books that do not involve birds. Elizabeth's untimely death does not change his working organization.
The last publication is made in 1888, seven years after his death, for a total of about 3,100 lithographs. This work has several characteristics in common with the Birds of America by Audubon : scientific correctness, distribution by subscription, hand colored images in large size : around 54 x 38 cm for Gould and 98 x 65 cm for Audubon.
Sets containing the 11 titles not canceled by Gould and their two supplements for Asia and hummingbirds are considered complete. Two of them came to auction, both in 43 volumes. One of them was sold for £ 1.25M from a lower estimate of £ 600K by Christie's on April 30, 2008, lot 18.
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1997 SOLD for £ 510K by Christie's
Flying into the weekend with the colourful creations of a celebrated 19th century naturalist, John Gould. On view in our New Bond Street galleries from 11 May. Discover more: https://t.co/Nu4addV5xc#SothebysBooks pic.twitter.com/4kHm9kn8HB
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) April 13, 2018
Prince MAXIMILIAN's Travels in North America
Intro
In North America the west of the United States is still largely unexplored. Wied-Neuwied manages to visit the tribes of the border to compare them to the Brazilian natives. Accompanied by the young Swiss artist Karl Bodmer, he travels along the Missouri River in a 4,400 km long journey in the 1833 spring and spends the following winter in Dakota.
Wied-Neuwied and Bodmer devote the next years to the preparation of the publication of their North American works in German, French and English. From 1839 to 1841 Bodmer now living in Paris prepares 81 watercolors divided into 48 large format tableaux and 33 vignettes which are printed under his supervision by Bougeard.
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1839-1841 German version
2023 SOLD for $ 530K by Christie's
A copy of the fully colored issue was sold for $ 530K by Christie's on June 16, 2023, lot 20. It is made of two large-paper quarto text volumes 357 x 264 mm, the oblong broadside folio atlas of tableaux 447 x 603mm and the oblong folio atlas of vignettes 291 x 420 mm.
The tableaux atlas is made of 48 hand-colored aquatint and engraved plates. The vignette atlas has 33 aquatint and engraved plates. All these plates are in early states including 74 of these 81 in the first state. All bear the artist's blindstamp. An original front wrapper has been preserved.
Today's pick from the Bobins sale: the 1st copy of the fully hand-colored issue of Bodmer’s masterpiece to be offered at auction in about 30 years.
— Christie's Books (@ChristiesBKS) May 25, 2023
□ Lot 20: Reise in das innere Nord-America in den Jahren 1832 bis 1834⁰Prince Maximilian & Karl Bodmer
□ Live auction, 16 June pic.twitter.com/z5xPhce4ua
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1840-1843 French version
2017 SOLD for $ 420K by Sotheby's
That French version is made up of three volumes of texts and an atlas volume containing the 81 aquatints in oblong folio. 206 copies are made. Only 6 examples have all their images hand-colored. For 30 examples the coloring is limited to the plates that provide the best ethnographic content. The rest of the publication is left in black and white.
On June 13, 2017, Sotheby's sold a copy of the Voyage for $ 420K from a lower estimate of $ 300K, lot 75. Its atlas is complete in the format used by Bougeard. 19 tableaus and 7 vignettes are colored without alteration from the original hand-coloring.
A fully colored atlas pre-dating the French volumes was sold for $ 300K by Doyle on November 3, 1999. Most plates carry Bodmer's blind stamp and their titles are trilingual.
#AuctionUpdate Karl Bodmer & Prince Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied's account of their US travels in 1833-34 achieves $420,500 #SothebysBooks pic.twitter.com/yzyTEYcKKD
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) June 13, 2017
Prince Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied & Karl Bodmer's bring together travel, history and illustration. Learn more here: https://t.co/jsnYyr5HSm pic.twitter.com/yJM6xqvTwZ
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) June 7, 2017
1845-1848 Quadrupeds of North America by Audubon
2013 SOLD for $ 290K by Swann
In 1841, he began to publish, also by subscription, a series of images of the mammals of North America, identified as viviparous quadrupeds according to the language of the time.
A copy of the first edition in book form of these images, published in 1845-1848, was sold for $ 290K by Swann on April 11, 2013, lot 73. It brings together in three volumes 150 hand-colored lithographs in elephant folio size, 68 x 54 cm.
For all its aspects, this book is less ambitious than the Birds, which was the largest illustrated book of its time, an admirable double elephant folio 98 x 65 cm.
Less familiar of quadrupeds than of birds, Audubon was helped by the naturalist John Bachman who co-authored the book. And of course, many beasts are too big to be published in life size.
Despite this comparison against it, The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America is one of the finest illustrated books of the nineteenth century. The catalog does not mention the volumes of texts that have been published under the scientific authority of Bachman from 1846 to 1854.