Antique catalogs, classic treatises, decorative arts magazines, antique furniture

First French edition.

Profusely illustrated.

Text by Edgar Morin, Georges Lois, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Eric Troncy, Jérôme Sans.

Valuable signed autograph inscription from Jean-Paul Goude to Sonia (Rykiel) in capital letters: "POUR SONIA QUE J'AIME."

First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Revue des arts décoratifs of January 1885.

Unbound copy.

Copies recorded in the CCFr only at the BnF, the Musée des Arts décoratifs, and Troyes.

This offprint gathers the three lectures delivered on 18, 21, and 25 October 1884 by the influential art critic Philippe Burty (1830–1890), a key figure in the emergence of Japonism.

Inscribed by Philippe Burty to the archivist and historian Pierre Margry (1818–1894).

First edition, illustrated with 22 full-page plates under tissue guards depicting 75 pieces.

Contemporary burgundy half shagreen binding, spine slightly sunned with five raised bands framed by black fillets, showing minor rubbing, marbled paper-covered boards, a scuff along the right edge of the rear board, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, lower corners bumped.

Pleasantly fresh internal condition.

First edition, no limited issue printed, of this exhibition catalog. This solo exhibition of Perrriand's works was held at the Musée des arts décoratifs from February 5 to April 1, 1985.
Scuffing on lower right-hand corner of second cover faded.
With a lot of illustrations, a nice copy.

Signed and dated inscribed copy by Charlotte Perriand to Michel Troche: "... que d'efforts conjugués...Vive l'amité. Charlotte" (...what a combined effort... Long live friendship. Charlotte).
 

First edition.

Minor foxing, a pleasing copy.

The Roman jeweller Alessandro Castellani (1823–1883) was also an enlightened collector of ancient and medieval artefacts, from which he sometimes drew inspiration for his jewellery designs.

Jean de Witte (1808–1889), archaeologist and numismatist, became a member of the Institut in 1886.

Rare first edition.

No copy recorded in the CCF.

Some marginal tears and losses to the boards.

In 1838 the “Chinese Museum” opened in Philadelphia on the ground floor of the museum of Charles Willson Peale, based on the objects brought back from China by the Quaker merchant Nathan Dunn (1782–1844), who had returned from a long commercial stay in Canton (1818–1832).

The whole of this collection was also exhibited in London in 1842 and, after Dunn’s death, again in 1851, the latter showing meeting with far less success.

The fate of the objects that composed it remains obscure, but the collection fell victim to its own success and appears to have been both plundered by unscrupulous amateurs and dispersed at auction.

First illustrated edition with 5 plates (cf. Coll. Émile Brouwet, II (2), 168).

Half black shagreen binding, smooth spine decorated with gilt and blind fillets, title lettered lengthwise in gilt, joints and caps rubbed, title repeated on the upper cover, paper labels pasted to the lower left corner of the upper cover and the upper left corner of the inside back cover, bookplate pasted to the inside back cover, original front wrapper preserved, corners worn, mid-19th-century binding.

Some light foxing.

The five finely line-engraved plates by Cavelier and Pierron after drawings by Pierre-Paul Prud’hon bring together a selection of pieces of imperial furniture.

The first set — a firescreen, a dressing table with its mirror, an armchair, and a washstand — was executed in vermeil with lapis inlays and presented to Empress Marie-Louise on 15 August 1810. This important commission was the joint work of the chaser-founder Thomire, awarded a gold medal at the Exhibition of 1806, and the silversmith Odiot. The three plates devoted to it preserve its memory, as the ensemble was largely melted down in 1832.

The final two plates depict the celebrated cradle of the King of Rome, in vermeil, mother-of-pearl and burgau shell — the fruit of the same two craftsmen — which was presented by the City of Paris on 5 March 1811, before the arrival of the imperial child, and is now preserved in Vienna.

Thomire alone later produced a second example in elm burr and gilt bronze, following the same design and faithfully reproducing certain elements such as the two bas-reliefs of the Seine and the Tiber. This second cradle is now at the Château de Fontainebleau.

Provenance: from the library of Prince Demidoff (San Donato stamp), then from that of Prince Roland Bonaparte, with his bookplate and label N.