Catalogve De Livres D’Estampes Et De Figvres En Taille Dovce.
Paris, F. Léonard 1666.
8vo (172 x 110 mm.). 167 [r. 157], [15]p. Woodcut Léonard title device.
Contemporary vellum over stiff paper boards (soiled, old paper repair to the front pastedown).
Only Edition, describing Marolles’ 123,400 engravings, etchings, woodcuts and drawings, classified by school: an innovation. This is “THE FIRST CATALOG OF ITS TYPE…the richness of his cabinet was fabulous” (Lugt, tr.). “The first print collection on the grand scale…. MAROLLES LIFTED THE PRINTED PICTURE FROM A BY-PATH OF TYPOGRAPHY TO BEING ONE OF THE MAJOR PRIZES OF THE BORN COLLECTOR” (Taylor). The collection was immediately acquired by the crown, through Colbert, founding of the Cabinet d’Estampes du Roi.
Marolles’s opening and closing essays illuminate market conditions and fellow collectors’ preferences. He also helps the buyer weigh condition, rarity, provenance, artists and the beauty of the image. In good condition (lightly browned); contemporary manuscript text addition in the margin, scattered marginal pencil marks.
¶Taylor, The Taste of Angels: A History of Art Collecting 349; Lugt, Les Marques de collections 1855; Ackley, Printmaking in the Age of Rembrandt xxxvi “the first amateur to appreciate the educational possibilities of an encyclopedic print collection”.
Price: $4,800.00