In our June issue, Ian McKay wrote a short piece on the Peyraud Collection, auctioned by Bloomsbury earlier this year. This
fascinating collection-including Samuel Johnson, Jane Austen, and Fanny Burney,
etc.-was formed by the late librarian Paula Peyraud. (Pictured here is the
three-volume first edition of Burney's Evelina in contemporary calf with gilt tooling.)
Interested readers can now take note of a more extensive
report on the Peyraud collection, written by Maureen E.
Mulvihill, a scholar and writer with the Princeton Research Forum. In her essay, "Literary Property Changing Hands: The Peyraud
Collection," Dr. Mulvihill takes an in-depth, post-auction view at the lots and
their bidders. She also enlightens readers about Peyraud, book-collecting's
"dark lady." A selection of fine images from the original sale catalogue
accompanies the text.
Dr. Mulvihill's report was recently published in the journal Eighteenth-Century Studies, Autumn 2009, vol. 23, no. 1 (2009). You can download a PDF version here: www.bloomsburyauctions.com/PDF/bloomsburyauctions-peyraud-mulvihill.pdf.
