Pliny's Letters, Monstrelet's Chronicles, and Fabergé Torah Pointer: The Week in Rare Books
Pliny's Letters from the Aldine Press
This weekly auction result is provided by Spencer W Stuart, an independent collections advisor specializing in rare books and manuscripts as well as fine photography and prints. He is also the author of Contemporary Issues in Rare Books & Manuscript Collecting and host of the monthly webinar Collecting Insights.
These are the three lots that stuck out this week because of either uniqueness or exceeding expectations:
Pliny the Younger's Letters
From the famous press of Aldus Manutius, the first work in which the names of Aldus and Asulanus occur jointly in the colophon. The only edition of Pliny's Epistles published by the Aldine Press in 1508, compiled from manuscripts brought from France to Italy that were supposedly from Pliny's time. With the bookplate of Lewis Montolieu at pastedown. Woodcut printer's device at final verso. Sold by PBA Galleries for $4,687 following an estimate of $600-$900.
Fabergé Torah Pointer
Decorative gold, silver, gemstones and pearls Torah pointer with fist and long pointing finger produced by distinguished Fabergé workmaster Henrik Wigström who supervised the workshop that produced most of the Fabergé eggs 1904-1917. Sold for $84,175 at Bidspirit following a valuation of $10,000 - $15,000.
Monstrelet's Chronicles
Enguerran de Monstrellet, born around 1390, was attached to the service of John of Luxembourg and then to that of Philip III the Good, Duke of Burgundy. He died in 1453, leaving behind his Chronicles in two books which are intended as a direct continuation of Froissart's which covered the period from 1361 to 1400. Monstrelet's chronicles, spanning the years 1400 to 1444, constitute one of the most important sources for the history of France, Flanders, and England in the first half of the 15th century. The Chronicles circulated in manuscript form before being published for the first time by the Parisian bookseller Antoine Vérard between 1501 and September 1503. This undated edition is identified by its address at Petit Pont and is illustrated with a large, grotesque L on the title pages, a large woodcut in the first volume, and Vérard's printer's mark on the last leaf of the second volume. Sold at Artcurial for €44,970 following an estimate of €5,000-€7,000.
