Events | October 31, 2011

Günther Rare Books at the Dallas Antique Show

October 31, 2011 -- Jörn Günther is a modern treasure hunter in the footsteps of medieval illuminated manuscripts. His company, Jörn Günther Rare Books, based in Stalden, Switzerland, will be one of the highlights of the International Fine Art & Antique Dealers Show in New York from 21-27 October, 2011, and of the Dallas Art, Antique & Jewelry Show  from November 2-6, 2011, presenting the finest selection of illuminated manuscripts and rare books. He will have select pieces for the Texas public in his luggage and will amaze the visitors who love the exquisite lifestyle.
 
Jörn Günther is one of the most renown international experts in his field. Since its foundation in 1990 Jörn Günther Rare Books has established itself as an international authority and driving force in this market. Over the last several years, the firm has introduced three of the most outstanding collections of manuscript illuminations in private hands: The Bernard H. Breslauer Collection, the Longari Collection and the Robert Lehman Collection. The Getty Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Walters Art Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art are among the institutions that systematically develop major collections of manuscript illuminations and took advantage of the rare opportunity to enrich their holdings when these three significant private collections reached the market.
 
Günther Rare Books will show in Dallas from November 2-4 outstanding treasures which will invite the audience to dive into a different universe like in a time travel, taken into the world of Aristotle (Aristotle, Ethica Nicomachea, translated by Leonardo Bruni Aretino; Illuminated manuscript on vellum. Southern Europe (Italy, Naples, or perhaps Spain), c. 1458-59, US$975.000) or to the the great Cistercian Abbey of Aulne-sur-Sambre (Biblia Latina, Illuminated manuscript on vellum. Northern or North-Eastern France, or Flanders, c. 1240-50 with 60 large illuminated initials in elaborate designs of lush interlaced leafy and plant designs or formed of twisting biting dragons for US $6 Mio.). Suddenly you look at Columbus and the Conquista of Latin America in Christophorus Columbus, De insulis nuper in mari Indico inventis from 1494 with 6 extraodinary woodcuts (US $1,8 Mio). The Columbus letter is the first account of the discovery of the New World. On his return from the newly discovered "Indian" isles in March 1493, Columbus addressed several letters to the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castille, who had financed his expedition, and sent a report to the "escriuano deraciõ", his patron, Luis de Santàngel, in which he confirmed that the land he had discovered met all the hopes and expectations attached to this expensive and risky expedition, a journey which can be compared with the life journey of Jörn Günther.

--By Anne-Marie Melster
 

A new catalogue was published in October:
 
Pagina Sacra. Bibles and Biblical Texts 1050-1511
Catalogue 10
Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books AG, Stalden
ISBN: 978-3-033-03053-4
 
www.guenther-rarebooks.com