At Christie’s Paris on 20 February: Exceptional Material
- by Bruce E. McKinney
On 20 February 2019, at 9, avenue Matignon, in Paris, Christie’s will sell to the highest bidder the Bibliotheque Marc Litzler. They have prepared a significant catalogue that suggests confidence in both the material and the potential outcomes.
Collecting is a very individual, usually private undertaking. It is wrought with risks for it is often dependent on the judgment and honesty of dealers who know, from long experience, that collectors, even when shellacked, will never say a word because they are embarrassed. It happens too often. But there are also many honest dealers who provide expert advice that protects the collector and educates them on the finer points of condition, rarity and importance. Among these collectors some will excel. In the upcoming sale of Bibliotheque Marc Litzler at Christie’s on February 20th we’ll see the financial outcome of such a focused, quality-driven approach. As often happens, such collections go to auction because they have achieved a scale and significance that enflames the imaginations of collectors, collecting institutions and dealers. That spark is necessary for many collectors fear auction-room judgments. Mr. Litzler’s commitment to public sale says he’s ready for a fair accounting.
The catalogue is massive, beautifully wrought, and printed on thick paper. This is the form of catalogue every collector hopes they will someday have on their library shelf to illustrate their collecting achievements. Mr. Litzler now has his catalogue and judgment is just a few weeks away.
Those who collect in the French style are usually condition obsessed, the rest of the world not-so-much. For the French such collecting is about unusual bindings, important association copies and extravagant rarity. In this sale all these elements converge as a “mélange exceptionnel.”
The estimates are eclectic. Lots that will bring more than one hundred thousand euros rest comfortably near lots estimated at two thousand. In my experience the continental buyer is untroubled by high or low reserves because they have clear opinions about the actual value.
In total there are 248 lots. If you win any of the lots request a copy of the catalogue for each item because these lots, when they randomly return to the rooms in the decades ahead, will gain immeasurably from their having been purchased at this sale. Inclusion of a copy of this sale catalogue will add cachet to the provenance and thousands of euros to the outcomes.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 28th May 2026
Forum, May 28: Book of Hours.- Heures de nostre dame a l'usaige de Romme, Paris, Antoine Chappiel pour Germain Hardouin, [1504]. £6,000-8,000
Forum, May 28: Colonna (Francesco). La Hypnerotomachia di Poliphilo, second edition, Venice, Sons of Aldus Manutius, 1545. £15,000-20,000
Forum, May 28:The Christ Child holding a crystal orb and surrounded by banderoles with devotional exhortations, on a leaf most probably from a Book of Hours, [Southern Netherlands, last decades of the fifteenth century]. £2,000-3,000
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 28th May 2026
Forum, May 28: Jackson (Shirley). The Haunting of Hill House, first English edition, signed presentation inscription from the author to Claude Fredericks, 1960. £2,000-3,000
Forum, May 28: Lennon (John). In His Own Write, first edition, first impression, signed by the author, 1964. £3,000-4,000
Forum, May 28: Doves Press.- Keats (John). [Poems], one of 200 copies on paper, Doves Press, 1914. £5,000-7,000
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 28th May 2026
Forum, May 28: Rodrigues (João Barbosa). Sertum Palmarum Brasiliensium, 2 vol., first and only edition, Brussels, 1903. £8,000-12,000
Forum, May 28: Newton (Sir Isaac). Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica…editio ultima, auctior et emendatior, Amsterdam, Sumptibus Societatis, 1714. £8,000-12,000
Forum, May 28: Kepler (Johannes). Ad Vitellionem paralipomena, wuibus astronomiae pars optica traditur, first edition, Frankfurt am Main, 1604. £5,000-7,000
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 28th May 2026
Forum, May 28: Tagliacozzi (Gaspare). De Curtorum Chirurgia per insitionem, libri duo, first edition, Venice, Gasparo Bindoni, 1597. £7,000-10,000
Forum, May 28: Lootsman (Jacobsz). The Lightning Colomne, or Sea-Mirrour, containing the Sea-Coasts of the Northern, Eastern and Western Navigation..., 1670. £8,000-12,000
Forum, May 28: Ribelles y Helip (José), Attributed to. An album comprising 33 finely executed watercolours of Spanish costume, bull-fighting scenes, and other genre subjects, [circa 1830]. £10,000-15,000
