During accessioning of a 1681 Bernard Salomon reprint, we came across two highly distinctive bookplates. Given just two cellphone photos, Gemini was able to track down the complete chain of provanance showing this book was held in two famous French private libraries, tracing from the famed library of Nicolas Yemeniz in Lyon, to his May 1867 sale via Bachelin-Deflorenne, to the collection of Étienne Délicourt in Paris.
a book has both of these bookplates. explain the likely chain of provanance.
These two bookplates represent a well-documented 19th-century French bibliophile provenance, tracing the book from a famous library in Lyon to a prominent collector in Paris.
1. First Owner: Nicolas Yemeniz (1783–1871)
The "LVG DVN" Lion & Monogram Label (First Image)
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Identification: This double-medallion bookplate belonged to Nicolas Yemeniz, a wealthy Lyon silk manufacturer of Greek/Ottoman descent and one of the greatest French book collectors of the 19th century.
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Iconography: The left medallion features a lion and the letters LVG DVN (Lugdunum, the Roman name for Lyon, where Yemeniz lived and amassed his library). The right medallion is a cruciform/Y-shaped cipher containing all the letters of his name: N. YEMENIZ.
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Collection Focus: Yemeniz was renowned for collecting early printed books (incunabula), 16th-century Lyonnais imprints, French Gothic editions, and finely bound Renaissance rarities.
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Note on the Label: The two faint horizontal ruled lines between the medallions were designed so a catalogue or shelf number could be written in ink or pencil—though on your copy, the center was left blank (a lot number from his sale may be written in pencil elsewhere on the endpapers).
2. The Transition: The 1867 Paris Auction
Before his death in 1871, Yemeniz dispersed his legendary library in a landmark 19-day auction held in Paris by the bookseller Bachelin-Deflorenne from May 9 to May 31, 1867 (Catalogue de la bibliothèque de M. N. Yemeniz, comprising nearly 4,000 lots). Your book passed out of Yemeniz's hands at this sale, bought either directly by Étienne Délicourt (via an agent) or through a Parisian antiquarian bookseller who attended the auction.
3. Second Owner: Étienne Délicourt (1806–1883)
The "EX-LIBRIS E. DÉLICOURT" Etching (Second Image)
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Identification: This octagonal bookplate belonged to Étienne Délicourt, a prosperous Parisian wallpaper manufacturer (fabricant de papiers peints), Officer of the Legion of Honour, and President of the Conseil des Prud'hommes in Paris.
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The Artist: The plate is signed in the lower left by the noted French illustrator Maurice Leloir (1853–1940), depicting a gentleman collector in a top hat examining prints and books from a portfolio stand.
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Dating & Placement: Because Leloir only began his artistic career in the 1870s and Délicourt died in January 1883, this bookplate was commissioned and affixed between roughly 1872 and 1883. It is pasted onto the marbled front pastedown inside a finely gilt-tooled dentelle leather turn-in, whereas the smaller Yemeniz ticket was typically affixed to the facing flyleaf or free endpaper.
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Subsequent Dispersal: Following Délicourt's death in 1883, his library remained with his heirs until portions of it were dispersed at auction in Paris in the early 20th century (including a notable sale in 1937).
