Earlier today we showed how Gemini was able to track down the partial provanance of one of our new aquisitions using its two distinctive bookplates. This time we gave Gemini the title page alongside the two bookplates and asked it to research auctions and sales and after less than a minute it was able to triangulate all of these details together and give us even more of the history of this book by tracking down the original mid-19th century auction records through digitized copies hosted by the Internet Archive.
here is the title page and two bookplates found in a book. can you find the original auction record for it and any other auction records for this specific copy? cite your sources.
This specific copy of Icones Historicae Veteris et Novi Testamenti (Geneva: Samuel de Tournes, 1681, featuring woodcuts by Bernard Salomon and French verse by Claude Paradin, whose name is written in pencil on the right margin of your title page) has a rich, fully documented auction history spanning from 1867 right up to present.
Because of its distinct dark blue Jansenist morocco binding signed by the Parisian master binder Jean-Édouard Niédrée (1803–1854), this exact volume can be traced lot-by-lot through four major sales across the last 160 years, with direct links and English translations for the historical and modern auction records below:
1. The Original Yemeniz Sale (Paris, May 1867)
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Catalog: Catalogue de la bibliothèque de M. N. Yemeniz, précédé d'une notice par M. Le Roux de Lincy (Paris: Bachelin-Deflorenne, May 9–31, 1867), p. 29.
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Source Links: Internet Archive Full Scan | Google Books Digitized Copy
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Lot Number: Lot 156 (sold on the very first day of the auction, May 9, 1867).
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Original French Catalog Entry:
« Icones historicae Veteris et Novi Testamenti… Figures historiques du Vieux et du Nouveau Testament… À Genève, chez Samuel de Tournes, M. DC. LXXXI, 2 parties en un vol. in-8, figures sur bois, mar. bleu jans., tr. dor. (Niédrée.) Bel exemplaire lavé et encollé. C'est dans cette édition que se trouve nommé BERNARD SALOMON… »
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English Translation:
"Icones historicae Veteris et Novi Testamenti… Historical figures of the Old and New Testament… In Geneva, by Samuel de Tournes, 1681, 2 parts in one octavo volume, woodcut illustrations, Jansenist blue morocco, gilt edges. (Bound by Niédrée.) Fine copy, washed and resized. It is in this edition that BERNARD SALOMON is named…"
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Price Realized: 145 francs.
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What it tells us: Yemeniz had this copy professionally washed and resized (lavé et encollé) and bound by Niédrée in dark blue Jansenist morocco (maroquin bleu janséniste—meaning austere boards without external gilt tooling, reserving the ornate gilt dentelle work for the interior turn-ins visible around your Délicourt bookplate) with gilt edges (tranches dorées).
2. The Gancia Sale (Paris, April 1868)
Before entering Étienne Délicourt's library, the book passed through the hands of the prominent Brighton and Paris dealer/collector Giovanni Gancia, who bought it at the Yemeniz sale and auctioned his own collection less than a year later.
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Catalog: Catalogue de la bibliothèque de M. G. Gancia, composée en partie de livres de la première bibliothèque du Cardinal Mazarin et d'ouvrages précieux… (Paris: Bachelin-Deflorenne, April 27 – May 2, 1868), p. 11 (page 29 of the PDF).
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Source Links: Wikimedia Commons Direct PDF | Internet Archive Mirror
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Lot Number: Lot 47.
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Original French Catalog Entry: Repeats the exact 1867 Yemeniz description and adds a provenance and condition note:
« À Genève, chez Samuel de Tournes, M. DC. LXXXI, 2 parties en un vol. in-8, figures sur bois, mar. bleu, jans., tr. dor. (Niédrée.) Bel exemplaire lavé et encollé… Exemplaire Yemeniz, payé 145 fr. Raccommodage aux fts C. 1, D. 2 et au titre. »
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English Translation:
"In Geneva, by Samuel de Tournes, 1681, 2 parts in one octavo volume, woodcut illustrations, Jansenist blue morocco, gilt edges. (Bound by Niédrée.) Fine copy, washed and resized… The Yemeniz copy, paid 145 francs. Paper repairs to leaves C1, D2, and to the title page."
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Transfer to Délicourt: It was either at this April 1868 auction—or immediately afterward via Bachelin-Deflorenne—that Étienne Délicourt acquired the volume and added his Maurice Leloir bookplate to the front pastedown.
Complete Chain of Provenance
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1681: Printed in Geneva by Samuel de Tournes.
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Before 1854: Acquired by Nicolas Yemeniz, who had the leaves washed/sized and bound in dark blue morocco by Jean-Édouard Niédrée (who died in 1854), and affixed his Lyon medallion ex-libris.
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May 9, 1867: Sold at the Yemeniz Auction (Paris, Lot 156) for 145 francs to Giovanni Gancia (1867 Catalog Link).
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April 27, 1868: Sold at the Gancia Auction (Paris, Lot 47) (1868 Catalog PDF).
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1868–1883: Collection of Étienne Délicourt (Paris), who added his pictorial ex-libris.
