Wonderful pages of art, history and science open the second semester of enchantments at Il Ponte with the auction of Antique Books and Livres d’Artistes on September 24 and 25, 2024.
The catalogue confirmed the collector's interest, totalizing € 650,000 in sales, 90% sell-through rate and 136% increase on starting prices. Among the top lots was Sir William Hamilton's masterpiece, which sold for € 81,900: a monumental work on geophysics and volcanology realized in 1779 in three volumes with Pietro Fabris, embellished with 59 plates depicting volcanic activity in Naples and Sicily.
The sale was also enlivened by other illustrated treasures, such as the rare vintage mountaineering volume by Désiré-Raoul Rochette, "Voyage pittoresque dans la Vallée de Chamonix et autour de Mont Blanc," presented in its first edition of 1826 (€ 25,200). The extraordinary collection of more than 14,000 ex libris, made between the 17th and 20th centuries, originally used to mark books and now considered as objects of art and collector’s items, achieved a remarkable result (€ 25,200).
Lot 43
HAMILTON, Sir William (1730-1803)
Campi Phlegraei. Observations on the Volcanos of the two Sicilies as They have been communicated to the Royal Society of London.
Naples: [Pietro Fabris], 1776.
Sold € 81,900
Lot 49
RAOUL-ROCHETTE (1789-1854) Gabriel LORY (1784-1846)
Voyage pittoresque dans la Vallée de Chamonix et autour de Mont Blanc.
Paris: J.F. Osterwald, 1826.
Sold € 25,200
Lot 29
[EXLIBRIS]
An extraordinary collection of over 14,000 exlibris from different eras, countries, artists, subjects, techniques and formats. 17th-20th centuries.
Sold € 25,200
Noteworthy sales include Vitruvio's "De architectura libri dece," printed in 1521 (€ 25,200), a copy of Johannes Hevelius's famous work on comets published in 1668 (€ 25,200), George Edwards's "Gleanings of Natural History" study published between 1758 and 1764 (€ 11,340), and the first and only edition of Edmund Thomas Coleman's "Scenes from the Snow-Fields," published in London in 1859 (€ 11,340).
Lot 31
VITRUVIO, Marco Pollione (c.80-70 B.C.- c.15 B.C.)
De architectura libri dece. Translated by Cesare Cesariano (c.1478-1543).
Commentary by Cesariano, Benedetto Giovio and Massimo Bono Mauro.
Como: Gottardo da Ponte, 1521.
Sold € 25,200
Lot 25
HEVELIUS, Johannes (1611-1687)
Cometographia, totem naturam cometarum.. exhibens.. cumprimis vero, cometae anno 1652, 1661, 1661 & 1665.
Gdansk: Simon Reiniger for the author, 1668.
Sold € 25,200
Lot 67
EDWARDS, George London (1694-1773)
Gleanings of Natural History.
London: Royal college of Physicians, 1758-1764.
Sold € 11,340
Lot 19
COLEMAN, Edmund Thomas (ca. 1823-92)
Scenes from the Snow-Fields; being, Illustrations of the Upper Ice World of Mont Blanc from Sketches made on the Spot in the Years 1855, 1856, 1857, 1858.
London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, and Roberts, 1859.
Sold € 11,340
The section dedicated to Livres d'Artistes is particularly significant, a sign of an increasingly established trend and a lively demand from enthusiasts. Highlights included Frantisek Kupka's "Quatre histoires de blanc et noir," published in Paris in 1926 (€ 21,420) and the perfect condition, numbered 190/200 copy of Marc Chagall's 1968 "Poèmes," accompanied by 24 magnificent plates (€ 17,640).
Lot 66
Frantisek Kupka (OPOCNO 1871 - PUTEAUX 1957)
Quatre histoires de blanc et noir.
Paris: Marcel Baque, 1926.
Sold € 21.420
Lot 65
CHAGALL, Marc (1887-1985)
Poèmes. Ginevra: Cramer, 1968. Exemplar in perfect condition No. 190 of 200 on grand vélin de rives, signed by Chagall and with watermark designed by the artist.
The work is accompanied by 24 magnificent plates including 6 with fascinating applied collages by the artist. Cramer books 74.
Sold € 17,640