Books & manuscripts
Books & manuscripts
"A book is alive. Don't trust it. A book sucks you into it," wrote Victor Hugo.
Thus libraries came into being, and in their wake Books and Manuscripts auctions, bringing together antique and modern books, letters, autograph documents, maps and postcards.
From Books of Hours – manuscripts richly illuminated in blue and gold – to works by the Surrealists André Breton and Paul Eluard, the jewels of auctions are first editions on "fine paper" possessing the three cardinal virtues: a period binding, an outstanding provenance and an "envoi", in other words a dedication by the author.
Collectors fight over the manuscripts and letters of the Accursed Poets (Baudelaire, Verlaine and Rimbaud), autograph pages by Proust, travel books and maps.
But with online auctions also pay homage to literature, the "ninth art", with deluxe editions and first prints of strip cartoons by the glorious trio: Hergé, Franquin, and Uderzo & Goscinny. You will also find albums and original pages by cartoonists of the younger generation: Hugo Pratt, Moebius and Enki Bilal…
A real bubble bath!
