Details
PARIS, Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève -- Claude Du MOLINET (1620-1687). Le Cabinet de le Bibliotheque de Ste. Genevieve . Paris: Antoine Dezallier, 1692.
Two parts in one, 2o (428 x 274 mm). Two engraved titles, engraved portrait of the author and 45 engraved plates, 7 folding (some occasional pale spotting). (Small marginal repaired tear on final leaf.) 18th-century Parisian red morocco, spine gilt-lettered and -decorated, edges gilt, marbled endpapers (some mostly minor scuffing). Provenance: René de Galard-Brassac Béarn (bookplate with ink signature); Roger Peyrefitte (bookplate).
The Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève was established by Cardinal Rochefoucauld in 1642 and became national property in 1791. The collection was dispersed, and therefore Molinet's catalogue is the only record of the museum's cabinet of coins, medals, gems and natural history specimens. Molinet was curator of the museum and produced this well-illustrated volume with plates by Franz Ertinger. The seven double-page plates at the beginning show the actual interior decoration of the rooms in which the collection was housed. The main room looked oput towards Luxembourg gardens and the church of Saint-Sulpice. Besterman, p.33; Hofer Baroque Book Illustration 61.
Two parts in one, 2
The Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève was established by Cardinal Rochefoucauld in 1642 and became national property in 1791. The collection was dispersed, and therefore Molinet's catalogue is the only record of the museum's cabinet of coins, medals, gems and natural history specimens. Molinet was curator of the museum and produced this well-illustrated volume with plates by Franz Ertinger. The seven double-page plates at the beginning show the actual interior decoration of the rooms in which the collection was housed. The main room looked oput towards Luxembourg gardens and the church of Saint-Sulpice. Besterman, p.33; Hofer Baroque Book Illustration 61.