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The Arthur and Charlotte Vershbow Collection
of
The Graphic Arts in Books
The Parisian antiquarian bookseller, Georges Heilbrun, who counted among his clients in the four decades immediately following World War II some of the most sophisticated bibliophiles in Europe and the United States, once described Philip Hofer as "le Prince de l'Oeil", the Prince of the Eye. This compliment works better in French as the words play on the expression "l'Oeil du Prince", meaning the best seat in the theater. It was apt, as Hofer tilled entirely neglected fields of collecting illustrated books and prints, while holding a privileged position in the world of the printing and graphic arts as a private collector of considerable means and as a talented curator at the Spencer Collection of the New York Public Library, at the Pierpont Morgan Library and lastly and most importantly at the Houghton Library of Harvard University, where he created and funded his own department.
Philip Hofer was one of at least three 20th-century collectors -- the others being Lessing Rosenwald of Chicago and Philadelphia and Otto Schäfer of Schweinfurt, Germany -- who pioneered collecting in areas where books and prints, literature and illustration, intersect, while not neglecting manuscripts and drawings. They looked at books as works of art, realizing also the significance of their bindings and provenance, although only Schäfer may be considered a great collector of historical artistic bookbindings. Barely a generation younger, Charlotte and Arthur Vershbow knew all three collectors and admired their taste and determination enough to befriend them, learn from them and study what they were accomplishing. At the same time the Vershbows were sufficiently confident to deviate from the path their predecessors had beaten. Their friendly competition with them extended to searching for the finest or most interesting copies of well-documented or even famous books, but also to exploring hitherto underestimated categories of the printing and graphic arts. It was this talent to recognize the interest of book art which had not been properly appreciated before that led the friendship with Hofer to include mutual admiration and stimulation.
Shortly after taking the first tentative steps in the half-century formation of their wonderful collection of prints and illustrated books from the 15th to the 20th century, the Vershbows made two confident acquisitions that would set them a standard of artistic quality and true rarity to maintain for the rest of their lives. In 1951 they bought from the Weyhe Gallery in New York the complete set of black-and-white and color woodcuts by Wassily Kandinsky, called Klänge, published at Munich in 1913. Although four decades after publication Kandinsky's graphic experimentation towards abstraction had not yet found a market, the Vershbows fully realized its importance. Afterwards their taste gradually moved back in time. Thus, in 1956, they purchased from the leading Parisian bookseller, Pierre Berès, that most sought-after of Goya's print suites, La Tauromaquia, a complete set of the 1816 first edition of 33 aquatints, all in brilliant early impressions. They then began to pay especial attention to color in books (both hand-coloring, sharing this passion with the New York collector, Clark Stillman, and color printing, telephoning daily on this subject with fellow collector, Leonard Schlosser), to calligraphy (manuscript, as well as woodcut and engraved), emblem books (from the Renaissance to the late Baroque), ornament (both in books and print suites), fête-books (exchanging information with the prominent Grolier Club Councillor, Paul Gourary), symbolist and modernist artists' books or "livres de peintre" (another Hofer enthusiasm), etc. The husband and wife team combined his discipline from an MIT engineering degree and her unerring taste, supported by a Radcliffe degree and a great deal of knowledge and love of art, to form this most sophisticated collection, first of print albums, then of illustrated books (including some illuminated manuscripts). Leonardo, Dürer, Cranach, Holbein, Callot, Rembrandt, Tiepolo, Piranesi, Blake, Redon, Dix, Beckmann, Picasso, all are represented, but also Perréal, Vico, Goujon, Cousin, Salomon, Brosamer, Breu, Jamnitzer, Androuet du Cerceau and anonymous masters. It will take four auction sales to disperse their highly individual collection with parts Three and Four to be sold in June and October of this year. (Later in life, they developed a keen eye for and considerable expertise in Japanese illustrated books, learning from the full-time collectors, Mr. and Mrs. Donald Hyde of New York, and the pioneering dealers, Huguette Berès in Paris and Bob Sawers in London.)
In addition to their trained eye, knowledge, passion and consistency, the Vershbows gained over the decades another advantage that stood them in good stead: excellent relations with the book and print trade, as well as with librarians, scholars and bibliographers. Successful collecting is not achieved in a vacuum. The trade (Goodspeed, Light, Lewis, Seibel, Freeman, Brand, Berès, Ranschburg, Schab, B. Rosenthal, etc.) could always count on a quick and honest response to their offers; the scholarly community (Robison, Führing, Küp, Becker, Stoddard and countless others) could always count on a hospitable reception, generous access to books and prints, and intelligent answers to their questions.
Collecting at its best is a pursuit of pleasure, creativity and scholarship, in which Charlotte and Arthur excelled. The Boston Athenaeum, the Museum of Fine Arts, the National Gallery and Houghton Library are the institutions with which they were most closely involved and which benefitted from their generosity. In 1976 the young David Becker organized a beautiful small exhibition of illustrated books at the Houghton Library, Fact and Fantasy, until now the only published record of the Vershbow Collection, which was then growing fast. It is regrettable that the Vershbows never wrote about their books and particularly about the reasons for acquiring their specific copies. As anyone fortunate enough to have visited their library can testify, there were few bibliophile experiences so thrilling and instructive as being shown books and prints by Arthur and Charlotte, at a rapid pace and accompanied by their inimitable glosses.
FdMO
COURCY, Simon de, L'Aiguillon d'amour divine, paraphrase of Pseudo-Bonaventure (?Jacobus Mediolanensis), Stimulus amoris, in French, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
Details
COURCY, Simon de, L'Aiguillon d'amour divine, paraphrase of Pseudo-Bonaventure (?Jacobus Mediolanensis), Stimulus amoris, in French, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
[Reims] 1461190 x 135mm. 201 + i: 110, 2-38, 46, 5-128, 137(of 8, lacking iii), 14-248, 2510, traces of catchwords at the inner right gutter of most final versos, original foliation in red at top right of each folio excludes prologue, modern pencil foliation followed here, 21 lines of lettre bâtarde in black ink between 22 horizontals and two verticals ruled in plummet, text justification: 125 x 88mm, paraphs alternately red or blue, foliation and rubrics in red, capitals touched yellow, one- and two-line illuminated initials of burnished gold with grounds of pink and blue with white penwork decoration throughout, four-line illuminated initials of blue with white patterning on burnished gold grounds, infills with ivy-leaf sprays of pink and blue, FIVE HALF-PAGE MINIATURES and one ARCH-TOPPED MINIATURE all accompanied with FULL-PAGE BORDERS (slight thumbing, rubbing and spotting to first folios, worming at foot of gutter of ff.7-12, yellowing of ff.97-99 and page excised between ff.98 and 99). Contemporary blind-stamped brown leather, central panel with lozenges with fleur-de-lys bordered by alternating swans or winged-fruit tools, two later pins and straps (joints and corners worn, two worm-holes in lower cover).
PROVENANCE:
The scribe recorded the completion of his work on 11 September 1461 and asks 'messieurs' to pray for him (f.196). Nonetheless, the manuscript was illuminated for a lady, and she is shown in miniatures on ff.3, 10, 48 and 101. She is accompanied by a man on ff.48 and 101, where she appears in the superior position, on the heraldic right, indicating that the younger-looking man is her son. Not strictly dressed as a widow, her headdress could imply that she was not noble despite her evident wealth and status; she may have been a member of the Reims urban patriciate. In the 16th century the manuscript was owned by a succession of sisters at the Hôtel Dieu in Reims, including Perette Charpentier and Marie Lalemant (1525) -- Ambroise Firmin-Didot (1790-1876), printer, publisher, and art collector, his sale in June 1883, lot 27 -- Acquired from Librairie Paul Jammes, 1977.
CONTENT:
Beaulz enseignem[en]s po[u]r b[ie]n vivre ff.1-2; Prologue and chapter list ff.3-9v; Aguillon d'amour divine ff.10-196; devotions ff.196v-201, including two in verse, La voie de paradis opening 'Qui vault en paradis aler Cy en puet la voie trouver' f.196v and a 'Notable devot', opening 'Qui des clos Ihesus Christ sent en soy la pointure En son chef la couronne que lui fut aspre et dure' f.197 and five prose meditations or prayers including one opening 'Toutes les choses que les personnes seculieres tournent a nourissament de pechie' f.197v, Les armeures de l'ame f.198, and Meditation par maniere doroison a ihucrist et a sa douce mere and ends with the note 'Summa philosophia est meditationis mortis'.
The Stimulus amoris was a popular devotional work often attributed to St. Bonaventura but probably the work of another Franciscan, James of Milan. It was translated into French for Marie, Duchess of Bourbon, daughter of John, Duke of Berry, and presented to her in 1406 with other treatises by her confessor, Simon de Courcy, also a Franciscan. Marie de Berry's own manuscript (BnF, ms. fr.926) has only two miniatures for this text (see E. Taburet-Delahaye and F. Avril, Paris 1400: les arts sous Charles VI, 2004, no. 205). De Courcy made the text more accessible by turning it into a dialogue between the 'devout person' and his or her soul, a theme continued in the speech scrolls in the miniatures. That he was successful in appealing to a female reader is shown by this handsomely illustrated copy.
ILLUMINATION:
These colorful and charming miniatures are by the illuminator known as the Master of Walters 269 from his slightly later work in a Book of Hours for the use of Reims in Baltimore (L.M.C Randall, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery: France, 1992, vol II cat. no. 129). Further examples of his work, also Books of Hours for the use of Reims, featured in the recent exhibitions devoted to manuscript illumination in the Champagne region of France and provide a wider understanding of his style and career (exhibition catalogue, Très riches heures de Champagne, 2007, p.66 and nos. 17-18). The present lot provides further evidence for localizing his activity to Reims and is his only known dated work. Its miniatures and borders are especially close to those in Walters 269 and the Book of Hours owned by Marguerite Cuissotte (Reims, Bibl. Mun. ms 2852, Très riches heures de Champagne, no. 17). His characteristic figures, with contours simplified to the dominant verticals, inhabit similar settings, with gold diapered and patterned backgrounds or landscapes under starry skies.
For this devotional text the Master could make use of compositions evolved for Books of Hours but also had to create completely new scenes for a patroness with very specific requirements. The figures of Gabriel and the Annunciate Virgin, f.10, are comparable to those in the Annunciation in Walters 269 but here Gabriel's right arm is slightly adjusted so that he can present the patroness to the Virgin. His scroll curves above her head as if she too were repeating the angelic greeting. Placing them on a flowery lawn enclosed by a fence may be a deliberate choice to remove the scene from narrative fact into spiritual contemplation. His striking miniatures personalized for a new patroness the text created for a French princess, daughter of one of the greatest bibliophiles, the Duke of Berry.
The subjects of the miniatures are as follows:
f.3 A lady kneeling before St. Jerome, seated, with the lion at his feet (Prologue)
f.10 The same lady presented to the Annunciate Virgin by the Archangel Gabriel, whose scroll greeting the Virgin curls up behind the lady's head as if she too uttered the words; (Premiere partie, premier chapitre, beginning, 'Ave Maria Gracia Plena')
f.19 Coronation of the Virgin with hovering angels on either side with scrolls oriented for them to read 'Hec est regina virginum' and 'Ave maris stella' (iie chapitre, beginning, 'Salve Regina Misercordie')
f.30v Christ standing in a lush landscape teaching the kneeling apostles and disciples the Lord's Prayer, the words on his scroll coming from Matthew VI 9 (tier chapitre, beginning, 'Pater Noster')
f.48 The lady, with her patron St. Jerome, kneeling and offering her soul, in the form of a naked child, up to God above, illustrating the opening words of Psalm 24 (Vulgate) on her scroll; to the right a young man kneeling with his patron saint, a deacon martyr, and the second verse of the psalm continuing on his scroll (Seconde partie, premier chapitre, beginning, 'Ad te levavi')
f.101 Crucifixion flanked by the lady with the Virgin and the young man with St. John the Evangelist (tierce partie, premier chapitre)
There is an obvious link in parts I and II between the miniatures and the prayers which open the chapters that follow, and in part III between the miniature of the Crucifixion and the following meditation on the Passion. Part IV, however, which concerns God's reasons for letting the devout soul be tempted, seems to have been thought less accessible to visual representation.
[Reims] 1461190 x 135mm. 201 + i: 110, 2-38, 46, 5-128, 137(of 8, lacking iii), 14-248, 2510, traces of catchwords at the inner right gutter of most final versos, original foliation in red at top right of each folio excludes prologue, modern pencil foliation followed here, 21 lines of lettre bâtarde in black ink between 22 horizontals and two verticals ruled in plummet, text justification: 125 x 88mm, paraphs alternately red or blue, foliation and rubrics in red, capitals touched yellow, one- and two-line illuminated initials of burnished gold with grounds of pink and blue with white penwork decoration throughout, four-line illuminated initials of blue with white patterning on burnished gold grounds, infills with ivy-leaf sprays of pink and blue, FIVE HALF-PAGE MINIATURES and one ARCH-TOPPED MINIATURE all accompanied with FULL-PAGE BORDERS (slight thumbing, rubbing and spotting to first folios, worming at foot of gutter of ff.7-12, yellowing of ff.97-99 and page excised between ff.98 and 99). Contemporary blind-stamped brown leather, central panel with lozenges with fleur-de-lys bordered by alternating swans or winged-fruit tools, two later pins and straps (joints and corners worn, two worm-holes in lower cover).
PROVENANCE:
The scribe recorded the completion of his work on 11 September 1461 and asks 'messieurs' to pray for him (f.196). Nonetheless, the manuscript was illuminated for a lady, and she is shown in miniatures on ff.3, 10, 48 and 101. She is accompanied by a man on ff.48 and 101, where she appears in the superior position, on the heraldic right, indicating that the younger-looking man is her son. Not strictly dressed as a widow, her headdress could imply that she was not noble despite her evident wealth and status; she may have been a member of the Reims urban patriciate. In the 16th century the manuscript was owned by a succession of sisters at the Hôtel Dieu in Reims, including Perette Charpentier and Marie Lalemant (1525) -- Ambroise Firmin-Didot (1790-1876), printer, publisher, and art collector, his sale in June 1883, lot 27 -- Acquired from Librairie Paul Jammes, 1977.
CONTENT:
Beaulz enseignem[en]s po[u]r b[ie]n vivre ff.1-2; Prologue and chapter list ff.3-9v; Aguillon d'amour divine ff.10-196; devotions ff.196v-201, including two in verse, La voie de paradis opening 'Qui vault en paradis aler Cy en puet la voie trouver' f.196v and a 'Notable devot', opening 'Qui des clos Ihesus Christ sent en soy la pointure En son chef la couronne que lui fut aspre et dure' f.197 and five prose meditations or prayers including one opening 'Toutes les choses que les personnes seculieres tournent a nourissament de pechie' f.197v, Les armeures de l'ame f.198, and Meditation par maniere doroison a ihucrist et a sa douce mere and ends with the note 'Summa philosophia est meditationis mortis'.
The Stimulus amoris was a popular devotional work often attributed to St. Bonaventura but probably the work of another Franciscan, James of Milan. It was translated into French for Marie, Duchess of Bourbon, daughter of John, Duke of Berry, and presented to her in 1406 with other treatises by her confessor, Simon de Courcy, also a Franciscan. Marie de Berry's own manuscript (BnF, ms. fr.926) has only two miniatures for this text (see E. Taburet-Delahaye and F. Avril, Paris 1400: les arts sous Charles VI, 2004, no. 205). De Courcy made the text more accessible by turning it into a dialogue between the 'devout person' and his or her soul, a theme continued in the speech scrolls in the miniatures. That he was successful in appealing to a female reader is shown by this handsomely illustrated copy.
ILLUMINATION:
These colorful and charming miniatures are by the illuminator known as the Master of Walters 269 from his slightly later work in a Book of Hours for the use of Reims in Baltimore (L.M.C Randall, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery: France, 1992, vol II cat. no. 129). Further examples of his work, also Books of Hours for the use of Reims, featured in the recent exhibitions devoted to manuscript illumination in the Champagne region of France and provide a wider understanding of his style and career (exhibition catalogue, Très riches heures de Champagne, 2007, p.66 and nos. 17-18). The present lot provides further evidence for localizing his activity to Reims and is his only known dated work. Its miniatures and borders are especially close to those in Walters 269 and the Book of Hours owned by Marguerite Cuissotte (Reims, Bibl. Mun. ms 2852, Très riches heures de Champagne, no. 17). His characteristic figures, with contours simplified to the dominant verticals, inhabit similar settings, with gold diapered and patterned backgrounds or landscapes under starry skies.
For this devotional text the Master could make use of compositions evolved for Books of Hours but also had to create completely new scenes for a patroness with very specific requirements. The figures of Gabriel and the Annunciate Virgin, f.10, are comparable to those in the Annunciation in Walters 269 but here Gabriel's right arm is slightly adjusted so that he can present the patroness to the Virgin. His scroll curves above her head as if she too were repeating the angelic greeting. Placing them on a flowery lawn enclosed by a fence may be a deliberate choice to remove the scene from narrative fact into spiritual contemplation. His striking miniatures personalized for a new patroness the text created for a French princess, daughter of one of the greatest bibliophiles, the Duke of Berry.
The subjects of the miniatures are as follows:
f.3 A lady kneeling before St. Jerome, seated, with the lion at his feet (Prologue)
f.10 The same lady presented to the Annunciate Virgin by the Archangel Gabriel, whose scroll greeting the Virgin curls up behind the lady's head as if she too uttered the words; (Premiere partie, premier chapitre, beginning, 'Ave Maria Gracia Plena')
f.19 Coronation of the Virgin with hovering angels on either side with scrolls oriented for them to read 'Hec est regina virginum' and 'Ave maris stella' (iie chapitre, beginning, 'Salve Regina Misercordie')
f.30v Christ standing in a lush landscape teaching the kneeling apostles and disciples the Lord's Prayer, the words on his scroll coming from Matthew VI 9 (tier chapitre, beginning, 'Pater Noster')
f.48 The lady, with her patron St. Jerome, kneeling and offering her soul, in the form of a naked child, up to God above, illustrating the opening words of Psalm 24 (Vulgate) on her scroll; to the right a young man kneeling with his patron saint, a deacon martyr, and the second verse of the psalm continuing on his scroll (Seconde partie, premier chapitre, beginning, 'Ad te levavi')
f.101 Crucifixion flanked by the lady with the Virgin and the young man with St. John the Evangelist (tierce partie, premier chapitre)
There is an obvious link in parts I and II between the miniatures and the prayers which open the chapters that follow, and in part III between the miniature of the Crucifixion and the following meditation on the Passion. Part IV, however, which concerns God's reasons for letting the devout soul be tempted, seems to have been thought less accessible to visual representation.