![SEGUIER, Pierre, Comte de Gien, Duc de Villemor (1588-1682) -- Bibliothecae Seguierianae catalogus. Paris: André Cramoisy, 1685. -- Catalogue des Manuscrits de la Bibliothèque de Défunt Monseigneur le Chancelier Seguier. [By René Hardy and Melchisedeh Thévenot]. Paris: François le Cointe, 1686.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2005/NYR/2005_NYR_01594_0426_000(094121).jpg?w=1)
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SEGUIER, Pierre, Comte de Gien, Duc de Villemor (1588-1682) -- Bibliothecae Seguierianae catalogus. Paris: André Cramoisy, 1685. -- Catalogue des Manuscrits de la Bibliothèque de Défunt Monseigneur le Chancelier Seguier. [By René Hardy and Melchisedeh Thévenot]. Paris: François le Cointe, 1686.
2 volumes, 12o (152 x 95mm, 152 x 86 mm). Bibliotheca: Small floral devise on title page. (Small waterstain in upper margin.) Contemporary Scottish [?] mottled calf (light wear). Provenance: Manuscript shelf mark on fly leaf; Earls of Hopetoun (with their engraved bookplate from the Marquis of Annadale Library). Catalogue: Small device with fleur de lis on title page. Contemporary vellum, manuscript title on spine; modern brown cloth box.
A rare complete set of both catalogues of Séguier's library of printed books and manuscripts. Séguier, a passionate book collector, accumulated approximately 40,000 books and manuscripts until his death and his exquisite library was only exeeded in France by those of the King and Cardinal Mazarin. Having inherited the considerable library of his uncle, the Président Antoine Séguier, in 1624, his own, from 1635 onwards, became a copyright library which allowed his librarians to choose among all the books published in France those they thought were worthy of being added to it. Séguier's agents acquired books and manuscripts for him all over Europe and even Asia Minor an Egypt. Most of his books were bound in sheep or morocco by Antoine Ruette.
After his death the whole library was offered to the Bibliothèque Royale who did not acquire it, resulting in the great auction sale in May 1686, were about 12,000 printed books were publicly sold. These two catalogues are the only existing records of this important library listing about 12,000 books and an impressive amount of approximately 4,000 manuscripts. The manuscript catalogue is divided in four sections: general section (including historical manuscripts, local history, medicine, literature, etc.), illuminated manuscripts, Greek and Slavonic manuscripts (including two Greek printed books), and finally Arabic, Coptic, Syriac, Ethiopic, and Hebrew manuscripts, as well as a few books printed in those languages. (2)
2 volumes, 12
A rare complete set of both catalogues of Séguier's library of printed books and manuscripts. Séguier, a passionate book collector, accumulated approximately 40,000 books and manuscripts until his death and his exquisite library was only exeeded in France by those of the King and Cardinal Mazarin. Having inherited the considerable library of his uncle, the Président Antoine Séguier, in 1624, his own, from 1635 onwards, became a copyright library which allowed his librarians to choose among all the books published in France those they thought were worthy of being added to it. Séguier's agents acquired books and manuscripts for him all over Europe and even Asia Minor an Egypt. Most of his books were bound in sheep or morocco by Antoine Ruette.
After his death the whole library was offered to the Bibliothèque Royale who did not acquire it, resulting in the great auction sale in May 1686, were about 12,000 printed books were publicly sold. These two catalogues are the only existing records of this important library listing about 12,000 books and an impressive amount of approximately 4,000 manuscripts. The manuscript catalogue is divided in four sections: general section (including historical manuscripts, local history, medicine, literature, etc.), illuminated manuscripts, Greek and Slavonic manuscripts (including two Greek printed books), and finally Arabic, Coptic, Syriac, Ethiopic, and Hebrew manuscripts, as well as a few books printed in those languages. (2)