New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-05-08
THE BOOK-LOVER.
NJ BrRarDI ON PRICES-rwO SHINING EN-
AAlPLES AND K SERIOUS WARNING-TllE
FRENCH BIBIIOPHILE.

world. This is a commercial age and II the pro-
fessors Of commerce have ever been inclined "
look leniently on the passion of the booK-coieoi
IL is when they have heard that books nave so''e
times proved good investment No douot 'nes
have: generally when they have been po"gn'
without any view TO resale at pron'' ~
Beraldi's volumes abounds in interesting iac's anu
figures, and contains here ana thcre au i,'". ~,
or a piece Of wise counsel, on w"ic" "o
lector who cxpeots to make money may proh'aoS
wander Rut ms We all like to be dazzieu ny
prosperitv and good fortune, let us 'rst 'ahe so"
instances Of success instances meah WIZ
book has nsrn steadily in value; or mo'e 0oA''
monty, by leaps and bounds - ,,.
The first shall be good iiiis'ra"on y, w
principle which the collector does "o' .ts y.
master at the outset of his career """'' 49,,
what often signifies most is not necessarily '"c
rar,,v of the book, but the exceptional condluoh
~ Oh. particular COPY The Contes dc La ron
+nire edition DIES Fcr,niers GenerauX, 1852
. vol in 3. figures d'Eiscn, heurons oe
T,ho9ard is NOT rare book il is not even scarce
Good copies of it are scarce very fine copies are
rare NJ Beralds is what the French oloho-
phie calls prccieuX cXemplare
Many things or any one of many thlngs' "hS
,oote a couv precious" THIS is valuable from
ito binding and from it's "provcnance "o'"
for which the competent French scholar 'ou' nc
must have knowledge OF bibllographN IL ~
vited to supply good English rendering. l"e
binding is Derome' s-Onc or the Deromes-i" iou
morocco with broad "dcntelle again woro
tia, wants an English equlvalent-on inc siure'
lnowu ~ "dentcllc Ia POmpadour' with the
orms of Madame de Pompadour, IN thls caso
.,,;r, p,cscrvation perfect The book has the
81 rlote of Charles Nodier. Nobody knows
ho much Nodicr paid for il, hut at his saic' Ill
1s44 il fetched rather less than So9:-94o lrohcs'
Then il disappears: rappcars III 'he poSSes>'i
of Fontaiue the bookseller OF the fassage "eS
Panoremas who in his time, did more than any
thodv to enhance the price of books now upao'
AZ p.r.ld; does not seem to know where RON
,o;ro houcht il. nor what he gave. But the story
=, ,ho sale N it's next owner must be told In fuii
At was about five o'clock one afternoon, the
hour Of which. as their daily habit was the
.h;h,onhiles OF 1S75'-Tacarcllc, Bauchart. j. dc
po,bschild. PALLET etc, were talking things over
,oocther on the first floor Of Fontainc's bookshop
As GOOD luck would have it, Lacarelle wanted 10
sneal, 20 Fontaine privately. lie started 10 go
down TO the ground floor. and met the booKselier
half way going up TO show the company a DOCK
he had lust bought. Lacareile caught sight Oh
the precious volumes, seized on them, examined
them saw their value at the first glance How
- .. .c;x Thousand francs Agreed
And he nut them in his pocket, selling them Oh
the wing. under the very nose Of his fellow DID
liophiles That il the good way to do bsihcss
accurately. once for all. and without hesitation
Lanarcllc's library was in due time sold. and
this COPY of the Contes celebrated all over Europe
and even in America, came TO the hammer with the
rest NJ Beraldi and NJ Morgand, taking counsel
together, agreed that il would fetch 5000 francs,
and N. Morgand was commissioned to DID that
amount But there was long delay between the
announcement of the sale and the sale ISeii.
Tie world Of amateurs grew excited orders came
from abroad; from America, even. where just
then the collector had begun 70 bethink himself
of French books. The daily gossip in the Passage
des Panorama, where Morgand had long since
bought out Caen and superseded Fontainc. grew
fast and furious. NJ. Beraldi enlarged his COM
mission from 5000 francs TO 10000 then 10
$4,000; then to 1000; then to 10000. Upon
this one book were the eyes of the whole book
loving world fixed: for this everything else is
forgotten: for this no sacric" is too great. The
day of the sale came at last: and at the last
moment NJ. Beraldi dispatches final
order to NJ Nlorgand: "Go TO 90
900 francs" lie was just in time
The two volumes sold for 1850 francs 1t
seems got them for nothing" remarks he: "anl
came within measurable distance of not getting
them at all. For, at the last moment NJ Morgand
received from another client an unlimited order
70 buy the Comics.
Morgand was cruelty perplexed. lie settled I'll.
matter in his usual clear and straightforward
way; IL was my commission he had first accepted
1t was mine he would execute The book was de
hyered TO me, to my great JOY and to the tespai
Of the client in question
The price of this book had advanced from pa
francs in ls44 TO 1850 francs not much NOR,
than forty years afterward.
Not less dramatic. though in different way, i
the story of the volume most celebrated Of al
among bibliophilcs. says NJ Beraldi, "a manuscript
Of the Contes de Ia Fontaine in binding b.
Deromc. and containing flty-scven original designs
of Fragonard. Ii you wish to read the full
history OF il you go TO the six or seven page
Of close print in which NJ Bcraldi narratcs it, il
his own quite ipimitable and always lively man
ner / can but abridge: or cut it 10 the bone, il
that phrase of Hayward's which the journals
cannot keep too constantly before him. The be
ginning Of 1t must be sought in the BibliO,hequ'
dun Bbliophilc; that catalogue OF the mos
famous collection of NJ. Eugene Pallet also drawn
up by NJ. Kraldi, in 1855 a volume less splendiC
but not less interesting than the present. Tn
designs OF FragOnard, known the world over wei.
executed about 1850 for Bargeret, farmer genera
OF the revenue in that day; the manuscript like
wise.
In this case. as in the other. there are gaps II
rhe history. but the volume finally is found il
possession u the late Feuiet de Conches OF some
what unhappy memory, who bought it in TIT
good period" for next TO nothing. Then it passed
into the hands Of other collectors successfully
and finally into those of the great dealer whom
NJ. Beraldi permits himself, on this occasion, I
describe as Acknowledgment. The Minotau
declined TO part with it for css than 1000 francs
NJ. Pallet ia the inevitable buyer; he mus. Blu,
it; to sec it pass into another collection would b.
10 reduce his own TO the second rank. lie cede
TO NJ Morgand other books to the amount O
$4,000 fanos-lon each and all Of which tina
mt NAV Isn frua IN La,-.