201 - [MARIETTE (Pierre-Jean)].

[MARIETTE (Pierre-Jean)]. A Catalog Raisonné of Various Curiosities in the Sciences and Arts, Which Composed the Collection of the Late Mr. Mariette, Honorary Comptroller General of the Grand Chancellery of France and Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Painting and the Academy of Florence. Paris: The Author, G. Desprez, 1775. [Followed by]: Catalog of Prints by the Greatest Italian, Flemish, and French Masters, from Various Collections of Prints, Architectural Works by Various Masters, and Other Treatises on the Arts, Belonging to the Estate of Mr. Mariette… Paris: Basan, Me Chariot, [1775]. — 2 works in one in-8 volume, 191 x 118: frontispiece, title page, xvj, 418 pp., 4 plates; viij, 79 pp. Burgundy shagreen, triple gilt fillet framing the covers, decorated ribbed spine, triple gilt fillet on the inside, gilt edges (19th-century binding). First edition of this exquisite catalog of the major auction of paintings, drawings, and prints from the collection of Pierre-Jean Mariette (1694–1774). Compiled by the engraver, publisher, and print dealer Pierre-François Basan (1723–1797), it opens with a brief biography of Mariette and lists 1,491 lots. The edition is adorned with a title page engraved by Moreau the Younger and a superb frontispiece drawn by Cochin the Younger and engraved by Choffard, depicting “History, the Genius of Drawing, the God of Taste, and Study gathered at the foot of the Bust of Mr. Mariette,” as well as four plates engraved by Mariette himself. This is followed by the catalog for the sale of prints from Mariette’s estate, also compiled by Basan. This first sale of the collection took place on February 1, 1775, and the following days, in a hall at the Grands-Augustins. The collection was dispersed over four auctions in total: first the one on February 1, then a second for which no catalog is known, a third devoted to the library, and finally the major auction, whose catalog appears at the beginning of this volume. A precious copy, bearing in the margins the hammer prices and the names of most of the buyers. The same hand added, on the reverse of the title page, an interesting summary of the auction sessions: it reveals that the sales as a whole brought in more than 400,000 livres, including items added during the auction. In a “nota bene” note, the annotator recorded these valuable details: “All the drawings that the Emperor purchased were for the King, and all the prints that Mr. Le Noir also purchased were likewise for the King. The King had offered 300,000 livres for the collection at the major auction, but they would not let him have it for that price. However, he wants (?) only 293,500 livres from this sale, from which the heirs lost 6,500 livres due to this refusal, not counting the costs of the sale.” The copy is further enriched by a letter from Mariette’s own hand, a single page in-12 format, dated August 5, 1762: in it, he hands over to his correspondent a letter written to Mr. Dieterich to thank him for sending two paintings, and encloses “three works by Rembrandt that he had requested,” inviting him to have them forwarded to him. Also included are a handwritten inventory, dated 1749, of the books supplied to Mr. Mariette by Debure the Elder, with three lines in Mariette’s own hand, as well as a document signed by Mariette, dated April 1, 1724. A pencil note on the first blank endpaper specifies that these letters were donated by André Jammes on August 5, 1987. Scuffing on the spine and hinges. The last two leaves and the last endpapers are partially detached.