A Draft List of the Brölemann Manuscripts

In a post about the Brölemann catalogues in 2015 I wrote "In due course I intend to tabulate the numbers of the three catalogues to see what patterns emerge." I had hoped that one of the catalogues might be arranged in order of acquisition, and that it would thus allow me to determine the relative dates of acquisition for those whose source was unknown.

I made a start on this, but the initial burst of enthusiasm faded when it became clear that patterns were unlikely to emerge, and the table has languished until now. Over the past few days, however, I have brought my table to a more complete state, and share it now as a Google Doc in case it is of use to anyone. It is arranged like this:

[Click to enlarge]

For anyone nervous about opening a shared Google Docs file, I have also put a PDF version on my academia.edu page here. (The Google Doc will be updated periodically, the PDF version probably won't).

I hope that people will find this table when they encounter a manuscript with a typical "Ex libris A. Brölemann" bookplate and Google it, and that they will send me additional identifications, current locations, or additional provenance.

I also intend to compile a much more detailed account of the provenance of the Brölemann manuscripts, perhaps something like this, arranged in the order and with the numbering of the 1897 printed catalogue:


1
Gospel Lectionary
Attributed to Germany or Switzerland (Reichenau/Saint Gall)
10th century
Now Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, MS 16

• Didier Petit de Meurville (1793–1873), of Lyon; his sale 1843, lot 364 (“EVANGELIA MISSARUM, cent quatre-vingt-six lettres ornées, dont trois grandes; manuscrit vélin de X^e siècle, in-4^o, ancienne reliure dont la garniture manque”); perhaps bought at the sale by:
• Henry-Auguste Brölemann (1775–1854), of Lyon; Cat. A no. 135; Cat. B no. 60; Cat. C no. 1; by descent until sold in 1926 lot 29; bought for £2,050 by Bernard Quaritch Ltd, on behalf [as established by Laura Cleaver] of:
• Alfred Chester Beatty (1875–1968), of London and Dublin; his MS W.42 (Millar, 1927); given to his wife:
• Edith Chester Beatty née Dunn Stone (1890?–1952); sold through Maggs Bros Ltd, 25 July 1952 to:
• Philip Hofer (1898–1984), of Cambridge, MA, his fMS Typ 203H (Bond & Faye, 1962); exhibited at Los Angeles (1953–54) and Cambridge (1955); given to his son:
• Myron Arms Hofer (1931– ), of New York [Wikipedia], sold in 1985 (the year after his father died) through Elmar Seibel, Ars Libri [Getty website], Boston, to:
• The J. Paul Getty Museum

References

• Eric George Millar, The Library of A. Chester Beatty: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Western Manuscripts, I: Manuscripts 1 to 43 (1927), pp. 131–41, pls. 39–42.
• Mediaeval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts: A Loan Exhibition, November 25, 1953 – January 9, 1954, Los Angeles County Museum (Los Angeles, 1953), no. 134.
• Illuminated & Calligraphic Manuscripts: An Exhibition Held at The Fogg Art Museum & Houghton Library, February 14 – April 1, 1955 (Cambridge, MA, 1955), no. 5, pl. 1.
• Bond & Faye (1962), p. 270.
• “Acquisitions/1985", The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal, 14 (1986), pp. 208–9, no. 106 (ills.).

(My aim is to always cite the source of relevant provenance information, and list these references, but not to provide comprehensive bibliographies).



As I have not posted it before, I also add here some biographical information from the Armorial des bibliophiles de lyonnais, Forez, Beaujolais et Dombes (Lyon, 1907), p. 70 [online here]:

BRÖLEMANN. — D'argent, à la bande d'azur bordée d'or, accompagnée de deux fleurs de myosotis tigées et feuillées au naturel. Signature : À. Patricot del., voir pl. IV.

Ex-libris et fer d’Arthur-Auguste Brölemann, né à Lyon, le 6 octobre 1826, fils d'Émile-Thiéry Brölemann et de Nennecy Chion, de Chamarges, marié, le 18 juin 1853, à Anna Sevène, décédée sans enfant. Membre du Consistoire de l'Église Réformée, président du tribunal de commerce, administrateur des Hospices civils de Lyon, membre de la Société des Bibliophiles lyonnais, chevalier de la Légion d'honneur, il conserva pieusement la bibliothèque et les collections d'objets d'art léguées par son grand-père, Henri-Auguste Brölemann, membre du conseil municipal et de la chambre de commerce de Lyon, conseiller général du Rhône, dont il édita les mémoires sous le titre de Souvenirs et portraits, Lyon, Alfred-Louis Perrin, 1882. Pour perpétuer le souvenir de cet important cabinet, renfermant plus de 4.000 volumes, il a fait imprimer la description sommaire de deux cents ouvrages de haute curiosité, sous le titre de : Catalogue de manuscrits et livres rares de la bibliothèque d'Arthur Brölemann, Lyon, Rey, 1897 [online here]. A. Brölemann mourut à Lyon, le 23 février 1904, ayant, par son testament du 10 juin 1902, légué aux musées de la ville de Lyon des objets d'art, des manuscrits et des médailles dont la description a été faite par J.-B. Giraud, conservateur des musées archéologiques de Lyon, dans : Le legs Arthur Brôlemann au Musée de Lyon, Lyon, Rey, 1905 [online here]. Voir : Arthur Brölemann, 1826-1904, esquisse biographique, par Henry Morin-Pons, Lyon, 1904, pet, in-8, portrait. [available here]

La famille Brölemann, établie à Soest, en Westphalie, depuis plusieurs siècles (dès 1375, ce nom figure au livre de la bourgeoisie de Soest), est actuellement représentée par deux branches, l'ainée devenue française, et la cadette dont les représentants résident à Dortmund ou aux environs.