Manuscrits et livres précieux retrouvés en Allemagne (1949)

My recent posts about manuscripts recovered from Germany after World War II seem to have been popular, so here is another, consisting mainly just of images of the catalogue including its brief preface, followed by a few identifications.

Manuscrits et livres précieux retrouvés en Allemagne: Exposition organisée par la Commission de récupération artistique (Bibliothèque nationale, Paris, 1949).

The MFA Jaquemart de Hesdin Miniatures

In a post almost a year ago I mentioned that one of the most interesting things about a cutting at the LA County Museum of Art, is what the text on its back tells us about the parent manuscript.

I was recently able to see the four sister cuttings at the MFA, Boston, and a Conservator there kindly relaxed the hinge of the Entombment miniature (43.215) for me, so that the reverse can now be seen and photographed more easily.

The Hours of Philip Ringstone

Looking through old photos taken on a visit to Bristol Reference Library I came across my pictures of their MS 11.

A Psalter Leaf at Harvard

When writing the previous post about the leaves and cuttings sold by Gustav Nebehay in 1926, I concentrated on the catalogue entries that are accompanied by reproductions. I also looked through the descriptions that do not have plates, however, and felt sure I recognised lot 120, but could not immediately remember where I knew it from:

"120   Baptism of Christ. An interesting and early miniature of John Baptising Christ (140mm. by 95mm.). On the left is John the Baptist ... In the centre the figure of Christ in Jordan ... On the right an attendant angel with towel. On the back of the miniature is a large and finely designed initial B in burnished gold on a blue ground ... Germany, XIII Cent."

Soon after posting the blog I remembered where I had seen it: it is now Houghton Library, MS Typ 997 (described here):

"The Property of a Gentleman": Gustav Nebehay (1881–1935)

Some months ago, Consuelo Dutschke very generously gave me some old auction and dealer catalogues, including Sotheby's, 14-16 June, 1926:

Lots 116–150 were sold as "An Important Collection of Fine Illuminations, The Property of a Gentleman". I recognise some of them from the plates in the catalogue.

Le Répertoire des biens spoliés en France durant la guerre 1939-1945

The previous post concerned a small number of illuminated manuscripts recovered from the Nazis and exhibited in Paris in 1946, described in a slim catalogue.

Blogging about it reminded me that I once bought a related but much rarer and much more extensive (and expensive) publication, Le Répertoire des biens spoliés en France durant la guerre 1939-1945, tome VII: Archives, manuscrits et livres rares [Berlin, 1948]. I couldn't really justify the purchase price, so with some regret I sold it soon after at cost to the Art Loss Register, confident that they would make better use of it than me.

Happily for me, the Répertoire has now been digitized and can be downloaded from here.

Some Rothschild Manuscripts in 1946

Regular readers will know that I have a particular interest in collections of manuscripts formed and/or dispersed in the first half of the 20th century, including the upheavals of the War years.

I recently bought and read Christopher de Hamel, The Rothschilds and Their Collections of Illuminated Manuscripts, having previously only read the original French edition, which he kindly gave me on publication.[1]

It reminded me that one of my best online book purchases, for about $10, is the "Edition définitive" of a scarce catalogue[2], printed on typically poor-quality post-war paper, of an exhibition held in Paris in the summer of 1946: