[ARETIN, Johann Adam, Baron von.] BRULLIOT, François. Catalogue raisonné des estampes du cabinet de feu Mr. Le Bar[on] d'Aretin. Munich, Joseph Rösl, 1827.
2 vols., 8vo, pp. v, [1], 420, [1]; [2], 336, [1]; vol. I priced throughout in a neat contemporary hand, vol. II priced sporadically in the same contemporary hand in ink and pencil (see below); a fine set in contemporary boards, with Ms. Paper labels on spine. From the Donaueschingen library with faint stamp at foot of title page.
The catalogue of the immensely rich and celebrated print collection of Baron von Aretin, a high ranking Bavarian politician and a member of the Frankfurt Parliament. The collection was initially offered for sale en bloc. It was eventually sold in the summer of 1830 at auction using Brulliot's catalogue as the sale catalogue; the sale lasted from the 5th of July until August 1830 according to a neat contemporary note on the title page of our copy. The collection comprised prints from the German school (2030) and Dutch school (2373) in the first volume and Italian (2465), French (1149) and English (91) schools in the second volume; 124 lots of books and reference works are appended.The present copy is neatly priced in ink by a contemporary hand throughout volume I, whereas the annotator only marked certain parts of the second volume. He priced large parts of the French school, less of the Italian school, and all of the books at the end, although he did not always bother to translate his hurried pencil results, obviously taken while attending the auction, into the more neat ink format.
Francois Brulliot was appointed curator of the print cabinet in Munich in 1822, where he worked until his death in 1836. He instigated a number of de-accession sales throughout the 1820s and refocused the collection. He bought heavily in the von Gruben (1824), von Derschau (1825) and von Stetten (1832) sales; and spent the not inconsiderable sum of 12.000 Florins at the Aretin sale in 1830 (a collection he had catalogued himself) (see Lugt, Marques de Collections, 2723).
RLIN locates 3 copies: New York Public (2x) and Harvard [none priced].
£950
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