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an old book with writing on it sitting on a tablean old black and white photo of a man sitting at a table
ALDE

162 - [FLONCEL (Albert-François)]. Catalogue of the Floncel Booksh…
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Estimate €1,000 - €1,200
Sale commission
Description
[FLONCEL (Albert-François)]. Catalogue of the Floncel Bookshop, or of the Italian books belonging to the late Mr Alberto-Francesco Floncel, lawyer at the Parliament of Paris, and royal censor. Paris, Jean-Gabriel Cressonnier, 1774. 2 volumes in one in-8 volume, blue Bradel-style cardboard binding, untrimmed (contemporary binding). A rare first edition of this ‘highly curious and much sought-after catalogue’ (Guigard), compiled by the bookseller Jean-Gabriel Cressonnier. ‘This catalogue, comprising 7,984 lots, describes the largest 18th-century collection of Italian books assembled outside Italy and is the only 18th-century French sale catalogue to have been printed in a foreign language’ (Breslauer). Albert-François Floncel (1697–1773), born in Luxembourg, was a lawyer at the Parliament of Paris and a royal censor; he then became, in 1731, Secretary of State for the Principality of Monaco and, in 1739, First Secretary of Foreign Affairs. A passionate lover of Italian literature, he was a member of the academies of Rome, Florence, Bologna and Cortona, and built up a magnificent library comprising some eleven thousand volumes in that language. Auction prices handwritten in the margins. A portrait of the collector, engraved by Étienne Fessard, is pasted in as the frontispiece. Missing the half-title page of the first volume; a corner loss resulting in the loss of a few letters from the title and on pp. 36–36 and 245–246 of the second volume; scattered small water stains and spots; worn caps and corners. Guigard, II, 217 – Blogie, II, 12 – North, no. 225 – Bibliotheca Bibliographica Breslaueriana, II, no. 480.
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About the sale Fine antique books – A library in the Languedoc
Auction location
Auction time 10/20/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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