9 Highlights from the Maurice Burrus Collection

 This is not a catalogue. For full descriptions, please refer to the printed catalogue in French.

An accomplished businessman and an extremely generous benefactor, Maurice Burrus was also an ardent collector of antiquarian books and works of art.

His main fields in bookcollecting were fine bindings, incunabula and illuminated manuscripts.

But he also had a strong interest in Italy and books printed in Strassburg, as the present catalogue testifies.

A copy of the 1460 Latin Bible, the first book printed in Strassburg, which is also the second Bible ever printed (n°76), and, the Aragon-Sforza Hours, a precious Italian Renaissance manuscript written by Sanvito and illuminated by Gaspare de Padova (n°35). 

Besides these two great books, the catalogue also contains: 

– four manuscripts before 1515 :  a Breton book of hours (n°34), a Livy in french, written and decorated for a woman (n°83), a fine Salzburg missal (n°67) and a literary manuscript of Lemaire de Belges written for Anne de Bretagne, Queen of France (n°44),

-  eight incunabula, three of which have been printed in Strassburg: Augustinus ([1468]; n°77), Scrutinium ([1470]; n°78), both in contemporary binding, Zacharias (1473; n°79),

– thirty-three 16th century decorated bindings including an extraordinary early italian labyrinth binding on an aldine edition of 1514 (n°71)

– twenty-six 17th and 18th century bindings including a spectacular Irish one (n°75) 

– among illustrated books, two books of hours printed in Paris (n°36 et n°37) one of which is a unique copy. 

Experts : 

Isabelle de Conihout

Tél. +33 (0)6 72 81 28 46

isabelle@conihout.com

Pascal Ract-Madoux

Tél. +33 (0)1 43 59 40 52

prm@online.fr 

Auction : Tuesday 17 october 2017