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04/04/2016

Published by RHB / April 2016.

François-Antoine DESRUES,

(Not) Just ANother Villain

Nobody knows about Antoine-Francois Desrues (1744-1777) nowadays. Yet, he once stood among the most notorious French villains. The story of his life even made it to the peddling books—some small and attractive books that dealt with nothing but bankable topics—at the turn of the 19th century. He was just another villain, who had murdered a woman and her son to rob them. But was he as hated as some publications pretend? And how come so many engravings linked to his petty crimes were printed? Looks like all these suspicious details lead us to... the police of books.

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NEWS

- The National Library of France (BNF) expects to collect 300,000 euros from the public to buy the precious royal breviary of Saint Louis de Poissy.

- Take an awesome and noisy walk through the 18th century!

- Enter the dragon, and have a digital look through the Vatican's library (80,000 manuscripts).

- An ordinary sale took place this afternoon at Drouot’s (03/03/15) that featured a few Americana items that went way beyond estimations. The first one was a fine copy of the first American edition of Shakespeare’s works: The Plays and the Poems (Philadelphia, 1795-97), 8 in-8° volumes bound in full calf. Estimation: 2 to 3,000 euros. Price: 24,000 euros (+ 26% taxes). There was also a gorgeous map of Philadelphia [66,2x50,6 cm] for the late 18th century. It went for 24,000 euros also. A quite huge manuscript map of The Theatre of the late American War (Paris, circa 1780) also excited several buyers ; the winner took it all, for 21,000 euros (+ 26% taxes).

- Nicest bookshops around

Abebooks has just published the photographs of some of the nicest bookshops around. Have a look.

- And a very interesting list of the most popular French authors on Abebooks !

- Tell me how you're bound...

An interesting catalogue of fine bindings from Norway.

- Americana Exchange becomes Rare Book Hub

Check out the explanations of managing partner Bruce McKinney.

- Women, women, women...

Les Enluminures are launching an exciting exhibition in New York entitled "Women and the Book in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance." Looks like a gorgeous one. Exhibition will be held between the 24th of January and the 21st of February.

- If Madoff could read...

Is the empire of French businessman Thierry Lhéritier, Aristophil, an empire of paper? Since 1990, Lhéritier bought more than 135,000 manuscripts: Victor Hugo, Baudelaire, Napoléon, you name it. His idea was to sell them by parcels to shareholders, promising a 8% raise per year! But the website of Aristophil has been shut down (and reopened as it seems) by the police, who are currently investigating on his case. It's too early to clearly state what they are exactly looking for but the French world of old books is upside down as this might be the first trumpet...

- Et de… 231 ! Shakespeare revived.

As he was working on a project about English literature, Rémy Cordonnier, head of the department of old books of the Library of Saint-Omer, in Pas-de-Calais (France), came across an unexpected first folio edition of Shakespeare's works! The title page is missing, but it has been officially identified as the 231st known copy in the world - out of the 1,000 copies originally printed. In 2006, another copy was sold at Sotheby's for 2,5 millions euros. The book shall be exposed next summer in Saint-Omer.

- Du Bâtard de Lovelace aux Lunes poétiques… meet J.P.R Cuisin

The Parisian bookseller Benoît Forgeot has put together a surprising catalogue dedicated to a unique author, JPR Cuisin. This somewhat forgotten author put out several dozens of books between 1806 an 1840, including a few master pieces later praised by the Surréalistes.

- CARVING BOOKS

Check out the incredible work of Brian Dettmer, who carves books with surgical tools. Exhibition in NY.

- DARWIN FOR 69,000 EUROS.

One of the 1,250 copies of the first French edition of Darwin's De l'origine des espèces au moyen de la sélection naturelle…, was sold this August (2014 ) at Morlaix (France) for 69,000 euros, reads Ouest-France. This copy was in a very good condition and featured some related articles from The Spectator (1860) glued on the rear-end pages. The 1,250 original copies were old sold out on the very day they came out, Novembre, 24, 1859.