Artcurial to Auction Final Installment of Jean Bourdel Library Collection on April 14, 2026
Artcurial will auction the third and final part of the Bourdel collection on April 14, 2026, in collaboration with experts Emmanuel Lhermitte and Philippine de Sailly. Preserved by the Bourdel family for nearly a century, the collection ranks among the major 20th-century bibliophile holdings dedicated to French Gothic prints and 16th-century literature. Following the first two sales, the most recent held in March 2025, the auction disperses chivalric novels, humanist poetry and major prose works organized into the categories of Gothic prints, poetry and prose.
The Signal
The sale offers collectors and institutions a concluding opportunity to acquire rare first editions that document French printing at the close of the Middle Ages and the start of the Renaissance. Highlights include the 1503 edition of Jean Molinet's work, the sole edition of the Perceval chivalric novel, the 1547 first edition of Jacques Peletier du Mans in a Jean Edouard Niédrée binding, Ronsard's 1564 Le Premier livre du Recueil des nouvelles poesies, Clément Marot's 1535 edition, Francesco Colonna's Hypnerotomachie and Ambroise Paré's 1561 La Méthode curative des playes et fractures de la Teste humaine.
- People: Emmanuel Lhermitte, Philippine de Sailly
- Auction Houses: Artcurial
- Locations: Paris
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