PARIS.- The dispersal of the Pierre Bergé Library continues on December 14th, with Part IV of its 6-part auction begun three years ago. The sale is organized jointly by Pierre Bergé & Associés and Sotheby’s and will be held at the Hotel Drouot in the heart of Paris.

Part IV offers a diversified array reflecting the multiple facets and breadth of this unique collector’s passion. If the lion’s share of the offerings is devoted to literature, other specialities confirm the collector’s interests in other fields including botany and gardening, philosophy or history.

Here, one will find some fine illustrated works – a surprising feature for a disciple of Flaubert, who refused any illustration of his books – along with works by authors close to his heart throughout his lifetime of which he managed to acquire the first editions, notably: Michel de Montaigne, Gustave Flaubert, André Gide and Marcel Proust.

A loyal companion of creators, always preferring to remain in their shadow – Bernard Buffet, Yves Saint-Laurent, or Madison Cox – Pierre Bergé, on this occasion, signs his own collection: precisely sixty years after the Trapèze collection which consecrated Yves Saint-Laurent; he invites us to an opening that promises to be memorable.

In its diversity and open-mindedness, this sale is an invitation to embark on a journey through the history of books where, side by side, one discovers representatives of the establishment and anti-establishment, along with the unorthodox, horticulturalists and novelists, activists and poets.

Let us begin this journey with the superb copy of Propriétaire des choses by Bartholomeus Anglicus, printed in Lyon circa 1486. This second edition of the French translation is richly illustrated with 19 large woodcuts finely coloured at the time. It is a rare complete copy and perfectly preserved.

This celebrated medieval encyclopaedia was written around 1420 and was to be used by scholars and preachers. It broaches a wide range of subjects from biblical history, geography, medicine and astronomy, as well as natural history (including fauna, flora, minerals and precious stones), arithmetic, music and nutrition. It is also the first book to amply cover the subject of wine.

Estimate: 150 000 / 200 000 €

Pursuing our journey, we find one of the very first translations of the Lives by Plutarch in French, one of the most widely read works of Renaissance in France: a magnificent illuminated manuscript on vellum of La Tresillustre Vie de Romulus followed by La Tresillustre Vie de du jeune Caton dit Uticense (1508), richly decorated with 54 full page paintings.

These illuminations, attributed to artists associated with the workshops of Antoine Vérard and Jean Pichore, illustrate battle scenes, assassinations and torture, while others depict scenes of daily life in the Middle Ages with particular emphasis on architectural details.

This book is part of a group of five manuscripts commissioned by the Duchess Philippe de Gueldre for the education of her son, future Duc de Lorraine, reared at the court of King Louis XII between 1501 and 1508.

Estimate: 400 000 / 600 000 €

The seminal work of modern botany by Leonhart Fuchs was published in Basel in 1542. It is richly illustrated with 512 botanical woodcuts together with the author’s portrait. Not only does the Pierre Bergé copy contain the woodcuts brilliantly colored at the time, it was also richly bound in red morocco for President de Thou, a friend of Montaigne. A statesman, historian and poet, Jacques-Auguste de Thou (1553-1617) was an avid collector and built an unrivalled humanist collection in Europe at that time. Indeed, his collection comprised more than 6,000 printed books and over 1,000 manuscripts.

The Historia stirpium is one of the most influential works published during the great scientific wave of mid-16th Century. With this botanical encyclopaedia, Fuchs revolutionized the study of natural history as much as Copernicus for astronomy (De Revolutionibus, Nuremberg 1543), and Vesalius for anatomy (De Humani corporis, Basel 1543).

Estimate: 300 000 / 400 000 € 840

This copy sits next to a copy of the first edition of the Essais (Bordeaux, Simon Millanges, 1580) by Michel de Montaigne, well preserved in its first vellum binding. It is acknowledged this copy is the best of the four known still in private hands and bound in the original vellum.

Estimate: 400 000 / 500 000 €

Another gem included in the collection is the true first edition of one of the seminal works of the Age of Enlightenment, the De l’Esprit by Claude-Adrien Helvetius, published in 1758. This copy of the first issue before censorship, printed on large paper, is the most famous of all: bound in red morocco and richly gilt, it once belonged to the author’s wife and bears her coat of arms on both covers.

Materialism, combined with a violent criticism of despotism which Helvétius developed in this work, resulted in its impoundment. Although the manuscript had initially received the royal printing privilege, the publication provoked a general uproar; the privilege was withdrawn along with an order to be burned. Only a handful of the copies of the first issue survived, including the present one which Helvétius had given to his wife.

Estimate: 80 000 / 120 000 €

Gustave Flaubert was the main figure in Pierre Bergé’s pantheon. Along with a large paper copy of Madame Bovary inscribed to the poet Alphonse de Lamartine and a copy of De l’Éducation sentimentale inscribed to his friend Noël Parfait, Pierre Bergé was able to acquire a large paper copy (one of 25 on wove paper) of the first edition of Salammbô (1863) inscribed to the composer Hector Berlioz.

This laudatory inscription seems to be the only one known from Flaubert to Berlioz, who was eighteen years his senior. Elated, the composer swiftly replied and on December 23 of the same year, published a vibrant article on the work in the Journal des débats. In it, he concluded with: “This calm style with its immense force is so colourful that it bedazzles the reader” (“Ce style calme dans sa force immense est si coloré qu’il donne au lecteur des éblouissements”). The copy was bound later for Duchess of Camastra, a great-grand daughter of Marshall Ney.

Estimate: 30 000 / 40 000 €

Marcel Proust was another cherished author of the bibliophile Pierre Bergé who owned a copy of the limited edition printed in fifty copies only of À l’ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs, complete with its two galley proofs (one being entirely autograph). Published in 1920, two years after the original, this new edition contains a large number of variations. Proust, himself, reviewed and oversaw every detail with great care, including the cover’s stencilled illustration. Here, for the first time, one finds the mythical portrait of Marcel Proust by Jacques-Émile Blanche. This bibliophile and enhanced edition stands in sharp contrast to the writer’s usual indifference to things bibliophile as well as to his reticence to reveal his manuscripts, fearing “posthumous indiscretion”.

Estimate: 80 000 / 120 000 €

But, the copy number 1 on Imperial Japan paper of Du côté de chez Swann by the same author, gifted to his friend and former lover Lucien Daudet, is without a doubt the most famous one. The long inscription on a sheet inserted at the beginning is testimony to the close bond between the two writers beginning in October 1895.

When the book was presented to the public - Daudet had read the proofs – he was one of the first to write an account full of praise in the Figaro of 23 November 1913. As a sign of gratitude Marcel Proust offered his friend this precious copy, being one of only five printed on Japan paper.

Later in his life, after the passing of Marcel Proust and at a time of financial difficulties, Daudet sold his copy. Before doing so, he had removed the long inscription and kept it together with other autograph letters that he had received from his friend. The book and the dedication leaf were separated for several decades before Pierre Bergé was able to reunite them, thus, tying the loose threads of a century-old story.

Estimate: 600 000 / 800 000 €

Also notable here are other remarkable copies, such as his translation of Sésame et les Lys (by Ruskin) which Proust offered to his surrogate mother, Madam Catusse (est. 8 000 / 12 000 €) along with the copy of Pastiches et Mélanges inscribed and offered to André Gide who had regrettably refused to publish Du côté de chez Swann six years earlier, in the name of the editor Gallimard.

Estimate: 8 000 / 12 000 €

For Pierre Bergé for whom Gide was far more than a merely important contemporary writer, but also a mentor, the collection includes a fine selection of his works, such as Voyage d’Urien inscribed to his mother, or Paludes, inscribed to the artist Jacques-Émile Blanche. However, the most extraordinary is not by Gide, but, rather, a book Gide received as a gift: a copy of Salomé, inscribed to him by Oscar Wilde.

The drama, written directly in French for Sarah Bernhardt, was banned in England and would never be played there. Wilde would always regret never seeing his name linked to the great actress. The playwright was incarcerated and could not attend the first performance during at the Theatre L’Œuvre on February 11, 1896, Meeting Oscar Wilde utterly changed Gide’s life. It was thanks to Wilde who played the go-between, that the writer was able to become what he was. In turn, Gide remained, as did Herbert Ross, one of the very few loyal to Oscar Wilde to the end of his life.

Estimate: 30 000 / 40 000 €

An avid collector of paintings and works of art, Pierre Bergé was also able to acquire a truly extraordinary autograph letter by Paul Gauguin. In this letter, written in Tahiti in March 1899, he speaks of the art of painting, color, the difficulties of earning a living as a painter, of dreams and of poetry (est. 60 000 / 80 000 €).

Also found here is a wonderful assortment of handwritten letters including the exceptional collection of 49 letters written by Édouard Manet to his friend and first protector Émile Zola. The archive reveals the various steps in the evolution of their mutual friendship starting as early as 1866.

Estimate: 40 000 / 60 000 €

The library, the result of which is a combination of curiosity, personal interests, taste and formidable flair, holds yet many more rare and precious wonders, including:

• the extremely rare first edition of Mishle Shu’alim by Berechia containing these Fables of the Fox, printed in Hebrew in Mantua in 1557-1558 (estimate : 30 000 / 40.000 €),

• the Thresor des parterres de l’univers by Daniel Loris (Geneva, 1629) richly illustrated with over 200 woodcut examples of garden design including flowerbeds and labyrinths (estimate : 8 000 / 12.000 €),

• the collected edition of the Lettres by Bussy-Rabutin, published from 1727 to 1737 in Paris. This copy was bound for Queen Marie-Antoinette for her reading library at the Chateau Trianon at Versailles (estimate: 15 000 / 20.000 €),

• a very long and marvellous love letter (10 pages) from Gustave Flaubert to his mistress Louise Colet, written at the beginning of their relationship in August 1846 (estimate : 10 000 / 15.000 €),

• the first edition of Corydon, published clandestinely by André Gide in Bruges in 1911 and printed in 12 copies only (estimate : 10 000 / 15.000 €),

• the copy of Ouvert la nuit (1922) sent by the author Paul Morand to Marcel Proust and inscribed to ‘the one that sees the night’ (‘qui voit la nuit’). (estimate : 6 000 / 8 000 €),

• Jean Giono’s first book, an anthology of his poetry, Accompagnés de la flûte (1924), that the future novelist would later inscribe to Pierre Bergé who, for over a year, had lived in his shed with the artist Bernard Buffet (estimate: 1 000 / 2.000 €),

• or the Encyclopédie anarchiste by Sébastien Faure, given by the latter’s widow to the young Pierre Bergé before leaving his hometown of La Rochelle (estimate : 2 000 / 3 000 €).