Kolbe & Fanning
Auction 159 6 Mar 2021
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Villers's Extremely Rare Foundational Work on Nini
Villers, Alfred. JEAN-BAPTISTE NINI: SES TERRES CUITES. Blois: Imprimerie Lecesne, 1862. 8vo [22.5 by 14 cm], original printed brown paper covers. 63, (1) pages. Removed from previous binding. Good to very good. The earliest work devoted to Nini and his terra cottas. It seems appropriate here to quote Richard Margolis's own description of this work, taken from the annotated bibliography he appended to his Benjamin Franklin in Terra Cotta (page 209): The author of this exceptionally rare sixty-three page pamphlet, which originated in the form of a presentation to the Société des Sciences et Lettres de Loir-et-Cher on November 8, 1861, was the first director of the Blois Museum. His slim pamphlet put Nini "on the map," so to speak. Villers collected information about Nini's life and work, aided by recollections of elderly workmen who either knew Nini or knew him by repute. He wrote a sensitive appreciation of his portrait medallions, and supplemented this with a descriptive catalogue of sixty-four of them (plus one additional variant), noting the public and private collections which included them. He donated some forty-nine of the medallions he had collected to the Blois Museum. Although there had been a few brief, earlier references to Nini in the literature, and a limited number of auction offerings and donations to museums of his portrait medallions prior to 1861, the Villers pamphlet is the first work of substance on Nini, and remains of considerable value to the specialist. [Online description truncated: for the full description, see the printed or PDF cataloge.] This is the only copy of this very rare work we have ever handled. Indeed, it would appear to be one of only three copies to be offered at auction since 1949. It was acquired by Richard Margolis directly through Douglas Saville at Spink in December 1989, and was previously in the library of Étienne Page (Vinchon sale of 3 octobre 1989). A very rare opportunity.
Villers, Alfred. JEAN-BAPTISTE NINI: SES TERRES CUITES. Blois: Imprimerie Lecesne, 1862. 8vo [22.5 by 14 cm], original printed brown paper covers. 63, (1) pages. Removed from previous binding. Good to very good. The earliest work devoted to Nini and his terra cottas. It seems appropriate here to quote Richard Margolis's own description of this work, taken from the annotated bibliography he appended to his Benjamin Franklin in Terra Cotta (page 209): The author of this exceptionally rare sixty-three page pamphlet, which originated in the form of a presentation to the Société des Sciences et Lettres de Loir-et-Cher on November 8, 1861, was the first director of the Blois Museum. His slim pamphlet put Nini "on the map," so to speak. Villers collected information about Nini's life and work, aided by recollections of elderly workmen who either knew Nini or knew him by repute. He wrote a sensitive appreciation of his portrait medallions, and supplemented this with a descriptive catalogue of sixty-four of them (plus one additional variant), noting the public and private collections which included them. He donated some forty-nine of the medallions he had collected to the Blois Museum. Although there had been a few brief, earlier references to Nini in the literature, and a limited number of auction offerings and donations to museums of his portrait medallions prior to 1861, the Villers pamphlet is the first work of substance on Nini, and remains of considerable value to the specialist. [Online description truncated: for the full description, see the printed or PDF cataloge.] This is the only copy of this very rare work we have ever handled. Indeed, it would appear to be one of only three copies to be offered at auction since 1949. It was acquired by Richard Margolis directly through Douglas Saville at Spink in December 1989, and was previously in the library of Étienne Page (Vinchon sale of 3 octobre 1989). A very rare opportunity.