Kolbe & Fanning
Auction 159 6 Mar 2021
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Ordered Seized and Destroyed by a French Court
Charvet, J. DESCRIPTION DE MONNAIES FRANÇAISES, ROYALES ET FÉODALES. Paris, 1862. Small 8vo, contemporary brown cloth-backed marbled boards; spine ruled and lettered in gilt. (4), viii, (2), 98 pages, text figures; 4 lithographic plates of coins. Binding rubbed; very good or better. A controversial work, in the Avant-Propos of which the author publicly castigated and ridiculed the work of Rollin & Feuardent in their catalogue of the J. Rousseau collection to such a degree that he was successfully sued for defamation in 1863. According to Engel & Serrure, the court ordered the book to be seized and destroyed, making copies very scarce: "Certaines attaques dirigées par l'auteur, dans sa préface, contre des numismatistes honorablement connus, lui valurent un procés, et une condamnation å une assez forte amende. Le tribunal ordonna la saisie et la destruction du livre, qui est devenu très rare dans le commerce" (entry 1531). It may not come as a surprise that when the time came for Charvet's own collection to be sold, it was through Henri Hoffmann (see entry for the sale in Part Two of this catalogue).
Charvet, J. DESCRIPTION DE MONNAIES FRANÇAISES, ROYALES ET FÉODALES. Paris, 1862. Small 8vo, contemporary brown cloth-backed marbled boards; spine ruled and lettered in gilt. (4), viii, (2), 98 pages, text figures; 4 lithographic plates of coins. Binding rubbed; very good or better. A controversial work, in the Avant-Propos of which the author publicly castigated and ridiculed the work of Rollin & Feuardent in their catalogue of the J. Rousseau collection to such a degree that he was successfully sued for defamation in 1863. According to Engel & Serrure, the court ordered the book to be seized and destroyed, making copies very scarce: "Certaines attaques dirigées par l'auteur, dans sa préface, contre des numismatistes honorablement connus, lui valurent un procés, et une condamnation å une assez forte amende. Le tribunal ordonna la saisie et la destruction du livre, qui est devenu très rare dans le commerce" (entry 1531). It may not come as a surprise that when the time came for Charvet's own collection to be sold, it was through Henri Hoffmann (see entry for the sale in Part Two of this catalogue).