Gersaint, Edme-Francois | Collection of two auction catalogues

Gersaint, Edme-Francois 

Two works bound in one volume:

I. Catalogue raisonné des Coquilles, et Autres Curiosites Naturelles. Etched frontispiece by Duflos after Boucher. Paris: (Valleyre fils for) Flahault & Prault, 1736

12mo (175 x 94 mm). Engraved frontispiece of corals and shells by Duflos after Boucher. Including half-title but without the final errata leaf; light spotting and intermittent dampstaining. Contemporary French mottled calf gilt with morocco lettering-piece; a bit worn and chipped at extremities.

The catalogue of a sale of shells and natural history specimens organized by the Parisian art dealer and auctioneer Gersaint (1694-1750), it includes an introductory essay on conchology, a survey of important collections, and a brief annotated bibliography of the subject. Includes a list of European Cabinets de curiosites naturelles such as those of Reaumur, Julienne, Dezallier d'Argenville, and Bonnier de La Mosson “plus physicien encore que curieux” (p.33).

[Bound with:]

II. Catalogue raisonné d’une collection considérable de diverses Curiosités en tous Genres. Paris: Jacques Barois, Pierre-Guillaume Simon, 1744

12mo. Repeated frontispiece. Half-title.

Presentation copy, inscribed by Gersaint in the lower margin of the frontispiece. A priced copy, with marginal annotations and occasional insertions. Rare auction catalogue of the nine scientific curiosity cabinets of Joseph Bonnier de la Mosson (1702-1744): chemistry, pharmacy, drugs, utensils for making instruments, three cabinets of natural history objects (many shells), a cabinet of physics and machinery (e.g. a magic lantern), prints and paintings (incl. "The goldsmith's shop" by Quinten Matsijs) and jewelry, totaling 966 lots.