Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GinoLR, post: 24720892, member: 128351&quot;]After people passed away, their relatives and heirs often have the sad duty to empty their houses, sometimes share between them some family souvenirs or objects they like to keep, sell the rest in some kind of garage sale or give it to charities if it may help. Sometimes, they find very old things. </p><p><br /></p><p>When we had to do it for my in-laws, a family from Normandy, there were souvenirs we could trace back to my wife&#039;s grandparents, great grandparents, who had lived in the late 19th c., and even older things that probably came from 18th c. ancestors. None of these people, as far as we know, was a collector of anything, and in the family traditions some furniture or objects had just always been there... It is the case for this old worn-out book.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1581228[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>It is in very bad condition. Obviously it is not a collectible item for bibliophiles, it is just a book that had been read again and again. It is &quot;<i>De l&#039;Utilité des Voyages et de l&#039;Avantage que la Recherche des Antiquitez Procure aux Sçavans</i>&quot;, by M. Baudelot de Dairval, printed at Rouen (Charles Ferrand) in 1727. (&quot;On the usefulness of travels, and the advantage scholars draw from researching antiquities&quot;). </p><p><br /></p><p>It&#039;s all about Greek and Roman civilization, commentaries about objects, inscriptions, coins. Especially coins. There are manuscript comments in the margins, sometimes in French, sometimes in Latin, in black ink, black or red pencil, perhaps from two different handwritings. The book is not at all an original edition: it was first published in Paris in 1686, but was later reprinted, this one in Rouen. There were not many numismatic books available in the 1720s, especially if you lived in some provincial city, and this one had the quality of being relatively affordable and, being printed in Rouen, it is not surprising to find it in a personal library of Normandy. </p><p><br /></p><p>In the 18th c. it belonged to somebody who collected ancient coins. Let&#039;s see this illustration of a denarius of Manius Cordius Rufus (46 BC) : </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1581230[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>On the illustration there is an owl on the goddess&#039; shoulder. But somebody wrote in Latin with a red pencil : &quot;<i>In meis, non Noctua, sed Cupido</i>&quot; (&quot;on a specimen of my collection, it is not an owl but it is Cupid&quot;). Of course the unknown collector was right : this goddess is Venus... </p><p><br /></p><p>I shall never know if this book could have been bought by some known ancestor in the late 19th or early 20th c., but it is very unlikely: this was the field of interest of nobody we know in the family. The quality of some surviving pieces of furniture of the late 18th and early 19th c. show that there had been relatively wealthy people in this period, among which somebody likely to have collected ancient coins as a hobby. When I hold this worn-out book, I find it a little moving to be in contact with an ordinary provincial collector who probably lived in Normandy 3 centuries ago. From where could he get his coins? Were there dealers in Rouen, or did he find them when he travelled to Paris if he did?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in