Sotheby's

2004 · 4153 — London: Sotheby's 2004. First Edition. Very good. Together 12 vols. large 4to. Original blue cloth very good condition NOT ex-library Some minor bumping and edge wear to extremities some spines leaning a trifle. 4299 lots described and hundreds of illustrations. Lists of Price Realized for Parts 2 4 5 6 and 7 loosely inserted. COMPLETE SET OF THE SALE CATALOGUES OF THE FAMED MACCLESFIELD LIBRARY AN ASTONISHING COLLECTION OF GREAT RARITIES OF SCIENCE "THE LAST GREAT LIBRARY TO HAVE REMAINED UNDIMINISHED AND UNTOUCHED BY TIME" ACCORDING TO THE BOOK COLLECTOR.<br /> <br /> "The dispersal of the last great library one equal in its day to those of the Earls of Sunderland Pembroke and Oxford to have remained unlike those others undiminished and untouched by time without sophistication or alteration since the books were bought" The Book Collector Summer 2004 p. 253. <br /> <br /> Offered in Part 1 was the so-called "Macclesfield Psalter" from from East Anglia purchased for £1.5m by Jörn Günther on behalf of the J. Paul Getty Museum; it was subsequently declared to be of national interest and was bought back with public and private funds; it is now in The Fitzwilliam Museum. Nonetheless the editors of the Book Collector declared that "The sale itself is perhaps the greatest single loss to the national heritage since the sale of the Lawrence drawings in 1830" Spring 2006 p. 76.<br /> <br /> The aggregate amount of the sales of the first six parts only realized more than GBP 14 million according to Sotheby's 2005 press release this amount did not include the Macclesfield Psalter representing "the highest total ever for any sale of scientific books and manuscripts." The additional parts of the library sold between 2006 and 2008 and realized much more; for instance Part 8 alone "Theology Philosophy Law and Economics" realized GBP 1.3 million and Part 12 "Continental Books and Manuscripts" GBP 1.8 million.<br /> <br /> Introducing each Part is a learned commentary by Paul Quarrie of Maggs. According to Maggs' own website Quarrie worked "from 1996 on the library of the earls of Macclesfield and masterminded the dispersal of this celebrated collection beginning with the sale 1999/2000 to Cambridge University Library of scientific letters and papers of Newton William Jones and others and encompassing 12 auction sales 2004-2008." Quarrie's own account of the importance of the Scientific portion of the Library was published as "The Scientific Library of the Earls of Macclesfield" in: Notes and Records: The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science 22 January 2006. <br /> <br /> The dispersal of the Macclesfield Library was disparaged by many; see especially Roger Gaskell and P. Fara in "Selling the silver: country house libraries and the history of science" Endeavour 29 no. 1 pp. 14-19.<br /> <br /> CONTENTS OF THE COLLECTION: <br /> <br /> Part 1: Natural History 16 Mar 2004 146 pp.; Part 2: Science A-C 10 Jun 2004 355 pp.; Part 3: Western Manuscripts 22 Jun 2004 87 pp.; Part 4: Science D-H 4 Nov 2004; Part 5: Science I-O 14 Apr 2005 339 pp.; Part 6: Science P-Z 25-26 Oct 2005; Part 7: Bibles 1477-1739 11 Apr 2006 189 pp.; Part 8: Theology Philosophy Law and Economics 25-26 Oct 2006 411 pp.; Part 9: Voyages Travel & Atlases 15 Mar 2007 301 pp.; Part 10: Applied Arts and Sciences including Military & Naval Books 30 Oct 2007 404 pp.; Part 11: English Books & Manuscripts 23 Mar 2008 344 pp.; Part 12: Continental Books & Manuscripts 2 Oct 2008 412 pp. Altogether 4299 lots expertly described. <br /> <br /> From the Krown and Spellman Reference Library dispersed at Heritage Auctions Dallas in 2015. Sotheby's unknown