RAREST FRENCH CROWN JEWELS CATALOGUE (FRENCH CROWN JEWELS.)

Bloche, Arthur. La Vente des Diamants de la Couronne. 35 illustrations. 8vo, original lettered wrappers, spine browned with some loss and vertical splits; largely unopened. Paris: Quantin, 1888 first edition of the important and scarcest catalogue of the sale of the French Crown Jewels. The body of the work reproduces the Paris 1887 sale catalogue but, being published later, it includes the date of sale and the party to whom the lots were sold. The total sums for nine sales are given, along with a list of the items which were not included in the sale, and notes on their dispersal (i.e. the Regent diamond to the Louvre; the remarkable number of lots purchased by Tiffany). The introduction contains information on the display, preparations, sales events, and reproductions of related documents. "Valuable historical document; rare"--Sinkankas 705.