ALTERTUEMLICHES – Property from Pierre Bergé’s Distinct Homes to be Offered at Sotheby’s Paris

An entire auction – the fourth in a series of sales initiated in December 2015 – will be dedicated to the personal library of Pierre Bergé , comprising books and manuscripts dating from the 15th through the 20th century. While novels feature strongly, Bergé’s passion for philosophy, botany and garden design is also reflected in the sale which will include important illustrated books, such as Le Propriétaire des choses published in Lyon in 1486 and an extraordinary coloured edition of The Imagines, a collection of poetic essays describing myth-themed paintings by the Greek sophist Philostratus The Elder, issued in 1615.

The collection also sheds light on Bergé’s personal life, with books from his friends, Jean Cocteau, Jean Giono and Bernard Buffet and offers a unique insight into his life-long political commitment: Sébastien Faure’s Anarchist Encyclopedia was given to the young bibliophile by the widow of the author. (A separate press release on the library will follow.