Vintage 1956 “Les Marques de Collections de Dessins & d'Estampes” Supplément 2-Volume Hardcover Book Set

Up for sale is a Vintage 1956 “Les Marques de Collections de Dessins & d'Estampes” Supplément 2-Volume Hardcover Book Set! The first volume measures 11 1/8” by 8 1/4” around the outside cover and contains 226 pages. The second volume measures 11 1/8” by 8 1/2” around the outside cover and contains pages 298 to 588. The set is in great overall condition with signs of wear consistent with their age and use (contains all pages; some scattered light surface wear to outside covers). Please message us if you have any questions. Thanks!

An exceptional and complete uniform pair of the monumentally expanded 1956 Supplément to Frits Lugt’s foundational 1921 work, “Les Marques de Collections de Dessins & d'Estampes”, stands as the uncontested, definitive global authority for the identification of collectors' stamps, studio marks, estate signs, and institutional inventory stamps found on historical master drawings and fine prints. Published in La Haye by Martinus Nijhoff as a first edition of the supplement, this grand octavo set is bound in the publisher's uniform cream cloth bindings with the spines titled and numbered in sharp black letterpress. Recognizing the profound volume of art-historical discoveries made in the interwar and post-WWII eras, this massive biographical and bibliographical undertaking split the vast supplement into two manageable physical volumes, with the first volume comprehensively detailing entries 1a through 1652b and the second volume continuing seamlessly from entries 1654 through 3026. Each meticulous entry features detailed historical notices tracing the provenance of major European collections, aristocratic cabinets, and legendary anonymous connoisseurs in French, which remained the universal language of traditional art scholarship of the era. As a primary instrument of connoisseurship, this set possesses significant institutional weight and extreme utility for the active scholar, print room curator, and antiquarian art dealer. Despite modern digital adaptations, these mid-century physical reference volumes remain highly sought-after shelf pieces in the international trade, celebrated for their immediate typographic legibility and their enduring value in verifying the ownership history and authenticity of rare works on paper.

♦️$15.00 flat rate shipping to all of the United States (Combined, international, and freight shipping as well as local pickup available upon request!)