Lot 177: BENOIS, Alexandre -- 31 books from Benois' working Library, most richly annotated and with numerous original sketches, primarily relating to Benois as a curator, critic and historian of art. Various places: various publishers, 1775-1957. Various

BENOIS, Alexandre -- 31 books from Benois' working Library, most richly annotated and with numerous original sketches, primarily relating to Benois as a curator, critic and historian of art. Various places: various publishers, 1775-1957. Various formats. Many illustrated. (Some wear and soiling, occasional tears and loose leaves.) Most in original or contemporary bindings (wear, sometimes heavy, a few spines defective). Provenance: Alexandre Benois -- Parmenia Migel Ekstrom (the noted Ballet collector; loose annotations).

The collection includes:
RAMAZANOV, Nikolai. Materialy dlia Istorii Khudozhestv v Rossii. Kniga Pervaia. [Materials for the History of Art in Russia. Book 1 (all published)]. Moscow: Gubernskaia Tipografiia, 1863. Contemporary half-morocco. FIRST EDITION OF RAMAZANOV'S GROUND-BREAKING WORK, annotated throughout by Benois, with a few sketches, one of these of two figures studying a picture. Ramazanov was a good friend of his father Nikolai, and it is likely that this was an early guide in Alexander's own forays in the field.

[PLANAT, M., and F. LABENSKII]. Livret de la Galerie Impériale de l'Ermitage de Saint-Pétersbourg. St. Petersburg: E. Pratz, 1838. Original printed boards. PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED BY LABENSKII, director of the Hermitage, and PREVIOUSLY IN THE COLLECTION OF BENOIS'S PREDECESSOR ANDREI IVANOVICH SOMOV -- senior curator at the Hermitage and father of Benois's life-long friend Konstantin Somov. An important association copy of this rare, early Hermitage catalogue, possibly only the second published.

SOMOV, Andrei Ivanovich. Katalog Kartinnoi Galerei. Tom III. Angliiskaia, Frantsuskaia i Russkaia Zhivopis. [Catalogue of the Picture Gallery. Vol. 3. English, French and Russian Pictures]. St. Petersburg: Imperial Hermitage, 1895. Original printed boards. PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED BY SOMOV TO BENOIS, and with a few annotations by Benois.

SOMOV, Andrei Ivanovich. Katalog Kartinnoi Galerei. Tom II. Niderlanskaia i Nemetskaia Zhivopis. [Catalogue of the Picture Gallery. Vol. 2. Dutch and German Pictures]. St. Petersburg: Imperial Hermitage, 1902. Contemporary boards. WITH A FULL-PAGE PORTRAIT BY BENOIS OF A.M. EFROS, the important Soviet art historian, and annotated throughout and with nearly 30 aide-memoire sketches. Benois's annotations suggest repeated readings into the 1920s.

SOMOV, Andrei Ivanovich. Catalogue de la Galerie des Tableaux. Première Partie. Les Écoles d'Italie et d'Espagne. St. Petersburg: Imperial Hermitage, 1909. Contemporary boards. HEAVILY ANNOTATED THROUGHOUT, WITH NEARLY 70 AIDE-MEMOIRE SKETCHES, and a 6-page manuscript chronological table. Benois notes that most of his marginalia dates to 1909 when he was working on his 'vademecum' -- probably his Putevoditel po kartinnoi galerie Imperatorskago Ermitazha.

Russkii Muzei. Khudozhestvennyi Otdel. Katalog. [The Russian Museum. Catalogue]. St. Petersburg: Russian Museum, 1917. Original printed wrappers, rebacked. RARE CATALOGUE, EXEMPLAIRE NOMINATIF PRINTED FOR BENOIS, of the newly formed National Museum.

Exposition d'Art Autrichien. Les trésors de Maximilien. Paris: Musée du Jeux de Paume, 1927. Original illustrated wrappers. WITH THREE LARGE SKETCHES BY BENOIS, and annotated throughout.

BERTENSON, Sergei. Vokrug Iskusstva. [Around Art]. Hollywood: self-published, 1957. Original wrappers. PRESENTATION COPY FROM BERTENSON TO BENOIS, heavily annotated by Benois throughout, and with 3 pencil sketches -- 2 of these of his cat Mademoiselle Kodak. Bertenson was a notable emigré, musician, chronicler of Hollywood, and friend and biographer of Rachmaninoff. Bertenson and Benois shared numerous acquaintances, and Benois's plentiful and vivid annotations provide a very salient counterpoint to Bertenson's memoir.

With: SOMOV, Andrei, Katalog Kartinnoi Galerei, Chast III, Angliiskaia i Frantsuzskaia Zhivopis (St. Petersburg, 1900 and 1908); ERNST, Sergei, Il'ia Efimovich Repinn (St. Petersburg, 1927); BUNIN, Ivan, Zhizn Arsen'eva (New York, 1952); VRANGEL, Nikolai, Vospominaniia (Berlin, 1924); ERNST, Sergei, Aleksandr Benua (St. Petersburg, 1921); HERMITAGE, Imperatorskii Ermitazh, Katalog Kartinnoi Gallerei, Chast 1 (St. Petersburg 1912); RUMIANTSOVSKII MUSEUM, Otdelenie Iziashchnykh Iskusstv, Katalog Kartinnoi Gallerei (Moscow, 1915); VOLKOV, A., Okolo Tsarskoi Sem'i (Paris, 1928); MARIETTE, Pierre-Jean, Catalogue Raisonné des différens objets qui composoient le Cabinet de feu Mr. Mariett (Paris, 1775); VOLKONSKAIA, S.A., Gore Pobezhdennym (Paris, c.1935); MASHKOVTSEV, N., Gogol v Krugu Khudozhnikov (Moscow, 1935); NATIONAL GALLERY, Illustrations to the Catalogue, Volume I, Italian Schools and Volume II, Flemish, Dutch and German Schools (London: 1923, 1925); and 10 others, NEARLY ALL ANNOTATED, SOME WITH SKETCHES. (31)

No VAT on hammer price or buyer's premium.