(MURRAY, Charles Fairfax).

Catalogo dei Libri posseduti...

401 pp., 1 leaf; 187 pp. Two vols. in one. Large 4to, orig. printed boards (corners a bit worn), brown morocco lettering piece on spine. London [Rome]: 1899. Limited to 50 copies only; privately printed and very rare. This is the best and most complete record of Murray's library. "Murray (1849-1919) was one of the most singular figures of the art world. Himself an artist of no mean distinction, he succeeded, although without any large means of his own, in accumulating...illuminated manuscripts...and, above all, books of every description. A friend of William Morris and Burne Jones, he owned the finest set of Kelmscott books in any library. His collections of early German, French, and especially Italian books were among the largest and choicest in private hands. If the Fairfax Murray library had been dispersed in one continuous series of sales, the event would have been truly sensational; unfortunately, the sales were spread over several years and no real system was followed. In addition, many of the finest books were sold privately."­De Ricci, p. 178. A victim of polio in childhood, he was almost a dwarf, but had a head "worthy of a Michel Angelo or Titian" (De Marinis). He had two families: one, legitimate, in Florence, the other, bigamous, in London. Tammaro De Marinis, in his essay "La Dispersion des livres de Charles Fairfax Murray" in Deuxième Congrès Internat. de Bibliophilie, Actes, (Paris, 1963), provides a detailed account of Fairfax Murray and his collections. 4659 books are described. Very good set. A third volume, describing the Adda library at Milan and separately published in 1902, is not present as is usual.

• USD 1,950.00 > otras divisas
• nº de pedido: HillBibl-354

• librero: Jonathan A. Hill, Bookseller, Inc. (USA)