No other copy located

[Jahn, Johann Joseph]

[ANTIQUARIAN BIBLIOGRAPHY]. [BOOK AUCTION, VIENNA 1777]. Verzeichniss verschiedener geistlich- und weltlicher Bucher und Kupferstiche welcher den [28 April] 1777 [...] Auf den Hohenmarkt no. 504 in blauen Gatter im 2ten Stock den meisthinden gegen baare Bezahlung hindann gegeben werden

Vienna: Gedrucht bey Joh. Joseph Jahn, 1777. First Edition. 8vo. 51, [10] pp. + 1 blank p. Stitched (front wrapper lacking, back wrapper of old drab paper). Title-page quite soiled and with evidence of adhesive tape residue, corners curled, text-block browned (but not brittle), early inscription on title-page: "Beermann" (?). An unattractive but complete copy, priced accordingly. Preserved in a green cloth chemise and slipcase. Fair. Item #3862

UNRECORDED 1777 VIENNESE BOOK AUCTION CATALOGUE, CONTAINING A MODEST COLLECTION OF BOOKS ALONGSIDE A GIGANTIC ASSEMBLAGE OF MORE THAN 2000 PRINTS.

No auctioneer or consignor is named, but the printer was Johann Joseph Jahn, described on other title-pages as the Printer to the University. On our title-page only the year of the auction was actually printed (the day and month were left blank) and are here accomplished in manuscript. The title-page informs potential buyers that the sale would be held from 9am-12pm and 3pm-6pm in the Vienna Hoher Markt "No. 504, at the blue gate on the 2nd floor where may be given cash payment."

This format follows very closely another rare catalogue, now in the old Transylvanian library of Samuel von Brukenthal (1721-1803) of Sibiu, Romania, who built a library of more than 15,000 volumes which included more than 200 book auction catalogues (mostly Viennese). These catalogues have been analyzed in detail by Alexandru-Ilie Munteanu, Curator of the Brukenthal Library, who describes this one in Latin (likewise printed by Johann Joseph Jahn):

"Catalogus Librorum varii idiomatis et argumenti qui Auctioni publicae exponentur die 20. Decembris 1776. & subsequentibus diebus. Mane ab hora 9 ad 12; post meridiem vero a 3 ad 6. Auf dem Hohenmarkt Nro. 504. im blauen Gatter 2ten Stocks. Wien, gedruckt bey Johann Joseph Jahn" (SOURCE: "Book auction catalogues from the Brukenthal library 1756-1796" no. 58; in: Brukenthal. Acta Musei, XII. 1, 2017).

Note that the sale was likewise held in the Hoher Markt no. 504. Jahn's involvement in the Viennese antiquarian book trade has not been adequately described by bibliographers. We know, however, that in the 1770s-1780s there was a Viennese bookseller named Johann Friedrich Jahn; presumably they were related.

One wonders how the Viennese print trade could have absorbed an auction of over 2,000 prints at one time. The prints in our catalogue were divided into 157 lots (some of which contain more than 300 prints), featuring such artists and engravers as Rembrandt, Durer, Vischer, van Velde, Goltzius, Carracci, Sadeler, Boucher, Poussin, Wierix, and many others. The books were modest, but represent a surprisingly wide variety of books of theology, law, history, voyages and travels, Judaica, mathematics, medicine, physics, natural history, numismatics, politics, art, architecture, etc. The earliest imprint seems to have been a copy of Aldobrandini's "Institutiones juris civilis" of 1546 (lot 423 8vo), followed by a 1575 Viennese Missale Romanum (lot 39 folio) of which no edition is recorded in KVK.

Price: $950.00