[Rarebooks] FS: Rare 1886 Deluxe Morgan Collection Catalog - First American Blockbuster Auction

[Joslin Hall Books & Ephemera]

Rare 1886 Deluxe Morgan Collection Catalog -the First American  
Blockbuster Auction

“Catalogue of the Art Collection formed by the late Mrs. Mary J. Morgan...”

The catalog to an auction held in New York by the American Art  
Galleries on March 3rd-15th, 1886. Subscriber's Edition, limited to  
500 numbered copies.

The very scarce Deluxe illustrated edition of the catalog to one of  
America's earliest blockbuster auctions and what was, for a time, the  
most famous art auction in America.

Mary Morgan was the widow of a shipping tycoon, and collected a vast  
array of paintings and other art in her New York mansion. Upon her  
death Thomas Kirby of the American Art Association, the forerunner of  
Parke-Bernet, decided to make the Morgan sale a "can't-miss" event.  
The collection was controversial -Mrs. Morgan had simply walked in and  
bought her pictures from leading dealers instead of ingratiating  
herself personally with the artists as was the tradition of the day.  
Further, Lot 341 was an 8-inch Peachblow vase which Mrs. Morgan had  
bought from the American Art Association's own retail galleries for  
$12,000 a few years previously. A print war broke out between the New  
York Times, which claimed Mrs. Morgan had paid a zero or two too much  
for the vase, and that in any case, there was no such thing as  
"Peachblow", and Charles Henry Dana and the New York Sun, who  
stoughtly defended the AAA and the vase. During the 3 week exhibition  
at the galleries prior to the auction 100,000 people viewed the  
paintings and Oriental art. The sale itself was standing-room only,  
and when they got to the vase, Baltimore connoisseur William T.  
Walters won it for $18,000 (which in no way stopped the controversy  
over its actual worth). The sale finally totaled $1,205,000 -with the  
exception of the 1882 Hamilton Palace sale in England, this was the  
highest total for any art collection at auction anywhere in the world.

The catalog itself was a groundbreaking achievement- "[Kirby's] most  
striking innovation was the Mary Jane Morgan catalogue, a 305-page  
quarto volume that so far surpassed any cynosure of art collecting  
previously published in the United States that it not only launched  
the business at hand but synthesized Kirby's whole new concept of the  
elite auction. Printed on heavy rag paper, with twenty-nine etchings,  
bound in pristine white boards with rich gold lettering, this weighty  
tome cost $40,000 to produce. It was a book to rest in splendor on the  
tables of the proudest salons. There was, of course, an ordinary  
catalog, without illustrations, for ordinary customers, the deluxe  
edition being limited to 500 numbered copies. The price was $10, but  
if mere money could have bought such a book, its propaganda value  
would have been lost. Except for a few copies sent to other cities,  
the entire edition was delivered by hand, with the compliments of the  
American Art Association, to the front doors of the most exclusive  
mansions in New York".

For those wanting a more in-depth account, Wesley Towner devotes an  
entire chapter to Mrs. Morgan, her collection, this auction, the  
catalog, and the Peachblow vase in his book, "The Elegant  
Auctioneers", from which we quoted above.

Limp covers. 9"x12", 305 pages, plus 29 etchings and 24 photogravure  
plates. 2,628 lots. Original limp boards with a parchment-covered  
cover with gilt lettering (see below for 2 pictures of the covers).  
Housed in a new custom, quarter-leather clamshell case, with raised  
bands and fancy giltwork on the spine and a black leather title label.  
The front of the case features an inset collage made with black,  
crimson and peach leathers showing the famous peachblow vase on its  
stand. A lovely and elegant case.

Front cover somewhat soiled, spine and rear cover perished and  
replaced with sympathetic limp boards and parchment. Some soil and  
offsetting on the endpapers, but else clean internally. [31290]  $750

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