The Antiquarian Book-trade in Switzerland

Focusing on the acquisitions of c. 850 manuscripts and printed books by the celebrated English book-collector Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792–1872) in Switzerland, this research explores the workings of the market specialising in rare books there in the first half of the nineteenth century. It seeks to understand how the trade was organised, how professional booksellers gathered and sold their stock,  who else was involved in this business, what kind of books were available for sale and what they were used for, and finally what later repercussions this had on the formation of public and private libraries in the twentieth century. Adopting a methodology based on the reading of archives, the use of sale and library catalogues, and the books’ material analysis, this study argues that the Swiss book-trade was a sophisticated business in which professional and amateur dealers efficiently sold rare and modern manuscripts and printed books in shops, auction rooms, private houses, and religious institutions. Besides, Phillipps’s motives for obtaining these items, as well as those of their subsequent owners, clearly indicate that books were acquired for a variety of reasons and highly viewed for their aesthetic, historical, literary, political, and scholarly quality. Illustrating the changing values assigned to books, this publication shows why some volumes are now considered as part of the world’s cultural heritage.