De la précieuse bibliothèque Jorge Ortiz Linares
Sale #PF2243
Sotheby’s and Jean-Baptiste de Proyart, bookseller and expert, are honoured to jointly bring to auction a remarkable collection of books from the library of Jorge Ortiz Linares (1894-1965).
A brilliant diplomat in the service of his country, Bolivia, Jorge Ortiz Linares was an ambassador in Paris. He married Graciela Patiño (1895-1980), the third child of Simón Patiño (1860-1947), the famous “Andean Rockefeller”.
His long ambassadorship in Paris left an impression on the capital’s elegant spheres. The couple’s mansion on 34 Avenue Foch was one of the centres of artistic and high-society life, as suggested by its splendid staircase. Jorge Ortiz Linares, who passionately collected rare books and manuscripts from an early age, focused on two areas: his native Hispanic-American world and French literature. These precious books, which have been gone for so long, are now emerging from the past.
Cervantès is represented in what are among the most desirable copies of both volumes of Don Quichotte, the second being the sequel to the first. We know that it is impossible to find the two original editions of 1605 (Book I) and 1615 (Book II) in uniform bindings of the time. Aficionados must settle for copies in 19th-century or modern bindings, which are either different or fabricated... But to what end? Reconstructions are charmless. Jorge Ortiz Linares ingeniously purchased a copy of the third Madrid-based edition by Juan de la Cuesta (1608) for Book I – the great and last edition revised by Cervantès himself – at the Maggs bookseller of London, on 21 December 1936.
For the rare Book II, he unearthed the original 1615 edition, and both had been uniformly bound in England in the 18th century for one of the great aficionados of the time That same day, he also purchased the very rare original edition of the Novelas of 1613, bound for Jérôme II Bignon (1627-1697), Grand Master of the King’s Library. In French literature, the Great Century was one of the incomparable pinnacles of our language arts, and it shines with magnificent editions of Corneille, Descartes, Pascal, Racine, Molière and La Rochefoucauld.
The shadow of two of the great booksellers of the 20th century hang behind this elegant, airy collection: Maggs of London for the Hispanic books, and of course the unforgettable Pierre Berès, for whom Jorge Ortiz Linares was one of the most loyal and secret of customers.
5pm
EXHIBITIONS:
Casa de América - Palacio de Linares - Madrid
Nov 7th & 8th by appointment
Sotheby’s Madrid
Nov 9th by appointment
Sotheby's London
Nov 25th – 30th
Sotheby's Paris
Dec 10th – 13th
Sotheby's - Paris
76 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore
Paris, France
48.870524618185, 2.31778155
Sotheby's - Paris
