P. Bergé's Books: The Next Stage

The complex, even disconcerting figure of Pierre Bergé is no longer with us. This fourth session in the sale of his library is a true reflection of his tastes: a feast for the mind, no less, which encompasses Plutarch, Proust, Aldous Huxley and the little-known propagandist Sébastien Faure. We know that Bergé developed a liking for literature early on. As a young teenager, he was given "L’Encyclopédie anarchiste" (€2,000/3,000) by Faure, whom he met at Royan. It was the first in a long line of books. All his life, he was fired by an anarchistic spirit and his quest for rare tomes: a total paradox, it would seem. But we should remember that Pierre Bergé lived by the maxim of one of his favourite authors, Montaigne: "‘It is the best viaticum I have yet found out for this human journey." His library contains three editions of the "Essais": the original edition, self-published in Bordeaux in 1580, contains the first two Books (€400,000/500,000). The second,…