The Romantic Treasures of the Pierre Collin Library

For anyone not familiar with ex-libris, these are personalized engravings of initials, drawings or mottos fixed by collectors on the inside front cover or title page of their books to mark their ownership. Pierre Collin (1931-2021) cultivated discretion and preferred to leave book lovers the pleasure of discovering a particularly rich library in terms of quantity and quality alike. "The Pierre Collin library was built up over a long period patiently, steadily and intelligently, with the discretion and modesty typical of its owner. To this day, it is known only to his close friends and a small circle of specialized booksellers. And yet it is one of the most remarkable collections of Romantic illustrated books ever assembled," says Parisian bookseller Patrice Rossignol, the expert for the sale and a close friend of the man whose sons are now selling his life's work. Born in Dijon, Pierre Collin moved to post-war Paris into an apartment near the Gare de Lyon bought by his father, an SNCF manager, where he stayed for the rest of his life. He attended the French Political Science Institute (Sciences-Po), and then studied law, submitting a doctoral thesis to boot on "Republican Thought…