Jean Chardin

Bibliotheca Chardiniana is an auction catalogue. James Levi, a London bookseller who organized the sale, was probably charged with its compilation after the owner’s death. The catalogue does not represent the entirety of Chardin’s library, as the title itself suggests (Being the Remains of Sir John Chardin’s Library). A part of the library could have been divided between his heirs, but Chardin’s last will, signed on September 20, 1711, does not provide any information about this.
The catalogue consists of 971 entries. This number can be obtained by taking into account that, in the section called Libri in Octavo & Duodecimo, the entries 292, 313 and 353 are lacking, while the entry 512 is repeated. In fact, this catalogue has been composed only by the size of the books, so that it is divided into three sections entitled Libri in Folio (80 entries), Libri in Quarto (170 entries), Libri in Octavo & Duodecimo (720 entries) respectively. However, the books are sometimes grouped by genres, topic, language or author (for example, the entries 543-561 in the third section are all works by Robert Boyle). This may suggest that the catalogue replicates at least partially the original structure of the owner’s library.
On the cover, limited information is given about the library’s content (consisting chiefly of Travels and History, &c. Greek, Latin, Arabick, English, French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese Books), while four sale conditions, signed by James Levi, are specified on the inside front cover.
A copy of the catalogue is held by the Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscript Library, Yale University. It is bound together with ten others catalogues (BEIN X345/5: Catalogues, 1709, 1710, 1711). Credit line for the source of the original material: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.