#10 Title with most volumes

The competition for work with the most volumes was pretty fierce. We have quite a few ‘complete works’ of various authors, notably Johnson and Aristotle, and discussions had to be had as to what constituted a work, and whether we should count pages or just volumes.

It was a hot debate, but this finely bound, many-volumed set finally won.

1. This is a translation of the complete works of Aristotle into French, and runs to 21 volumes.

2. The Translation was made by Jules Barthelemy-Saint-Hilaire. He worked on this from 1837 to 1892, having shifted his attention from politics to philosophy.

3. Barthelemy-Saint-Hilaire was awarded the Chair in Ancient Philosophy at the College de France in 1838, and a seat at the Academy of Moral and Political Science in 1839.

4. Despite apparently ‘giving up’ politics, he remained involved in public affairs for decades to come, being elected a deputy in 1869 and 1871, and being appointed a senator for life in 1875.

5. A medal was struck in his honour in 1889, an image of which can be seen on the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s website.

6. Our copies are mostly bound in red covers with gilded edges to the pages. A few in the middle have been bound in marbled paper instead.

7. They are around 230 by 150mm in size.

8. These books belong to the Chandler Collection. The first two volumes have his signature in the front, as well as the date 1856.

9. One volume has a letter directly from the translator, addressed to Chandler, and signing off ‘your good friend’.

10. Chandler mostly collected antiquarian editions of Aristotle, rather than modern ones, making this an unusual addition to his library.