Michel and other places in
that neighbourhood. His son Louis-Emeric took the library as his share of
the inheritance: its improvement became the occupation of his life; he
made many expeditions after books in foreign countries, but when he was
at home his library was the general _rendez-vous_ of all who were
interested in literature. The books were left to Robert Bigot upon trusts
that were intended to prevent their dispersion. A sale, however, took
place in 1706, at which the monastic archives and most of the MSS. were
purchased by the government.
By some arrangement, of which the history is unknown, the head of the
family of De Mesmes was persuaded to allow his books to be included in
the Bigot sale. There seems to have been an attempt to disguise the
transaction by tearing off the bindings and defacing the coats of arms.
The strangest thing about the sale was the fact that no notice was taken
of its containing the finest portion of Grolier's library. The splendid
_Aldines_, on vellum, fell into the hands of an ignorant notary with a
new room to furnish: and he thought fit to strip off all the bindings,
that had been a marvel of Italian art, and to replace them with the gaudy
coverings that were more suited to his _bourgeois_ desires.
M. de Lincy remarks that Grolier's books were strangely neglected through
a great part of the eighteenth century. At the very end of the period,
Count Macarthy had the good taste to include a few of them in his
collection of books upon vellum.
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