Rare Book Monthly
Articles - September - 2008 Issue
Pierre Beres, Legendary French Bookseller, Dies at 95
Pierre Beres' website.
In 2006, Beres finally decided to call it a career, 80 years after he started. Now 93 years old, he determined to put most of his spectacular collection up for auction and retire. First, he chose to donate one of his most important autographed manuscripts, that of Stendahl's 19th century La Chartreuse de Parme, to the French National Library. He wanted to make sure it stayed in France. Then he put 12,000 volumes up for sale with Drouot auction of Paris. Running over six sessions, the auction far exceeded expectations, racking up some 35 million euros (US $54 million) in sales. With that, the man known to his English-speaking friends as "PiBi," friend of Picasso, thrice married father of eight, one of the greatest collectors of French manuscripts and rare books of the century, and a man known to many as "the world's largest bookseller," went off to a well-earned retirement. Eighty years is long enough in any trade. He, like the era he represented, will be missed.
