Auction Catalogues and Political Satire. The Low Countries under the Hammer

Abstract

Abstract The history of imaginary libraries can be traced back to François Rabelais. Most of such libraries were created for satirical purposes rather than bibliographical amusement. Somewhere during the seventeenth century, auction catalogues also became a vehicle of political satire. One of the most successful literary hoaxes involved an imaginary library and its auction catalogue. The announcement of an auction in the small provincial town of Binche in the Belgian province of Hainault on August 10, 1840 fooled librarians and collectors alike, for neither the collector nor his collection existed. The auction never took place. Was it just a hoax, or did the event reflect some painful truths about the 1830 separation of the Low Countries into two powerless mini states?