LOUIS VUITTON LIBRARY TRUNK MADE FOR THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA
CIRCA 1910
Auction: Day Two | Thurs 4th Sept at 10am | Lots 403 to 727
Description
in monogramed canvas bound in leather and brass, with leather handle to the top (lacking) and a lock at each end, the interior lined in cream felt and linen, with fittings for three dividers, containing a complete set of twenty-nine red leather bound volumes of 11th Edition (1910-1911), the locks stamped 'BTE S.G.D.G. PATENT, LOUIS VUITTON, 1 RUE SCRIBE PARIS, 149 NEW BOND STREET LONDON, MADE IN FRANCE', the interior stencilled with label 'SPECIALLY MADE FOR THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA BY LOUIS VUITTON, 149 NEW BOND ST. LONDON' and numbered '209215' to the linen lining of the lid
Dimensions
89cm wide, 33cm high, 27cm deep
Footnote
As described in ‘100 Legendary Trunks Louis Vuitton’, the idea for this trunk was both ingenious and practical, the world traveller had all knowledge they would require at their fingertips. In 1910, the publisher of Encyclopaedia Britannica, linked to Cambridge University, placed an order for 1,000 trunks a full year before the eleventh edition was released. Each trunk was designed to house twenty-nine volumes, totalling roughly 28,000 pages and containing 40,000 articles, all carefully edited to expand its market reach in North America.
Literature: See LÉONFORTE, Pierre, PUJALET-PLAÀ, Éric, 100 Legendary Trunks Louis Vuitton, New York: Abrams, 2010 pp. 253 for a similar Library Trunk made for The Encyclopaedia Britannica.