Foskett Uzanne Collection

The Foskett Uzanne Collection is a collection of French works (115 volumes), with a few English translations. It is based around the work of the Parisian writer Octave Uzanne (1852-1931), a bibliophile who, in 1889, founded the Société des Bibliophiles Contemporains. His output of approximately 100 publications or more falls into three main categories: works about feminine fashion, such as L'Eventail (The Fan); works concerning bibliography; and introductions to works of lesser-known fiction from the seventeenth and especially eighteenth centuries. A book designer for the Paris publishing firm Quantin, Uzanne believed that books should look attractive, and the covers and the layout of illustration and text in his works of fashion exemplify this belief. Uzanne also wrote short stories with a bibliographical leaning and edited bibliographical journals, such as L'Art et l'idée and Le Livre moderne.

Uzanne's works in the collection date from the last quarter of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century. In addition to containing 38 works with an intellectual contribution by Uzanne, the Foskett Uzanne Collection includes several other works of French literature, chiefly twentieth-century editions of eighteenth-century works, some illustrated, and with an erotic bias. The authors featured are those whose work Uzanne edited, such as Claude-Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon, La Morlière and Réstif de la Bretonne. There are several books from the series "Le coffret du bibliophile" and several published by the Club français du livre. The oldest item in the collection is an edition of Rousseau's La Nouvelle Héloïse, with an estimated publication date of 1785.

Two of the items, both editions of Uzanne's Parisiennes de ce temps, are presentation copies.

The Collection was bequeathed to the Library by Douglas John Foskett (1918-2004), Director of Central Library Services and Goldsmiths' Librarian, 1978-1983. He had several of the Uzanne volumes bound specially in quarter blue morocco and marbled boards.
For further information about Uzanne and the collection, see:

K.E. Attar, 'The Foskett Uzanne Collection', FULLview, 2005
K.E. Attar, 'Douglas Foskett's Uzanne Collection', Private Library.

shl.specialcollections@london.ac.uk 020 7862 8470