Antiquaires: The Finest Antique Dealers in Paris

Another spectacularly beautiful book from the Paris-based publisher Assouline, Antiquaires traces the history of the antiques-dealing profession from its origins in the 16th century to the present day. From the friperie merchant and upholsterer of the ancien régime to today's dealers in antiques and second-hand furniture, antiques dealers remain the middlemen between the serious collector and the past. They are magicians who cast a spell upon the detritus of times past, turning them into treasure-troves prized by the rich and powerful. This book is a celebration of that magic.

It is a challenge indeed to evoke the Parisian antiques dealers and their history, but author Jean-Louis Gaillemin is up to it. The owners of modern art galleries who monitor the work of their artists are actors in the history of art, but antiques dealers, like collectors, create the history of taste, a history that is more subtle, more discreet, and certainly more subjective. While the collectors may sometimes allow a peep inside their doors, antiques dealers are a more secretive lot. Very little has been written about them, and their memoirs have usually proven more anecdotal (though humorous) than useful. Their stock is more ephemeral by definition, and even their large numbers discourage the would-be chronicler.

Gaillemin was conscious of the gaps in this area of study and the choices he was forced to make. Priority is given to "general" dealers who combine objects, furnishings, paintings, and sculptures, to the detriment of the specialists, but that's a minor quibble. Superb photographs done especially for this book capture the brilliance and grandeur of the showrooms, while the thoroughly documented text, rich with cultural references and enlivened by interviews with current leading dealers, provides a solid introduction to the present-day defenders of the great French tradition. And the exhaustive listing of the dealers, their specialties, and their addresses at the back of the book serves as a tantalizing aperitif for anyone preparing for that oft-delayed sojourn to the City of Light. --Charles Decker