The Franco-American Museum of Blérancourt - Guest of Honour at the 2017 Paris Salon International du Livre Rare

The organisers of the 2017 Paris Salon International du Livre Rare and the French association Syndicat National de la Librairie Ancienne et Moderne (SLAM) have just announced the Guest of Honour of the 2017 Salon.

Unique in France, the Franco-American Museum of Blérancourt is dedicated to the transatlantic relationship and was founded by Anne Morgan, daughter of the American banker and collector Pierpont Morgan, as part of his participation of the reconstruction of the Picardie after WWI.
Amongst the museum’s collection are a Centre of Research and the museum’s library holding over eight thousand works and archives covering the historical and artistic relationship between France and the United States.

The Franco-American Library

With more than six thousand volumes, the Blérancourt museum library forms a unique resource covering Franco-American relations. The heart of the collection was built up by the first museum’s curator, André Girodie, and benefited from numerous donations from Anne Muray Vail.

The library offers a large range of works, old and new, whose thematic diversity reflects that of the museum: literary works, diplomatic works, military texts, first-hand accounts written by those who played a role in the two world wars as well as a large section on American art of the 19th and 20th centuries.

After extensive renovations including a major extension by the architects of Ateliers Yves Lion and a new layout by the Studio Adrien Gardère, the museum will open its doors again in 2017.

The new layout of the museum allows visitors to learn more about the links between the two nations, showing many historical documents, artworks and objects, as well videos that underline these relations between the 16th century and today.

During the 2017 Paris Salon International du Livre Rare which runs from 7 – 9 April 2017, the museum will exhibit rare French-American works, engravings illustrating the transatlantic relationships as well as the important role of American libraries in France after WWI.

Henri Vignes, Président du Syndicat national de la Librairie Ancienne et Moderne: “In answer to the current international situation, our guest of honour, the Franco-American Museum of Blérancourt will present a retrospective of transatlantic relationships. At the moment of their reopening to the public and to mark the centenary of the intervention of the United States in WWI on the 6th April 1917, the museum’s collections will illustrate the endurance of the exceptional links that unite our two cultures. While our busy information age continues, these masterpieces in ink and paper are the sentinel of our collective memory.”

Salon International du Livre Rare – 7-9 April 2017, Grand Palais Paris

The 2017 Paris Salon International du Livre Rare (International Rare Book & Autograph Fair) at the Grand Palais in Paris is one of the most prestigious fairs in the world, attracting nearly 200 exhibitors and over 20.000 visitors each year who enjoy the opportunity to browse, buy and admire more than 100.000 historical documents – rare books, manuscripts, autographs, prints and ephemera from all centuries – in the elegant glass-domed hall of the Grand Palais.

The fair is organized by the Syndicat national de la Librairie Ancienne et Moderne (SLAM) under the auspices of ILAB, the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers and under the high patronage of François Hollande, President of the French Republic. It opens up the whole universe of bibliophily with a series of exhibitions and events introducing French libraries and collections and giving a close insight into the joy of book collecting.

E-mail: slam-livre@wanadoo.fr

Website: www.salondulivrerare.paris

Franco-American Museum of Blérancourt

Château de Blérancourt – 02300 Blérancourt
Place Leclerc
Tel: + 33 (0) 3 23 39 14 71

Email: musee.blerancourt@culture.gouv.fr

Website: www.museefrancoamericain.fr

Museum collections online :

Bibliothèque des Musées nationaux : http://ccbmn.culture.fr/

Agence photographique de la RMN : http://photo.rmn.fr/

Base Joconde : http://www.culture.gouv.fr/documentation/joconde

Base Lafayette : http://musee.louvre.fr/bases/lafayette

European Film Gateway : http://project.efg1914.eu/