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Finding auction catalogues at Yale
The Yale Library owns a large collection of auction catalogues - both in print and microform. The YCBA libraries, the Beinecke, and LSF all have auction catalogue collections.
Orbis subject search = auction catalogs-1956 will retrieve catalogues for sales in 1956.
auction catalogs-yyyy mm dd is the format for searching for a specific catalogue date.
Auction catalogues
Historical sales catalogues
Online
Art Sales Catalogues Online 1600-1900. A for-fee database that offers an online version of Lugt's Repertoire des catalogues de vent, with links to digitized catalogues. Available at Yale.
Getty Provenance Index Databases -- Auction Sales Catalogues. Fully digitized catalogues of sales in Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia, 1650-1945. Available everywhere.
JSTOR Auction catalogues Beta: Collaboration between JSTOR and the Frick Collection and Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1500 Full-text searchable catalogues from the 18th to the 20th centuries. Available everywhere.
SCIPIO: Searchable subset of OCLC's holdings of Auction catalogues (300,000) by over 70,000 libraries worldwide. Available at Yale. Search SCIPIO by clicking on the "Online database" link next to the green check mark.
In Print
Lugt, Frts. Répertoire des catalogues de ventes publiques, intéressant l'art ou la curiosité, tableaux.... c1938-87. The standard work for locating and identifying historical sales catalogues. Available at the YCBA and Haas Libraries
American Art Auction Catalogues 1785-1942: A Union List. c1944. Available at the HAAS Arts Library
Zellman, Michael David. American Art Analog. c1986. American paintings sold at auction 1688-1930. Available at the HAAS Arts Library
Bibliotheque Forney. Catalogue des catalogues de ventes d'art, Bibliothèque Forney, Paris. c1972. indexes 14,000 French auctions from 1778-1971. Available through LSF
Blanc, Charles. Le tresor de la curiosite, tire des catalogues de ventes de tableaux, etc... c1857-58. Sales of collections between 1737-1855. Available at Sterling Library
Waagen, Gustav Freidrich. Treasures of art in Great Britain: being an account of the chief collections of paintings, drawings, sculptures, illuminated mss., &c., by Dr. Waagen. c1854. Available at the YCBA Reference Library and at Sterling Library
Waagen, Gustav Freidrich. Galleries and cabinets of art in Great Britain: : being an account of more than forty collections of paintings, drawings, sculptures, MSS., &c. &c. visited in 1854 and 1856, and now for the first time described. c1857. Available at Sterling Library
Frick Art Reference Library Sales Catalogue Index. c1992. Available at the YCBA Reference Library
Art Prices Current: 1907-1973. A record of sale prices at the principal London auction houses. Available at the YCBA Reference Library
Mayer's International Auction Records: 1968-2004. Available at the YCBA Reference Library and LSF
American Art Annual: 1898-1948. Available at Sterling Library
Index of paintings sold in the British Isles in the 19th Century. Full contents of sales in Great Britain. Available at the YCBA Reference Library
Redford, George. Art sales: A history of sales of pictures and other works of art. c1888. Available at the YCBA and Sterling Libraries
Graves. Algernon. Art sales From early in the eighteenth century to early in the twentieth (mostly old master and early English pictures to early in the 20th century. c1918-21. Available at the YCBA and LSF
Duplessis, Georges. Les ventes de tableaux, dessins estamples et objets d'art aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siecles (1611-1800). c1874. Available at LSF
Mireur, Hippolyte. Dictionnaire des ventes d'art faites en Frances et l'etranger pendant les XVIIIme et XIXme siecles. c1911-12. French 18th- and 19th-century auction sales. Available at the HAAS Arts Library