Catalogue of the Morgan Collection of Chinese Porcelains

New York: Privately printed by order of Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan, 1904 Illustrated with 77 chromolithographs, protected by tissue guards, and a 26-page illustrated index at the rear of the book, showing the specific arrangement of the wares in their cases. Notes by William M. Laffan. First edition. One of 250 copies printed for private distribution. Publisher's full brown morocco, with board margins double-ruled in gilt, spine with five raised bands, decorated, lettered, and ruled in gilt, top edge gilt, wide turn-ins, green moire silk and morocco doublures. Very good, with some marks to front board, wear to spine bands, joints, and corners, "John Shaw Billings" bookplate to verso of front free endpaper, and some offsetting to pages facing plates, otherwise very clean internally. With an ALS from J.P. Morgan to librarian John Shaw Billings on "23 Wall Street" (the J.P. Morgan Building) letterhead, referencing the gifted copy of Chinese Porcelains. About fine ALS, with light soiling, two fold marks (one vertical, one horizontal), and two blue checkmarks (according to a Letter of Provenance from the most recent owner, the checkmarks were made by Billings as part of his filing system, denoting that two copies of the book had been received). Overall, a wonderful association and a gorgeously executed catalogue of the priceless holdings of the Morgan Library & Museum. Catalogue of the Morgan Collection of Chinese Porcelains is the first of two volumes (the second volume was printed in 1911, also in a privately printed run limited to 250 copies) outlining the museum's magnificent inventory of Chinese porcelains. The book features descriptions of 1115 Chinese porcelains, including vases, bowls, statues, bottles, figures, teapots, boxes, among others. In his Notes section at the beginning of the book, publisher and editor William M. Laffan surveys the history of Chinese porcelain and addresses some of the challenges that experts encounter while attempting to identify and classify the objects. Shortly after J. P. Morgan's death in 1913, his entire collection of Chinese porcelains was sold off, with the sole exception of the "Morgan Ruby" - a 17th century bottle vase that Morgan had special fondness for, and which he kept on his desk in his private library. This copy was gifted by J.P. Morgan to the brilliant librarian and polymath John Shaw Billings (1838 - 1913). After serving as a battlefield surgeon in the Civil War, Billings went on to create the National Library of Medicine, and turn it into the world's most comprehensive medical library (According to a publication by the National Institutes of Health, "Within a few years Billings had acquired practically every issue of every medical journal ever published in the United States and Canada, and 75 per cent of all medical periodicals ever published throughout the world"). Drawing upon this vast repository, Billings founded the monthly Index Medicus, an important bibliographical resource for medical and life science books. Billings also planned and organized John Hopkins Hospital and New York Public Library (the latter was created by combining Astor and Lennox Libraries) and created a branch library system for three of the New York City boroughs - Manhattan, Staten Island, and the Bronx - thanks to funding from Andrew Carnegie. He served as the first director of the New York Public Library, from 1895 until his death in 1913. One of the titans of the Gilded Age, John Pierpont Morgan (1837 - 1913) was an enormously powerful American banker who, at his height, owned one-sixth of the nation's railroads (approximately 5,000 miles of track). Before the Federal Reserve existed, he helped bail the government out financially multiple times, notably during the Panic of 1907 financial crisis. Morgan was a prodigious collector of art and books from around the world - he donated thousands of pieces to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (he served as president of the institution from 1904 until his death in 1913) and founded the Morgan Library & Museum, which houses more than 350,000 objects today. ALS Transcription: Sept. 20 / 05 J. S. Billings, Esq. Director, N.Y. Public Library, Astor Library Building. 40 Lafayette Place, N.Y. Dear Sir, I am in receipt of your letter of 16th September, and take pleasure in finding you herewith, for the New York York Public Library, a copy of the Catalogue (which I have recently had printed for my private use) of my Collection of Chinese Porcelains, which I have loaned loaned (sic) to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. I also send you here with another copy of said Catalogue for yourself which please accept with my compliments. Sincerely Yours, J.P. Morgan . First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good.