Pilar Vélez, director of the Frederic Marès Museum

The Frederic Marès Museum is delighted to welcome the Barcelona Association of Bibliophiles. At their request, we have jointly prepared this exhibition: ‘AUREUM OPUS. Five centuries of illustrated books’.

With his multi-sided personality and his passion for collecting items, Frederic Marès (1893-1991), was also interested in the world of books. This passion was no doubt inherited from his father, as he was, for many years, a highly efficient collector of and dealer in antique books.

In his memoirs, Marès describes the first, short-lived collection he had when he was only 6 years old: he loved the brightly-coloured wrappers of the chocolates he ate for his tea each day much more then the chocolates themselves and he collected these papers with great care. Until one hot summer’s day he left them on the table in his playroom by an open window, and came in to find they were covered with sticky melted chocolate.

That was the end of his collection! Marès also attributed his interest in collecting things to the first purchase he made, when he was just a teenager. He bought a Gothic table presided over by the picture of Ramon Llull, the philosopher and writer, who was greatly admired both by Marès and his father. This table became a permanent feature of Marès’s own library.

Marès’s first connection with the world of collecting things is thus to be found in the world of books. With the help of his father, he managed to build up an impressive library: incunabula, manuscripts, parchments, illustrated books, unique bookbindings…. But just as he decided to donate some of his enormous collections to different museums other than ours, his books too had to be donated to institutions which he considered to be suitable.

In 1978, Frederic Marès expressed his wish to donate his collection to the Institute of Catalan Studies. However, this wish did not become official until Dec 15 1986 when he wrote that he was making the donation to the Institute of Catalan Studies ‘as a result of his profound admiration for their work and their greatest creation: The Library of Catalunya’.

Marès was a bibliophile and a lover of books as works of art. Thus, as well as the content, he also appreciated aspects such as the typography, the composition, the illustrations etc .He expected those institutions receiving his gifts to share these interests. In this case, the books were to be exhibited using the same techniques as had been used in other places in Catalunya which had accepted donations from him.

The books had to have their own museum within The Library of Catalunya and they can be seen there to this day, presided over by the Llullian Table. These introductory words have brought us to our exhibition rooms: to those which are dedicated, in particular, to sculpture and collecting. We have chosen to concentrate on the latter here and especially on book-collecting or bibliophily, as there are such close links between this subject and Frederic Marès himself.

Thus, together with the Barcelona Association of Bibliophiles, of which Marès was a member from 1945, we are presenting a selection of five centuries of illustrated books. These belong to the collections of various members of the association who, like Marès, have a special love and appreciation of books. Due to the collaboration of the Open University of Catalunya this selection is even richer and more exciting, as we are able to look right inside the books using the special techniques offered by the new technologies.

Exhibiting books is always difficult and some people would even say it is morally unacceptable. Books should be read and looked at and their contents enjoyed both intellectually and aesthetically. If they are imprisoned in a glass cabinet we can only see the cover the title and maybe a couple of pages. Despite these arguments and taking into account the above-mentioned collaboration, we have decided to go ahead with this exhibition. It is also true that these books are now ‘objets d’art’ within their own world and they therefore deserve to receive the special consideration that their quality and age demands.

The idea of the Frederic Marès ‘Book Museum’ will now be present in our museum for a couple of months. This catalogue contains all the volumes to be found in the exhibition, all centred on Catalunya, printed in Catalunya and dealing with Catalunya. There are also a series of texts which provide an insight into the world of book illustration throughout the centuries and the world of modern bibliophily. The museum would like to express its gratitude firstly, to the Association of Bibliophiles and all its members.

We would also like to thank the following for their generous participation: the Abbey library at Montserrat, the Bar Association’s Library and the Library of Catalunya. Finally we must thank the Open University of Catalunya and in particular Dr Glòria Munilla and Dr Cèsar Carreras for all their enthusiasm and hard work. The exhibition and the catalogue for ‘AUREUM OPUS. Five centuries of Illustrated Books’ are the results of the successful collaboration between all the above-mentioned institutions.