The Mulhouse magistrate Armand Weiss (1827-1892) is relatively unknown these days, except among bibliophiles. While his legal work has left few traces, his gigantic collection of old books is well known. Bequeathed to the Société industrielle de Mulhouse on his death, the collection of nearly 5,000 books and prints was transferred to the Mulhouse Municipal Library in 2010, where it is carefully curated.
Armand Weiss's collection has little to do with law, but consists mainly of Alsatian works and old books which, as collectors' items, are not limited to works on Alsace. His library is known to us thanks to three documents held by the Mulhouse Municipal Library (sometimes in several copies and belonging to both the Armand Weiss collection and the Alsatian collection): Catalogue de la bibliothèque de feu M. Armand Weiss de Mulhouse (Maison d'Art Alsacienne, Strasbourg, 1922); Catalogue de la bibliothèque de livres et d'estampes de feu Armand Weiss : donnée, sur sa demande, par la famille à la Société Industrielle de Mulhouse : avec un portrait reproduit d'après une toile de G. Bretegnier et les armoiries de la famille Weiss (Société Industrielle de Mulhouse, 1909); and a manuscript without date or author entitled Bibliothèque Armand Weiss.
Among the highlights are three manuscripts: the Erchenbald Evangeliary (see opposite), estimated to date from the 10th century and created at the Abbey of St. Gallen in Switzerland, a Dutch Book of Hours, and a Breviary (estimated to date from the 15th century). Remarkable incunabula by Sebastien Brandt are included in the inventory, including a Latin edition of La Nef des Fous from 1497: Stulifera navis Narragonice (calling number AW2625).
Armand Weiss also acquired more than 200 16th-century printed works, as well as around 300 prints: 16th-century maps of Mulhouse and Colmar, as well as lithographs and chromolithographs from his own era, proof of his passion for the art of his period.
(see also the article by Banderier, Gilles, ‘Armand Weiss : heurs et malheurs d’un bibliophile magistrat’, Revue d’Alsace, 140, 2014, pp. 255–73, doi:10.4000/alsace.2138)
