Carolyne's Copy of The Musicans by Sempé

Signed in Boston, one Carolyne's copy of The Musicans by Sempé—in full that's cartoonist Jean-Jacques Sempé—was dated in 1980, the year of publication. It's hard to believe that it's been forty-five years since the publication of this wonderful book of drawings on the subject of people who make music.

Sempé dedicated the book to this Carolyne with a drawing: a still life of a flower sitting in a vase sitting on a grand piano.

The book was priced at $250 by Lakeside Bookshop of Bradford, New Hamshire. While certainly not bargain-basement cheap, it was considerably less expensive than some comparable items on the European market.

The book quickly sold, more or less on the day it was listed.

Jean-Jacques Sempé
Abe Books listing sold November 12, 2025

https://www.abebooks.com/signed-first-edition/Musicians-Jean-Jacques-Semp%C3%A9-Workman-Pub/32341069458/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=viewbook

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Sempé Books at Drouot

On Wednesday, a generous selection of cartoon books with original, personalized drawings by Jean-Jacques Sempé was sold at Drouot, Paris. A few of the sketches may have been separated from their books, or perhaps they were never a part of any books at all. The prices realized are available to subscribers only, but I did at least manage to capture a record of the presale estimates.

Note:  My thanks to Claude Haber for informing me of this auction. This is his fifth contribution to the blog. See, that's all it takes.

I would appreciate hearing from "subscribers" who can access the prices realized for this Drouot sale.

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