Cypher of Comte Henri Siméon (1803-1874)

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Comte Henri Siméon had a distinguished public career during the Second Republic and the Second Empire. He also devoted years to translating Horace; his work published during his final years. He had a notable library, about which see Leon Techener, “Le Comte Siméon,” Bulletin du bibliophile(1874) p.245-246. Twenty five of his books are found in the Library’s Horace collection. They include editions and translations published between 1650 and 1872. Some have presentation inscriptions, including one from Paul Lacroix (“le bibliophile Jacob.”) All are bound and marked distinctively: the bindings are signed “Petit succr de Simier” and have Siméon’s cypher consisting of the initial H and S in “majuscules fleuronnées” surmounted by a “couronne de comte.” Correspondence documenting the Horace collection shows that a number of Siméon’s books were acquired from Maggs Brothers ca. 1912.

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About Stephen Ferguson

Stephen Ferguson is Librarian Emeritus, Princeton University Library. He came to Princeton in 1975 to be Curator of Rare Books, after several years of professional work at the John Carter Brown Library (Brown University) and the National Heritage Museum (Lexington, Mass.). Between 2014 and 2026, he held various posts as an Associate University Librarian at Princeton. He has degrees from Bowdoin (A.B.) and Rutgers (M.L.S.). His scholarly interests include book history, provenance research, and the history of collecting. He has taught at Drew University on the latter topic.