BASTARD D'ESTANG, JEAN-FRANÇOIS-AGUERSTE. - French paleographer and archaeologist, b. at Nogaro on 11 Dec. 1792, d. at the château of Bachac (near Bouglon, dept. Lot-et-Garonne) on 16 Apr. 1883. A cavalry officer in the service of Napoleon, he distinguished himself several times in battle, but his name is chiefly associated with his scholarly activity, of which various studies in archaeology bear witness (notable among them his *Etudes de symbolique chrétienne*, Paris 1861), and three collections of a paleographic character, all unfortunately left unfinished: *Librairie de Jean de France, premier duc de Berry* (large folio volume, suspended in 1835 after plate 32a); *Costumes de la cour de Bourgogne sous le règne de Philippe III dit le Bon* (interrupted after the 5th fascicle, comprising 25 plates in all, in 1844); *Peintures et ornements des manuscrits, classés dans un ordre chronologique, pour servir à l'histoire des arts du dessin, depuis le IVe siècle de l'ère chrétienne jusqu'à la fin du XVIe siècle*.
The last of these works, conceived on a truly grand scale, was begun in 1832 with the aim of collecting in facsimile a large number of manuscript miniatures important both for paleography and for the art of manuscript decoration. It was divided into three sections: the first paleographic, the second on French illumination, and the third on foreign illumination. Two editions were commenced, one intended for the French government (1835) and another for foreign states (1832); both shared the first section (of the 120 plates planned, 75 were published), while the second and third sections developed differently. Of the edition for the French government, several copies exist, some with 104, others with 112 plates in the second section; of the foreign edition, 128 plates of the same section were published. Of the third section, barely begun, practically only one copy exists in the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris, to which the scholar’s family donated the abundant material he had collected. The complicated publishing history deeply affected the fate of this work, to which the French government contributed over a million francs: copies with a large number of plates are extremely rare; the copies found in our libraries normally comprise 16 fascicles, each of 8 plates, dating between 1832 and 1860 (v. copy in the Biblioteca nazionale Vittorio Emanuele in Rome).