The Getty has over 150,000 auction and sales catalogs available to access within the library, ranging from sales held in the 17th century to the current day.
Pre-sale catalogs are located on a book truck on the L2 level of the library, directly across from the Interlibrary Loan desk.
Other physical holdings of catalogs can be found by searching our Library Catalog or, if we do not own the item, searching worldwide holdings via SCIPIO (see below).
Catalogs may also be available on microform, photocopy format, or in full-text.
Burrell & Sons Sale, July 21, 1823, Getty Library ID # 2703-039
Search the Library Catalog for Getty holdings by keywords that may appear in title, author, or brief description or search by date of sale using format YYYYMMDD.
The Library often has multiple copies of a catalog. Information regarding annotations in each copy will appear within the bibliographic record, often referencing specific collectors, scholars, or dealers.
Searching SCIPIO Art and Rare Book Sales Catalogs database
SCIPIO is a bibliographic citation database of auction sales catalogs from all major North American and European auction houses as well as important private sales (16th c. to the present) held within the major repositories of catalogs worldwide, including those at The Getty.
SCIPIO is accessible via FirstSearch subscription or free via Art Discovery Group Catalog.