For collectors of interesting history of Western art books from the first half of the 20th century, especially titles originating in France, up for auction is a two-volume set called History of Painting, published by Hyperion Press, of New York, Paris, and London, in 1951 under the supervision of Germain Bazin (1901-1990), with the translation from the French by Rosamund Frost. The books' titles are Classic Painting and Modern Painting, and I don't think I need to mention the names of the Old and Modern Masters whose works are represented in the book in over 600 images, well over 100 in color, all printed in glossy paper (except for artists' biographies at the back, which are on plain paper). 

I will state right here at the start, however, that there are some glossy pages in the books that cannot be fully opened, I believe because of a chemical reaction that took place on spreads where either the ink of the text or of the black-and-white and color images caused the pages to fuse together. Or perhaps it was simply extreme cold or heat that caused these things to happen. For the most part, I've not attempted to separate these pages, but I did think it important to mention this early on. 

The two books, which do not come with dust jackets / wrappers (I'm not sure they originally had them), measure 5-1/2 inches wide by 7-1/4 inches high, with 356 pages in Classic Painting and 392 pages in Modern Painting. Most of the pages are printed on glossy paper, but at the end the biographies of artists are on non-glossy, matte paper. 

Here’s the full text of one side of the slipcase (which has a color pastedown from Classic Painting on the front, a detail of a painting by The Master of the Annunciation of Aix, The Prophet Jeremiah, shown on page 101 in black-and-white in the section "French Art of the 15th Century"):

HISTORY OF

PAINTING

Published under the supervision of

GERMAIN BAZIN

Translated from the French by:

ROSAMUND FROST

This up-to-date pictorial history of western painting is the

only one of its size and scope available. Here is a gallery

of painting from early Christian times to the present, with

critical notes, reference data, and short biographies of the

artists, written by experts. The two volumes contain over

700 pages, with 126 pages in full rich color, and 480 black

and white reproductions. By preparing world-wide editions,

The publishers can offer these volumes at a most attractive

                                            price.

Here art lovers can see, as never before, the great variety

and richness of the artistic heritage of western man.

Prepared by:

GASTON DIEHL, ANDRÉ LECLERC, MARC LOGÉ,

M. DE GESNE, R. MONTGOMERY CARLISLE,

FREDERICK MOSS, S. BÉGUIN.

Published by

THE HYPERION PRESS, NEW YORK  PARIS  LONDON

Distributed by

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY, NEW YORK 

This information is on the page facing the title page of both volumes (those title pages have pretty much the same information on them as what's printed on the slipcase, as seen above):

THIS VOLUME, EDITED

BY ANDRÉ GLOECKNER,

WAS FIRST PUBLISHED

IN NINETEEN HUNDRED

AND FIFTY-ONE BY THE

HYPERION PRESS, PARIS. 

PRINTING OF THE TEXT,

ENGRAVINGS AND COLOR-

PLATES BY IMPRIMERIE

CRÉTÉ CORBEIL, FRANCE.

Here’s the brief (English-language) Wikipedia biography of Germain Bazin (I’m sure his French one is much longer), followed by a list of his books:

Germain René Michel Bazin (24 September 1901 – 2 May 1990) was a French art historian, curator at the Louvre Museum from 1951 to 1965.

BIOGRAPHY. Germain Bazin was born in Suresnes, France, on 24 September 1901. He studied art history at the University of Paris. Bazin became an art professor at the University of Brussels in 1934 before returning to Paris to work at the Louvre in 1936. From 1951 to 1965 he was chief curator of paintings at the Louvre. From 1965 to 1970 he was in charge of painting restoration for France's national museum system. In 1981 he became member of the Royal Academie.

He died on 2 May 1990.

WORKS.

·         Le Mont-Saint-Michel. Preface by Marcel Aubert. Paris: Auguste Picard, 1933.

·         La France en guerre. Preface by André Siegfried. Paris: Plon, 1940.

·         L'époque impressionniste: avec notices biographiques et bibliographiques, Paris: P. Tisné, 1947.

·         History of Classic Painting. Translated from the French by Rosamund Frost. New York: Hyperion Press, 1951.

·         L'Histoire de l’art de la prehistoire à nos jours, 1953.

·         The Louvre. Translated by M. I. Martin. London: Thames & Hudson, 1957.

·         A Concise History of Art, Part One: From the Beginnings to the Fifteenth Century, "The World of Art Library" series. London: Thames & Hudson, 1958.

·         A Concise History of Art, Part Two: From the Renaissance to the Present Day, "The World of Art Library" series. London: Thames & Hudson, 1958.

·         The Loom of Art. Translated by Jonathan Griffin. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1962.

·         The Museum Age. Translated by Jane van Nuis Cahill. New York: Universe Books, 1967.

·         Histoire de l'avant-garde en peinture de XIIIe au XXe siècle, Paris: Hachette, 1969. Translated by Simon Watson Taylor as The Avant-garde in Painting, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1969.

·         The Baroque: Principles, Styles, Modes, Themes. Translation by Pat Wardroper. Greenwich, CT: New York Graphic Society, 1968; Corot. Paris: Hachette, 1973c

·         Paradeisos: The Art of the Garden Société Nouvelle des Éditions du Chene, 1988. Translation Little Brown and Company, 1990.

·         Histoire de l'histoire de l'art: de Vasari à nos jours, Paris: A. Michel, 1986.

·         Théodore Géricault: étude critique, documents et catalogue raisonné. Paris: La Bibliothèque des arts, 1987-1997.

The overall condition of the two hardcover books in their original slipcase is fair to good. The titles do not come with dust jackets / wrappers (and I'm not sure if they originally did). The paper-covered cardboard box, which has one color pastedown on the front, is quite spotted, smudged, age-toned, dinged, etc. The gold-titled (on the spines only) red cloth-bound books are tight and square, but the red hue of the spines is discolored / faded / sunned, with tears and wrinkling, including at the tops of the spines (there's also overall rippling on the front board of Modern Painting). The plain white end pages of both books are clean, unmarked, and untouched by the human hands, as are the books' glossy pages. As mentioned above, some pages, mostly those with illustrations, are stuck to adjacent pages and cannot be opened (for an example, see the 21st photo uploaded). So there appear to be no annotations, marginalia, underlining, highlighting, scribbles, etc., in the books. Besides the pages stuck together or with damage on pages where stuck-together pages have been pulled apart (not by me, I might add), there seems to be no other major damage or flaws in the way of clipped or missing pages, water or other liquid damage, tape repairs, large tears, etc. (note that I did not look closely at each and every page in the books and might have missed something else). The page edges are smooth-cut, uncolored, a bit smudged, and age-toned. The books and their slipcase have neither a musty nor smoky odor, but there is a slight smell to the glossy paper, likely just an old-paper scent. 

This two-volume mid-20th-century boxed set, History of Painting, supervised by the French art historian and curator Germain Bazin and published by Hyperion Press, New York, in 1951, is being sold AS IS, AS DESCRIBED ABOVE AND PICTURED WITHIN. I am setting what I feel is a reasonable starting price for the auction, and there is NO RESERVE. I am also including a Buy It Now price.

Shipping and handling for the books in their original slipcase, which will be packaged in a cardboard box: $7 to U.S. addresses (via Media Mail).

Note that eBay now has a shipping program whereby bidders from outside the U.S. can bid on all sellers' items, and the seller sends everything to an eBay facility in the States for shipping. So far, except for one book I sold not making it to the buyer in China (who was promptly sent a refund by eBay when the book did not arrive), this program seems to be working out fine. 

If you want these books sent more quickly to you (e.g., via Priority Mail in the U.S.), you must request this asap after winning or purchasing them (or beforehand, if possible), and I will adjust the amount accordingly.

I will do my best to send the books out to you no more than 2-3 business days following receipt of payment (that is, when eBay informs me that your payment has been posted to or otherwise cleared in my account). 

If you are the winner or buyer of this two-volume set of books, in their original slipcase, PAYMENT IS EXPECTED WITHIN ONE WEEK (7 DAYS) FROM THE PURCHASE DATE. If you cannot pay within this time frame, PLEASE contact me asap so we can work something out. I'm very flexible and understanding, but I would appreciate communication from you one way or another.

PLEASE NOTE THAT RETURNS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED NOR REFUNDS MADE FOR THESE BOOKS, SO PLEASE READ MY DESCRIPTION CAREFULLY, LOOK CLOSELY AT THE PHOTOGRAPHS I’VE UPLOADED, AND ASK ME ANY QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE ABOUT THE CONTENTS OR CONDITION OF THE TITLES. THANKS FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING!

Thanks for looking, and please don't hesitate to email me if you have any questions about this copy of History of Painting, printed in France and published by Hyperion Press, New York, Paris, and London, in 1951.   

A NOTE TO AMERICAN BUYERS ONLY: IF POSSIBLE, I WILL HAPPILY ADJUST SHIPPING CHARGES FOR MULTIPLE PURCHASES!!!

ALSO, PLEASE NOTE THAT, IF APPLICABLE, eBAY WILL ADD ANY APPROPRIATE STATE SALES TAX TO THE INVOICE.