Michel Wittock has always believed that a collection must be backed up by a sound document library, which is why, in addition to his constant search for decorative bindings, he never tired of seeking out bibliographies and other reference works in the very particular field of the art of bookmaking. As a result, he very soon accumulated in the Wittockiana reading room thousands of works on decorative bookbinding, from simple bookshop price catalogues to scholarly monographs, as well as rare catalogues of private libraries published by collectors themselves, catalogues for famous auctions, and ancient and modern bookbinding manuals.
An irresistible fascination for rare and beautiful books – perfectly normal for the bibliomane if not bibliolater that he was – very soon led him to seek out, even for his document library, books that were unusual, whether for their “grand papier” (Brunet), their beautiful binding (Meunier, Gruel), the very small numbers printed together with their distinguished provenance (Lord Carnarvon, Robert Hoe), their age (Dudin), or sometimes even the fact that they were fakes (Fortsas).