The Reading Cabinet

It was built in 1937 in the neo- empire style of the villa Masséna to welcome the library of the Knight Victor de Cessole who had just donated it to the city of Nice.

This family library was built over several generations by the Spitalieri de Cessole, an old family niçoise related to the Ripert de Montclar, the Villeneuve-Vence and the Sévignés.

Among the preserved bibliophilic works are seven incunables, many French and Italian classics of the 17th and 18th centuries, most of the rare editions of the letters of the Marquise de Sévigné, the majority of the works of the printers and publishers of Niçois.

There are also numerous historical and valuable geographical maps, local newspapers, regional prints and a rich photographic background including the mountain clichés of Victor de Cessole (1859-1941).