[Rarebooks] fa: MEMOIRS OF PHILIP DE COMINES - 2 vols. 1723 - w/ THE SECRET HISTORY OF LOUIS XI

[ArCh]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, March 21. Images and more details can be found at the URL below or by searching for the seller name arch_in_la. 

https://tinyurl.com/yeola2dw

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
Ann Arbor, MI, USA


Philippe de Commynes (sometimes Commines): The Memoirs of Philip de Comines: Containing the History of Lewis XI. and Charles VIII. of France; and of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy; To which Princes he was Secretary: As also the History of Edward IV. and Henry VII. of England. Including that of Europe for almost half the Fifteenth Century: With a Supplement, as also several Original Treaties, Notes and Observations. And Lastly. The Secret History of Lewis XI out of a Book call'd The Scandalous Chronicle: And the Life of the Author prefix'd to the whole, with Notes upon it, by the famous Sleidan. Faithfully translated from the late Edition of Monsieur Godefroy, Historiographer Royal of France. To which are added Remarks on all the Occurrences relating to England. By Mr. Uvedale. London: Printed for J. Brotherton and F. Fayram in Cornhill; A. Bettesworth in Pater-Noster Row, and J. Pemberton in Fleet-Street, 1723. Complete in two volumes, 8vo (20 cm), in early/period polished calf, sensitively rebacked in later calf with gilt-tooled titles and volume numbers; [40], 515, [3] pp.; [2], viii, 386, [3]-128 pp.; woodcut head- and tail-pieces and initials; publisher's adverts at the end of vol. I. ESTC T120693.

Bindings with a bit of bumping and light wear to the extremities; contents mildly toned with a few very occasional light spots and touches of soiling, otherwise quite clean and fresh, firmly bound. A solid, handsome set. Philippe de Commynes (ca. 1447-1511) was a French diplomat, counselor, courtier and chronicler "whose Memoires establish him as one of the greatest historians of the Middle Ages" (Encyclopaedia Britannica). Volume II of the work also contains, with a separate title-page, "The Secret History of Lewis XI, King of France, otherwise called, The Scandalous Chronicle... Written by one John de Troyes, Register of the Town-House in Paris."