[ROYE (Jean de)].

Les Croniques du tres chrestien & tres victorieux Loys de Valoys feu roy de France que dieu absolve unziesme de ce nom... S.l.n.d. [Lyon, Michel Topié and Jacques Heremberck, circa 1488-1490 or circa 1496]. In-folio, red morocco, boards decorated with a gilt fleur-de-lis pattern, coat of arms in the centre, spine decorated in the same way, inner lace, gilt edges (Hardy - Benard gilt). Very rare first edition of the "chronique scandaleuse", the name by which these famous historical memoirs recounting the daily events of the reign of Louis XI, from 1461 to 1483, are known. They are attributed to Jean de Roye (1425?-1495?), notary at the Châtelet of Paris and secretary to Duke Jean II of Bourbon. The volume is printed in Gothic script on two columns. Its title opens with a large grotesque initial featuring a dragon. In view of the wear of the wood, the CIBN dates the edition to around 1496, while Copinger, Goff and the GW date it to between 1488 and 1490. The typefaces are those used by Topié and Heremberck in 1488 to print Breydenbach's Journey to the Holy Land, but they are considerably more worn. A copy luxuriously bound by Hardy with the arms of the Marquis de Villeneuve-Trans (1827-1893). It does not appear in his 1878 catalogue. Leaf k8 is in facsimile and the last blank leaf k10 is missing; ff. b6-8 have been bound by mistake in book f and f. i6 in book b. Minor repairs to title and a few leaves, some leaves slightly yellowed. Three fleurs-de-lis restored to the edge of the upper board. ISTC ic00485000 - Goff C-485 - CIBN C-319 - HC 5005 - C 1595 - Claudin, IV, 30-32 - BMC, VIII, 289 - GW 6689 - Bechtel, C-344.