157 - LE GENDRE (Louis) (1655–1733). Life of Cardinal d’Amboise, Prime Minister of Louis XII. With a comparison of famous cardinals who have governed states...

LE GENDRE (Louis) (1655–1733). Life of Cardinal d’Amboise, Prime Minister of Louis XII. With a comparison of famous cardinals who have governed states... Rouen, Machuel, 1726, in-4, 6 unnumbered folios–564 pp.–3 plates. Brown calfskin, ribbed spine, richly decorated panels, red title label, marbled edges. (Contemporary binding).—A copy with wide margins, likely printed on large-format paper. An additional title page, in two colors, has been bound at the end. Ex-libris bearing the coat of arms of a prelate (18th cent.). Worn caps, one split jaw, leather slightly scuffed. A few rare and minute stains inside. Edition identical to that of 1724. There is also an edition dated Amsterdam, 1726. Portraits of the cardinal and the author, engraved by Scotin; a folded plate depicting the cardinal’s tomb, also engraved by Scotin. The biography spans 388 pages and provides information on the government of France in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, particularly regarding the Italian Wars. Cardinal d’Amboise also reformed the legal system. This is followed by a genealogy of the House of Amboise, the text of the treaty of alliance against the Venetians, the cardinal’s will, “details of the illness and funeral of Legate d’Amboise collected by one of his servants…,” a description of his tomb, a description of the bell called Georges d’Amboise, etc. (Hauser, S.H.F. I, no. 374—not in Conlon - Frère II, p. 195).