228 - VAN DER MEULEN (Adam Frans). Collection of 34 plates. No place, no date [c. 1685]. Large folio, red morocco leather, Du Seuil-style decoration with a crowned monogram at the corners, large gilded coat of arms in the center, ornate spine, crowned monogram repeated in the panels with small fleurs-de-lis at the corners of each, gilt edges (contemporary binding).

VAN DER MEULEN (Adam Frans). Collection of 34 plates. No place, no date [c. 1685]. Large folio, red morocco leather, Du Seuil-style decoration with a crowned monogram at the corners, large gilded coat of arms in the center, ornate spine, crowned monogram repeated in the panels with small fleurs-de-lis at the corners of each, gilt edges (contemporary binding). A superb collection of 34 large plates depicting the military campaigns of Louis XIV, finely engraved on copper after Adam Frans Van der Meulen (1632–1690), official painter of the Sun King’s conquests. These double-page or fold-out prints were engraved by Boudewijns (a name Frenchified as Baudouin or Bauduin), Jan van Huchtenburg, Bonnart, Cochin, Scotin, Romain de Hooghe, and Simonneau. Summoned to Paris by Colbert to paint the military exploits of Louis XIV, the Flemish painter Van der Meulen traveled directly to the battlefields, from which he brought back numerous drawings: his views and profiles of the cities and strongholds conquered by the sovereign thus immortalized the great victorious episodes of the campaigns in Flanders (1667), Franche-Comté (1668), and Holland (1672–1678). The collection is organized as follows: 7 plates relating to the travels of the King and Queen, featuring views of the palaces of Vincennes, Versailles, and Fontainebleau; 11 plates concerning the Flanders campaign (Arras, Béthune, Ardres, Calais, Dunkirk, Tournai, Douai, Lille, Kortrijk, and Oudenaarde), 9 plates for the Holland campaign (Valenciennes, Cambrai, Saint-Omer, Luxembourg, etc.) and 7 others for the Franche-Comté campaign (Dole, Salins, Besançon, Gray, Saint-Laurent de La Roche, and the castles of Sainte-Anne and Joux). A very fine print. A very fine gift copy bound in morocco leather bearing the coat of arms and cipher of King Louis XIV. It comes from the library of the Dukes of La Rochefoucauld at the Château de la Roche-Guyon, with a wet seal affixed twice (1987, no. 932). The lower corner of plate 30 is slightly creased, but not serious; there is a small tear with a paper loss at the bottom of plate 33. Slight peeling of the leather at the bottom of the covers; lower edges where the raised grain meets the spine are rubbed; minor damage to one corner. Remnants of a label at the spine. List of plates available upon request Appraiser: Mr. Dominique Courvoisier