115 - COMMYNES, Philippe de. Memoirs of Sir Philippe de Comines, Lord of Argenton.

COMMYNES, Philippe de. Memoirs of Sir Philippe de Comines, Lord of Argenton. An excellent edition adorned with a large allegorical frontispiece and four engraved portraits, complete in four volumes in beautiful full calf bindings of the period. London and Paris, Rollin, 1747. 4 volumes in-4, full fawn marbled calfskin, spine with decorated raised bands, gilt fleurons between the bands, title label and volume number in red and brown morocco, gilded fillet on the edges, marbled paper endpapers and half-ends, red edges (contemporary binding). cxviii and 632 pp.; x and 659 pp.; xix and 650 pp.; viii, 432, and 215 pp., an allegorical frontispiece by Duflos after Bernard Picart, 4 engraved portraits as inserts (Commynes, Louis XI, Charles the Bold, and Charles VIII) and 5 headbands (some repeated), initials, 2 fold-out genealogical charts. Slight rubbing, 2 cap edges worn down, a small tear on one edge, a hole in the spine of Volume I, rare and minimal foxing. A new edition—the first edited by Nicolas Lenglet Du Fresnoy (1674–1755)—of these memoirs by Philippe de Comines (1447–1511), a diplomat and major chronicler, often regarded as the first true modern historian due to his pragmatic and psychological political analysis of power under Louis XI. Based on the work of the Godefroy brothers, this edition is renowned for its critical rigor, its apparatus of historical notes, and the quality of its typographic and graphic design. It is illustrated with an allegorical frontispiece by Duflos after Bernard Picart, four portraits (Commynes, Louis XI, Charles the Bold, and Charles VIII), and five headpieces, some of which are repeated. It also contains two fold-out genealogical tables. [Brunet, II, 191; Tchemerzine, III, 471]. A large coat-of-arms bookplate mounted on the front endpaper of each volume, signed Noblet F. (featuring a quartered coat of arms with a lion and an eagle, surmounted by a crenellated helmet in profile and lambrequins). A superb set in uniform period binding.