1067 - VILLEHARDOUIN (Geoffroy de). THE HISTORY OF GEOFFROY DE VILLEHARDOUYN, Marshal of Champagne and Romania; On the Conquest of Constantinople by the French Barons in Alliance with the Venetians, in the Year 1204, on the one hand in its original language; & on the other in a more modern and intelligible language, by Blaise de Vigenère, a gentleman of the household of His Grace the Duke of Nivernois and Rethelois, Peer of France.

VILLEHARDOUIN (Geoffroy de). THE HISTORY OF GEOFFROY DE VILLEHARDOUYN, Marshal of Champagne and Romania; On the Conquest of Constantinople by the French Barons in Alliance with the Venetians, in the Year 1204, on the one hand in its original language; & on the other in a more modern and intelligible language, by Blaise de Vigenère, a gentleman of the household of His Grace the Duke of Nivernois and Rethelois, Peer of France. Paris, published by Abel l’Angelier, 1585. In-4°, [14]-186 folios, blue half-maroquin with corner pieces, smooth spine decorated with Gothic metalwork (19th-century binding). A very rare FIRST EDITION in which the author recounts the episodes and events he experienced during this extraordinary expedition of the Fourth Crusade (1202). It is practically the oldest historical account written directly in French by a knight, composed in the first decade of the 13th century and which can be considered an epic novel! This first edition was published by the famous Saint-Pourçain native Blaise de Vigenère (1523–1596), “on one side in its old language and on the other in a more modern and intelligible one.” (USTC 7011) (Tchemerzine V, 957) (In French in text no. 14) (Missing from Rothschild) (Brunet V, 1238 “A valuable work from both a historical and grammatical perspective”). Slight wear to the binding and very few small foxing spots. Provenance: This copy belonged to President d’Avannes, president of Evreux in 1830 and counselor at the Court of Algiers, and bears his bookplate.