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| Stock ID |
1221 |
| Author |
CHARPENTIER. F. (and others) |
| Title |
Medailles sur les principaux evenements du regne entier de Louis le Grand avec des explications historiques. (Second edition) Paris, 1723. |
| Description |
Large folio, engraved frontispiece by Simonneau after Coypel, incorporating a vignette portrait of Louis XIV, title with engraved emblematic vignette and engraved border, each leaf of text printed on one side of the leaf only, each within an ornamental engraved border and with the obverse and reverse of one of Louis XIV's commemorative medals, 318, plus 6 leaves "Tables" at end, with final blank leaf. Some pages with soem staining; soem pages a trifle browned; but complete, and internally not unattractive. Contemporary speckled calf, with central lozenge in gilt depicting the French Royal Arms; worn at extremities, and rather inexpertly re-backed in tan calf, with contemporary title label fixed on back; inner joints strengthened with cloth tape; German engraved armorial ex-libris on first pastedown; all edges gilt. Complete.
A good copy of this superb book, which has a claim to be one of the finest numismatic books ever printed. "The book was projected regardless of time and expense. Medals were specially cut and cast; line engravings from them were made by Gerard Edelinck; special frontispieces were commissioned from Coypel and Rigaud; superb borders were contributed by Berrain and rich tailpieces by le Clerc. An entirely new face of type, Louis XIV's "Roman du Roi", as it was called, was a part of the conception........The enterprise was conceived as an expression of academic respect for the typographic arts" (Stanley Morrison, The Typographic Arts). The first edition, published in folio, and in quarto, appeared in 1702. In 1723, the Duc d'Antin ordered the reprinting of the work in folio and, as a result, it was completely redesigned. The edition comprised 318 plates instead of 286, and was limited to just 500 copies. An extremely small number of copies of the first edition included a fourteen page printed Preface which was quickly suppressed, and is now of exceptional rarity, and it is not present in this, the second edition.
Engel & Serrure 6799. Hirsch p. 83. Lipsius p. 253.
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See Description
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| Annotations |
N/A
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N/A
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| ISBN |
N/A
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| Availability |
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Price
(GBP) 
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395.00 |
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