FROISSART (Jean). - Lot 9

FROISSART (Jean). Histoire et chronique memorable de messire Iehan Froissart. Reveu et corrige sus divers exemplaires, et suivant les bons auteurs, par Denis Sauvage de Fontenailles en Brie. Paris : Jean Ruelle, [Pierre L'Huillier], 1574. -4 volumes in 2 volumes in-folio, brown calf, spine ribbed and decorated, red edges (early 18th century binding). Tchémerzine, III, 388. New edition of Jean Froissart's chronicle published by King Henri II's historiographer, Denis Sauvage (1520?-1587?). This is the main work of the writer and historian Jean Froissart (c. 1337-c. 1404), written between 1361 and 1400, focusing on the conflict between France and England during the Hundred Years' War. "His Chroniques offer the aristocratic class a vast picture of chivalric society, its deeds, festivals, rituals, dreams and concerns. For us, this book remains an essential source of knowledge of the 14th century" (Bechtel, p. 303). This edition was shared between four booksellers, and can be found under the addresses of Pierre L'Huillier, Claude Gautier, Michel Sonnius or Jean Ruelle. The first volume is in Jean Ruelle's name, while the others are in Pierre L'Huillier's. Copy of Élisabeth Pauline de Gand-Vilain, Princesse d'Isenghien (1737-1794). A French noblewoman, she married Louis-Léon de Brancas, Duc de Lauraguais, in 1755, with whom she had two daughters: Pauline-Louise (future Duchesse d'Arenberg) and Antoinette Candide (who became a nun). In 1767, she inherited the ruined Château d'Arlay, and had a new château built using materials from the old ruins and an abandoned convent. She entertained a number of prominent guests, including King Frederick II of Prussia in 1775. A victim of the Revolutionary Terror, she was arrested in 1793, tried by René-François Dumas (whom she had once refused to accept as her steward), condemned to death and guillotined in Paris on February 16, 1794. The first title bears the handwritten signature "P. Isenghien", and that of the "Tiers volume" bears the indication, in another hand, "princesse Disenghien". Covers of first volume damaged, rubbed and worn. Leather missing in places. Staining on the bottom leaves of both volumes.