CASTELNAU (Michel de). - Lot 45

CASTELNAU (Michel de). Les Mémoires de messire Michel de Castelnau, seigneur de Mauvissiere, illustrez et augmentez de plusieurs Commentaires & Manuscrits, tant, Lettres, Instructions, Traitez, qu'autres Pieces secrettes & originales, servans à donner la verité de l'Histoire des Regnes de François II, Charles IX, & Henry III & de la Regence & du Gouvernement de Catherine de Medicis. Brussels: Jean Leonard, 1731. - 3 volumes in-folio, 402x255: portrait, (16 ff.), 864 pp., (6 ff.), 1 portrait; (2 ff.), 782 pp., (6 ff.); (2 ff.), 564 pp. miscalculated 560, (4 ff.). Red morocco, double framed with three gilt fillets, fleur-de-lys at corners and gilt coat of arms in center, ribbed spine decorated with fleurs-de-lys, interior gilt roulette, edges gilt on marbling (Lortic). Third edition, partly original, the best and most complete of these historical memoirs by Michel de Castelnau (1517-1592), essential for understanding the Wars of Religion and power plays in 16th-century Europe. Michel de Castelnau was a military officer and diplomat in the service of six French kings (François I, Henri II, François II, Charles IX, Henri III and Henri IV). Endowed with an exceptional memory and a talent for negotiation, he played a key role in the Wars of Religion and relations with England and Scotland. He distinguished himself on the battlefield (Saint-Quentin, Dreux, Jarnac) and in diplomacy, foiling plots (the Amboise conspiracy) and negotiating with Elizabeth I and Mary Stuart. Ruined by his devotion, he retired in 1592 and died the same year, leaving these invaluable memoirs of that troubled period. Divided into seven books, they occupy just 266 pages in the first volume. The remainder of this volume and the entire volume2 comprise additions to the memoirs, published by the ecclesiastic, writer and historian Jean Le Laboureur (1623-1675). The final volume includes a "Continuation des mémoires de Messire Michel de Castelnau", followed by an "Abrégé de la vie de messire Michel de Castelnau", the "Histoire généalogique de la maison de Castelnau", "Généalogies de plusieurs maisons alliées à celle de Castelnau" and "Nouvelles additions aux mémoires...contenant Plusieurs Pièces très-intéressantes, qui servent de preuves aux dits Mémoires..." which appear here for the first time. This edition is illustrated with three title vignettes, four headbands and two out-of-text portraits: that of Michel de Castelnau in the frontispiece (unsigned) and that of Jacques de Castelnau, Marshal of France, engraved by Gandavi after Frans Pilsen (1700-1784). The genealogical sections are adorned with 347 intaglio coats of arms engraved in the text. A superb copy bound by Lortic for Baron Florent-Florentin-Achille Seillière (1813-1873), banker and director of Chemin de Fer de l'Est and Crédit Foncier, owner of Château de Mello (Oise) and Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur. His rich library, bound by the finest craftsmen, was dispersed between 1887 and 1893. The work subsequently entered the collection of Baron Joseph-Étienne-Alphonse de Ruble (1834-1898), historian and bibliophile, heir to the library of his uncle, Count Alexandre de Lurde (1800-1872). A member of the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, he published historical works and contributed to the 1878 Universal Exhibition. Two long traces of scratches, restored, on the second cover of the first volume, slight nick on the upper edge of the second cover of the second volume. Scattered foxing. Provenance: Baron Seillière, with his coat of arms on the boards (sale 1890, no. 1061). - Joseph-Étienne-Alphonse de Ruble, with bookplate (sale 1899, no. 606).