Les Memoires de Messire Philippe de Commines, cheualier, seigneur d'Argenton,: sur les faicts & gestes abbregees, de Loys XI & Charles VIII. son fils, rois de France: Avec la vie de Mess. Angelo Cattho, archeuesque de Vienne: Plus, deux Epistres de Jean Sleidan en la recommandation de l'Autheur. Le tout reveu & corrige de noveau. Item, un Indice des choses plus remarquables
[Geneva:]: Pour Jaques Chouet [De l'imprimerie de Antoine Blanc], 1593. A new edition of the revised version of Commines' work edited by Denis Sauvage. Woodcut border on title page; three copper engraved portraits with descriptive text on two leaves (it is worth noting that these two leaves are often lacking in other copies, but are present in this copy). Some staining to covers and lacking the leather ties. Some soiling on the title page in addition to some staining from an old ink armorial stamp on the verso, which has bled through. Intermittent foxing and overall light browning. Contemporary ownership signature at bottom of the title page. A very good copy. Contemporary limp vellum with hand lettered spine and beveled edges. Twelvemo. 38], 854 pp. Item #16171
Philippe de Commines was a writer and diplomat in the courts of Burgundy and France. He has been called "the first truly modern writer" (Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve) and "the first critical and philosophical historian since classical times" (Oxford Companion to English Literature). His analyses of the contemporary political scene are what made him virtually unique in his own time. The Mémoires are divided into "books", the first six of which were written between 1488 and 1494, and relate the course of events from the beginning of Commines' career (1464) up to the death of King Louis. The remaining two books were written between 1497 and 1501 (printed in 1528), and deal with the Italian wars, ending in the death of King Charles VIII of France. Denis Sauvage (1520-1587) is known for his four-volume edition of Froissart's Chronicles (1559-1561).
OCLC lists three copies, all in the U.K. Adams C2461.
Price: $950.00