January 2, 2012
STUNNING 17th CENTURY ENGLISH RED GOATSKIN BINDING
PRINTED 1657: THE RARE Grand Cabinet-Counsels Unlocked
The Book:
[Marguerite, Queen consort of Henry IV King of France] The grand cabinet-counsels unlocked. Or The most faithful transaction of the court-affairs, and growth and continuation of the civil wars in France, betwixt the Huguenots and the papists, during the raign of Charls the Last, Henry the Third, and Henry the Fourth, commonly called Henry the Great. London : Printed by R.H., 1657. 4 p. l., 229 p. ; 16 cm. Very attractive full gilt contemporary red goatskin binding with acorns and numerous other decorative elements. Light worming in the upper left of last few leaves. Provenance: Grinke & Rogers, Cat 3, Item 255 $192 (c. 1974) The Rare English translation by the prolific author Robert Codrington (1602-1665) of the scandalous Memorials of Margaret de Valois. Besides court gossip, it is an important historical work at a critical juncture in the French Wars of Religion. Marguerite was married (August, 1572) at age twenty to her cousin, the young Huguenot King of Navarre, also of the same age. In these Memoirs, the ceremony is described along with her hopes that it will usher in a reign of peace and toleration. Sadly their marriage, the pairing of a Protestant to a Catholic, witnessed the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre a mere six days later. [SOLD]
