Sully

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SULLY, MAXIMILIEN DE BETHUNE, DUC DEBiblio.com

MEMOIRS OF MAXIMILIAN DE BÉTHUNE DUKE OF SULLY

1757Best.-Nr. ST14844London: A. Millar; J. Dodsley; and W. Shropshire 1757. Second Edition. 222 x 140 mm. 8 3/4 x 5 1/2. Five volumes. Contemporary gray paper boards backed in sheep with unusual wavy edges raised bands black morocco labels with gilt titling. Front pastedowns with armorial bookplate of Francis Eyre of Warkworth Northamptonshire. Corners slightly bumped and edges a little tattered one spine with minor loss to leather in one compartment boards a bit rubbed but overall the contemporary bindings very sound and in excellent condition; the occasional small blemish a few marginal open tears one closed tear minimally affecting text but internally very well preserved in general. This is the first English translation of the memoirs of French statesman Maximilien de Béthune Duke of Sully undertaken either by Samuel Johnson or by best-selling female novelist Charlotte Lennox and offered here in the original unsophisticated and unusual bindings. A Huguenot of noble family Sully 1560-1641 was presented to the Protestant King Henri of Navarre when he was 11 years old and became permanently attached to that monarch until the king's assassination in 1610. Sully although a lifelong Protestant himself encouraged Henri to convert to Catholicism in order to become King Henri IV of France arranged for the marriage of Henri to Marie de Medici and served as a lifelong advisor and confidante to the king. His insider's views of this crucial period of French history make his "Memoirs" of continuing interest to scholars. Originally published in French in 1638 the first edition in English appeared well over 100 years later in 1756 a year before our second edition. The ESTC notes that the translator may have been Samuel Johnson but the book itself as well as later editions credits Charlotte Lennox ca. 1729-1804 author of popular women's adventure novels including "The Female Quixote." She was born in the American colonies but spent her working life in England where literary friends and supporters included the aforementioned Johnson. The bindings here are not extraordinarily attractive but they are interesting as specimens of an unusual slightly rustic design: the wavy edges where the leather and paper meet are clearly purposeful and add a playful element not usually seen in modest bindings such as these. A. Millar; J. Dodsley; and W. Shropshire unknown

Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books and Medieval Manuscripts · Vereinigte Staaten598,00 $≈ 533,21 €

(Lennox, Charlotte); Maximilien de Bethune, Duke of SullyABAA

MEMOIRS OF MAXIMILIAN DE BETHUNE DUKE OF SULLY

1756Best.-Nr. 44515London: Printed for A. Millar in the Strand; R. and J. Dodsley in Pall-Mall; and W. Shropshire in New-Bond-Street 1756. Fine. First edition in English extra-illustrated copy of this "instant classic" Carlile the autobiography of the minister and advisor to King Henry IV of France. Charlotte Lennox was born into a well-to-do Scottish family that fell upon hard times. Well educated and distinguished early for her poetic precocity - but left to fend for herself financially she turned to a career in writing. After publishing two novels THE LIFE OF HARRIOT STUART based heavily on her own experiences in the American colonies and voyage back to Britain; and THE FEMALE QUIXOTE for which she is best known today Lennox took up translation work in hopes of finding a more stable source of income. Among Lennox's most successful productions in her long publishing career this translation of the Duke of Sully's MEMOIRS also led to an offer of a royal pension for Lennox in gratitude for literary services performed. She turned it down in favor of her patron finding a government position for her husband instead. The Duke of Sully 1560-1641 was viewed by many in the Georgian period as an ideal Enlightenment-era statesman and his MEMOIRS has been read as a literary political treatise. It influence was broad including on the American Founding Fathers: it features in the 1783 list of books to be imported for the use of Congress compiled under the leadership of James Madison. This copy has been generously supplemented with nearly 200 engravings primarily of portraits and landscapes of the figures and places described. As a 17th-century text via an influential 18th-century translation in a characteristically deluxe 19th-century extra-illustrated binding it is a lovely hybrid artifact. Three quarto volumes 10'' x 7.75'' each. Nineteenth-century full maroon straight-grain morocco by Bayntun raised bands elaborately gilt-tooled spines large gilt cornerpieces and triple-gilt rules to boards. Gilt dentelles marbled endpapers all edges gilt. Extra illustrated with 193 additional plates: portraits landscapes dramatic scenes inter alia. Half titles in first two volumes. 4 540; 4 viii 555 1; viii 408 pages plus index. Only light rubbing to joints. Printed for A. Millar, in the Strand; R. and J. Dodsley, in Pall-Mall; and W. Shropshire, in New-Bond-Street unknown books