1691 HISTOIRE DU ROY LOUIS LE GRAND ILLUSTRATED antique ARMORIAL BINDING

Menestrier,C.F.

HISTOIRE DU ROY
LOUIS LE GRAND
Par les medailles, emblemes, devises, jettons, inscriptions, armoiries et autres monumens publics. N(ouvelle) E(dition). Augmentee de 5 planches.

(History of King Louis the Great
With medals, emblems, symbols, tokens, inscriptions, armouries and other public monuments.
New Edition.
Augmented with 5 plates0

Paris, Nolin; 1691

With engraved title and 61 (2 of which folded) copperplate engravings.

64 numbered leaves.

Original calf with embossed coat of arms to the front cover, spine with raised bands, decorated in gilt

 - Praz 424. Landwehr 519-

 Glorification of the deeds of Louis XIV with illustrations of coins, medals, emblematic depictions, allegories and coats of arms.

Some wear of binding, very good

with modern Exlibris of Frieder Haag.

Size about 8 1/4 by 12 1/3 inches 

Text in French
===============================

Claude-Francois Menestrier S.J. (1631 –  1705) was a French heraldist , writer, member of the Society of Jesus [Jesuit], and attendant of the royal court.

Menestrier was born in Lyon. He composed numerous books on heraldry, in which he was one of the greatest authorities of his age, the professor of the colleges in Chambéry , Vienne , Grenoble , and Lyon . During 1669-70 he traveled to Germany and Italy, but reached Paris and lived there to his death. Menestrier's early treatises clearly show the influence of Emanuele Tesauro 's theoretical work, and in particular the content of his best-known treatise, the Cannocchiale aristotelico .
He was the most widely known heraldist of his time, and was from 1622 in close correspondence with Philipp Jakob Spener , the founder of the German scientific heraldry who refused the merely symbolic interpretation of arms. Ménestrier maintained that we can know the essence of heraldry only from the sources from the age of living heraldry but he was also influenced by the heraldic view of his age. Thus, his researches were abortive.

Ménestrier's essays "On Ancient and Modern Musical Productions" ( Des Représentations en musique anciennes et modernes , 1681) and " On Ancient and Modern Ballets, After The Rules of Theatre" ( Des Ballets anciens et modernes selon les règles du théâtre , 1682) were influential in the development of ballet as a dramatic concert dance style capable of expressing a wide range of emotion and narrating a complex story, drawing upon accounts of ancient Roman pantomime .

Menestrier was also a numismatist and antiquary . In 1689 he published his History of King Louis the Great through medals. emblems, mottos, tokens, inscriptions, coats of arms, and other public monuments . The book was the first antiquarian history of a modern individual, and largely used medals drawn from the collection of Père François de la Chaise . It also covered tokens and heraldic devices.
Unfortunately for Menestrier a pirated 1691 Dutch edition included five pages of anti-Louis medals, harming Menestrier's position at court.
-------------------------------
 

Please see my other auctions


Thank You

Refund Policy: We will issue a FULL REFUND, 100% money back if you are not satisfied with your purchase. Items must be returned to us within 20 days in order to receive a refund or replacement. Buyer is responsible for shipping costs.