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60 - CHALCONDYLE (Laonicus). A General History of the Turks, cont…
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Estimate €1,200 - €1,500
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Description
CHALCONDYLE (Laonicus). A General History of the Turks, containing the history of Chalcondyle… The most comprehensive French chronicle on the Turks, in a fine folio edition, sought after for its remarkable illustration. Paris, Sébastien Cramoisy, 1662. 2 folio volumes (375 x 256 mm). Contemporary brown calfskin, ribbed spine decorated with panels set with small gilt metal studs. 12 unnumbered folios, 903 poorly paginated pages, 14 unnumbered folios; 6 unnumbered folios, 228 pages paginated 204, 8 unnumbered folios, 89 pp., 3 unnumbered leaves, 273 columns, 3 unnumbered leaves, 64 ff., (65)-116 pp, 2 unnumbered leaves, 85 pp., 5 unnumbered leaves. Engraved frontispieces, plates and figures. Covers missing, leather worn, a hole in the spine of vol. 1 at the volume number, small scuffs on the covers, 5 corners damaged. In vol. 1, a few leaves with small holes in the inner margin. In vol. 2, leaves Gjiii-I with slight marginal water damage; leaf ijjj with a marginal tear and text missing from the header on p. 72. The folios of columns 200–207 are poorly bound. Partly original edition, expanded compared to previous editions. A very complete copy including the frontispieces, the famous fold-out map of Constantinople, the fold-out plate, the 25 portraits of sultans, 62 men’s and women’s costumes, and the 17 prophetic paintings. The historical section is divided into 23 books. The first ten are devoted to the important History of the Turks by the 15th-century Byzantine historian Laonicus Chalcondyle (1423?–1490?), translated by Blaise de Vigenère and first published in 1577. This account covers the period from 1298 to 1462, describing the fall of the Byzantine Empire and the rise of the Ottoman Empire. It is followed by Thomas Artus’s continuation, comprising books 11 to 18, covering the years 1463 to 1612, then, in the second volume, books 19 to 23 composed by François Eudes de Mézeray covering the period from 1613 to 1661. Book 23, concerning the death of Ibrahim I (1648), appears here for the first time. The second volume is supplemented by four further texts, presented with separate pagination: -BAUDIER (Michel). A General History of the Seraglio and the Court of the Grand Sultan, Emperor of the Turks. Or, a Portrait of Ottoman Grandeur, a Picture of Human Passions, and Examples of the Court’s Fickle Fortunes. - Illustrations by Blaise de Vigenère of Bourbon, on the history of Chalcondile of Athens, concerning the decline of the Greek Empire, & the establishment of that of the Turks. - Several descriptions of the attire, both of the magistrates and officers of the court of the Turkish Emperor, and of the peoples subject to his Empire. -ARTUS (Thomas). Prophetic tables of the emperors Severus and Leo, with their epigrams foretelling the ruin of the Turkish monarchy. The Annals of the Sultans or Great Lords of the Turks. Translated from the Latin version by Jean Leunclavius. The illustrations in each volume include a beautiful frontispiece dated 1663. The History of the Turks by Chalcondyle, Artus and Mézeray is adorned with a large fold-out plate depicting the city of Constantinople and 25 portraits of sultans engraved on copper within the text. The section on Blaise de Vigenère’s illustrations includes a wood-engraved fold-out plate depicting the Turkish emperor’s army ‘in battle formation’ and two full-page copper engravings. The section on costumes is the most lavishly illustrated. It contains 62 beautiful full-page copper engravings after Nicolas Nicolay, depicting men’s and women’s costumes, except for the first, which shows the emperor on his throne. Artus’s Tableaux prophétiques finally comprise 17 large copper engravings. Provenance: from the libraries of Charles Ewbank, with an ex-libris pasted on the inside front cover and a handwritten ex-libris on the title page of vol. 1, unidentified. A complete copy, in fresh and clean condition.
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About the sale Fine antique and collectible books, manuscripts and modern illustrated works
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Auction time 06/29/2026 at 2:00 PM
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