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83 - [LE LABOUREUR (Claude)]. A Treatise on the Origin of Coats o…
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Estimate €400 - €500
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Description
[LE LABOUREUR (Claude)]. A Treatise on the Origin of Coats of Arms, and on the Terms Adopted and Used in the Explanation of the Science of Heraldry. Lyon, Guillaume Barbier, 1658. Small quarto, Lavallière morocco, triple gilt fillet, spine decorated with grotesque motifs, interior lace, gilt edges on marbled paper (E. Thomas). First edition of this famous treatise on heraldry, written by the historian Claude Le Laboureur, provost of the Abbey of Île Barbe, near Lyon. The work was at the root of the long-running dispute between its author and the Jesuit C.-F. Ménestrier, who published his *Véritable art du blason* the very following year, to which Le Laboureur replied in 1660 in his *Épître apologétique*. The illustrations consist of a large title vignette and 162 coats of arms within the text, all engraved with a burin by the Lyon-based artist Claudine Brunand. In a rather piquant detail, Ménestrier specifically criticised the provost of Île Barbe for having had the indecency to have the Coglioni family’s canting arms engraved by a woman (p. 32). A very fine, well-preserved copy, finely bound in Lyon by Thomas. It contains 2 folios in duplicate (pp. 239–240 and 255–256), with interesting bibliographical variants. An autograph letter from a collector describing his own copy has been mounted on a tab before p. 239. The list of families mentioned is missing, as is almost always the case. From the Lyon library of Joseph Renard, with an ex-libris and a handwritten note on an endpaper. Minor, insignificant foxing; very slight rubbing to the edges and caps. Saffroy, I, no. 1954 – Allut, Menestrier, 1856, pp. 25–27 – V. Meyer, ‘Claudine Brunand, femme et graveuse’, *Nouvelles de l’estampe*, no. 263, 2020, note 24.
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About the sale Fine antique books – A library in the Languedoc
Auction location
Auction time 10/20/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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