ORDER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT - Les Statuts de l'Ordre... Lot 11

ORDER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT - Les Statuts de l'Ordre de St.Esprit (Paris), de l'Imprimerie royale, 1740. in-4, large-margined copy (27,8 x20 cm), (2)-296 pp, red morocco, spine ribbed and cloisonné with fleur-de-lys and flamingo decoration; boards decorated with a gilt fleurdelisé frame with, in the spandrels, large irons with the dove of the holy spirit, and, in the center, gilt coats of arms; filleted edges, gilt inner scroll, gilt edges on red tint (period binding). Edition including an addition which gathers the regulatory texts enacted since the creation until 1738. The order of Saint-Esprit had been founded in 1578 by Henri III to reward selected gentlemen and prelates, as the old order of Saint-Michel, much worn, could no longer be used to distinguish a real elite (Saffroy, t. I, n°4946). ENGRAVED ILLUSTRATIONS ON COPPER BY SEBASTIEN LECLERC: a title-frontispiece out of text; 11 vignettes in the text, that is: 4 headbands (of which 2 historiated), 4 endpapers, and 3 initials (saffroy, t.I, n°4944) EXEMPLAIRE WITH THE ARMS OF LOUIS XV AND THE EMBLEMS OF THE ORDER OF THE HOLY PRISON (OHR, pl.2495, irons n°3 and 4). Provenance: library of the Marquis Paul-Eugène de Faudoas-Barbasan, brother of the Duchess of Rovigo (armorial bookplate). Binding rubbed and stained, missing at the lower cover with trace of restoration; small worm work on the spine, on the upper spine and in the margins of a few leaves; small stains on a few leaves including the title.