DES RUES (François). Antiquitez de villes de France... Lot 23

DES RUES (François). Antiquitez de villes de France contenant tout ce qui s'est passé de remarquable en iceux. Reveu et augmenté de cartes de provinces, de fugures de plusieurs villes. In Rouen, chez J. Cailloué, 1624. In-8, [5] f. (including engraved title), 352 p., [sign. (title gr. without sign.) then a 4, A-Y 8], fig, contemporary soft parchment, smooth spine, title in ink throughout, azure satin laces added (laces incomplete, snagging in head margins on pp. 51-54, 85, 260-61, stain in margins of quires D to H and T to V, one corner mq. in margin on f. O2, missing running title and qq. letter at head of f. O3, wormhole affecting qq. letters on last 5 pages). Uncommon work, although several editions were given; this is one of the last. This Description de la France first appeared in Coutances in 1605 and was a great success. The book was then taken up, under a slightly different title ("Description contenant toutes les singularitez des plus celebres villes et places"), by popular printing centers: Rouen, then Troyes. The illustration consists of a title engraved on copperplate, bordered by two columns decorated with the coats of arms of 12 provinces, with at the head the king Louis XIII sitting in the center of the 12 peers of France, at the foot, in a medallion, the arms of France and Navarre. This title is copied from an earlier edition from Rouen. The text is illustrated with 6 full-page maps, and vignettes showing cities, all woodcut. It is curious to note that some of these vignettes have been used twice: for example, the representations of Paris and Toulouse are the same. A pleasant copy in contemporary binding. Provenance: Di Piaco (?) Loranzo, 1733 (manuscript bookplate). (Brunet II, 651; Frère, I, 352; L. Morin, Essai bibliographique sur les ouvrages de François Desrues, Troyes, 1925, p.38-39, ed. Rouen D).