ROUGET (Michel). NOGENT-LE-ROTROU (Eure-et-Loir). Composite... Lot 90

[ROUGET (Michel)]. [NOGENT-LE-ROTROU (Eure-et-Loir)]. Composite collection (handwritten and printed) of chronicles, genealogies and numismatic records relating to the city of Paris and Nogent-le-Rotrou. In French, manuscript on paper, with pen-and-ink drawings; prints with pen-and-ink annotations France, Nogent-le-Rotrou (?), circa 1580 (last date in 16th-century hand is 1579). With 105 pen-and-ink drawings (medallions, portraits, busts, coats of arms, etc.), including two signed M.R. [Michel Rouget] and two large engravings (portraits of Charles IX and Elisabeth of Austria); numerous engravings and drawings of coins. [IV] pp. + 720 pp. old pagination but not necessarily contemporary with the 16th-century hand, 16th-century cursive script (Michel Rouget's autograph manuscript?), same hand for the 16th-century parts but changes in ink color, initials cadelated or with grotesques, several in-text drawings (effigies, portraits, symbols, mottoes, coats of arms) and others drawn on laminated papers or medallions, alternating handwritten and printed leaves (often annotated and completed). Hard parchment binding, spine with 4 nerves, replacement parchment (17th-century register of legal proceedings). Good overall condition, despite a few stains on the boards. Paper faded in places, stains in places; repairs to paper or laminating of patches to consolidate leaves or complete them; a few tears on some pages with small losses of text or drawings (e.g. pp. 55-56); first leaf reissued and reinforced with small losses of text. Binding dimensions: 180 x 135 mm; leaf dimensions: 174 x 130 mm. An astonishing collection of chronicles, historical and numismatic items, a mix of manuscript and printed pieces, compiled and illustrated by Michel Rouget, chronicler and historiographer of Nogent-le-Rotrou. While the author's aim is national, providing information on the successive reigns of the kings and queens of France, several passages concern the small town of Nogent-le-Rotrou through the ages. The drawings are partly taken from printed genealogies but reworked by the copyist-draftsman, undoubtedly Michel Rouget himself, who not only signs his work in the colophon but also places his number M.R. in the drawings. Full details in the downloadable catalog.