1549 (Memoires) Cronique et Histoire Faicte..., Phillipe de Comines (Commines). Longis, Paris.

1549 octavo edition of Philippe de Commines' Cronique, which would later be re-titled as his Memoires. This is an interesting edition because it was shared amongst a handful of Parisian printers, each with their own title page and colophon. According to the Universal Short Title Catalogue, this is the rarest of the title page imprints, with only a "lost copy" recorded (USTC catalogue number 95884)

About Commines (and the Memoires) -

Philippe de Commines (1447 –1511) was a writer and diplomat in the courts of Burgundy and France. He has been called "the first truly modern writer" (Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve) and "the first critical and philosophical historian since classical times" (Oxford Companion to English Literature). Neither a chronicler nor a historian in the usual sense of the word, his analyses of the contemporary political scene are what made him virtually unique in his own time.

In 1498 (fifteen years after the death of Louis XI of France), Commines's Memoires was completed (first published in 1524 in Paris), and is considered a historical record of immense importance, largely because of its author's cynical and forthright attitude to the events and machinations he had witnessed. His writings reveal many of the less savoury aspects of the reign of Louis XI, and Commines related them without apology, insisting that the late king's virtues outweighed his vices. He is regarded as a major primary source for 15th-century European history.

The Mémoires are divided into "books", the first six of which were written between 1488 and 1494, and relate the course of events from the beginning of Commines' career (1464) up to the death of King Louis. The remaining two books were written between 1497 and 1501 (printed in 1528), and deal with the Italian wars, ending in the death of King Charles VIII of France.

Commines' scepticism is summed up in his own words: Car ceux qui gagnent en ont toujours l'honneur ("For the honours always go to the winners").

Bibliographic Details -

Universal Short Title Catalogue (USTC) number 95884.

Listed on page 190, of Brunet's Manuel du Libraire, Volume 2, 1861

Pettegree, Walsby and Wilkinson, French Vernacular Books… Reference: 13823

Physical Attributes -

Measures approx. 17 x 10.5 x 3 cm. Leather binding. Boards with central diamond blind stamp with florets, framed by an inner blind double fillet frame, with corner gilt fleur-de-lis, and an outer double blind fillet border. Spine with five raised bands; five compartments with a central floret made of fleur-de-lis, and one compartment with the title in gilt. All edges gilt.

All pages are present, but someone bound the seven prefatory pages, that follow the title page, at the rear.

Pages - i, 248, vii

Collation - *1, a-z8, A-H8, *2-8

Condition -

See pictures. Likely 19th century binding. A little crazing along joints. Several .5 cracks at head of spine from being pulled from shelf by head of spine. A little rubbing to edges and slight crazing to spine. Well-kept though, top-edge is free of dust-stain (indicating closed bookshelf). Turn-ins have ghosted the facing endpapers front and rear. The blank front endpaper's gathering is mostly loose at the gutter and 1st blank endpaper has chipping around the edges. Some bookseller marks on the pastedown and 1st endpaper.

Title page with a little chipping to edges and thumbing with some toning. Light toning throughout; occasional rust spot. 1cm tear upper margin of B3. Thumbing bottom F6. Tiny worm track in the fore-edge of G gathering. H4 bottom corner chip. H7 top corner chip. Top corner H8 repaired, and bottom edge. *2-7 bound at rear.

I nitpicked, it's a nice copy.