[VALDORY (Guillaume)]. Discours du siège de la ville de Roue - Lot 410

[VALDORY (Guillaume)]. Discours du siège de la ville de Rouen: Au mois de Novembre, mil cinq cens quatre vingts onze. Avec le pourtraict du Vieil & nouveau Fort. Rouen, Richard L'Allemant, sd [1592]. Small in-8, [8]-149-[3] ff. Wood-engraved headbands, lettrines and tailpieces, one folding map h.-t. Brown calf, spine ribbed and decorated, gilt arms in the center of the boards (early 18th c. binding). Original pagination errors (gaps between ff. 36 and 39 and ff. 46 and 49). Covers, spines and corners worn. First edition of this account, published only a fortnight after the events of the siege of Rouen, by the captain of the city's burghers, who led the defense during Henri IV's siege of 1591, during the Eighth War of Religion, and who was subsequently promoted to Lieutenant General of the Viscount of Rouen for his loyal service. A rare work, especially when complete, as here, with the handsome woodcut fold-out plate with printed caption: "Portraict du vieil et nouveau fort de Saincte Catherine". "The author of this work, which has become rare, did not name himself on the title, but signed the dedicatory epistle addressed to the poet Desportes" (Brunet). A fine copy with good margins, bound with the arms of Louis-François-Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, maréchal duc de RICHELIEU et de FRONSAC, marquis du Pontcourlay, prince de Mortagne, comte de Cosnac etc., 1696-1788 (O.H.R. 407). Great-grand-nephew of Cardinal de Richelieu, close to the court of Louis XV, he distinguished himself both by his brilliant military career and his reputation as a great libertine lord. He took part in several important 18th-century campaigns, notably during the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War, where he distinguished himself in the capture of Menorca in 1756. An influential courtier, academician and emblematic figure of the French aristocracy, he remains one of the leading figures of the nobility under the Ancien Régime. (Barbier, I, 1014; Hauser, IV, 3007; Frère, II, 586; Lormier, V, 4280; Brunet, V, 1033.) Ex-libris JM.