Cronique sommairement traictée des faictz heroiques de tous les rois de France, & des personnes & choses memorables de leurs temps.

8vo: 263-[1] pp. (title: sl. soiled, blank inner margin repaired; bottom corner of ff. O5-6 rep., some ms. corrections or drawings, some headlines partly cut off).

18th-c. marbl. sheep (corners bumped), gilt spine with 4 raised bands (joints rubbed, sm. def. at head & tail), red edges. Good copy.

Rare first edition of this chronicle of the kings of France, from Pharamond to Charles IX (crowned 1561). Illustrated with 61 engr. portraits in medallions (the one of Charles Martel never engraved), for the larger part first used by Balthazar Arnoullet in his "Epitome gestorum lviii. regum Franciae" (1546). Barbier and Adams attribute the work to the lawyer and historian George Bernard, author of a sonnet in the beginning and at the end of the work, while Baudrier and BnF suggest that Clément Baudin was more directly responsible for the work. Title and full text within elaborate woodcut border. Large woodcut mark on title.
Ref. Baudrier V-28/29. - Adams B-730. - Barbier I-601. - Mortimer 51. - Pettegree (FB) 3814. - Not in STC French (BL).
Prov. Ms. notes on endpapers.