ORDER OF MALTA.

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Furniture and Works of Art from the Anne Aymo...

By Beaussant Lefèvre & Associés

Dec 13, 2022

Set Reminder 2022-12-13 08:00:00 2022-12-13 08:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Furniture and Works of Art from the Anne Aymone and Valery Giscard d’Estaing Collections https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/beaussant-lef-vre-associ-s/furniture-and-works-of-art-from-the-anne-aymone-and-valery-giscard-d-estaing-collections-11505
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• Lot Description
  ORDER OF MALTA. - STATUTA HOSPITALIS HIERUSALEM. [Rome, 1588]. In-folio, (6)-(2 of which the 1st blank)-203-(1) pp. - VELTRONI (Tolomeo). Index materierum quæ in toto volumine continentur. Romæ, [Tito and Paolo Diani], 1588. In-folio, 16 pp, title printed in a woodcut frame with woodcut coat of arms stamped in red and black; marbled brown basane, smooth spine with partitions and fleurons and long title-piece, decorated edges, red borders; headbands restored, some spotting on the boards, cracks affecting a few leaves of plates or text, some formerly restored (damage to some letters), some marginal losses restored, rare marginal wetness, a few stains, 2 folded leaves, old numbering in ink and pencil (18th century binding). Volume placed in a red morocco case, spine ribbed, white cross of the Order of Malta underlined by a gilt fillet mosaic in the center of the first board (made by Sangorski & Suttcliffe London England).
  
  REVISED EDITION OF THE ORDER'S STATUTES, incorporating the most recent provisions, in a compilation drawn up by the commander Giovanni-Battista Rondinelli, commissioned by the grand master Hugues de Loubens de Verdalle.
  
  BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED WITH 40 COPPER ENGRAVINGS. Outside the text: a general title; 3 plates with the effigy of Hugues de Loubens de Verdalle (a portrait and 2 scenes); a suite of 15 plates entitled " Effigies magistror[um] Hospitalis ", including a particular title, an emblem plate, and 13 plates bearing 51 portraits (12 plates engraved by Philippe Thomassin, and the 13th by Gijsbert Van Veen). In the text on full page : 21 compositions on copper, all but one stamped in woodcut frames. Scenes from the life of the knights, with a map of the island of Malta and a plan of Valletta.
  
  The editorial history of this work, which underwent several recompositions and printings, with an addition of text and an addition of engraved plates, explains the diversity of the copies constituted, as regards both the plates and the typographical compositions. The added index came from the presses of Tito and Paolo Diani (some copies bear their name), while the main body of the text has sometimes been described as coming from the same presses and sometimes attributed to the work of the Stamperia del Popolo Romano. Here, the main body does not include the two pages of the "Nova statuta" sometimes inserted after p. 198; moreover, the title of the index is without the name of the printer, with the mention of privilege (and not of permission of the superiors) and with the mention of the engravings.
  
  A TESTIMONY TO THE REFORMING ACTIVITY OF GRAND MASTER HUGUES DE LOUBENS DE VERDALLE
  (1531-1595). He joined the knights at the age of fifteen and distinguished himself militarily, notably as commander of the artillery at the great siege of Malta in 1565. Grand Prior of the Order in Toulouse, then Grand Commander and Bailiff of the Langue de Provence, he served as ambassador to the Holy See in 1579. Appointed Grand Master in 1582, he was created Cardinal in December 1587 and received the hat in January 1588. An energetic personality, he reformed the Order to make it evolve into a modern centralized principality - not without strong reservations from some of the knights.
  
  Provenance: Jacques Richard (1744-1812), surgeon and physician from Lyon, originally from Montbard (ex-libris stamps on the back of the second flyleaf and on the first 5 plates). - The Marquis de Vaulserre, among whom at least François-Marie de Corbeau de Vaulserre (1773- 1849) was a knight of the Order of Malta (armorial bookplate engraved on copper). - Bibliotheca Hierosolymitana of M. Chaulet, knight of honor and devotion of the Order of Malta (bookplate).