CORBERON, Nicolas & SAINTE-MARTHE, Abel de, Seigneur d'Es...

Plaidoyez de Messire Nicolas de Corberon Chevalier, Seigneur de Torvilliers, Conseiller du Roy en ses Conseils, Avocat General au Parlement de Metz, & ensuite Maistre des Requestes ordinaires de l'Hôtel de Sa Majesté. Avec les Arrests intervenus sur ces Plaidoyez. Ensemble les Plaidoyez de Abel de Sainte Marthe, Avocat au Parlement, et depuis Conseiller du Roy en son Conseil d'Estat, & Garde de la Bibliotheque de Sa Majesté à Fontainebleau.

> click here to see the full size image.

Compiled & edited by Abel de Sainte-Marthe, Seigneur de Corbeville. 13 p.l., 532, [8] pp. Large 4to, cont. brown crushed morocco gilt, unidentified coat of arms within elaborate wreath stamped in gilt on both covers, triple gilt rule round sides, small gilt heraldic monogram of Abel de Saint Marthe in all four corners of both covers & within elaborate floral scrolls in five spine compartments, red morocco lettering piece on spine, a.e.g. Paris: C. de Sercy, G. de Luyne & E. Michallet, 1693. First edition, in a wonderful full morocco binding, possibly a presentation binding as it is tooled with the author’s monogram. This is a collection of pleas in civil cases covering a wide array of interesting and often unusual topics, and as such is a revealing source for the social history of 17th-century France. The majority, a total of 188, are the professional legacy of Nicolas de Corberon (1608-50), “avocat general au Parlement de Metz,” and occupant of several positions in the royal household. Another twelve pleas sample the legal work of the compiler’s father, Abel de Sainte Marthe, Seigneur d’Estrepied (1566-1652), “avocat au Parlement,” poet, and curator of the Royal Library at Fontainebleau, a post in which he was succeeded by his son, the compiler, Abel de Sainte Marthe, Seigneur de Corbeville (1627-1707). Concluding the volume is the latter’s “Discours au Roy, sur le Retablissement de la Bibliotheque Royale de Fontainebleau…1668” (pp. 495-532, with separate title-page and four large engraved vignettes). This “Discours” urges the King to provide for the resuscitation of his library which had fallen into disrepair. Abel de Sainte Marthe, fils, seizes the occasion to retrace the history of the royal libraries and recites the praises bestowed by a multitude of authors on the one at Fontainebleau, before delivering his recommendation that the King devote his resources to its reestablishment at the expense of the royal library in Paris, a proposal taken to heart by the King but opposed by Richelieu. This “Discours” was separately published in 1668. The civil pleas (usefully arranged by topic in an 8-page index) cover such matters as medical malpractice, inheritance and succession, judicial conflict of interest, guardians and tutors, evidence and procedure, marriage and the family, hospital debts, garrisoning of soldiers, prisoners of war, taxes and tax collection, building codes, facial disfigurement, rape, and much more. Also included are numerous cases involving ecclesiastical interests, and not least such questions as: “Does bad breath and a rotting bone in the nose of a husband constitute grounds for the dissolution of a marriage?” Fine copy of a rare book.

• USD 4,950.00 > otras divisas
• nº de pedido: HillBibl-2044

• librero: Jonathan A. Hill, Bookseller, Inc. (USA)