LE JEUNE DE BOULENCOURT, (fl.1683)

Déscription générale de l'hostel royal des invalides établi par Louis le Grand dans la Plain de Grenelle près Paris. Avec les plans, profils & elevations de ses faces, coupes & appartemens

Paris: Chez l'auteur, dans l'hostel Royale des Invalides, 1683.
Folio: [a]2 e2 A-N2, 30 leaves,pp. [8] 51 [1]. Engraved device on title, unsigned, engraved headpiece and initial on [a]2r signed 'R. Bonnart, in et sculp' and 'R.B.', engraved headpiece and initial on A1r signed 'R.B. del. et s' and unsigned, engraved tail-piece on F2r signed 'R.B. del et s.', engraved headpiece and initial on F2v signed 'R.B. del. et s' and 'R.B.'; woodcut tail-piece on N2r. Plates: Engraved frontispiece and 18 plates lettered A-S (plate S has the letter engraved on the plate, the others have the letters stencilled on the verso), A, unsigned, 56cm tall, bound sideways, B signed 'Pierre le Pautre fecit', C signed 'Gravé par D. Marot' (double-page spreads); D-R signed 'Gravé par I. Marot' (D-L approximately 90cm wide, M-R double-page), S signed 'I. le Pautre fec.' (double page). Bound in 3 groups, A-L after p. 10, M and N after p. 12 and O-S after p. 14, larger plates folded in at right and left. Leaf size and condition: 430 x 290mm. Very lightly dustsoiled; left and right margins of plates A and B just shaved but without significant loss. Binding: Early eighteenth-century full crimson morocco, greek key borders, spine with 6 raised bands, floral tooling in compartments, brown morocco lettering piece, marbled endpapers, gilt edges. Short crack in upper joint, some minor rubbing. Provenance and annotation: Earls of Lovelace with nineteenth-century engraved armorial bookplate. The Earldom was created in 1838; William, Earl of Lovelace was elected FRS in 1841. References: RIBA p. 932; Berlin 2476; not in Fowler; only a later edition of the plates without text in Millard.
First edition, dedication with printed signature 'L.J.D.B' (in another state the dedication is signed Le Jeune de Boulencourt, see RIBA), in this copy annotated 'Lejeune de Boulencourt' (his signature?). The RIBA catalogue attributes the text to 'a certain Sieur de la Porte', the first Commissaire des Invalides who seems to have died just as the work was on the point of completion, and quotes August Bernard, Histoire de l'imprimerie royale du Louvre (Paris, 1867, p. 149). There it is stated that the 500 copy edition of La Porte's work was suppressed by Lejeune de Boulencourt and used as the basis for his own edition. The unsold stock of Boulencourt's edition was re-issued in 1710, and the plates later purchased for inclusion in the Cabinet du Roi (vol 12, [1827?], Millard 93).
§ A superb copy of the lavish publication describing and illustrating the Hôtel des Invalides and its central church with its fabulous gilded dome, at the time still under construction. It is the primary source for the history of the management of this pioneer hospice for invalids and other indigent war veterans, and for the architecture of one of the grandest of the great building projects of Louis XIV, second only to Versailles. The king adopted the plans of Libéral Bruant in 1670, building began in 1671, the first residents were installed in 1674 and the Eglise des Soldats was opened in 1677. The hospital was originally designed for 2000 residents, rising to 3000 in 1710. The text is divided into two parts. After an introductory chapter on the history of the institution the first part describes the site and the buildings illustrated on the plans and elevations. It gives considerable detail of the way the hospital was organised and the function of each room is engraved on the plans. The second part of the text (pp. 25-51) explains the government and administration of the hospital and the duties and qualifications of the military personnel, chef, physician, surgeon and apothecary. Chapter III explains the statutes and regulations. Chapter IV provides details of the accommodation, food and clothing allowed to the different ranks. Chapter V describes the occupations of the residents: religious observances, military exercises and the practice of fine and applied arts. The frontispiece shows Louis XIV at the site, being shown the plans for the Hôtel des Invalides and giving the order for its construction as he departs for the Dutch war. We see part of his army in the background, and across the Seine the Louvre and the windmills of Montmatre. Plate A is a general plan; B and C are perspective views of the complete complex, from the North and from the South, D-L are plans and elevations; M-R are plans; and the last plate, S, is a view of the interior of one of the four great refectories, seating 320 soldiers at the main tables and a central table for the 'water drinkers' - residents being punished for various mis-demeanours - with tapestries of military scenes on the walls. The engraved vignettes, headpieces and initials by Robert Bonnart all have military themes. <<The illustrations are important not only for their superb design and execution, but also because they provide a record of the planning of the Invalides, a major late seventeenth-century monument to the age of Louis XIV. They are, in effect, the official engravings of both Libéral Buant's and Jules Hardouin Mansart's designs for the Invalides. Among the designers and engravers of the plates, Jean Marot, Daniel Marot, Jean Le Pautre and Pierre Le Pautre are the principal artists in their field of the time. >>Millard p. 258

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• продавец: Roger Gaskell (GREAT BRITAIN)