Recueil de Diverses Pieces servans a lHistoire de Henry III. Roy de France et de Pologne. Dont les Tiltres se trouvent en la Page suivante

1663. 1st Edition . Hardcover. Very Good. 4to. 17th century English calf, bordered in blind upon the boards; spine with raised bands; gilt decorated; original red morocco label, title in gilt. A Cologne, Chez Pierre du Marteau, 1663. (Actually printed and published by Louis and Daniel Elzevier at Amsterdam.) First Edition Thus. Beginning with this work, the fictitious publishing house of Pierre du Marteau published a long line of politically risqué works too dangerous to be published openly in France. This 1663 edition is the first to include the great Discours Merveilleux of Henri Estienne (Henricus Stephanus). The titles of the five works included in the volume are: Journal des Choses Memorables Advenues Durant Tout le Regne de Henry III. Roy de France & de Pologne; Divorce Satyrique, ou les Amours de la Reyne Marguarite de Valoys escrit en forme de Factum, &c.; Histoire des Amours du Roy Henry IV. Escrite par Louyse de Lorraine Princesse de Conty; Confession Catholique du Sieur de Saucy, &c.; Discours Merveilleux de la Vie, Actions, & Deportements de la Reyne Catherine de Medicis. Pierre Marteau (French for Peter Hammer) was the imprint of a fictitious publishing house, allegedly located in Cologne, from the 17th century onward. Under this imprint publishers and printers in the Netherlands, France and Germany evaded any identification with books they published. The first Marteau books were French and most certainly printed in Amsterdam by publishers who would not risk to tell their names even in the Netherlands. Research suggests that the imprint was created by the Amsterdam publishers Louis and Daniel Elzevier. It was, at first, just one among many openly misleading imprints. Numerous publishers began to sell books under the label. Remarkably, the uncoordinated joint venture was nonetheless able to produce a distinct publishers identity. Only certain books attracted the imprint: French yet anti-French political satire, pirated editions, sexually explicit titles. Leather covering the hinges is cracked at head and heel of spine, but hinges remain firm; moderate wear and some loss of leather at corners; boards scuffed; mild toning on title page; o/w generally clean and bright, with clear print and ample margins