Histoire de la royauté, et du premier établissement de la grandeur royale

First edition of this rare historical novel by Jean de Pelisseri, published in Paris by Charles de Sercy in 1684, illustrated with an allegorical frontispiece and 34 half-page engravings by Sébastien Le Clerc, one for each chapter.

Contemporary full red morocco with gilt dentelle. Spine with raised bands, the compartments decorated with a repeated small floral tool known as the “fleur d’oignon”; morocco lettering- and numbering-pieces; broad gilt dentelle borders composed of small tools to the boards; gilt edges. Headcaps, joints and corners restored, with the gilding renewed at the headcaps. The engraving on p. 125 was printed upside down.

Armorial bookplate of the Laussat library, apparently relaid on the first free endpaper.

Charles de Sercy, who issued the work from his shop in the Palais under the sign of the Bonne-Foy couronnée, was then among the more active Parisian booksellers. The illustration was entrusted to Sébastien Le Clerc, whose signature appears notably on the headpiece to the dedication “Au Roy”; one of the most prolific engravers of the reign of Louis XIV, he provides an image for each chapter and thus follows the progress of the narrative scene by scene.

Pelisseri turns back to the legendary age of the first kings and makes Nimrod, the ruler associated with Babel in Genesis and later, in Jewish and Christian exegetical tradition, with the building of the Tower, the central figure of this history of the origins of kingship. Little is known of Pelisseri’s life, but several of his books follow the same heroic pattern: L’Escolle des Princes, Histoire royale de Philippe, roi de Macédoine and Laodice likewise use exemplary or legendary figures as the basis for narratives in which history readily merges with fiction.

Published in 1684, the book belongs naturally to a France in which the royal image occupied an exceptional place in political, ceremonial and artistic life. Without turning Pelisseri into a theorist of absolute monarchy, the contrast remains striking: at the very moment when Louis XIV brought the representation of sovereign power to its height, this novel chose to return to its most ancient origins, setting before the reader, through Le Clerc’s engravings, the earliest rulers of a past reconstructed from biblical narrative, legendary traditions, and ancient chronicles.