L'Espine, Excellens discours touchant le repos de l'Esprit, La Rochelle, 1591, French armorial binding, presented by Henri IV to the "Chevalier d'Herrand"

16mo (120 x 78 mm). Roman and italic types, 30 lines plus headline. collation: A-3D⁸ (last leaf blank): 584 leaves. Woodcut ornament on title, woodcut head- and tailpiece and initial. (Very occasional slight spotting.)

binding: French, probably Parisian, armorial binding (125 x 83 mm), brown calf richly gilt, 3 gilt fillets around sides, at 4 corners wreath containing escutcheon with 3 flies, (possibly the arms of Chevalier d'Herrand), in centre large arms block of Henri IV surrounded by semé of flames and fleurs-de-lys, flat spine gold tooled à la fanfare, large central compartment containing same arms, edges gilt and gauffered to a fanfare pattern resembling the decoration on spine, interlace and floral elements heightened by pink enamel. (Recornered, a few other small neat repairs to binding.)

provenance: Possibly a gift from Henri IV (1553-1610), King of France (r. 1589-1610), arms on binding to Philippes de Paluzeau of Paris, Chevalier d'Herrand, possibly with his arms on binding and inscription "Cest excellent livre appartient a moy Philippes de Paluzeau de La Pauryz dit le cheuallier d'Herrand Lun des vieux soldats d'Henry le Grand, dès l'an 1559 fut son soldat voire de tout temps les siens aussi dit le chevalier d'Herrand"—Marie Catherine Roullin de Sournoisis, inscription on front free endpaper dated 1702—Jérôme Pichon (1812-1896), book label, sale, Maurice Delestre & Henri Leclerc with Paul Cornuau, Paris, 3-14 May 1897, lot 152—A. Lavigne-Detours, sale, Fernand Lair-Dubreuil & Henri Le Clerc, Paris, 7 February 1920, lot 25—Eugène Olivier, Georges Hermal & R. de Roton, Manuel de l'amateur de reliures armoriées françaises (Paris 1933), Pl. 2492 (illustrated as Fig. 4; ownership not stated)—André Langlois (1873–1975), book label. acquisition: Purchased in 1997 from Librairie Sourget, Chartres. references: USTC 74336 ("lost book", no copies located); Arthur Rau, "André Langlois (Contemporary Collectors XIII)", The Book Collector 6 (1957), pp.129–143 (this book cited, p. 132)