Le Chasteau de Richelieu

Octavo, (4) leaves, 166 pp. and (1) privilege leaf.
Red morocco, triple gilt fillet framing the covers, centrally gilt-stamped coat of arms, fleur-de-lis at the corners, raised band spine decorated with fleur-de-lis, decorated edges, gilt edges. Armorial binding of the period.

158 x 100 mm.

Vignier, Benjamin. The Château de Richelieu or the History of the Gods and Heroes of Antiquity with Moral Reflections.
Saumur, 1676.

Very rare first edition.
A second edition would appear in 1684.

Description of the extraordinary wealth of artworks in the Château de Richelieu, by its governor.

The cardinal was one of the most lavish collectors of his time. To decorate Richelieu, he called on Mazarin and his Roman friends, who from 1631 acquired paintings, sculptures, and works of art in Italy.

“To describe Richelieu as perfectly as it is completed, one would have to be at once a very skilled architect, a learned antiquarian, an excellent painter, a famous historian, a good poet, and a great orator... This work will not be entirely useless to those whose curiosity leads them to this beautiful place, since all the objects that strike their view will no longer be unknown to them” (Benjamin Vignier).

This work gives the state of the collection in 1676, with Michelangelo’s Captives (today in the Louvre) at the center of the façade, the King’s Apartment with, in the Cabinet, the five paintings from Isabella d’Este’s Studiolo and three Bacchanals by Poussin, the Queen’s Apartment with its paneling “filled with flowers and fruits, all in burnished gold on an azure background,” a room of mottos (p. 84), the library containing “only rare books and the best editions, all bound in black calf with gold fillets...” paintings by Caravaggio, van Dyck, Bassano, Rubens, and Titian, the famous hardstone marquetry table (p. 100, today in the Louvre)... and describes the magnificent gardens: grand canal, ponds, fountains, grottos filled with antique statues or the “grotto of Saint Anthony” where “at the approach of a beautiful woman” the statue of the good saint “rings a small bell incessantly to call heaven for help...,” garden of tulips, daffodils, and carnations...

Superb copy from Anne Marie Louise d’Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier, known as La Grande Mademoiselle (1627-1693), first cousin of Louis XIV and one ofthe strongest personalities of her time, who did not hesitate to challenge royal authority on every front.

In her Memoirs, she recounts her stay at the Château de Richelieu and her astonishment at such riches: “Nothing equals the immense profusion of all the beautiful things in this house. (Everything) is beautiful and rich beyond what one can say...”.
This copy was given to her by the author, who made manuscript corrections to terms considered too crude.

Only daughter of Gaston d’Orléans, brother of Louis XIII, she was one of the heroines of the Fronde and her colossal fortune allowed her every ambition, even that of marrying the king. She refused every match, even the emperor, to fall madly in love with a commoner, the future Duke of Lauzun.
In her admirable memoirs—so vivid and clear—she tells us of her passions and the suffering she endured from this man, as well as from all women.
She wished to marry. The king granted her wish.
A few days later, the king demanded the separation.
La Grande Mademoiselle, who owned a rich historical and poetic library, declared: “I am melancholy: I like to read good and solid books; trifles bore me, except for poetry; I like it whatever its nature, and surely, I judge these things as well as if I were a learned woman.”

Her books were bound either in morocco or calf. They rarely appear at public auction and then fetch high prices.

At his public auction “Exceptional Books. Illustrious Provenances” on June 7, 1990, the famous Jacques Guérin owned two books bound with the arms of La Grande Mademoiselle, one in plain calf covering a secondary author: Les Œuvres de Sarasin, sold for €20,000 thirty-four years ago (no. 57), the second, in binding identical to this one, David, poème héroïque, sold for €29,000 thirty-four years ago (no. 34). It was, just like this one, listed by Quentin-Bauchart (no. 43).

From the Lignerolles library (1894, no. 3048).