1665 Rare French Vellum Book - Memories of la Reine Margot (Queen Margot)

 

Author : MARGUERITE de VALOIS ("Reine Margot")
Title : Mémoires de la Reyne Marguerite. Nouvelle édition, plus correcte.
Language : Text in French
Publisher : A Paris, chez François Mauger, 1665.
Size : 5.5 " X 3 "
Pages : 171 pages
Binding : Very good full vellum binding (hinges partly cracked but still tight, overall slightly worn and scuffed)  under a removable protective mylar cover .
Content : Very good content (bright, tight, rare foxing and staining, notes of a previous owner facing the title page - as shown).

Estimate : (USD 300 - USD 500)

The book : Scarce 17th century edition of thoses memories by Margaret of Valois (French: Marguerite, 14 May 1553 – 27 March 1615) -- a French princess of the Valois dynasty who became queen consort of Navarre and later also of France. 

The author : Margaret of Valois (French: Marguerite, 14 May 1553 – 27 March 1615) was a French princess of the Valois dynasty who became queen consort of Navarre and later also of France. By her marriage to Henry III of Navarre (later Henry IV of France), she was queen of Navarre and then France at her husband's 1589 accession to the latter throne. Their marriage was annulled in 1599 by decision of the Pope. She was the daughter of King Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici and the sister of kings Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III. Her marriage, which was to celebrate the reconciliation of Catholics and Huguenots, was tarnished by the St Bartholomew's Day massacre, and the resumption of the religious troubles which ensued. In the conflict between Henry III and the Malcontents, she took the side of Francis, Duke of Anjou, her younger brother, and this caused a deep aversion of the king against her. She has been a victim of a misogynist historiographic tradition that has demolished the importance of her actions in the political sphere of the era, to reinforce the dynastic transition from the Valois to the Bourbon, giving credit to libel and slander circulated on her account and created and handed down through the centuries the myth of a beautiful woman, cultured, nymphomaniac and incestuous. This legend has crystallized around the famous nickname La Reine Margot (Queen Margot), invented by Alexandre Dumas, père.