‎(WICQUEFORT, A. DE.)‎
‎Discours Historique de l'Élection de l'Empereur et des Électeurs de l'Empire. Par le Resident de Brandebourg.‎

‎A Paris, Chez Augustin Courbé, 1658. (16), 511 (misnumbered 519), (1) pp. 4to. Later full speckled calf, spine richly gilt with raised bands, gilt fillet on sides, marbled edges, small tear in lower front joint. BMSTC, French Books 1601-1700, B.33. First edition, dedicated to the French chancellor Séguier. Deals with the difficult electoral process in the Holy Roman Empire. During the interregnum between the death of Ferdinand III (1657) and the succession in 1658 by his son Leopold (who was king of Bohemia and Hongaria, but not Roman king) the author attempted to inform a French audiance by presenting a detailed history of and the principles by which the electoral process of the German emperor took place, explaining that the election of Holy Roman Emperor is the monopoly of seven princes of the Holy Empire, four of which are catholic and three of which are protestant. Each of these and their respective family are treated in this work outlining the history of each and with an explanation of their rights.Abraham de Wicquefort was born in Amsterdam in 1598, studied in Paris and became the official representative of the Margrave of Brandenbourg in Paris until he fell in disgrace with Mazarin who had him thrown into the Bastille in the year of publication of the present volume. - Leaf Xxiij with a tear in the outer blank margin. Very nice copy, from the Duc de la Rochefoucauld, author of the famous Maximes, and with a contemporary signature in the lower blank margin of the title-page and the stamp of the library at the Chateau Roche-Guyon in the blank outer margin of the title-page. ‎

Reference : 23162

‎‎