{"product_id":"le-petit-francois","title":"LE PETIT, François","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst edition of this highly important and beautifully illustrated history of the Dutch Republic, printed privately for the author. The commendatory verses include one in Dutch by Nicholas Doublet. Although the author covers the whole of the country's history up to 1600, about two thirds of the text is devoted to the C16th., making it one of the most detailed sources for the struggle for Dutch independence. Le Petit lists some 160 authors whose works he employed in his compilation, but much of its value lies in his use of mss. and original documents, and thus in his account of events otherwise unrecorded in printed histories. Le Petit's own history reflects the unsettled nature of the times he wrote on: although born in 1546 at B éthune into a noble Belgian family, he later abjured Catholicism and fled to Holland where he served William Ist, Prince of Orange. By 1598 he was living in Aix-la-Chapelle where he wrote his \"Grande Chronicle\" and dedicated it to the Estates-General of the United Provinces. An account of the reputed Swiss engravers, Christoph von Sichem Sr. and Jr., is given in Nagler II pp. 309-11. The portraits are generally finely engraved and are often expressive and vital, especially the superb full page portrait of the author after the title. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n About 16 pages in vol. I describe the geography of the New World, the supposed origins of its native inhabitants, the voyages of discovery, the conquest of the Indians, the climate, agriculture and resources of the Americas, their colonization, government and the missions, and the shameful treatment of the Indians by the Spaniards. Further pages deal with the expeditions of the Dutch to the East Indies and their commerce and colonization there. In vol. II Drake's exploits against the Spaniards in the New World are recorded. \"Cette chronique,  écrite en mauvais français, est fort curieuse pour les nombreux faits qu'elle relate, et que l'auteur a puis és aux sources originales . Il dit dans son  épitre d édicatoire qu'il a d écrit les choses après les avoir vues sur les lieux, et promet d'√™tre beaucoup plus exact que Guichardin qu'il contredit souvent\" (Nouv. Biog. G én.). \"En revanche la valeur historique du 2e vol., qui embrasse la p ériode de 1556-1600, est incontestable; il contient, √† cot é d'extraits de plusieurs auteurs ant érieurs, beaucoup de d étails et de particularit és qu'on chercherait vainement ailleurs.\" Biblioteca Belgica. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n A very good, totally unsophisticated copy, from the exceptional library of Nicholas Joseph Foucault (b. 1643, d. 1721), marquis de Magny, statesman and passionate archaeologist, whose library of was \"parmi les plus pr écieuse concernant l'histoire de France\" (Guigard II p. 221), and then, along with many of Foucault's books, to the equally extraordinary library of the Earls of Macclesfield.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"LE PETIT, François","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816120525135,"sku":"L861","price":2250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_0100.jpg?v=1781795293","url":"https:\/\/www.sokol.co.uk\/products\/le-petit-francois","provider":"Sokol Books Ltd","version":"1.0","type":"link"}