[Plans et profils appelés communément les "Petits Conquêtes", servant à l'histoire de Louis XIV].

Large folio : 40 plates mounted on stubs (sm. stamps on verso of some pls, upper endpapers a little soiled and undulated, some browning and staining). Excellent copy.

Contemp. marbled calf, gilt triple fillet and coat-of-arms on covers (one corner sl. rounded, one sm. split on lower cover), richly gilt spine on 7 raised bands with gilt crowned monogram, gilt titled label (defect.), spine numbering "XV", a.e.g., (upper inner joint sl. split.). Excellent copy.

Magnificent monumental work and splendid presentation copy with arms of Louis XV on covers, glorifying the reign of Louis XIV, King of France. The plates, engraved by various artists were made after drafts of Sébastien Leclerc (Le Clerc, Metz 1637-Paris 1714), drafstman, painter, engraver and military engineer, and printed on strong paper in neat impressions. On initiative of Colbert, Minister of Finance under the Rule of Louis XIV, they were integrated in the series "Cabinet du Roi", often used as royal presents. The rare series show the sieges and battles of Louis XIV in Germany, Low Countries, France including Franche-Comté and Sicily. The set opens with a representation of the Triumphal Arch of Louis XIV "a la porte St Antoine", followed by very decorative views of cities inscribed in a repeated wide ornamental frame depicting i.a. Besançon, Cambray, Valenciennes, Saint-Omer, Ypres, Dinant, Huy, Dole, Doesburg, Emmerich, Maastricht, Nijmegen, Palermo, Rees, etc. Includes one double-page plate representing the battle of Cassel in 1677. Ref. Brunet I-1444. Olivier 2495, 2.