Mémoire historique sur la bibliothèque dite de Bourgogne, présentement bibliothèque publique de Bruxelles.

8vo: [4]-iv-216 pp.

Contemp. marbled calf, gilt border on covers, gilt orn. flat spine, sprinkled edges, silk marker (sl. rubbed at head & tail). Very good copy and nice binding.

Original edition by La Serna y Santander (1752-1813), bibliophile, incunabulist and curator of the Brussels Public Library. One of the first works to deal with the history of the future Royal Library of Belgium whose embryo was the sumptuous library of the Dukes of Burgundy (shared between France and Belgium after the French Revolution). Half of the work is devoted to notes on French- and Dutch-speaking Belgian poets before 1500 (pp. 109-151), on the "chambers of rhetoric" including an interesting repertoire by city (pp. 152-200), on Belgian musicians in the 16th century (pp. 201-208), followed by a list of donors from 1771 to 1777.
Ref. NBW II:426/431. - Adam, R. - "Le rapport de Charles-Antoine de La Serna Santander", In Monte Artium, 5 (2012), pp. 7-44.
Prov. Baron of Surmont (modern bookpl.).