Description de touts les Pais-Bas, autrement appellés la Germanie Inferieure, ou Basse Allemagne [...].

Folio: [24]-495-[21] pp. (some minor worming in beginning and end of vol., some min. soiling and staining; a number of margins sl. frayed; tears underlaid in map of the Low Countries, 6 other pl. and 2 text ff.; map Liège soiled).

19th-c. vellum (sl. rubbed), flat spine with red leather title label. Good copy.

Plantin's French edition of a monument in the history of the Low Countries: the eloquent description of its 16th-c. towns by the Italian resident author Guicciardini (1521-1589). Complete with an allegoric. front. representing "Belgia", engr. title (version B), border with coat of arms of the 17 Provinces with in the centre a verse of Sallust, allegorical border of arts & sciences with in the middle a verse of Virgil and 78 maps, city plans & views of Flanders (Leuven, Antwerp, Lier, Mechelen, Ghent, Bruges,...), the Netherlands (Nijmegen, Roermond, Arnhem, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, ...) and Northern France (Lille, Douai, Tournai, Artois, Arras, Saint-Omer).
ref. Guicc. Illustr. 6, p. 40 (variant 2). - Voet (Plantin Press) 1278. - Sorgeloos 242bis.
Prov. Ownership entry crossed out on half title.