Title: THE HISTORIE OF PHILIP DE COMMINES, KNIGHT, LORD OF ARGENTON
Book Details + Condition: Extremely scarce first English translation by Thomas Danett, published in 1596, and with excellent provenance, of HISTORIE OF PHILIP DE COMMINES, KNIGHT, LORD OF ARGENTON. Provenance and Ex Libris plate of Charles Edmund Merrill, Jr. (1885-1956), businessman and co-founder. With Edmund C. Lynch, he created the Charles E. Merrill & Co — later known as Merrill Lynch & Company. First edition in English, of a valuable and major primary source of 15th century European history and politics. Considered the first modern history and a classic of historical writing. De Commines (1447-1511) was a writer and diplomat in the Courts of Burgundy and France. He was considered “the first critical and philosophical historian since classical times” (Oxford Companion to Literature). Commines gives an account of the reign of Louis XI and the Italian expedition of Charles VIII, covering the final 30 years of the 15th century. For the first time since the classical age, Commines produced a critical and philosophical history, with the result that he became known as the “father of modern history.” His writings reveal many of the less savory aspects of the reign of Louis XI, and he relates them without apology, insisting that the late king's virtues outweighed his vices. Commines had little formal education, and he knew no Latin. Regardless, he was a considerable writer, known for his shrewd and practical insight into the political realities of his day, his psychological insight, and his forthright account of the machinations of the politicians he described. Original full sheepskin boards. Shelfwear to boards; rubbing and wear at edges and corners; some wear and curling to page edges.
