Add MS 8259

DIPLOMATIC AND MILITARY HISTORY OF WESTERN EUROPE, 1648-1675; late 17th cent. Italian. The MS. gives a historical account of the intense period of diplomatic and military activity in western Europe which followed the conclusion of the Thirty Years’ War with the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. The text focuses primarily on the period from the formation of the Triple League between England, Holland and Sweden in 1668 up to the Battle of Fehrbellin in which the Elector of Brandenburg defeated the Swedish army in 1674. The MS. describes the ambitious European designs of Louis XIV of France and documents the shifting European alliances of the period, together with their associated treaties. The text is divided into 26 chapters whose headings are listed at the beginning (ff. 2-6v). Inc. ‘Dopo un incendio miserabile di funestissime Guerre’ (f. 7), expl. ‘del qualle esso Re Cristianissimo restava Garante’. Below the title, ‘Trattati della Triplice Lega 1668’ (f. 1) is a penworked letter ‘M’. Armorial bookplate of Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford, on front pastedown. '119' and ‘L/18/D’ in pencil in upper left corner of bookplate. Purchased, together with Add. 8567, 8718, 8720, 8728, 8729, 8745, 8752, 8756, 8757, 8758, 8759, 8760, from R. H. Evans, 8 Dec. 1830, lot 119 (part).

Paper; ff. 364. 327 x 220mm. One hand. Late 17th or early 18th cent. binding of full vellum, with decorated end-leaves.