THE LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS OF ARMAND DE GONTAUT, BARON DE BIRON, MARSHALL OF FRANCE (1524-1592)

First edition. One of 12 copies. Two volumes. Publisher's full navy blue morocco, ruled in gilt to the upper and lower boards, with five raised bands, gilt ruled compartments, and titles in gilt to the spines. Marbled endpapers. Engraved frontispiece portrait and two further full page illustrations in each volume. Introduction text, chapter headings and indexes are in English, the remainder of the text is in French. A near fine set, the bindings square and firm with a little rubbing to the extremities. The closed text block edges are a touch toned and with a few minor marks. The contents are clean throughout and without inscriptions or stamps.

Issued in an edition of just 12 copies, printed on 100% rag paper. Scarce thus. A substantial and important documentary source for the history of sixteenth-century France, comprising the correspondence and papers of Armand de Gontaut, Baron de Biron (1524-1592), Marshal of France. The material was collected by Sidney Hellman Ehrman and, following his death, edited with an extensive introduction by the distinguished medieval and early-modern historian James Westfall Thompson. The first part presents Biron's correspondence from 1557 until his death in 1592, including numerous previously unpublished letters; the second gathers documents relating to Biron, while a further section concerns the Gontaut family.