Roger Gaskell Rare Books

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	§ COURTILZ DE SANDRAS, Gatien (1644–1712). La vie de Jean-Baptiste Colbert ministre d’état sous Louis XIV. Roi de France. ‘A Cologne’: [no printer or publisher], 1695. Collation: 12mo: a⁴ A–D¹², 172 leaves, pp. [8] 333 [3] (last 3 pages blank, including D12). Title printed in red and black. Plates: Etched frontispiece. Condition: 149 x 85mm. Binding: Contemporary sheep, gilt spine. A little worn. Provenance: Late nineteenth-century bookplate of Ernest Petit. References: Barbier IV, 969–70; Goldsmiths’–Kress 3058. Price: £450 According to Barbier, three different editions were published in 1695, as well as the English translation. The Goldsmiths’ copy is like this one with 333 pages; the OCLC record (7012793) is for an edition paginated [10] 323. ¶ Evidently published surreptitiously, this important life of Colbert deals with the whole range of his public activities, devoting considerable space to his building programmes, including the palace of Versailles, the Invalides, and the Observatory. It deals with the foundation of the academies of Painting and Sculpture and of Sciences. There are extensive accounts of foreign expeditions and trade. Though largely concerned with public life, Courtilz does not omit to mention Colbert’s wife and mistresses, and the affairs of other members of his family. Courtilz de Sandras was a controversial novelist, historian, and author of apocryphal memoirs.
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