Marquis Maximilien Henri de Saint-Simon (1720–1799) – Histoire de la guerre des Bataves – 1770

Histoire de la guerre des Bataves et des Romains (…). Amsterdam, M. Rey, 1770. Large folio (48.5 x 33 cm). Original marbled calf. (8), XXXIV, 76 pp. First edition of this history of Julius Caesar’s conquest of what is now the territory of the Netherlands. It was written by the Marquis Maximilien Henri de Saint-Simon (1720–1799), a French officer and former aide-de-camp to the Prince of Conti, also a writer and historian. This work serves as the occasion for the reissue of the famous and magnificent engraved series by Antonio Tempesta (Florence 1555–1630) after Otto van Veen, master of Rubens, first published in Antwerp in 1612. Copy printed on large laid paper, containing 36 engraved plates by Antonio Tempesta (1555–1630) after the original paintings by Otto van Veen, known as Otto Venius (1557–1629), 6 fine folding maps, fully hand-colored, 2 engraved headpieces by B. de Bakker, and 2 large tailpieces. Good condition. Binding with traces of wear. Endpapers renewed. Fol. XXXI/XXXII lower part cut off; letterpress text mounted on the plates, some loose (proof copy?), a few plates lack the mounted text. See pictures, as they are part of the description.