J. Rousset - Histoire du Cardinal Alberoni - 1719

History of Cardinal Alberoni, from his birth to the beginning of the year 1719.
By Mr. J. R**. Translated from Spanish.
[The Hague], Published by the Widow of Adrien Moetjens, (1719).

First French edition (and one of the very first biographies printed) of the life of Cardinal Giulio Alberoni (Piacenza 1664 – 1752), Archbishop of Seville and extremely powerful first minister of Philip V of Spain. The work, signed with the initials J. R** (Jean Rousset de Missy), is presented as a translation from a Spanish manuscript and covers up to the early months of 1719, i.e., just before the cardinal’s fall from grace (December 1719).

It contains the famous introductory letter of the “Comte de B…” that accompanies the manuscript's submission, and it reconstructs in a journalistic and polemical tone the meteoric rise of the son of a Piacenza gardener up to the pinnacle of European politics, his diplomatic maneuvers, the wars and conspiracies of the War of the Quadruple Alliance.

In-12 (cm 15.3 × 8.3); pp. (8), 344.
Contemporary binding in grain leather, five raised bands on the spine with gilded decorations and a red panel bearing the title “HIST. DU CARD. ALBE”.

Rebound title page (probably in the 19th century). Signs of worming along the margins but not affecting the text. A complete and legible copy, with the characteristic charm of early 18th-century Amsterdam editions.

Contemporary text of great historical-political interest: it is one of the earliest and most vivid sources on Alberoni, a leading figure in European diplomacy between the War of the Spanish Succession and the Quadruple Alliance.

The 1719 edition (Veuve Moetjens) is rather rare on the antiquarian market, especially in an original period binding. Sought after by collectors of modern history, of Spain, and of eighteenth-century diplomatic history.