John Bruckner - Description de la Livonie - 1705

[BRUCKNER (John / Jean) or anonymous author connected to travel] — TEUTONIC ORDER / LIVONIA
Description of Livonia, with an Account of the origin, progress, & and the decadence of the Teutonic Order. Of the revolutions that have occurred in this Country up to our time, with the wars that the Poles, Swedes, & Moscovites have carried on together for this Province. It describes the Dukedoms of Courland & Semigallia, & the Province of Pilten. Finally, there is the Voyage of the Author of Livonia to Holland in the year 1698: With some Remarks on Prussia, Brandenburg, Hanover, Hesse, & several other Courts of Germany.

In Utrecht, at Guillaume van Poolsum, Bookseller, 1705.

A volume in-12mo (8ff); 394pp. bound in full brown marbled calf of the period, spine with raised bands ornamented with golden motifs and equipped with a red morocco title piece. The work is illustrated with a frontispiece engraved representing Frederick-William, Duke of Courland and Semigallia (born in 1692), with a title in red and black, as well as headbands and decorated initials.

This rare and precious old edition is devoted to the troubled history of Livonia and to the fall of the Teutonic Order at the beginning of the 18th century. It details the geopolitical struggles between Sweden, Poland, and Russia for control of the Baltic region, provides the geographical and political description of the duchies of Courland and Semigallia, and concludes with the author’s travel journal through Germany and Holland in 1698.

Anecdote from the collector: The frontispiece of this copy hides a fascinating detail that will delight European history enthusiasts by depicting Frederick-William of Courland, born in 1692, who would become the husband of the future Empress Anna I of Russia. In 1711, upon returning from Saint Petersburg after his wedding celebrated at Peter the Great’s court, the young duke dies tragically of exhaustion and illness at the age of only 19, leaving the young Anna a widow before she had actually reigned over his duchy. Owning this work thus allows preserving the engraved portrait of this Baltic prince with a meteoric destiny, frozen in his very youth, a few years before his dramatic marriage that marked the history of the Russian Empire.

The period binding presents splendid natural marbling on the covers, with small losses and wear at the capitals and corners, while the interior offers a fine freshness, preserving the engraved frontispiece and the vividness of the red and black inks on the title page.

Fine copy of this rare work.