[Nicolas Houël] - Histoire Françoise - 1599

THE KINGS OF FRANCE IN PORTRAITS: A RARE ILLUSTRATED DYNASTIC CHRONICLE PRINTED IN PARIS IN 1599
Rare illustrated chronicle of the French monarchy, published in Paris in 1599, in the last year of the sixteenth century. The work retraces the succession of the sovereigns of France from Faramund to Henry IV, then reigning. Each section is enriched by a woodcut portrait in a medallion, set within richly ornate frames populated by allegorical figures. The entire volume presents a strong visual and celebratory conception, halfway between history, genealogy, and an apparatus book. A contemporaneous parchment-bound exemplar, with ancient restorations and conspicuous signs of use, but of notable charm and iconographic rarity.

ABSTRACT
L’Abbrege de l’Histoire Françoise, avec les Effigies des Roys is an illustrated summary of French monarchic history, conceived as a succession of royal biographies accompanied by the effigies of the sovereigns. The narrative begins with Faramund, a figure traditionally placed at the origins of the Frankish monarchy, and proceeds through the Merovingian, Carolingian, and Capetian dynasties to Henry IV of Bourbon, indicated on the frontispiece as sovereign “à présent regnant.” The most spectacular aspect of the work is its iconographic program: each leaf presents a portraits of the king within a medallion, accompanied by historical text and enclosed within a large carved woodcut frame decorated with vegetal elements, animals, grotesques, allegorical figures, and Renaissance motifs. The work thus assumes the form of a true dynastic gallery of the kings of France, intended both for historical reading and for visual contemplation. The present copy, bound in contemporary parchment, preserves the strong material character of a book actually used, with numerous old pen marks and handwritten signatures on the flyleaves.

WHY TO BUY
This volume presents numerous items of collectible interest: dating to 1599, full French Renaissance; Parisian late sixteenth-century print; rare dynastic iconography of the kings of France; woodcut medallion portraits; wide ornamental frames on every page; full text framed; two-color frontispiece; woodcut royal emblem; presence of Henry IV as contemporary sovereign to the print; contemporary parchment binding; ancient notes and pen tests testifying to the long history of use of the volume. It is a book particularly suited to collections devoted to the history of France, European monarchy, genealogy, royal iconography, sixteenth-century illustrated books and Renaissance wood engraving. The combination of portrait, genealogy, and historical narration also gives the work a strong visual impact, a feature especially appreciated in the market for antique illustrated books.

MARKET VALUE
The work is bibliographically interesting and relatively uncommon, especially when preserved in antique binding and with the iconographic sequence substantially complete. Taking into account the rarity, the figurative apparatus, and the conservation state of the present copy, an indicative antiquarian valuation of €600-900 seems reasonable. In a specialized sale, with proper enhancement of the iconographic apparatus, the price could reach higher levels.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Contemporary parchment binding, soft leather, with normal signs of use, stains, abrasions and slight deformations. Frontispiece printed in two colors, within a wide ornamental woodcut frame, with royal emblem. The entire text is enclosed within woodcut borders. Each royal biography is accompanied by a medallion portrait, accompanied by allegorical figures and Renaissance decorations. The initial leaves and the frontispiece show old dirt, stains and signs of consultation. There are restorations in the lower part of the first two fascicles, affecting the decorative frames; in at least one spot the restoration reaches partially the text, with loss of some words. Small galleries, halos and traces of humidity, creases and undulations, marginal missing pieces, traces of old interventions and numerous pen tests, signatures, and handwritten annotations on the flyleaves are also visible. In ancient books with a centuries-long history, a certain number of imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. This listing contains Visual AI views. Refer to the original photographs to verify the book’s actual condition. The images are an integral part of the description. Pp. 72.

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Abbrege de l’Histoire Françoise.
Paris, Jean Le Clerc, 1599.
[Attributed to Nicolas Houël. The BnF and a university database attribute the 1585 edition to him, while a specialized antique catalog confirms the attribution for the 1599 edition.]

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
At the end of the sixteenth century the French monarchy emerged from decades of intense political and religious tensions. The work was published in 1599, during the reign of Henry IV, a few years after the most violent phase of the French Wars of Religion had ended. The reconstruction of dynastic continuity, from Faramund to the reigning sovereign, thus assumes a meaning that goes beyond simple historical chronicle. Presenting all the kings of France in sequence effectively built, visually, the idea of a continuous, legitimate throne rooted in history. The book thus functions simultaneously as an abridged history of the realm, a genealogical repertory, a gallery of portraits, a celebratory instrument of the monarchy, and an object of historical education. The presence of the portraits also helped make the sovereigns recognizable to a broader public, turning the dynastic succession into a true narrative in pictures.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
The work is signed on the frontispiece with only the initials N.C. In the absence of a certain attribution in the exemplar, it is preferable to keep the form indicated by the printing without arbitrarily expanding the author’s name. The author or compiler situates itself in the sixteenth-century tradition of abridged chronicles and illustrated genealogies, works born to make the history of the great European monarchies accessible to an educated but not necessarily specialist public. The work also appears to be closely linked to the antiquarian culture of historical portraiture, as shown by the statement that the images would be taken from the most rare and excellent cabinets of France.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
This edition was printed in Paris in 1599 by Jean Le Clerc. The frontispiece states that the work was “revue & augmentée de nouveau,” i.e., newly revised and expanded, indicating the existence of a previous drafting or editorial tradition. Interest in illustrated dynastic repertoires was particularly strong in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. These works responded to the growing demand for monarchic chronologies, genealogies, historical portraits, heraldic repertoires, and historical-political syntheses. The creation of a richly illustrated volume such as this nevertheless required a greater typographic investment than a simple text, due to the large number of ornamental wood blocks and portraits. The complete preservation of such works is therefore relatively problematic: illustrated leaves and portraits could be easily removed, while heavy use often contributed to deterioration of the initial sheets.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
L’Abbrege de l’Histoire Françoise belongs to the tradition of the great illustrated chronicles of the French monarchy developed in the sixteenth century. Iconographically it is particularly significant for the sequence of royal portraits enclosed within elaborate ornamental devices. The work is also of interest for the study of the representation of sovereignty, dynastic propaganda, royal genealogy, Parisian illustrated publishing, late Renaissance French wood engraving, and the antiquarian culture of the historical portrait. The date 1599, during Henry IV’s reign, finally confers upon the volume a particular historical value, since the chronicle ends with a sovereign contemporary to the publication itself.