Where Renaissance statecraft meets Second-Empire luxury: a 1577 Commynes in Capé’s gilt dentelles and refined gravitas. THE BOOK: Philippe de Commynes – Les memoires sur les faits et gestes de Loys onziesme et de Charles huictiesme (Paris: Claude Micard; colophon Rouen: Georges Loyselet, 1577). In-16° (approx. 17 × 10.5 cm). Complete, [6], 490, [18] ff. Roman letter; woodcut initials, head- and tail-pieces. Bound in exceptional full brown morocco by Charles-François Capé (the Second French Empire’s leading Parisian binder—Empress Eugénie’s binder)-raised bands, gilt fleur-de-lys in compartments, double-fillet panels, broad gilt dentelles, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers, binder’s gilt signature “CAPÉ” stamped on the inner turn-in. MOUSEION CURATOR NOTE; “A pocket monument with expansive reach: written by the keenest political observer of late medieval Europe, printed in a Paris–Rouen partnership that knit together two cities of letters, and clothed two centuries later by Capé, the French Empress’s binder. It condenses diplomacy, typography, and bibliophily into the span of a pocket. BOOK DESCRIPTION: Printed in 1577 at Rouen by Georges Loyselet for the Paris bookseller Claude Micard, this edition is part of a scarce emission that brought Commynes’s Mémoires—the essential eyewitness history of Louis XI and Charles VIII—into a portable format for statesmen, magistrates, and the informed urban reader. Surviving copies of this book are very seldom encountered (not found in BnF), and none retain such a high-grade Capé binding. Bibliographically distinctive issue married to a best-in-class nineteenth-century binding. PROVENANCE: Signed binding by Charles-François Capé, the pre-eminent Paris binder of the Second Empire and “relieur de l’Impératrice Eugénie.” The CAPÉ stamp on the inner turn-in confirms authorship. Capé’s historicist luxury: clean paneling, luminous dentelles, disciplined fleurons - was sought by the great French bibliophile libraries. ⸻ MOUSEION CURATOR NOTE: “Capé’s dentelle is a border of light, in this copy it has survived with uncommon crispness. The gilt signature is the calling card of a Paris atelier whose finish set the nineteenth-century standard, unique especially when paired with such a rare edition of a famous title.” CONDITION REPORT: Fine binding; very good to fine interior. Binding: Full morocco fresh and even; joints sound; headcap lightly, cleanly rounded; compartments bright with gilt fleur-de-lys; boards with only the slightest shelf rub; dentelles razor-sharp; marbled endpapers vibrant; all edges gilt still lively; CAPÉ stamp crisp. Text block: Complete: [6], 490, [18] ff. Honest, uniform toning; scattered, light marginal foxing only; strong impressions of ornaments and type; comfortable margins. Dimensions: approx. 17 × 10.5 cm; spine thickness c. 5–6 cm. In short: a clean, tight, and handsome example, exhibition-worthy copy. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Philippe de Commynes (c. 1447–1511), Courtier to Charles the Bold and then to Louis XI, later active under Charles VIII, offers the most penetrating insider history of the Valois–Burgundy conflict and the opening moves of the Italian Wars. His method—cool assessment of motives, timing, and counsel—made him the touchstone for early modern discussions of raison d’État. Sixteenth-century readers treated his chapters as a repertory of political exempla. Modern editors have kept him central to Renaissance political thought. In the sixteenth century the Mémoires were mined as a handbook of prudence; the small format and detailed Table show exactly how early readers navigated the text—by cases, maxims, and exempla.