MANUSCRIPT. — MELANI (Abbé Atto). Memoirs on a Peace Proposa - Lot 106

MANUSCRIPT. — MELANI (Abbé Atto). Memoirs on a Peace Proposal Offered to France by the Emperor through the Duke of Hanover in 1692, with Several Letters Pertaining to These Negotiations. No place, no date [c. 1694]. Manuscript on paper, 390 pages, in-4 format, red morocco leather, triple fillet, royal cipher at the corners and repeated on the spine, coat of arms in the center, interior roulette, gilt edges (contemporary binding). A fine morocco-bound manuscript bearing the coat of arms and ciphers of Louis XIV. Abbé Melani (1626–1714), an Italian castrato, entered the service of Louis XIV as a diplomat and spy. His letters span the years 1692 to 1694 and address the political context of Europe at the time, marked by the wars between Louis XIV and William III of Orange, Stadtholder of the United Provinces and King of England. The manuscript includes an “Epitaph for William III, King of England,” in which the sovereign is portrayed as a usurper of legitimate power [...], his virtues deserving something better than a throne conferred upon him through a crime. On p. 366 begins a “Manifesto of William III, King of England, Ireland, and Scotland,” intended to serve as the opening to the General Peace of 1693. The conflict between France and the League of Augsburg ended on September 20, 1697, with the signing of the Treaty of Ryswick. On the reverse side, the title is noted in a box: Secret Memoirs.

Estimate:£1,714.76

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