The Baluze coat of arms - Lot 516

The Baluze coat of arms LE BLANC (François) Traité historique des monnaies de France depuis le commencement de la Monarchie jusques à présent. Slne., sd. [Paris, 1690?] In-4: 9f., LII, 420pp. 8f. (table); illustrated with 60 plates of medals (including frontispiece engraved by Ertinger) and numerous figures in texto. Reinforcing bands in margins on a few leaves. Contemporary fawn calf, spine ribbed and decorated, red title-piece, small lack at head, cold fillet framing the boards, central gilt coat of arms, gilt fillet on edges, minor wear, corners dulled, red edges. This is the first work to provide an overview of French royal coinage. Contains, among other things, in fine, tables showing the price of gold and silver marc year by year, and the name, title, weight and value of each species. Provenance: coat of arms of Étienne Baluze, French scholar, patristician, historiographer, librarian and jurist, who served as Colbert's librarian and taught canon law at the Collège de France, where Louis XIV appointed him inspector. It was through him that the minister's library acquired most of the literary treasures that made it famous (Larousse 1867).