FRANCO-DUTCH WARS – Bound manuscript, “Abregé historique de l’année MDCLXXVII.” France, c.1677.

93 pages of text and maps, 378 x 261mm; fine allegorical frontispiece in ink and sepia heightened in gold, signed Bedau and almost certainly Pierre Bedeau (c.1647-1707); 34 detailed double-page manuscript maps of military campaigns, minutely describing topography, the movement and position of troops, etc. (occasional spotting and age toning). Contemporary French red morocco, dentelles of the Louvre, with arms of Louis XIV on covers (headcaps lightly worn, covers rubbed).

Official manuscript report of Louis XIV’s military campaigns in Flanders in 1677 during the Franco-Dutch wars, beautifully bound, with daily marching orders and many detailed maps of the campaigns.The war began when France invaded the Dutch Republic in May 1672 and nearly overran it. The manuscript covers the 1677 French campaign from March 21 to October 15. The French army, personally commanded by the King, laid siege to Cambrai, Valenciennes, and Saint-Omer. After the fall of Cambrai, the 30,000-strong army of William of Orange marched south, but they were soundly defeated by the French in the Battle of Cassel on April 11. The text in the present manuscript ends abruptly on October 15, right at the moment when William of Orange would have departed for England to wed his cousin, Mary, on November 4, 1677. England subsequently signed a defensive alliance with the Dutch in March 1678, and the Franco-Dutch war ended with the Peace of Nijmegen in September 1678. See Getty ULAN(online).