ORDRE DU SAINT-ESPRIT –Les statuts de l’ordre du St. Esprit estably par Henri IIIme du nom Roy de France et de Pologne au mois décembre l’an M.D.LXXVIII. Paris: Imprimerie Royale, 1788.

Last Ancien Regime edition of the statutes of the prestigious French chivalric order, fine copy in contemporary French red morocco gilt.The Ordre du Saint-Esprit, founded by Henri III of France in 1578, was dissolved in 1791. It reappeared in 1814 under the Restoration and was officially dissolved again in 1830. In addition to the statutes, this edition was supplemented with all the decrees, edicts, and royal declarations concerning the order since its creation. Brunet V, 522 (1703 ed.).

Quarto (280 x 208mm). Engraved title and engraved cul-de-lampes and initials by Sébastien Le Clerc (occasional light browning and spotting). Contemporary French red morocco gilt, with the emblem of the Holy Spirit in corners and the arms of France in the center, gilt semis of fleurs de lis on spine, green morocco titling piece, all edges gilt, silk ribbon bookmark (rubbed). Edgard Stern (1854-1937, Parisian banker and collector; bookplate, confiscated from him by the Nazi authorities following their occupation of Paris after May 1940 and eventually restituted to Mme Edgard Stern; family sale, Drouot, 27 June 1988, lot 187).