‎Sinclair C‎
‎Trois de g.l.o.b.a.l.l‎

‎Abbrege des trois etats du clerge, de la noblesse, et du tiers etat. 3 parts. ‎

‎Paris, Cramoisy, 1682. 8vo. In contemporary full sprinkled calf with five raised bands and gilt ornamentation to spine. Edges of boards gilt. Small paper-label pasted on to top of spine. Ex-libris (Juel of Valdemar's Castle) to pasted down front end-paper. Light wear and miscolouring to extremities. Previous owner's name in contemporary hand to title-page. Internally nice and clean. (16), 86, (2), 139, 93, (3) pp. ‎

‎Rare first (only?) edition of this work which discuss the structure and roles of the Three Estates in France's ancien régime: Clergy (Le Clergé): The First Estate which included members of the Church, such as priests, bishops and other clergy members. This group had significant political power and privileges, including tax exemptions. Nobility (La Noblesse): The Second Estate which included the aristocracy. Nobles held land, enjoyed privileges, and were exempt from many taxes. They were key players in politics and military leadership. Third Estate (Le Tiers État): The largest and most diverse group encompassing commoners, peasants and the growing bourgeoisie. Unlike the other estates they were heavily taxed and had limited political power despite their crucial role in the economy and society.‎

‎Le parfait ambassadeur divise en trois parties. Compose en Espagnol par don Antonio de Vera et de Cunniga (...) et traduit en Francois par le sieur Lancelot. Oeuvre tres-utile et necessaire a tous Ministres d'Estat, Gouverneurs de Provinces, Secre...‎

‎Paris, Sommaville, 1635. 4to. In contemporary full mottled calf with five raised bands and gilt lettering and ornamentation to spine. Small paper-label pasted on to top of spine. Light wear to extremities. Parts of gilting worn off and head of spine chipped. Ex-libris pasted on to pasted down front end-paper. Dampstain throughout, primarly affecting first and last leaves. (10), 186, (2), 148, (4), 146, (10) pp.‎

‎Rare first French translation of the most important work by Figueroa, Count de la Roca (1588-1658), a Spanish diplomat and companion of the Duke of Olivares. A guide intended for diplomats in the form of a dialogue discussing the essential qualities needed to be an ambassador and how to navigate court intrigues. Originally published in 1620. Graesse VII, 278.Not in Brunet.‎

‎Le grand dictionnaire royal en trois langues savoir la francoise, la latine et l'allemande. Nouvelle edition. 2 vols. ‎

‎Leipzig, 1743. 4to. Uniformly bound in two contemporary half calf bindings with five raised bands and gilt lettering to spine. Small paper-label pasted on to top of spine. Wear to extremities, sctraches to boards. Front board on plate 1 split. Annotations to front free end paper. Internally nice and clean. (10), 984, 64 pp. (2), 702 pp.‎

‎L'onneste femme, divisée en trois parties. Reveue, corrigée et augmentée en cette quatriesme edition. - [RARE FEMINIST WORK]‎

‎Paris, Le Gras & Bobin, 1658. 8vo. In contemporary half calf with four raised bands and gilt lettering and ornamentation to spine. Wear to extremities. Spine-ends chipped. Previous owner's name to title-page. Frontispiece slightly miscoloured and last leaves with dampstain in margin, otherwise internally nice. (22), 335, (50), 252 pp. ‎

‎The rare fourth edition of Du Bosc’s highly popular and influential feminist work, being the first major theorizations of ‘honnêteté’ for women. “The seventeenth-century French ideology of honnêteté—a then emerging code of conduct related to sociability, urbanity, and politeness—transformed elite French society from a military class to a cultural aristocracy. Women played a key role in this social transformation as both practitioners and enforcers of these new conventions. Whereas critics have studied the honnête homme as the embodiment of this new secular social ideal, research into the philosophy shaping the honnête femme has been scant at best. Jacques Du Bosc’s L’Honnête femme: he Respectable Woman in Society and the New Collection of Letters and Responses by Contemporary Women, the first major theorizations of honnêteté for women, provide valuable insights into the honnête femme for current students and scholars. In these works, Du Bosc proposes what he calls in part three of L’Honnête femme a comprehensive “science for women.” His honnête femme is a purely social being free from domestic cares. hus, Du Bosc focuses his treatise exclusively on the development of women’s “intelligence” and “moral judgment.” He proposes a way for elite women to perfect the self for social interaction through the practices of reading, relection, and conversation. In appealing to women’s reason, Du Bosc does not “prescribe laws” for women, as most writers of the period did, but reasons with them, examining the pros and cons of all aspects of social life. Following Montaigne and Marie de Gournay and anticipating Descartes, Du Bosc argues for women’s equality with men based on their shared reason and virtue. As he writes in L’Honnête femme, “Reason and virtue, even though they are of one species, belong to two sexes. Women cannot renounce this science without renouncing a privilege and an advantage, that they possess as we do, as their birthright.” Through his principles of honnêteté, Du Bosc makes powerful claims for women to participate as equal members of the new cultural elite” (Nell & Wolfgang, L’ Honnête Femme: he Respectable Woman in Society and the New Collection of Letters and Responses by Contemporary Womend). All editions are rare, we have not been able to trace a single copy of this fouth edition in the trade.‎

‎Trois lettres touchant l'etat present d'Italie, ecrites en l'annee 1678.‎

‎Cologne, Pierre du Marteau, 1688. 8vo. In contemporary full calf wih four raised bands and gilt lettering and ornamentation to spine. Traces from old paper-label pasted on to top of spine. Wear to extremities, parts of gilting worn off. Previous owner's name in contemporary hand to spine, otherwise internally nice and clean. (24), 262 pp.‎

‎Uncommon first French transation, published the same years as the original English of Burnet’s “Three letters concerning the present state of Italy”. Here Burnet is offering a detailed account of his travels in Italy where Pope Innocent XI offered him an audience, which Burnet declined on account of his poor knowledge of the Italian language. Gilbert Burnet (1643 –1715) was a Scottish philosopher and historian and later Bishop of Salisbury. He was fluent in Dutch, French, Latin, Greek and Hebrew.‎