ORDER OF MALTA.

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Furniture and Works of Art from the Anne Aymo...

By Beaussant Lefèvre & Associés

Dec 13, 2022

Set Reminder 2022-12-13 08:00:00 2022-12-13 08:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Furniture and Works of Art from the Anne Aymone and Valery Giscard d’Estaing Collections https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/beaussant-lef-vre-associ-s/furniture-and-works-of-art-from-the-anne-aymone-and-valery-giscard-d-estaing-collections-11505
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• Lot Description
  ORDER OF MALTA. - CAOURSIN (Guillaume). Historia von Rhodis wie ritterlich sie sich gehalte[n] mit dem tyrannischen Keiser Machomet uß Türckye[n], lustig un[d] lieplich zu lesen.
  [On the colophon, on the front of the last leaf:] Getruckt zu Straßburg durch den fürsichtigen Martinum Flach, uff sant Paulus Bekörung Tag, im Iar nach der geburt Christi Jesu unsers Herren tausent fünff hundert unnd dreyzehn [i.e.: Strasbourg, Martin Flach, 25 January 1513].
  In-folio, 68 ff. ; signatures A-K6 and L8 ; printed on 2 columns in gothic script ; a wide-margined copy, 30,3 x 21 cm ; tobacco morocco, spine ribbed, partitioned and decorated with brown fleurons, decoration stamped in brown on the boards including a double framing of fillets with fleurons at the corners and a Maltese cross in the center, filleted edges, gilt inner lace, edges gilt on marble; spine and corners a little rubbed, first board stained, copy washed, some angular restorations and cracks restored (Chambolle-Duru.1865). Volume placed in a modern red morocco case, spine ribbed, white mosaic cross of the Order of Malta on a red background and underlined by a gilt fillet in the center of the first board (probably by the workshop Sangorski & Suttcliffe in London).
  
  ORIGINAL EDITION OF THE GERMAN TRANSLATION, by the Strasburg physician Johannes Müling called Johannes Adelphus (circa 1485-after 1523). A student of the humanist Jakob Wimpfeling, he practiced medicine in Strasbourg, Trier, Überlingen and Schaffhausen, and for financial reasons also worked for a time as a printer's proofreader. As a member of the Upper Rhine humanist circle, he translated, compiled and commented on several political and social treaties. He adhered to the Reformation.
  
  A COLLECTION OF ALL THE TEXTS OF GUILLAUME CAOURSIN ON THE HISTORY OF RHODES,
  that is, first his description of the siege of the island in 1480, originally printed in Latin a few weeks after the withdrawal of the besiegers, then in German at the turn of 1480-1481; then several other accounts of events in Rhodes up to about 1486. These other texts had originally appeared in Latin in Ulm in 1496 under the title Rhodiorum historia.
  
  WOOD ENGRAVED ILLUSTRATION: 35 woodcuts in the text, based on those of the Latin edition of 1496, except for the first composition stamped on the title. With the additional woodcut mark of Martin Flach on the front of the last leaf.
  
  ONE OF THE MOST ELIMINATE CHEVALIERS OF RHODES, GUILLAUME CAOURSIN (1430-1501) studied law in Paris and, being related to the Order of the Hospital by various members of his family, came to Rhodes in the 1450's. He entered the chancellery in 1459, became personal secretary to the grand master in 1466, and was made vice-chancellor in 1471. He carried out several diplomatic missions in Italy where his eloquence and his proximity to humanist circles were of great use.
  
  THE SIEGE OF RHODES BY THE TURKS IN 1480. The Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II was leading a conquering policy which had allowed him to take Constantinople (1453), Trebizond (1461), to advance in the Balkans and to take Otranto in Italy (1480). The knights of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, driven out of the Holy Land at the end of the thirteenth century, had held the island of Rhodes since the beginning of the fourteenth century and had set up their main settlement there. Mehmet II sent troops to dislodge them, but the knights, unexpectedly given the disproportion of forces, managed to resist victoriously for nearly three months, from May 23 to August 18, 1480, under the command of their grandmaster Pierre d'Aubusson. This was the first Turkish failure for more than a century.
  
  GUILLAUME CAOURSIN'S DESCRIPTIO, THE CORNERSTONE OF A VAST PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGN IN FAVOR OF A BELEAGUERED ORDER OF CHIVALRY. The Hospitallers knew that they were in a fragile position and that the powerful Ottoman Empire would not give up the idea of conquering this island located so close to Turkey. They decided to exploit their victory to appeal to the great Western powers for help, presenting themselves as the heroes of Christianity in the fight against the infidel, in order to raise funds to rebuild the city of Rhodes and its defenses. They used all the means available at the time. They wrote letters to the pope and to sovereigns, including one to the emperor which was immediately printed. They launched a campaign for the sale of indulgences, on the basis of printed leaflets that were widely distributed. Above all, they entrusted Guillaume Caoursin, the most literate among them, with the task of writing a narrative relating the heroic resistance of Rhodes and its victory. Other texts were written at the same time, notably by Mary Du Puis or Giacomo Della Po