Chronique amplifiée des rois de France (Amplified Chronicle of the Kings of France); medieval manuscript on paper in French by GUILLAUME DE NANGIS

LARGE FORMAT MEDIEVAL CHRONICLE IN ITS ORIGINAL BINDING. In French, manuscript on paper, France, c. 1450-1500. Dimensions 280 x 205 mm, 403 folios, incomplete at end, vertical catchwords on all quires except xviii and xxv, leaf signatures first half of all quires, written by a single scribe in an expert Bâtarde script, red paraphs and two-line initials. BINDING: ORIGINAL BINDING of cushioned wooden boards covered with brown leather, stamped with four petal flowers and fillets. TEXT: Guillaume de Nangis, Benedictine monk and librarian at the royal Abby of St.-Denis, was the official chronicler of the kings of France responsible for the "continuations" of the Grandes Chroniques de France. Not only does this volume survive as an unrecorded witness to his translation into French of one of the most important medieval French chronicles, it is of extraordinary rarity. PROVENANCE: The manuscript was copied in the second half of the 15th century in France by an experienced and probably professional scribe as indicated by the Bâtarde script featuring documentary-style embellishments; multiple 17th-century signatures on the front pastedown and parchment flyleaf, all unidentifiable; verso of the parchment flyleaf, autograph note by Jean-François Du Guet (1660-1724) dated February 1703 describing the manuscript's contents and attributing it to his library; four French notes by three unknown 20th-century hands in ink inserted on small sheets of paper between folios throughout the manuscript. CONDITION: minor worming throughout, minor flecking and staining, limited folding and tears at folio corners and edges, final quire detached, ink bleed-through on ff. 196-245, binding in delicate condition: front board with nearly all leather covering lacking, insect damage, bottom corner heavily chipped, spine fully exposed, supports detached, back board entirely loose, leather cover intact but heavily abraded, top clasp lacking barring one small nail. Full description and images available. (TM 1014)