Descripción

First Edition. With two folio sized engravings bound before the title which is printed in red and black. Large Folio, contemporary polished calf, sometime rebacked to style, red morocco lettering label gilt. xx, 416, [2], 417-651 pp. A crisp, clean and well preserved copy, handsome and the binding strong and pleasing.

Edizione: jean louis de nogaret de la valette (1554–1642), created duke of épernon, was a powerful member of the french nobility at the turn of the 17th century. he was deeply involved in plots and politics throughout his life. <br> he fought on the catholic side in the french wars of religion and at the siege of la rochelle, he first came to the notice of the duc d'anjou, the future henry iii of france.<br> by december 1578, nogaret had been accepted into henri's most intimate circle of favourites, les mignons. the king of navarre sold him the town of épernon. in 1581 épernon would be raised in his favour by the king of france, henri iii, to the rank of a duchy. nogaret thus became the first duc d'épernon. the new duke of épernon was highly favored by henry, who showered titles upon him, among them maître de camp of the champagne regiment (1579), governor of la fère (1580), colonel-general of the infantry (1581), first gentleman of the king's chamber (1582), chevalier de l’ordre du saint-esprit, governor of boulonnais, loches, lyon, metz and its surrounding areas (1583), chevalier des ordres du roi (1584), and governor of provence (1586). at the death of the duc de joyeuse (1587) he was awarded the titles of admiral of france, governor of normandy, of caen, and of le havre. <br> after the assassination of henry iii in 1589, épernon opposed the accession of henry of navarre (henry iv of france) and attempted to install an independent government in provence. his attempt failed and in 1596 he was obliged to submit himself to the king, which he did. he had not forgiven or forgotten, however, and in 1610 he was involved in the conspiracy that resulted in the assassination of henry iv by ravaillac, who lodged, in his preparatory visits to paris, with épernon's mistress, charlotte du tillet. he played a large part in the immediate acceptance of henri's widow, marie de' medici, as regent, her son louis xiii being then too young to rule. <br> charles cotton (28 april 1630 – 16 february 1687) was an english poet and writer, best known for translating the work of michel de montaigne from french, for his contributions to the compleat angler, and for the influential the compleat gamester attributed to him. <br> his friendship with izaak walton began about 1655. walton's initials, made into a cipher with cotton's own, were placed over the door of cotton's fishing cottage on the dove near hartington. cotton contributed a second section "instructions how to angle for a trout or grayling in a clear stream", to walton's the compleat angler; the additions consisted of twelve chapters on fishing in clear water, which he understood largely but not exclusively to be fly fishing. another addition to the volume was cotton's well-known poem "the retirement", which appeared from the 5th edition onwards. <br> his masterpiece in translation, the essays of m. de montaigne (1685–1686, 1693, 1700, etc.), has often been reprinted, and still maintains its reputation; his other works include the scarronides, or virgil travestie (1664–1670), a gross burlesque of the first and fourth books of the aeneid, which ran through fifteen editions; burlesque upon burlesque, . being some of lucian's dialogues newly put into english fustian (1675); the moral philosophy of the stoicks (1667), from the french of guillaume du vair; the history of the life of the duke d'espernon (1670), from the french of g girard; the commentaries (1674) of blaise de montluc; the planter's manual (1675), a practical book on arboriculture, in which he was an expert; the wonders of the peake (1681); the compleat gamester and the fair one of tunis, both dated 1674, are also assigned to cotton. wiki