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The nobility in the Southern Netherlands: a rare work bound together with 415 hand-painted coats of arms

RUE, Louis Félix de la.
Etat armorial de noblesse, chevalerie, & dignités accordés par S.M.I.R.A. depuis son avenement au Thrône jusqu' aujourd'hui dédié a monsieur de Wavrans ...
Brussels, 1775.
With: [Collection of hand-painted coats of arms of European noble families in the Southern Netherlands].
8vo. With an engraved title page and 16 engraved plates containing a total of 342 coats of arms (6 blank; mostly 20 or 24 to a page), together with a collection of 415 hand-drawn and painted coats of arms (6 to a page), vividly coloured and highlighted with gold and silver paint, with the names of the noble families captioned below in a neat 18th-century hand in brown ink. Later half calf, marbled paper sides, title in gold on spine, marbled endpapers, red edges. 45, [2], [1 blank]; [102] ll. including some blanks.
€ 8,500
Rare heraldic work on the nobility in Flanders and Brabant, being an alphabetic list of nobles from the Southern Netherlands, by Louis Félix de la Rue (1730-1777). The text is followed by a series of 16 engraved plates with a total of 342 coats of arms, accompanying the text. The work appears to be rare, even more when complete with all 16 heraldic plates, like our copy. Complete copies are rare on the market.Our copy is even more remarkable, as about 100 leaves with hand-painted coats of arms are bound with it. The 415 coats of arms are painted very finely in vivid colours and highlighted with gold and silver paint. In contrast to the printed work of De la Rue, which only listed Flemish and Brabant nobles living in the Southern Netherlands in the 18th century, the added coats of arms also show some high and low nobility from Europe, who also had branches in the Southern Low Countries. Many of them held particularly important functions from the 13th until the 17th century, with a focus until 1500. Included are some of the most prominent families of the Spanish aristocracy, also some French (Hainaut), Italian, and Dutch families can be found in the present visual overview. Of course this part of the volume also contains many coats of arms of the Flemish nobility. Together with the printed work, this booklet provides a beautiful overview of the Belgian nobility in the Southern Netherlands from the 13th century to the 18th century, covering both the Flemish nobility and the European nobility from Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands. As a result, it offers a complete overview of the Belgian aristocracy and the origin of its various branches throughout Europe, beautifully illustrated with highly detailed hand-painted coats of arms. A rare survival.
From the library of the Belgian politician and antiquarian Philippe Kervyn de Volkaersbeke (1815-1881), with his bookplate on the front pastedown. Binding only very slightly worn, fore edge a little bumped at two places. Printed part very slightly browned, with some marginal foxing and a minor stain, a few small repairs in the engraved plates (not affecting them) and a tear in pp. 35-36, ink of some plates a little faded. The added part with hand-painted coats of arms only has some horizontal creases, which don't affect the coats of arms at all. Overall in good condition. WorldCat 1439793958, 902423874, 1154700246, 251079651, 457587617 (7 copies); cf. not in STCV.
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