Malta Order. BOSIO. Histoire des cheualiers de l'ordre de S. Iean de Hierusalem.

A rare, magnificently illustrated edition. This is the finest history of the Order of Malta. Giacomo Bosio lived in the second half of the 16th century and was a member of the Order. He was appointed as the Order's representative in Rome under Pope Gregory XIII. His history extends to 1571. It was first published in Rome in Latin between 1594 and 1602. Here it is presented in the translation by Pierre de Boissat, sieur de Lucieu, with additions by Jean de Baudoin.

This work is in four parts. This 1643 edition is greatly expanded, and only the first part contains Bosio's translation, entitled "Histoire de Malthe avec les statuts & les Ordonnances de l'Ordre. Dernière édition. Reveuë, corrigée & augmentée par I. Baudoin." The second part contains the Statutes of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, by Jean Baudoin “Les Status de l'ordre de Sainct Jean de Jerusalem” (title in the half-title); the third “Les Ordonnances du chapitre général par (…) Frère Alof de Wignacourt”; the fourth, "Summary of the privileges of the Order of St. John," by Anne de Naberat.

For this reason, the work is sometimes attributed to different authors: Bosio, Boissat, Baudoin, and Naberat.

Folded plates outside the text: Margat (p. 24 of the Summary); Ptolemais (Acre, p. 44 of the Summary); Cyprus (p. 46); Malta with Valletta (p. 90); The Island and Siege of Malta (p. 100).

In the text: Jerusalem, on page e3 of the Summary; Ptolemais (Acre), p. 26; Rhodes, p. 53; La Vallette, p. 106; Tree of Consanguinity, p. 163; Maltese Cross, p. 167; Habit of the Nun of the Order, p. 175.

No in Atabey and Blackmer.

Four parts in a volume in folio. 355x225 mm. Contemporary armorial leather binding with raised spine and rich decorations, dark edges, gilt coat of arms of Louis-Gaspard Joseph, Marquis de Tulle de Villefranche on the center of covers. Pages: [24, including Title page printed in red and black and Engraved and Illustrated Title page], 624, [28]; 331, including Half-title with Title ‘Statuts’, 1 blank; [24, with Engraved and Illustrated Title page], 200 [with two Engraved and Illustrated Title pages, p. 51 and p. 89], 35, 1 blank.

4 copper-engraved illustrated titlepages by Jean Blanchin, 4 copper-engraved city plans printed in the text (Jerusalem, Acre, Rhodes, Valletta), 57 woodcut portraits printed in the text (some repetitions) with the engraved portrait of Jean-Paul de Lascaris [part III, 2E3v], a woodcut diagram, a copperplate engraving of a nun. 5 copper-engraved plates outside the text, folded: Margat, Ptolemais (Acre), Cyprus, Malta with Valletta, Isola and the siege of Malta.

Specimen of prestigious provenance once belonged to Louis-Gaspard Joseph, Marquis de Tulle de Villefranche, Commander of the Order of Malta. His gilt coat of arms is stamped at the center of the covers, and his heraldic ex libris, engraved in copper, is glued to the back cover. A flyleaf with his coat of arms and his positions in the Order of Malta is added before the printed title page.